It is a second-generation Seattle-scene record label; all of its artists are young people who came to Seattle after they graduated college in search of the legendary Seattle music scene and discovered that it didn't really exist--it was just a couple of dozen guys who sat around playing guitar in one another's basements--and so who were basically forced to choose between going home in ignominy or fabricating the Seattle Music scene of their imagination from whole cloth. This led to the establishment of any number of small clubs, and the foundation of many bands, that were not rooted in any kind of authentic reality whatsoever but merely reflected the dreams and aspiration of pan-global young adults who had flocked to Seattle on the same chimera hunt. Neal Stephenson
About This Quote

In a recent interview, a Seattle-based musician described a city he had left behind in hopes of being part of the city's music scene. When that did not pan out, he went back to his hometown and created a new band that would represent the spirit of the Seattle music scene. In other words, to be a part of this music scene, you must have been there from the get-go and be able to make it part of your image. What is almost always ignored in this scenario is the fact that all the bands in the Seattle scene began as bedroom projects in people's homes in Olympia, Tacoma, or wherever their friends were at.

These bands often started in basements and garages and soon became known by word-of-mouth. They got signed because they got better. They got signed because they wrote better songs than their peers.

Those who didn't get signed were ousted because it wasn't about them.

Source: Cryptonomicon

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