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“Who said don’t look back?/ Don’t believe ‘em” - Devo, “Turnaround” Later covered by Nirvana University of Alberta This is Not For You: The Rise and Fall of Music Milieux in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, 1950s -1990s by Rylan Kristopher Kafara A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Department of History and Classics ©Rylan Kafara Spring, 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. This one goes out to my family. Thanks for the support when I walked off to look for America. It is also dedicated to the memory of my father. Abstract When Nirvana found sudden commercial success with the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in 1991, the music industry’s attention became focused on Seattle for the first time. The city, however, had a rich musical tradition going back decades. This thesis examines the rise and fall of music communities in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest from the 1950s to the 1990s: the jazz mileu in Seattle in the 1950s, the Pacific Northwest garage rock network of the 1960s, and the alternative music community of the 1980s and early 1990s. It looks at the factors involved in the development of these three distinct scenes, timing, innovation, and marketability, showing the opportunities and limitations of regional music milieux. In doing so, it reveals a trend of musicians of each scene departing Seattle for more major industry centres like Los Angeles. What separated the milieu Nirvana participated in from earlier regional communities was the fact musicians stopped leaving Seattle. This thesis shows why it was finally more beneficial for them to stay. Acknowledgments Much of this thesis deals with the importance of community. I owe a great deal to the people in mine. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. David Mills. I learned as much from him as from any fanzine, book, or trip to the record store. The same thanks goes to Dr. Lawrence Aronsen, who helped me start this project, and Dr. Jim Martens, who first showed me history is something you can listen to. Thanks also to Fred Mills and Dr. Michael MacDonald, who with these other mentors helped me develop my ideas from scattered notes into a song. I was also very lucky to have a network of colleagues, friends, and family on which to rely for insightful feedback, books, and the occasional couch to crash on. Thanks to: Ryan Holroyd, Amit Sharma, Thomas Reikie, Tony Bolger, Dr. David Marples, Erin McIntyre, Sean Marchetto, Jamie Ormerod, Joseph Miller, Denver Swainson, Sara Page, Will Gilligan, Sasha Powers, Andrew Nolan, Darin Egan, Luke Slobod, Jeremy Fradkin, Brennen Wowk, Elham Heidari, David Gault, Jep Lund, Lauren Wheeler, Dr. Sharon Romeo, Dr. Brian Almquist, Daniel Grigat, Paul Bruce, Dr. Renee Polziehn, and Harvey Montpetit. A big thank you also goes to the staff of the Seattle Public Library, and Paul Mercer and everyone else at the Factsheet Five Archive at the New York State Library. Thanks also to Wendi Dunlap for allowing me to include her fanzine as an appendix. At the University of Alberta, I would like to recognize the support from the Department of History and Classics, the Graduate Students Association, and the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. Finally, to Charity, my brother Evan, my sister Savannah, and my mother Donna: merci. Table of Contents Introduction: “Saw things so much clearer/ Once you were in my/ Rearviewmirror”..…………………………………………..……..………………1 Chapter One: “Hit the Road Jack:” The Rise and Fall of Seattle’s Black Music Scene, 1945-1960s.....……………………...…………………………………….11 Chapter Two: “We Gotta Go Now:” The Rise and Fall of Seattle’s Garage Rock Milieu, 1955-1984………………………………....……………………………..50 Chapter Three: “I feel Stupid/ and Contagious/ Here we are Now/ Entertain us:” The Rise and Fall of Seattle’s Underground Milieux, 1980s-1990s….....……...101 Conclusion: The Rise and Fall of Seattle’s Music Milieux.................................167 Bibliography……………………………………………………………….........181 Appendix A: Sub Pop column in The Rocket......................................................191 Appendix B: First Edition of YEAH!...................................................................192 Appendix C: Seattle Scene Report in Maximum Rocknroll.................................198 Appendix D: Thesis Playlist................................................................................201 List of Maps and Illustrations Oscar Holden..........................................................................................................17 Alan Freed..............................................................................................................19 The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, University of Washington campus..........22 Map of Seattle Annexations, 1938.........................................................................23 The Black and Tan, 12th Avenue and Jackson Street.............................................24 Illustration of the Central District as Seattle’s ghetto............................................27 Little Bill and the Bluenotes..................................................................................32 A young Ray Charles.............................................................................................35 Ray Charles and Quincy Jones...............................................................................37 Quincy Jones..........................................................................................................39 Civil Rights march in Seattle, 15 June 1963..........................................................41 Garfield High School and the Central District, Seattle, 1968................................43 Jimi Hendrix...........................................................................................................46 Robert Cray............................................................................................................49 Dancing the Jitterbug.............................................................................................51 The Kingsmen........................................................................................................54 Recording equipment and memorabilia from Sun Studios, Memphis...................57 The Fleetwoods......................................................................................................60 Bob Reisdorff and Bonnie Guitar on the cover of The Cash Box..........................61 The Spanish Castle.................................................................................................67 Paul Revere and the Raiders..................................................................................74 Etiquette Records emblem.....................................................................................77 Cover of the 1962 Wailers’ album, The Fabulous Wailers at the Castle..............77 The Sonics..............................................................................................................79 Map of Seattle, Census neighborhood statistical areas, 1980................................94 Seattle Billboard, 1971...........................................................................................95 Duff McKagan performing with Ten Minute Warning.........................................96 Kurt Cobain faces the crowd................................................................................100 Mother Love Bone...............................................................................................103 Mark McLaughlin and Kurt Cobain.....................................................................106 Sub Pop emblem..................................................................................................111 America the Beautiful?........................................................................................114 Scream, a Washington DC punk band and their audience...................................115 TV puts a flag on the moon.................................................................................117 Mötley Crüe.........................................................................................................120 Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt....................................................................136 Beat Happening: Calvin Johnson, Bret Lunsford, and Heather Lewis................138 Map of the Seattle region.....................................................................................140 The crowd at a U-Men concert............................................................................141 Cover of the 1986 C/Z compilation album, Deep Six..........................................153 Nirvana: Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, and Krist Novoselic....................................158 Illustration of Sub Pop’s regional