THE SUBWAY ORGANISATION
Pollinated by Postcard Records and various other indies of the early 80's, growing out of the fanzine and cassette scene of the time, Subway finally blossomed in August 1985 with the release of the Shop Assistants debut EP. Spring 1986 also saw the debuts of The Soup Dragons and such other established indie stalwarts as The Chesterfields, The Flatmates and Razorcuts, soon followed by releases from The Rosehips and The Groove Farm.
The Clouds featured a pre-Teenage Fanclub Norman Blake in its line up and Choo Choo Train later became Velvet Crush. Subway's deals were most often based on no more than a handshake, which resulted in Pop Will Eat Itself recording just 2 compilation tracks before departing and Talullah Gosh passing straight through without even visiting the recording studio.
Subway featured such diverse artists as the teenage strummings of Rodney Allen to the sonic assault of The Charlottes. From the high tech synth driven pop of Korova Milk Bar to the low tech garage indie of Bubblegum Splash. It was just a pop thing.
Martin Whitehead, the label's proprietor, was a dyed in the wool pop fan, and it's whole raison d'etre was simply to make some great pop recordings available to other music fans. With no business plan, no promotional budget, no business experience and less common sense, Subway - probably the ultimate bedroom label, was doomed to crash and burn.
It's a wonder that between 1985 and 1989 it managed to release 27 singles and 15 albums before it did. From a stable of artists based on nothing more calculated than a damn fine fuzzy demo tape it produced a strike rate that any centre forward would be proud of.
