NEW YORK (Reuters) – In the summer of 1987, 19-year-old Mac McCaughan and his bandmates stumbled on an idea as old as rock ‘n’ roll itself.

Rather than sending demo tapes to major record companies, they followed in the do-it-yourself footsteps of punk-rock idols such as the Buzzcocks and Minor Threat and started their own label. But more than promote their own band, they wanted to document the local music in the college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

That label evolved into Merge Records, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Along the way, the label has garnered mainstream hits by Arcade Fire and Spoon, attracted critical praise for bands like Magnetic Fields, and enjoyed smaller successes with Lambchop and McCaughan’s own band Superchunk.

Its history was been documented in “Our Noise: The Story Of Merge Records” (Algonquin Books), which McCaughan wrote with Merge co-owner and Superchunk bassist Laura Ballance and Gawker.com scribe John Cook.