Bruce Pavitt Quotes

I think so much of our society is geared towards mainstream media and pop culture and so forth. And there's a huge divide between the artist and the fan. And with indie culture that wall is removed. You actually do see the musicians walking around enjoying the show. It's a distinctly different culture and for the 99% of Nirvana fans that caught up with them with Nevermind, my book is gonna give them a whole different take on Kurt [Cobain] and the band.

— Bruce Pavitt

“The idea of having an indie rock "career" while living in a remote backwater like Seattle was too ridiculous to contemplate. It was simply about having adventures, one day at a time, one song at a time.”

— Bruce Pavitt

“Music careerists from Seattle would typically move to the closest media center, which was L.A.”

— Bruce Pavitt

“I was a history major in school. I review the past a lot and think about music history and how culture unfolds.”

— Bruce Pavitt

I love the dynamic contrast between the spontaneous shots and the more formal, pro-rock-star photos.

— Bruce Pavitt

“People are hard-wired for tribal identity.”

— Bruce Pavitt

I had no real photography experience, thankfully. I consciously took a lot of crowd shots. I was influenced by Seattle photographer Charles Peterson, who always seemed to incorporate fans in his live band shots.

— Bruce Pavitt

“I think in times of crisis it's the artists' responsibility to dig a little deeper.”

— Bruce Pavitt

“I can fully understand [that] artists want to be able to pay their bills. As a fan of art, and art as a way to shift dialogue and address cultural issues, there's a part of me that's really, really saddened by that and can't really relate to it.”

— Bruce Pavitt

“Indie rock is very healthy, there's a lot of diversity and a lot of creativity, but it does not have the revolutionary spirit of the late-70s punk scene in regards to design and politics and fashion and stuff like that.”

— Bruce Pavitt

There's no school you can go to where you can study how to run a record label. Every day was a learning experience.

— Bruce Pavitt