The GRUNGE Thread

[Yves]

I know, I know....Grunge sucks donkey balls to most "real proggers" on PE. But, seeing as I am not one of the "elite" I have found myself revisiting a lot of the grunge I was listening to 20+ years ago (playing as I post this: Screaming Trees "Dust"). Been revisiting stuff like AIC, My Sister's Machine, Soundgarden; as well as discovering bands like Mad Season (how did I miss these guys?).

I know there are fans out there...

PS: We know Cobain sucks so please don't just post in this thread to tell us that (you know who you are...)

[100423]

I would count myself as one who enjoyed (and for the most part still enjoys) plenty of music from this "movement".
Soundgarden is still one of my favorite bands.

[Facelift]

I don't know why it would be hated. I loved it at the time, as a movement - it brought back the viability of real instruments and a good old hard rock sound to the mainstream. It killed off the "'80s production sound" which was so sterile and digital-keyboardy, and as well killed off cheesey hair metal - two very signfiicant and much-needed accomplishments, IMO. In so doing, the era it heralded allowed all kinds of more experimental/edgy/creative bands get a chance to be popular. Without grunge, for example, Primus barely has a career.

As far as the actual music goes, I really liked some of the bands (Dinosaur Jr. Soundgarden, Nirvana) and loathed some of the others (Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Silverchair) But much of what I liked then, I still do.

[Paulie]

You know I had to say it: SG is Progressive.

[Vic2012]

Never really got into grunge as a genre. Never cared much for Nirvana but a couple of their songs weren't bad. Along with others here Soundgarden for me is the best of that whole movement. I've said several times already that Soundgarden (or at least it sounds that way to me) were influenced by King Crimson (along with Zep and Sabbath of course). The other group I liked from that era was Stone Temple Pilots. Technically they're not grunge because they're not from the Pacific Northwest. To me they were as good as or better than Nirvana or Pearl Jam. King Animal by Soundgarden was a hell of a comeback too.

[Paulie]

STP is a crazy good band and worth diving deeper than the radio hits.

[80s were ok]

Get the Temple of the Dog album

[Rael]

At the time, I couldn't appreciate grunge for some reason. I think mainly due to overexposure and the trendy flannel and goatees, I was a bit turned off. But this is actually a pretty timely thread, because I'm rediscovering just how good this genre was. Really, it was rock music's last stand as the culturally dominant musical force it once was. And some of this stuff reminds me of the stoner rock genre I've recently discovered, thanks to that thread!

[Rael]

STP is a crazy good band and worth diving deeper than the radio hits.

And a killer live band when I saw them about 10 years ago. It was an alternative rock festival in Worcester, MA and I remember Staind, Static X and a couple others being on the bill. I also remember being one of the oldest people in the audience and I was only in my early 30s!

[Cuz]

I don't know why it would be hated. I loved it at the time, as a movement - it brought back the viability of real instruments and a good old hard rock sound to the mainstream. It killed off the "'80s production sound" which was so sterile and digital-keyboardy, and as well killed off cheesey hair metal - two very signfiicant and much-needed accomplishments, IMO.

Exactly how I feel.

[Hunnibee]

I was a huge Grunge/Alternative fan back in the day, mostly an Alice In Chains fan girl, but loved Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden, to name a few. Unfortunately, by the late 90s, the movement had died, and Alternative started to sound too poppy. I agree that "rock" needed a shot in the arm as far as getting rid of the cheese, so it came along at the right time.

[walt]

I've read that The Wipers were an influence on some "grunge" bands,but i'll leave it to those who know more than i do about the genre to determine if The Wipers qualify as grunge.I know i dig the music.Here's a track called "No Fair".I fuckin' love it,YMMV.

[Yves]

I too saw STP during their tour for their second album. Killer live band. I did not see all the classic grunge bands but I did manage to see AIC on their "Dirt" tour and even saw Nirvana on their "In Utero" tour. Both were great shows..

My definiton of "grunge" is kinda open-ended, meant to encompass other rock bands of the 90s like Kings X, I Mother Earth, Rage Against The Machine,Mary My Hope, Tool...all of which figure in my iTunes "Grunge" playlist!

[Yanks2014]

I liked and still enjoy music from just 3 grunge related bands, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. STP was easily the most melodic, and at times strays far from the grunge formula. Soundgarden to me had more metal roots, and of course had the monserous voice of Chris Cornell, love his vocals. Alice had such a distinct sound, really very original in the land of grunge. And they actually had strong backing vocals, rare in the sub-genre. Outside these 3, sure, I like a few songs here and there, most of Pearl Jam's first album, but really I couldn't warm to much of this music. Just too raw for my taste. I guess I tended to like the bands that were closer to metal than punk. No Nirvana for me, that is for sure.

[Dave (in MA)]

I've always been a fan of the Horse and was wearing flannel for decades before I knew that it was "trendy", and even since.

http://www.blogpoll.com/results_2946.html

[Rael]

I've been meaning to check out Mudhoney and The Melvins. What would be good starting places for those bands?

[mitchgx]

Glad to see you mentioned My Sister's Machine in the original post.....that's always the band I make sure to mention in any grunge or early '90s discussion since they were sadly unheralded during their brief existence. Great stuff.

[fictionmusic]

I don't know why it would be hated. I loved it at the time, as a movement - it brought back the viability of real instruments and a good old hard rock sound to the mainstream. It killed off the "'80s production sound" which was so sterile and digital-keyboardy, and as well killed off cheesey hair metal - two very signfiicant and much-needed accomplishments, IMO. In so doing, the era it heralded allowed all kinds of more experimental/edgy/creative bands get a chance to be popular. Without grunge, for example, Primus barely has a career.

As far as the actual music goes, I really liked some of the bands (Dinosaur Jr. Soundgarden, Nirvana) and loathed some of the others (Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Silverchair) But much of what I liked then, I still do.

well said and mirrors my sentiments exactly

[fictionmusic]

I too saw STP during their tour for their second album. Killer live band. I did not see all the classic grunge bands but I did manage to see AIC on their "Dirt" tour and even saw Nirvana on their "In Utero" tour. Both were great shows..

My definiton of "grunge" is kinda open-ended, meant to encompass other rock bands of the 90s like Kings X, I Mother Earth, Rage Against The Machine,Mary My Hope, Tool...all of which figure in my iTunes "Grunge" playlist!

Lately I have been on a STP kick and enjoying them a lot. A local pawn shop had all their cds for about a buck a pop so I stocked up. The bass lines are always clever, the drums loud and in the pocket and the gtr chords always a bit twisted and not at all common rock fare. That could be said of pretty well all the grunge acts, including the "other rock bands" in your list Yves.
Soundgarden was the band that got me back into rock. Most of the '80s and '90s I was big-time into modern classical and jazz. Then I heard Black Hole Sun (and my friends urging) and I was delighted to hear rhythm guitar and real drums again. From there it was on to I Mother Earth, Rage, STP, Nirvana, Mudhoney, The Watchmen, Limblifter and as I was late onto the scene, Incubus and Hot Hot Heat (I am stretching the grunge definition to the breaking point perhaps, but all the bands listed had cool bassists, weird-ish chords and kick-ass drummers so there is an underlying similarity)

[Yanks2014]

I've been meaning to check out Mudhoney and The Melvins. What would be good starting places for those bands?

The couple Melvins tunes I've heard, I actually like. Never thought of them as a grunge band, but apparently they often get lumped in with it.

[Bake 1]

Some of the "genre" boundaries that PE members apply to music are pretty arbitrary and often break down after a tiny bit of attentive listening ... The Duke Ellington line, "There are only two kinds of music, the good kind and the other kind" may oversimplify things a bit, but the Melvins, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney,Urge Overkill, Mule, Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies to name a few, don't always fit very well into a stoner rock or grunge box.

Rael, Superfuzz Bigmuff might be a good start for Mudhoney, same w/ Stonerwitch and Ozma for the Melvins

[SteveSly]

Not big on grunge for the most part, but did dig Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. Soundgarden never really clicked that much with me although I did like Cornell’s next band Audioslave.

Steve Sly

[JIF]

STP is a crazy good band and worth diving deeper than the radio hits.

Which STP cds do you have? I have Tiny Music and 4. I love Tiny Music, but have never listened to 4. I used to have Core, but didn't like it much. Scott often sounded like he was on the verge of taking a dump.

Get the Temple of the Dog album

Done and done. That album is a stone cold classic.

[Chain]

Start at the start.

The Scientists.

[spacefreak]

Never liked that scene and Greg Sage & the Wipers didn't belong there (only as an influence probably). Screaming Trees, Flipper and Killdozer were also big influences.

The only band I can stand listening to is early Mudhoney. I always associated grunge with a strong hardcore element, watered-down through an influence of retro-metal. With bands like Green River, Mudhoney, Nirvana and Tad. Contrary to what the music press labelled, bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains etc were never typical grunge for me, just plain hard rock influenced metal. More based on Zeppelin & Sabbath than punk and fuzz drenched heavy psych bands from the early 80s.