The first biography of the thriving and influential rock scene in Chapel Hill, which gave the world artists like Ben Folds Five, Superchunk, and Squirrel Nut Zippers North Carolina has always produced extraordinary music of every description. But the indie-rock boom of the late 1980s and early ‘90s brought the state most fully into the public consciousness, while the subsequent post-Grunge free-for-all bestowed its greatest commercial successes. In addition to the creation of legacy label Merge Records and a slate of excellent indie bands like Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, and Polvo, this was the decade when other North Carolina artists broke Billboard’s Top 200 and sold millions of records―several million of which were issued by another indie label based in Carrboro, Chapel Hill’s smaller next-door neighbor. It’s time to take a closer look at exactly what happened.
A Really Strange and Wonderful Time features a rep
