Submitted by Junhee Park on May 3, 2023 - 12:10pm
CMS 297: Seattle Sound: Musical Media in the Pacific Northwest
This course explores responses to punk rock across visual and sonic media in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Through objects like zines and records, we will track the emergence of a strong regional DIY (do-it-yourself) culture in alternative or underground media. We will study the independent media infrastructure this culture fostered, giving rise to legendary “indie” record labels like K Records and Sub Pop. In the second half of the course, we will examine the role this infrastructure played in defining the so-called Seattle Sound, or grunge, and reevaluate the mainstreaming of this style in the 1990s, when bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden came to dominate the national airwaves. Email markrodg@uw.edu if you have any questions.