TIME TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE
Greg and the Groovies parted company at the end of 1976, when he left a frozen-in London to return to L.A. and pick up the threads of his old business. Suzy had been running Bomp's mailorder department in his absence, but work on the magazine and the label had fallen far behind, and he had his work cut out.
The early history of Bomp Records is covered pretty well in Destination Bomp. Greg had resigned from UA and Phonograph Record in 1975 when he got involved with the Groovies; now he poured his energy into chronicling the new punk movement in the pages of Bomp, based on his travels and observations. The magazine grew at an accelerated pace, with circulation up to about 25,000, and was nationally distributed on newsstands. As the new music spread, Bomp grew with it, and Greg had brought in Gary Sperazza to share his editing chores.
But by 1979 a turning point had been reached. The magazine was now so expensive to print ($15,000 cash needed on delivery at the printers, though ad money would take 60 days to collect and distributors generally never paid at all) that it was almost beyond his means. Meetings were taken with a bigger company that wanted to finance the growth, but they insisted on regular monthly publication, which was not realistic. At the same time, he was souring on the music scene, which had become corporate and mercenary, a far cry from the early days of cult bands and punk. It wasn't fun anymore, so he ended it.
His new enthusiasm was the garage music of the '60s. People told him he had coined the term "punk rock" back in Creem while writing about this music, predicting it would make a comeback someday. Something like this seemed to be happening in the early days of New York's punk scene, but when the spike-haired English punks took over the word, Greg decided the nomenclature was getting confusing, and began referring to the '60s stuff as "garage". Now that there was nothing else cool going on, he launched into promoting greater awareness of the glories of garage.
One of the projects that has passed through Sire during his tenure there had been Lenny Kaye's "Nuggets" album, which had been deleted on Elektra when Sire reissued it in 1976, just in time for it to became a huge influence on all the new punk bands. Lenny and Greg wanted to do a second volume, and work went ahead on it until it became clear that some of the best tracks could not be obtained, because the original labels were obscure and nobody knew where to find the masters. A couple years later, Greg took his notes for the project and put together the album he saw as the sequel "Nuggets" deserved. Because it wasn't "Nuggets", he called it "Pebbles". Where master tapes couldn't be found, he mastered from records, and hoped nobody would mind.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
What's really sad about this obit is in the coming years how rare the statement: "he/she made a real difference in music" will be.
But geez, 55? That's mortality looking you in the face.
There was an article in The Observer today about Iggy Pop who was a Bomp! veteran.
2 - Mike Kole
Eric- thanks for this post. I wouldn't have known about Greg Shaw's passing if it weren't for you putting it up here. (Nose deep into political grindstone.)
I'm eternally grateful to Shaw and Bomp! for the Stiv Bators solo LP "Disconnected" and for the Wierdos' ep "1977, 1978, 1979", and Shaw's contributions to the Nuggets and Pebbles comps.
Man, 55 is just too young.
3 - Julie Patchouli
Greg Shaw was and still is a pioneer in the Rock N Roll World. He introduced particular genre's to many generations that without his introduction probably would not have seen the light of day due to its rarity and obscurity. This is Julie Patchouli, bass player for the famed "Pandoras" signed to Greg's label Voxx.
Greg Shaw's inspiration and true enlightenment will be missed. Greg was always big hearted, eventhough we, (the"Pandoras") never recieved a salary per say, Greg paid us in merchandise, he would allow us to run wild in his warehouse and pick out whatever we wanted.... I felt like a kid in a candy store!! Thanks Greg !! We love you and miss you.....
Sincerely
Julie Patchouli
4 - Eric Olsen
thanks Julie, I saw you guys play a few times in LA and you rocked!
5 - Douglas Mays
Yes, BOMP was a label that made a difference in the modern world. Greg's work was a crucial cog in the wheel of modern independent music in the USA. The artwork alone on some of the albums were worth it (Calamari/Zincavage/Pettengill).
Anyway, good job Greg, maybe you can serve as A&R for the astral world. We could use it here on earth...
peacloveguidance
6 - Susan (Sutton) Crawford
I first got to know Greg through Phonograph Record Magazine, which I LOVED. I was 16 and had written to ask for a copy of the issue with a cover article he wrote on John Fogerty, saying how much I loved it. Imagine my surprise when it showed up in my mailbox with a really great letter from Greg himself. A few years later, I had become a big fan of Dave Edmunds et al, and started going to alot of club shows in L.A., just an hour from where I lived (Ventura), and had printed up a fanzine of two of my own (Top Of The Rockpile). Again, Greg helped me out. He had that wonderful little Bomp store where I could find so MANY cool things, where so MANY cool people hung out, spilling out onto the sidewalk in that cheesy L.A. neighborhood it was in. In my mind, it will always be there, a freeze-frame memory, circa 1977.
Thanks for being there, Greg, and...do they have mimeograph machines where you're at now??? I bet they do.