SST

There was a period of time when I would just go to the music shop and look for the SST logo on the sleeve of the audio cassette tape available for purchase.

In my youth there was no internet, no ITunes.
If you wanted to listen to something other than top forty pop or classic rock, you had to sort it out on your own.

I had never really thought much about SST until the other night.


I was looking for a MeatPuppets CD (yeah, I upgraded to CD from cassette) and realized my eyes were actually searching for the SST logo on the sleeve. I had reverted back to the way I spotted cool music in a shop twenty years ago.

SST provided most of the soundtrack for my formative years.
Their releases are still in the regular rotation, here at prettynotgood HQ.

As described by Wiki-

SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.

Music writer Michael Azerrad wrote, "Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and popular underground indie of the Eighties".[1] SST initially focused on releasing material by hardcore punk groups from Southern California. As many of the bands on the label sought to expand beyond the limitations of the hardcore genre, SST released many key albums that were instrumental in the development of American alternative rock, including releases by the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur Jr. After a peak release schedule in the late 1980s, SST began venturing into jazz releases. SST is now based in Taylor, Texas.

Huh?
Somehow I had overlooked examining the source of so much of the music I listen to. I just sorta glossed over thinking about the common thread between so much of it. Really out of character for me.

I figured out that most of the SST music was stuff that I would like - with out ever thinking that there was actually any connection or commonality beyond that little logo.

The instant gratification of a new Sonic Youth cassette tape subverted my desire to understand the larger picture, it seems. Only now do I consider that the little logo I searched for was actually the logo of a record label, a brand even.
I didn't really think in those terms then, I suppose.
I was just searching for something from over my horizon.



This has gotten a bit long winded for our usual Saturday music selection, hasn't it?
Quite the tangent from just posting up some song for you.

So, go dig some SST cassette tape out of the milk crate in the back corner of your closet and listen to it again.

Or listen to the Minutemen tube and get on with your day.