Three Imaginary Girls

Seattle's Indie-Pop Press – Music Reviews, Film Reviews, and Big Fun

It's a common practice among music critics and fans alike to make lists. Here, in tribute to the Seattle label's 20 years of not going out of business, are my favorite 20 releases from Sub Pop from the past two decades. I encourage you to check out their catalog and provide yours, too.

For my list, I mostly considered full-lengths save for a few key exceptions. You of course don't have to do the same. And this list is of favorites. Feel free to take a different spin, like "most important" or "most influential" or whatnot.

Mine are listed alphabetically by artist so that I didn't have to pick between a few of my favorite records of all time.

Let the discussion begin.

The Constantines Tournament of Hearts SP669

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes SP777

Frausdots Couture, Couture, Couture SP642

Friends of Dean Martinez The Shadow of Your Smile SP306

Grand Archives Grand Archives SP754

Green River Dry as a Bone 011

Hot Hot Heat Make Up the Breakdown SP599

The Murder City Devils The Murder City Devils SBL9001

Mudhoney Superfuzz Bigmuff SP021

Mudhoney "Touch Me I'm Sick/Sweet Young Thing" SP018

Nirvana Bleach SP034

Nirvana "Love Buzz"/"Big Cheese" SP023

The Postal Service Give Up SP595

Rogue Wave Out of the Shadow SP650

Seaweed Despised SP110

The Shins Chutes Too Narrow SP625

Soundgarden Screaming Life/Fopp SP12

Sunny Day Real Estate Diary SP246

The Thermals The Body ,The Blood, The Machine SP703

Velocity Girl Simpatico! SP247

Honorable Mention Artists:

  • The Fastbacks
  • Hazel
  • Helio Sequence
  • Hush Harbor
  • Mark Lanegan
  • L7
  • Love Battery
  • Pond
  • Red Stars Theory
  • The Spinanes
  • Tad
  • Ugly Casanova