How to Make It in the Music Business without Really Trying

Abstract

Superchunk never hit it big, but their label Merge Records did, scoring chart-topping records and an Album Of The Year Grammy Award with Montreal’s Arcade Fire. They were just the latest and greatest label in local history, going back to Colonial Records, which released Andy Griffith’s 1953 hit routine “What It Was, Was Football.” In Durham, Sugar Hill Records became one of the top bluegrass labels in the 1980s. But while other labels came and went, Merge was the one with the most staying power of all.