Pure Joy

Pure Joy took their name from a track by the storied British new wave band the Teardrop Explodes. In the 1980s they ranked among the few Seattle groups whose primary influences came from English neo-psychedelic rock instead of punk or heavy metal. Along with Weather Theatre, Room Nine, and the First Thought, the band—originally called the Dwindles—projected a U.K. sensibility far more than a Pacific Northwest one. Rusty Willoughby sang and played guitar, Lisa King handled bass, and Jim Hunnicutt covered drums and vocals. They cut their debut LP, Unsung, in 1987. A West Coast tour alongside the Chameleons U.K. brought glowing notices, and college stations aired the song “Ocean,” yet mainstream exposure stayed minimal. The new wave character of their material stood at odds with the abrasive style of other Seattle acts; although they never reached the visibility of the city’s grunge stars, they helped widen the scope of its music community. PopLlama Records released their second album, Carnivore, in 1989, after which the group disbanded.

Willoughby next assembled the power pop band Flop, recruiting Nate Johnson on drums, Bill Campbell on guitar, and Paul Schurr on bass. Flop issued three albums during the 1990s—Flop and the Revenge of the Mopsqueezer, Whenever You’re Ready, and World of Today—before calling it quits. Despite signing with Epic Records at the height of Seattle grunge, they were dropped before the label supplied the resources needed to cultivate an audience. In 1995 Willoughby reactivated Pure Joy with King and Hunnicutt. The resulting record, Getz, The Worm, came out in 1998 on The Great Utopia, an imprint of Flydaddy Records.