Top 20 Sub Pop Album's Of All-Time!!!

This weekend Sub Pop is celebrating an awesome 20-years in the music business with a HUGE show out in Washington. I can't make it out there for it but I wanted to take a moment to celebrate one of the most important labels of my life-time. I thought about how to do that and decided that a list of the 20 Best Sub Pop Albums of All-Time would be perfect! And so here they are...

20. L7 Smell the Magic; Bricks Are Heavy may be the better overall album, but it took something for this band to get to that point. That something was this fantastic record of early grunge music. Originally released as a 6-song EP, the album was later expanded with three additional tracks. This is the album where they managed to incorporate some melody into their original punk roots and sure enough it resulted in their next album catapulting them into the eyes of a much bigger audience. Songs like "Broomstick" and "Till the Wheels Fall Off" are what paved the way for Bricks Are Heavy making their sole Sub Pop release an absolutely vital album in the band's history and in the history of grunge music!
L7 - "Just Like Me"

19. Pissed Jeans Hope for Men; The new breed of Sub Pop bands are a little bit faster and a little more aggressive then some of the stuff that kept them afloat during the late 90's. Pissed Jeans are one of those bands, they sound like something dirty and out of the 80's with their hardcore punk vibe, but it is all decidedly modern. Some people might suggest that this album is a little too noisy or a little too loud, but that's their problem not ours! Lyrically, this album is rooted in the troubles of the real world. Songs like "Scrapbooking" and "Jogging" don't go much deeper then their titles suggest, adding a humanism to all the noise and dissonant sounds. This record is fucking great, I don't care how new it is, or how loud it is it certainly belongs on this list!!!
Pissed Jeans - "I've Still Got You (Ice Cream)"

18. The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine; Rife with religious imagery and hard hitting punk sounds, The Thermals certainly hit a high note with the release of The Body, The Blood, The Machine. This is an awesome, pummeling record that I listened to on non-stop repeat when it was released two years ago. It's Christian imagery is meant as a statement of purpose, refusing to abide by the so-called Christian facists that run America. It is as punk a record as you can get these days, both in music and in message. It's a fuck you to the Bush agenda, while it's heavy chords, bounding drum, and bouncing bass lines feed the fire of the angry messages! This is how modern punk rock should sound, not like all that emo garbage that has been mislabeled and spoon fed to kids in malls all across this country!
The Thermals - "A Pillar of Salt"

17. Patton Oswalt Werewolves & Lollipops; Some of you may feel that comedy albums have no place on a list like this, but I put no restrictions on what types of albums could be the best Sub Pop has to offer and so this certainly belongs on this list (as does the higher ranked comedy album below)! This is one hysterical joke after another, all delivered with Patton's goofy voice and geeky styles. It's an excellent record in every sense of the word, it just doesn't have any music on it. So what? It's hysterical from beginning to end and you can listen to it over and over again and still laugh at it. I dare you to try and listen to this record without laughing, if you make it all the way through then you are absolutely soul less and have no sense of humor whatsoever! This is outstanding stuff.
Patton Oswalt - "The Dukes of Hazard"

16. The Shins Chutes Too Narrow; The Shins have been one of the financial catalysts for Sub Pop for the last decade. Sure, it took a little while (and a Zach Braff movie) to get the ball fully rolling, but once it did it brought the cash rolling in. More then that The Shins released an absolutely pristine indie pop record with Chutes Too Narrow and it's not even the only release of their's to make this list! Perfectly written lyrics, elegant song structures, glistening pop music at it's very best, this is an awesome album. This album is loaded with songs that I sing-a-long to all the time, songs like "Kissing the Lipless" and "So Says I" and of course my favorite track on the record, "Fighting in a Sack"! It's just an all around great album and definitely one of the finer releases from Sub Pop in their second decade!
The Shins - "Kissing the Lipless"

15. Green River Rehab Doll; A Sub Pop list that doesn't include Green River would be totally incomplete in every way! The band had the first ever Sub Pop release with their EP, Dry As A Bone! Heck they were on Sub Pop before Jonathan Poneman was! But this, their only full length release was definitely the high point of their career and one of the starting points for the entire alternative genre knowns as grunge! This band, and more specifically this album, influenced everyone in the upper Northwest of America. Obviously the band's biggest legacy is that members of the group went on to form Temple of the Dog and shortly after that some small time band named Pearl Jam, but without this Sub Pop release we are probably looking at a world where hair metal and bad pop continued to reign for even longer then it already tragically did.
Green River - "Ozzie"

14. Tad 8-Way Santa; I had know idea of the existence of the band Tad until I saw the grunge documentary Hype! which was full of interview snippets from the band. I actually went out and found a copy of 8-Way Santa after seeing that and rocked the fuck out to it like is a brand new record. Of course it was brand new to me at the time even if the album had come out 5-years earlier. Like Green River, Tad was one of the earliest signings of Sub Pop and a pioneer in the world of grunge and after touring through Europe with Nirvana they recorded 8-Way Santa with Butch Vig. It's a great record, not nearly as hard as some of their other stuff, but a little more pop oriented and flavorful. It's solid no matter what way you look at it, and it's certainly an important part of Sub Pop's history.
Tad - "Flame Tavern"

13. No Age Nouns; This is obviously the most recent release on this list and something tells me that if I was making this list for the 30th anniversary it would be much higher up. But as it stands now I think 13 is a good place to stick this awesome album from the L.A. noise punks. I've already hailed it as my album of the year (so far), interviewed the band, and written at length about this album so I really don't have any fresh takes on it. What I will say though is that if this is the direction Sub Pop is going in, it is a brilliant move and the label should live way past it's dying peers. This is the sound of the present day and possibly of the future, and like they've done for 20-years Sub Pop has adjusted itself to the present date.
No Age - "Eraser"

12. Mark Lanegan Whiskey for the Holy Ghost; Obviously anytime you choose a single Mark Lanegan album to be part of a list you will have people fighting about which album you chose, such is the breadth of his work. But when you look at his solo output on Sub Pop I think it's pretty much a no brainer to go with Whiskey for the Holy Ghost! This is such a brilliant fucking album that it's hard to argue it's place in the annals of Sub Pop history. It's a thoroughly cohesive record, floating by with a very ethereal sound, spooky but beautiful at the same time. It's nothing like his work with Screaming Trees, but it's just as good for many different reasons. If it's been a while since you listened to this record, or if you think I should have picked a different one of his solo albums, listen to this again and then see what you think.
Mark Lanegan - "Carnival"
11. Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary; Wolf Parade has kind of hurt themselves in the last couple of years with all the solo projects taking away from the greatness and potential this band possessed on this album. When Apologies to the Queen Mary was released it was a mind blowing record. Expansive, intricate, full of noise and experimentation, it was a brazen new world of indie music and a lot of folks (myself included) fell in love with the sound. Paired with Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, these bands were to usher in the new era that thrust indie into the mainstream eye. It hasn't quite panned out the way everyone imagined, mostly because the solo projects have drawn the member's time and better songs, but this is still a classic album. It's as good now as the first time you listened to it, even though it's only been a couple of years.
Wolf Parade - "You Are A Runner, and I Am My Father's Son"

10. Sleater-Kinney The Woods; For their swan song, Sleater-Kinney broke from Kill Rock Stars to release their record on Sub Pop. That alone speaks volumes to how well respected Sub Pop is in our little world, but Sleater-Kinney didn't just give Sub Pop some watered down version of what the band had been, not they gave them a goodbye that people would remember. It's heavier then anything the band had ever released, drenched in the sounds and vibes of classic rock from a bygone era, and it may honestly be the band's finest hour (though that is certainly debatable). This is a brilliant record, the only downside to which is the fact that it is the last Sleater-Kinney record and only one on Sub Pop Records.
Sleater-Kinney - "Jumpers"

9. David Cross It's Not Funny; I told you that Patton Oswalt wasn't the only comedian on this list, and who else would deserves to be on the list but the one and only David Cross (okay, Eugene Mirman should probably be on this list, but who would I take off???). This album is freakin' hysterical no matter how many times you listen to it. Jokes about 9/11 and homosexuality and the South dominate the bulk of the album and it's so much better for attacking taboo subjects and laughing at them. Every bit on this album is a standout and as a whole it may be one of my favorite comedy albums of all-time (not that I've listened to them all).
David Cross - "Certain Leaders in Government Look or Act like Certain Pop Culture References!"

8. The Vaselines The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History; Since Nirvana wasn't able to make this year's 20th Anniversary celebration, the big draw of the weekend is a rare (as in, first in the U.S. I believe) performance by The Vaselines, who released a single compilation album on Sub Pop two years after they had disbanded. I'd call for a recount if only this collection of The Vaselines material wasn't so fantastic. Obviously Sub Pop made a smart move cashing in on this album following the success of Nirvana and their covering of multiple Vaselines' songs, and the world is probably better for it. How many of you guys actually owned a Vaselines record before this compilation came out? How many of you still just own this? I see a few hands in the audiences the rest are just lying. Obviously such a complete collection of such an excellent band is worthy of high praise and a spot on this list, no matter how dubious the Sub Pop connection may be.
The Vaselines - "Molly's Lips"
7. Afghan Whigs Congregation; Considering the Afghan Whigs only recorded two albums for Sub Pop records, Congregation and Up In It, it was pretty easy to choose one of these albums for the list. If it had been expanded to the rest of the band's discography it would have taken a bit longer to decide. But Congregation is the record that moves Afghan Whigs from their blistering, punk like sound to the soul-influenced sound that is beloved today. For that alone it's important, but when you take the album by itself it is absolutely an overlooked masterpiece of the times it was released in. I say overshadowed because everyone was focusing on the Nirvanas and Pearl Jams of the world and no one saw this one coming, an album that branches the vast chasm between the noisier side of grunge and soulful swagger of pop music. It was overlooked then, it's not now. Go figure.
The Afghan Whigs - "This Is My Confession"

6. Sunny Day Real Estate Sunny Day Real Estate (LP2); I had a tough time choosing between the first two albums from the godfathers of emo (you can easily make the argument that the other one should be on this list) but I opted to go with LP2 because it built of the promise that Diary had laid at there feet. Of course, this was the bands too early demise (before a come back three years later) with Jeremy Enigk becoming a born again Christian and Nate Mendell and William Goldsmith leaving to join the Foo Fighters, but it's a remarkable album despite all it's side notes. It's heartbreaking, fragile, moody, expansive, it's everything we've come to know emo music for and it's an excellent record for sure. It's on draw back of course is that it's led to so many shitty bands, but we can't hold that against Sunny Day Real Estate.
Sunny Day Real Estate - "8"

5. Mudhoney Superfuzz Bigmuff; When you talk Sub Pop Records there aren't too many names that come up before Mudhoney's. The band was a constant in the label's early years and this to me is it's finest moment. Of course I'm talking about the package version not just the too short EP. I want the one with all the extra singles and stuff to fill it out and give me more of that classic Mudhoney sound. The thing I love about this album out of all of Mudhoney's output is the fact that it lacks all those tedious, grinding parts that litter other Mudhoney albums. It's completely devoid of that, allowing the songs to sparkle and the album to flow steadily through. Not that the other Mudhoney albums don't have merit, it's just that those parts can get a little tiresome while this one just soars straight through.
Mudhoney - "In 'n' Out of Grace"

4. Sebadoh Bubble and Scrape; Fans of Sebadoh are going to have a field day with my inclusion of Bubble and Scrape and my exlcusion of every thing else. This is the middle ground of the Sebadoh sound, somewhere between the early collections of sound collages and the polished pop that would come later, and as it straddles those two very different eras of the band's history it also blends the sounds together in a way that none of their other albums come close to duplicating. On Bubble and Scrape Sebadoh manage to clean up the lo-fi sound of their early years without sounding too clean or polished, it's a fine line but here the walk it perfectly and I think few of you will fight that notion. I personally feel it's there finest work, that I know you guys will argue or bicker about, but hey that's how I feel.
Sebadoh - "Elixir Is Zog"

3. The Postal Service Give Up; For all the success that has followed Death Cab for Cutie I would argue that Give Up is better then all of those albums combined. This is such a pristine pop album, the perfect blending of the electronic world and indie pop song writing that it boggles my mind as to why there hasn't been a follow-up yet. Maybe Gibbard and Tamborello just can't top this album, or maybe the type of perfection it took to get this right takes years to try again. Whatever the reason may be at least we have been left with this beautiful record full of songs that soothe away troubles and pain, and leave you only with gentle melodies and smooth textured blips and bleeps. Oh, and this record as sold a shit load of copies and helped shape Sub Pop Records here in the 21st century so I guess that's important too.
The Postal Service - "Such Great Heights"

2. The Shins Oh, Inverted World; I know, I know. How could I not include two albums from Sebadoh but I could include two from The Shins? Well, the simple answer is I like The Shins more then I like Sebadoh. Their dreamy sense of indie pop song writing is one of the main things that hooked me on this genre at the beginning of this decade. If you read my Blast's from the Past you already know that I was a pop-punker for most of my teen years, well this is one of the albums that dragged me from that over produced genre and into the clutches of the indie world. So yes, it is a biased choice, but even with that bias blinding me I can see that this is a fantastic record! Hopefully you can at least agree with me on that point and at the same time realize that this album (and, the appearance of some of the songs on the Garden State soundtrack) helped usher in this new world of accessible, independent, but still commercially viable music. It's an important note, but it does not for a second take away from the fact that Oh, Inverted World is an amazing record!
The Shins - "Know Your Onion"

1. Nirvana Bleach; Was there any doubt in your minds what was going to be the top album on this list? This is such an obvious choice for the top spot on this list that it almost pains me to make it the actual #1. Nirvana helped launch Sub Pop records from a small boutique label in the Pacific Northwest to a cultural landmark and an example for the whole independent record industry. Obviously they didn't put out the band's magnum opus, but some would argue that Bleach is a better record. Not me. No matter how good the punk aesthetic of Bleach is, Nevermind and In Utero were both better records. But that shouldn't take away from how fantastic the debut was. It's harder and faster then it's successors, but it also showcases the promise that would be realized only a couple of years after its release. Songs like "About A Girl", "Love Buzz", and "Blew" show off Cobain's developing abilities to pen a song that houses both melody and aggression within the same bars of music. Bleach is an album that showed promise that would be realized in much grander senses later on, but it also houses some fine songs of it's own and made Sub Pop Records into a household name.
Nirvana - "Love Buzz"