The Subway Organization was a British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

founded in 1985 in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

by Martin Whitehead.

Indie pop and ''C86''

The label was associated with the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

movement and the seminal ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' cassette tape ''

C86 ''C86'' is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine ''NME'' in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music gen ...

'', that included the track "It's Up To You" by

Shop Assistants Shop Assistants were a Scottish indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as 'Buba & The Shop Assistants'.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 502 After achieving success with indepe ...

, from the label's first release (the group subsequently joined the

53rd & 3rd ''Ramones'' is the debut studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After ''Hit Parader'' editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article ...

label). The label also had contacts with other groups including

Pop Will Eat Itself Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorpor ...

but their songs were only released on compilations. The founder of the label had his own group,

The Flatmates The Flatmates, part of the mid-1980s British indie pop boom, were part of The Subway Organization, a Bristol record label formed by Martin Whitehead. Whitehead is also guitarist and main songwriter for the band. History Following the group's ...

Singles artists

* Rodney Allen: Released the Happysad LP on his shemt in 1987, and 12-inch Circle Line EP in 1988. Then after a brief spell in

The Chesterfields The Chesterfields are an English indie pop band from Yeovil, Somerset, England. Hardcore fans tended to refer to them as "The Chesterf!elds", with an exclamation mark replacing the "i", following the example of the band's logo. The band was form ...

(replacing guitarist Brendan Holden), joined

The Blue Aeroplanes The Blue Aeroplanes are an English rock band from Bristol, the mainstays of which have been Gerard Langley, brother John Langley, and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski. All three had previously been members of the New wave music, new wave "art band" Ar ...

. *

Bubblegum Splash! Bubblegum Splash! were an indiepop or punk rock band from Salisbury, in the South West of England.''Endless Beat'' by Moody and Nash () The band featured Jim Harrison, Alan Harrison, Dave Todd, Marty Cummins, and Nikki Barr. The group disbanded ...

: Short lived (1987–1988) indie pop band from Salisbury, England. With Nikki Barr on vocals, Dave Todd on bass, Jim Harrison on guitar, Marty Cummins on tambourine and backing vocals, and Alan Harrison on drums. They recorded only 7 tracks in total, 4 of which were released on their debut and only EP "Splashdown!” in August 1987, which reached No. 15 in the indie charts. In December 1987 the track "If Only" came free on a split 7-inch flexidisc with

The Darling Buds The Darling Buds are an alternative rock band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and were named after the H. E. Bates novel '' The Darling Buds of May'' – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: ...

, in issue 2 of fanzine So Naive. *

The Charlottes The Charlottes were a female fronted indie pop band from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire in England, formed in 1988. History The band formed in 1988, initially as The Giant Polar Bears, comprising Petra Roddis (vocals), Graham Gargiulo (guitar), David ...

: *

: Indie rock band from Yeovil, Somerset (1984–1989). They garnered Indie Chart Hits for their singles and albums not only on The Subway Organisation, but their own Household label. Fans tended to refer to them as 'The Chesterf!elds', with an exclamation mark replacing the 'i', following the example of the band's logo. * Choo Choo Train: *

The Clouds ''The Clouds'' ( grc, Νεφέλαι ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not as ...

: Glasgow brothers John and Bill Charneley, who began as back-bedroom punks and gradually softened to an acoustic, West Coast-influenced sound after signing with The Subway Organization. *

The Fastbacks Fastbacks were a Seattle, Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch (born August 28, 1960), and friends Lulu Gargiulo (guitar and vocals, born October 12, 1960) and Kim Warnick (bass and vocals, born April 7, ...

: *

: Indie pop band. The band's core members were Martin Whitehead (Guitar) and Debbie Haynes (Vocals). Initially, the band also included Kath Beach (Bass guitar) and Joel O'Beirne/Rocker (Drums). They released five singles, all of which featured in the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Top 20. * The Groove Farm: * Korova Milk Bar: *

Razorcuts Razorcuts were an indie pop band formed in 1984 in London. The group centred on Gregory Webster and Tim Vass (who were previously in The Cinematics), with various musicians including Peter Momtchiloff of Heavenly and Talulah Gosh, Angus Stevenso ...

: Melodic UK guitar band with strong 60s folk-rock influences. The line-up consisted of

Gregory Webster Gregory Webster is a British musician. In 1985 he founded the Razorcuts with Tim Vass. He then played in The Carousel with Elizabeth Price (ex-Talulah Gosh) from 1989 to 1994. Soon after he was the protagonist in Saturn V. In 1997 he founded Spor ...

(vocals & guitar), Tim Vass (bass) and Dave Smith (drums). Vass later formed the psych/folkers Red Chair Fadeaway. Webster and Vass reunited under the name Forever People in 1992 for a one-off single on Bristol label

Sarah Records Sarah Records was a British independent record label active in Bristol between 1987 and 1995, best known for its recordings of indie pop, which it released mostly on 7" singles. On reaching the catalogue number SARAH 100, the label celebrated it ...

. * The Rosehips: Jangly UK pop band. *

: ''Their All Day Long EP'' (SUBWAY 1) was the first release by the label in 1985. The track "It's Up to You" taken from the EP ended up on the ''

'' cassette tape from the ''

''. *

The Soup Dragons ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

: The band formed in

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

, Glasgow in 1985 and recorded their first

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

, ''You Have Some Too'', after playing a few local gigs, and this was followed by a

flexi disc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

single "If You Were the Only Girl in the World".Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman, San Francisco, , p.646-647 Originally inspired by

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

and lumped in with the

movement, along with fellow members of the ''Bellshill Sound'', such as the BMX Bandits and

Teenage Fanclub Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) and Gerard Love (vocals, bass), all of whom shared ...

, they went through a number of stylistic changes in their career. The band signed to Subway in early 1986 and their first proper single (''The Sun in the Sky'' EP) was Buzzcocks-inspired pop-

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

. The band's big breakthrough came with their second single for Subway, "Whole Wide World", which reached No. 2 on the

UK Independent Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

in 1986.Lazell, Barry (1997) ''Indie Hits 1980 – 1989'', Cherry Red Books, , p.213

Compilations

*Take the Subway to Your Suburb, (suborg 1 P *Surfin' in the Subway, (suborg 4 P

Reissues on other labels

In 2005 Cherry Red released a CD of ''The Best of The Subway Organization 1986–1989''.

References

External links