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 i ...

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 su ...

movement and the seminal '' NME'' cassette tape '' C86'', 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 inde ...

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

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 (replacing guitarist Brendan Holden), joined The Blue Aeroplanes. *

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, in issue 2 of fanzine So Naive. * The Charlottes: * The Chesterfields: 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 Velvet Crush is an American power pop band from Providence, Rhode Island, United States, that achieved prominence in indie-rock circles in the early- and mid-1990s. The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and have continued to record, ...

: *

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 ...

: 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: * The Flatmates: 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 re ...

Top 20. *

The Groove Farm ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

: * 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 Steven ...

: 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 Sp ...

(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. *

The Rosehips ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

: 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 '' C86'' cassette tape from the '' NME''. * The Soup Dragons: 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 to the southwest, Viewpark to the w ...

, 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 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 and lumped in with the C86 movement, along with fellow members of the ''Bellshill Sound'', such as the BMX Bandits and Teenage Fanclub, 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 Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

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

The Subway Organization
*

The Subway Organization at Allmusic ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...