Green Monkey Records is an underground record label started in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, US. It was established by local musician Tom Dyer and was active from 1983 to 1991 and from 2009 to present, with sporadic releases in the interim. It is currently headquartered in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

, US.

History

Green Monkey Records was established in 1983 by local musician

Tom Dyer Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, who was inspired to begin recording and producing music after a recording session at Seattle's Triangle Studios. Using a "Teac four-track reel-to-reel and a Tapco 6200B mixer from a guy in a parking garage downtown," Dyer began recording and mixing music in his apartment in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. Early clients included Mr. Epp and the Calculations, featuring

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, So ...

(later of

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988, following the demise of Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters. Orig ...

fame). After Dyer's landlord found out, the operation was quickly moved to the basement of a rented house on the north side of Seattle's Queen Anne Hill. Between 1983 and 1991, Green Monkey Records released 44 albums. The label's biggest brush with commercial success came from the

Green Pajamas The Green Pajamas are a musical group from Seattle, Washington. They formed in the spring of 1984 when Jeff Kelly and Joe Ross recorded and released their first album, ''Summer Of Lust''. They are probably best known for the regional hit single " ...

' album "Book of Hours," a followup to the single "Kim the Waitress" that was two years in the making. The label's had reached its heyday by 1987, and by 1988, changing priorities (including the birth of Dyer's first child) and new responsibilities (teaching at the Art Institute of Seattle) had begun to impact the label. In 1991, Dyer sold the majority of his recording equipment and closed the studio, although he did occasionally release new material, such as the Green Pajamas' Caroler's Song EP.

Sound and cultural impact

Although Green Monkey Records has never enjoyed significant commercial success, the label does have a cult following. The label's sound has been categorized as "post-punk/pre-grunge Seattle" and "indy pop music—good honest, ballsy, delicate, garage-y, punky, folky, mildly trippy pop music". The label has received positive press from local "listener-powered" indie radio station KEXP as well as a number of indie music bloggers.

Revival

In 2009, Green Monkey Records released a 2 CD compilation album, titled "It Crawled from the Basement: the green monkey records anthology." The album featured 47 tracks by 32 artists. To celebrate, Dyer orchestrated a release party at the SoDo Showbox featuring nine bands: The

, The Icons, The Purdins, Capping Day, The Queen Annes, Prudence Dredge, Liquid Generation, The Elements and Slam Suzzanne. Inspired by positive press, Dyer began releasing more material, including several reissues, but notably new material and new artists as well. As of December 2016, the label has released 52 more albums, with a significant number of contributions by Dyer or Jeff Kelly and the Green Pajamas.

Christmas albums

Since 2010, the label has released an annual Christmas compilation to benefit the charity

MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, ...

. Contributors include Green Monkey veterans such as The Green Pajamas, The Queen Annes, and Eric Padget (of Sigourney Reverb), as well as other artists from around the country, and of course, Dyer himself. Critical reception of the albums has been favorable, with Stubby's House of Christmas declaring that "somehow, every GD year, Green Monkey puts out one of the best Christmas albums of the year."

Move to Olympia

In 2016, Dyer moved the label to the Capitol, Olympia, with some Olympia artists being added to the label's primarily Seattle mix. The natural result of this move can be seen in 2022 with Dyer's "Olympia: A True Story”, a 3-CD box set about the history of Olympia.

Discography

1983 Various Artists - Local Product Tom Dyer - Truth or Consequences 1984 Me Three - No Money ... No Fun Tom Dyer - I Lived Three Lives Bombardiers - Fight Back 1985 Prudence Dredge - Don't Stomp Away/Problem Child (single) Jeff Kelly - Baroquen Hearts Liquid Generation - I Love You/1/4 To Zen (single) The Green Pajamas - Summer of Lust The Elements - Honest Enough 1986 Various Artists - Monkey Business Green Pajamas - Kim the Waitress/Jennifer (single) The Queen Annes - Something Quick The Fall-outs - The Fall-outs Keith Livingston - i've got this room The Icons - Masters of Disaster The Icons - Live At The Hall of Fame 1987 Prudence Dredge - Big Ellen Green Pajamas - Book of Hours Jeff Kelly - Coffee in Nepal Bruce Haedt - Miss Lyons Looking Sideways The Life - Alone Glass Penguins - raspberry The Elements - ART 1988 Rich Hinklin - Contradiction Green Pajamas - November 1989 Green Pajamas - Sister Anne/Emily Grace (single) The Purdins - Let's Be Friends (EP) Capping Day - Mona Lisa/Slow Fade (single) Jon Strongbow - A Normal Sort of Guy Jon Strongbow - Something Different The Hitmen - Perfect Pain/Tiger Carpet (single) 1990 Green Pajamas - Ghosts of Love Jeff Kelly - Portugal The Hitmen - Smashface The Life - Do It Again/A Broken Man (single) Mad Mad Nomad - Keeper of the Cage/ Double Edged Dreamer (single) Swelter Cacklebush - Swelter Cackle Bush (EP) 1991 Slam Suzzanne - On The Floor With Your Mom Mad Mad Nomad - Snap Out Joe Leonard - Breath 1992 Jeff Kelly - Private Electrical Storm 1995 Jeff Kelly - Ash Wednesday Rain 2001 The Green Pajamas - The Carolers’ Song 2009 Various Artists - It Crawled From the Basement 2 Tom Dyer – Songs from Academia Vol. 1: Singing Various Artists - Santa's Not Dead: It's a Green Monkey Christmas! 2010 Tom Dyer – Songs from Academia Vol. 2: Instrumental & Spoken Word. Green Pajamas - The Complete Book of Hours (remaster) The Icons - Masters of Disaster (remix) Green Pajamas - Red Red Rose (single) The Hitmen - Smashface (remastered) Various Artists - Hot Dog! It's Another Green Monkey Xmas! 2011 The Icons - Appointment With Destiny! Green Pajamas - Green Pajama Country Sigourney Reverb - Bees In Your Bed Bad Various Artists - It Crawled Down the Chimney: It's Another GMR Xmas! 2012 The Life - Alone (remaster) Goblin Market - Far Beneath Gondal's Foreign Sky The Green Pajamas - Summer of Lust (remaster) The Green Pajamas - Death By Misadventure Tom Dyer - I Ain't Blue Any More Various Artists - Frothing the Nog: Ye Fourth Green Monkey Xmas 2013 Jim of Seattle - We Are All Famous The Colorplates – Agony and Ecstasy Post-Punk Art Rock Seattle 1979 -1982 King County Queens - Ladies and Gentlemen, Your King County Queens The OF - Oh It's The OF Gary Minkler - Little Trailer Ruby The Green Pajamas - November (remix) Various Artists - Green Monkey Records Presents Merry Krampus Tom Dyer - Xmas - 30 Years In The Making 2014 The Queen Annes - Something Quick 1980-1985 (remaster) Slam Suzanne - On The Floor With Your Mom (remaster) Jeff and Susanne Kelly - By Reckless Moonlight Green Pajamas - Happy Halloween! Tom Dyer - Xmas-30 Years In The Making 2015 Me Three - No Money No Fun (remix) The OF - Escape Goat Jim McIver - Sunlight Reaches Tom Dyer's New Pagan Gods - History Of Northwest Rock Vol. 1, 1959-1968 Fur For Fairies - Fur For Fairies The Fuzz - Best Kept Secret Fur For Fairies - I Didn't Know (Single) Various - Christmas Monkey On My Back 2016 Liquid Generation - Quarter to Zen The Navins - Not Yourself Today Fur For Fairies - I Breathe You In (Single) Tom Dyer - Meditations on Prince Bowie (Single) The Queen Annes - Released! The Green Pajamas - If You Knew What I Dreamed The Green Pajamas - To The End Of The Sea Tom Dyer's New Pagan Gods - Tom Dyer's New Pagan Gods Play Hendrix Jim of Seattle - Both the Planet Frank and the Chet Lambert Show Burnseer - Burnseer The Freewheelin' Joe Ross - Post-Election Day Blues (Single) Various - All I Want For Xmas: GMR Xmas VII 2017 Tom Dyer – Songs To Annoy Small Children AAIIEE – folly The Shaken Growlers Dante and Eros Faulk – Beirt Swedish Finnish -Swedish Finnish The Green Pajamas – Supernatural Afternoon Tom Dyer and the True Olympians – Christmas in Olympia (Single) Various - The Good, The Bad, and Other Christmas Favorites! 2018 The Green Pajamas – Phantom Lake: Northern Gothic 3 Brain Wizard – Brain Wizard's Most Hella Dopest Tom Dyer & The True Olympians – 12 New Recordings REDS Band - REDS Band Wenis - The Donut House, Seattle 1980 Various - A Green Monkey Christmas For Martians Up On Mars Tom & Kat's Excellent Christmas Adventure 2019 Maggie Teachout – Maybe I'm Still Just Peter My Favorite Martian – The Martian Chronicles, Los Angeles 1990's Jeff Kelly – Beneath The Stars, Above The River Al Bloch's Summer of Fun Super Party Mix Tape Tom Dyer – 1+1 = ? Sally Barry – Renditions Chemistry Set – The Incomplete Fabulous Stinking Chemistry Set Toiling Midgets – Sea of Tranquility Richard Peterson Orchestra – Seven Kline's 57 – Joaquin Wounded Various - Hail The Jolly Christmas Monkey! 2020 Joe Cason & Bob Hart – Notes From Sea Level Zelda Starfire – V8 (EP) Olivia Bloch – Georgy Girl (Single) Tom Dyer – Truth or Consequences Dante and Eros Faulk – Mirage Al Bloch – It Was All Once Bright Jewels Jeff Kelly – When The World Was Younger Raymond C. Mobley – Breathe Band of Certainty – Twist and Sway (Seven Songs) Jon Strongbow – Alien City Tom Dyer – Beautimus and other sounds of the Nineties Al Bloch – Protest Songs Tom Dyer & The True Olympians - Pandemic Christmas (Single) Various - Pandemic Christmas 2021 Richard Peterson Catalog Richard Peterson's First Album Richard Peterson -The Second Album Richard Peterson - Love On The Golf Course Richard Peterson - The William Loose Songbook Richard Peterson - Richard's Ungreatest Hits Richard Peterson -The Religious Album Richard Peterson - Mathisization Richard Peterson - Topaz Single Steve Trettevik – Faded Champion The Deans – Live December 31, 1981, 66 Bell Jon Strongbow – Something Different Glass Penguins – raspberry James and the Giant Peach Al Bloch – Kinda Makes Me Smile Mud Shack - Mud Shack The Green Pajamas – Sunlight Might Weigh Even More Throttle Body M/C – Super Hits Of The ’70s Village Green - Village Green The True Olympians – Holiday Collection 2022 Jon Strongbow – What It Takes The Holidays – Big Sexy World! The Green Pajamas – Forever For A Little While Tom Dyer & The True Olympians – Olympia: A True Story

References

External links

official website
{{Authority control American record labels