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Slacker |
Grunge is a period in time (1991-1994) disguised a musical genre.
Almost every "grunge" band sounded completely different. Pearl Jam. Nirvana. Pumpkins. Alice in Chains. Soundgarden. Blind Melon. RHCP. The guitars may have been mutually thick, but these were different bands with different products. There will be debate forever which bands were the "best" from the period, but that, of course, is subjective. I am a lifelong Pearl Jam fan and they're by far my favorite band of this period. That doesn't mean they are the best. In 1992, I was 16 years old. I heard Under The Bridge on the radio and bought the first piece of music I'd ever owned: The Under The Bridge single. I got into music liberally thanks to the Grunge years. I became a musician because of the Grunge years (and Pearl Jam in particular). This period in time has produced a lot of good music and some bad. For an example of how it continues to give, check out Pearl Jam's newest album. It's fantastic. |
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Know-It-All |
I'm a Generation Y-er and I discovered Nirvana only a year ago. Since then I have been completely hooked. From Nirvana, I researched their roots to find this strange genre I had never heard of called "grunge." Now I listen to many songs from grunge's "big 4" (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains) and just like Potsos, grunge made me look into music much more liberally and broaden my musical horizons.
What I love so much about Nirvana, aside from the endlessly intriguing saga that was the story of Cobain's life, was how raw and authentic they were. Why I became hooked on Nirvana is partly because while I see the rise of light rock emo, especially Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, and the Killers, I look at Nirvana and admire how genuine they were. With Cobain's voice and lyrics, their is a very raw power that makes you feel a connection to him. I know it sounds corny, but I listen to the songs and I know that Cobain words are exactly how he feels and I know his harsh experiences influenced what he song and how he sung it. Like The Furnace Is Fiery, "All Apologies" is my favorite Nirvana song. While I like the In Utero and love the Unplugged versions, the version from the With The Lights Out box set, an emotional solo recording from Cobain's bedroom with just his guitar, is just something I don't see any of today's big emo bands doing. What I admire is that Cobain and Nirvana were not corny or phony, they were the real deal. In that respect, Nirvana has changed my musical styles in that I now love unpolished music that sounds like it was recorded in the garage. I also like acoustic songs (an effect of "Unplugged") because I tend to want a band's musical talent hold up when it is stripped from its computerized aids and the band performs in its natural state. I don't have confidence that Fall Out Boy could do that. In broader terms than just Nirvana, I feel that almost all foundation grunge music just sounds more original, organic and genuine than what dominates the top 40 of mainstream music today. I'm sorry to be long-winded, but I do feel that grunge, and especially Nirvana, has had a substantial impact on my life. |
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"Forum Moderator" Super Bad-Ass Jedi |
I enjoy this post, and I don't feel the need to question any of it. The part that gets my attention is that I believe it was you who mentioned the eels before, and I can see why you might like them because there's nothing fake about their music, and they do multiple versions of their songs, including some cool acoustic ones. I just want to warn you though, that if you go check this current tour, it's way more grunge/punk, so bring your earplugs if you need them. (I've never worn earplugs
 .)"Naked Woman, Naked Man Where did you get that nice sun tan?" |
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Know-It-All |
Fine then, I'll give Eels another shot. Besides, a lot of things are better the second time around.
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Guru |
I was in high school when grunge hit hard. I remember buying Nevermind and Badmotorfinger on the same day, and I recall sleeping through most of Dinosaur Jr. and Alice In Chains at Lollapalooza that year. Grunge mainly had a negative effect on me, those were the years when a lot of my favourite bands started to release shite, rap had begun it's descent into the mainstream and everyone assumed that because I had long hair I was into bands like Pearl Jam (blech! bloody Cher with guitars)! Grunge to me was generally less skilled than punk, typically self-absorbed and suburban lyrically, and really, really bland outside of a handful of songs from the elite artists. At the time the hero-worship of Cobain absolutely disgusted me, and then the sadness over his suicide was even worse. But then hey, I was also going through my Nietzche reading phase at the time! The grunge era helped me to discover more interesting and especially extreme genres of music. Grunge was mtv/radio-friendly, and I was so anti-radio/mtv at the time it led me into the underground of rap, the old-school of punk and the fringes of metal. I owe a lot to grunge in that way, and a decade later I was able to come back and listen to those successful artists of that period without the disdain I had previously had.
"If it were beneficial, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect." -Jesus, from the Gospel Of Thomas |
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Slacker |
Well....you're in fact correct. Actually, I mistakenly referred to Reagan Youth, when I actually meant to refer to LA's Wasted Youth. Neither of those bands were sincere Ronald Reagan supporters. Although, from the appearance of LA's Wasted Youth's front album cover, appropriately titled "Reagan's In", depicting a cartoon drawing of a mohawked punk spray painting Ronald Reagan's face on a wall with the band's insignia on his forehead, one would get the impression that they were definitely a pro-Republican Party band. It turns out though, that much like the band Reagan Youth, LA's Wasted Youth were not actually supporters of Reagan era conservatism. Like you mentioned earlier, the Ramones would probably be a better example of a pro-conservative 80's punk band, since Joey Ramone often claimed to vote Republican. Other examples of right-wing punk bands would be New York City's Cromags (from what I could tell anyway) and possibly Agnostic Front. Like I said in my earlier post, the 80's punk and hardcore movement was all over the place and it was always difficult to identify the political views that many bands ascribed to, as their commentary were often mired in sarcasm, humor and parody. Minor Threat wrote a song called, “Guilty of Being White”, and Black Flag wrote a song called “White Minority”, originally sung by their first singer, who happened to be Hispanic (Ron Reyes); neither of those bands could actually be described as racist or conservative. However, during that time, being a teenager, I was less concerned about a band's political message, and more concerned with a band's style, sound and energy. |
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Slacker |
I think that all of the posts written on this topic are pretty thoughtful and describe pretty well "grunge's" appeal. The above quote by timbo8, I believe, hits home the closest. At the time "grunge" was first starting to catch on, I was in the middle of searching for something fresh and new. Nirvana and some of the other bands coming out of Seattle seemed more genuine than the standard muck I was hearing on the radio at the time. The musical skill level wasn't as high and the production value of many of the earlier albums weren't as polished, but that mattered very little me. I think that, in the end, the legacy of alternative music (not necessarily just Seattle "grunge") was that memorable music, whether executed with expert or minimal skill, needs to be sincere and genuine. 80's and 90's era alternative music, in a lot of ways, helped to redefine how allot of people viewed great music. The honesty and subtle moodiness of Nirvana's music, along with the unpretentious energy exhibited during their live performances excited music fans more than it did industry types, who were mostly interested in signing acts that had the ability to record formula hits with guaranteed mass-media appeal. I believe that the qualities that made alternative/grunge music so exciting are kind of lost now. EMO or Indie or whatever it’s called seems to lack originality, as well as honesty. It's hard not to generalize, but EMO's attempt at communicating teen-angst and honest emotion in music seems so dull and contrived. Also, the term "indie" seems such an inappropriate label for bands that are all either signed to major labels or major labor subsidiaries. During the 80's and 90's, alternative acts spent a good deal of time touring the country while signed to actual independently owned labels before getting recognized by the major record companies. It's almost as if the big corporate industry record moguls are attempting to fool today's younger generation by shortening the label "Independent" music to "indie", and using it as a cleverly disguised marketing ploy, hoping no one will notice the contradiction. |
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"Forum Moderator" Super Bad-Ass Jedi |
Though it's not too hard with their matching leather jackets and moppy hair, you've got your Ramones mixed up. Joey Ramone was a liberal, but it was guitarist Johnny Ramone who was a lifelong Republican. Evidentally, he took a lot of heat for it, and the rest of the band even penned the anti-Reagan song "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" just to spite him. ----- Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold. |
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Slacker |
Funny. Why am I not suprised. They certainly did get the whole uniform dress code thing down; If only they could have worn matching ties, I'm sure they would have looked more Republicany.
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