2:59

We’ve got our priorities all mixed up.

Bomp Records founder Greg Shaw passed away this past Tuesday, October 19th from heart failure at the age of 55. The label he build released a wonderfully eloquent press release that stated:

Greg’s lifelong devotion to discovering, raving about and releasing authentic -albeit obscure- rock & roll, and promoting rock fandom over four decades was extraordinary. Among his many accomplishments were fanzine publisher, magazine editor, band manager, author, indie label owner, and rock historian. Though his roles often varied, two things were absolutely consistent: his impeccable taste in music and the ability to be there first.

For our obituary on Punknews I added a bit more history, as the newer generation of pop-punk kids likely wouldn’t be entirely familiar with Bomp’s legacy…

Greg started a rock zine titled Mojo-Navigator Rock & Roll News in San Francisco in ‘66. A few years after he put out another zine called Who Put the Bomp! which featured such noted rock journalists as Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Dave Marsh and Richard Meltzer. Bomp Records was launched in 1974 with the release of the Flamin’ Groovies’ You Tore Me Down single. Bomp will continue to release the music that was Greg’s legacy under the guidance of Suzy Shaw and Alive/Total Energy’s Patrick Boissel. They note that “However you choose to honor Greg’s memory– do it with anything but a moment of silence”

I love that quote.

However I haven’t seen, at this point, anything from Rolling Stone or Billboard or NME or any of the big “rock magazines” paying their respects yet. On one hand Greg’s legacy is in discovering and promoting obscure bands, so it’s not entirely unexpected that the mainstream ignores him, however at this point the sum of Bomp’s work should warrant a bit more respect from the larger press. It ticks me off, but maybe by next week or so they’ll realize the news. I guess our turnaround between press release and article on the `Org is quicker than in a company with a big editorial structure, so maybe I’m making a fuss about nothing.

…but WHY does it feel like so much of our readership is willfully wearing blinders in regards to labels like Bomp? I’m not trying to make it sound like we’re the experts on this history, hell I’m ashamed to say we only put up a Bomp topic earlier this year, but it always feels like I’ve got to force the attention of the readership towards some of these sources. Yet at the same time they’ll complain about how there’s no quality or “real” rock out there anymore.

I urged a reader to delve more into Bomp’s history only to get a terse response that “if its emo, i’m not interested.”

What? Emo? Must every discussion end up there? Has that horribly maligned genre so warped our perspectives and soured our expectations that people are avoiding the very history of great independent rock music?

The other day someone commented that the label started by Blink 182’s drummer was Sire. SIRE. Christ.

I admit I’m a big nerd when it comes to record industry history, so maybe names like Bomp or Sire mean more to me than it would to the 16 year old who just discovered Rise Against. I understand that. However I can’t shake the feeling that there’s this cynicism that’s stopping people from even wanting to learn. I’m starting to think I should write a series of label-history articles for the `Org just to shake this feeling.

I must say though we did receive some positive feedback to the article on Greg, most of it was from a few older readers whom I immensely respect. If you’re reading this, thank you for paying your respects and proving we don’t entirely cater to the new-school crowd.

So RIP Greg Shaw, your influence is further reaching and deeper ingrained in the indie scene then you’re getting credit for.