Whither Rockpool?
It has long been the editorial opinion of Altrok that the main thing separating the lean times from the times of plenty, in terms of interesting rock, is a visible, uncompromised outlet. That's "visible" as in "easy to stumble over and find weirdly compelling", and "uncompromised" as in "percieved as being driven more by artistic merit than commercial greed." (Note that I said percieved. Remember, kids, faking it is often as good as meaning it, at least for a while.)
That got me thinking about Rockpool, but that means the remainder of this piece is pretty much the result of the tattered remnants of hive memory regarding that pivotal entity, since there's not much Google can cough up on the subject. Apparently, nobody talks about Rockpool anymore (and frankly, I'd like to find out more about its details myself) but once upon a time, you couldn't spend any time on the subject of Modern Rock on the East Coast without stumbling over Rockpool.
Danny Heaps talks about Rockpool now, though, but that's understandable - he founded it. According to his bio at Sanctuary, he started "as DJ of the legendary NYC club, The Mudd Club, and then founded the New Music Seminar and the first 'new wave' promotion company in the States, Rockpool." (Note that I'm still fact-checking this stuff - from what I remember, the New Music Seminar was founded by Mark Josephson, Tom Silverman and Joel Webber, and it appears that, according to his bio, Josephson founded Rockpool, so...huh?)
Rockpool's charter included a trade magazine and a record pool - DJs would subscribe to it and receive the latest import and domestic alternative releases, and the choices Rockpool made for their monthly deliveries went a long way toward determining whether a record got heard in the clubs, or on college radio, and even on WLIR, New York's premiere alternative rock outlet. It begat the New Music Seminar, an annual modern rock bacchanalia that collapsed under its own weight around 1990. Its primary competitor, CMJ, is still kicking around, and promotes the annual Music Marathon that takes New York by storm each year.
But that's about all the info I can get, Google-technician that I am. And so it's up to you - if you've got anything to add, let me know. It seems like a story that ought to be written.
That got me thinking about Rockpool, but that means the remainder of this piece is pretty much the result of the tattered remnants of hive memory regarding that pivotal entity, since there's not much Google can cough up on the subject. Apparently, nobody talks about Rockpool anymore (and frankly, I'd like to find out more about its details myself) but once upon a time, you couldn't spend any time on the subject of Modern Rock on the East Coast without stumbling over Rockpool.
Danny Heaps talks about Rockpool now, though, but that's understandable - he founded it. According to his bio at Sanctuary, he started "as DJ of the legendary NYC club, The Mudd Club, and then founded the New Music Seminar and the first 'new wave' promotion company in the States, Rockpool." (Note that I'm still fact-checking this stuff - from what I remember, the New Music Seminar was founded by Mark Josephson, Tom Silverman and Joel Webber, and it appears that, according to his bio, Josephson founded Rockpool, so...huh?)
Rockpool's charter included a trade magazine and a record pool - DJs would subscribe to it and receive the latest import and domestic alternative releases, and the choices Rockpool made for their monthly deliveries went a long way toward determining whether a record got heard in the clubs, or on college radio, and even on WLIR, New York's premiere alternative rock outlet. It begat the New Music Seminar, an annual modern rock bacchanalia that collapsed under its own weight around 1990. Its primary competitor, CMJ, is still kicking around, and promotes the annual Music Marathon that takes New York by storm each year.
But that's about all the info I can get, Google-technician that I am. And so it's up to you - if you've got anything to add, let me know. It seems like a story that ought to be written.
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