Sub Pop 20th anniversary

Nirvana, the quintessential Sub Pop band. Although their first album, Bleach, released in 1989, sold only 30,000 copies, it has since gone platinum and is now the label's biggest-selling LP Photograph: Charles J. Peterson/Getty

Mudhoney, formed in 1988 from the ashes of Green River, are another Sub Pop staple. Along with Nirvana, their combination of sludgy Black Sabbath riffs with punk energy helped to give shape to the emerging Seattle sound. Photograph: Charles J. Peterson/Getty

More inspired by metal than punk, Tad were one of the loudest Seattle bands and were fronted by Tad Doyle, a 300-pound bear of a man and a formidable stage presence Photograph: Charles J. Peterson/Getty

Green River were formed in 1984 by Mark Arm and Steve Turner, who later went on to form Mudhoney. Their debut EP, Come on Down, released in 1985, is widely regarded as the first grunge record Photograph: Sub Pop

Nouns by No Age. These noise rockers from LA are a recent addition to the Sub Pop stable Photograph: Sub Pop

Pissed Jeans, Hope for Men album cover. More blue-collar grunge, this time from Allentown, Pennsylvania Photograph: Sub Pop

The Postal Service, Give Up album cover. Something of an indie-pop supergroup consisting of members from Death Cab for Cutie, their synth-pop side project, released in 2003, has since gone gold Photograph: Sub Pop

Their seminal EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, released in 1990, features material from 1988-89 and was a huge influence on Kurt Cobain. The cover photograph taken from chaotic stage performance also characterises the unreconstructed Sub Pop aesthetic. The EP is now widely considered a classic and was reissued earlier this year Photograph: Sub Pop

Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves. Formed in Chicago in 1983, this famously debauched garage-rock outfit self-destructed after Sub Pop dropped them Photograph: Joe Giron/Corbis

Soundgarden. Another fundamental Sub Pop band from the early days. Their debut EP, Screaming Life, released in 1987, was integral to the formation of Sub Pop as a label Photograph: Michael Tighe/Getty

New Zealand comedy duo, Flight of the Conchords, won Sub Pop its first Grammy, for best comedy album Photograph: Sub Pop