Grunge

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

I'm liking more and more grunge from the 90s. My most recent discovery is Local H. I knew their single Bound for the Floor and got their CD based off that only to find the album is fantastic. My favorite tracks are Bound for the Floor, I Saw What You Did and I Know Who You Are, Eddie Vedder, Nothing Special, Fritz's Corner, OK, Manifest Density part 2. That's basically almost every track on there. That's how good this album is. I highly recommend looking into it.

 

[Sesquipedaliantique]

All non-Nirvana grunge that I've heard is just mundane classic rock w/o the hooks.

 

[Haws Bah Gawd]

Im a fan of Local H track, "The Kids are Right". The lyrics are pretty funny.

 

[Laz]

Local H is Nirvana with funnier lyrics. I think "High Fivin' Mother Fucker" may be my favorite song of theirs beyond "Bound for the Floor," really.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Wikipedia, for all its faults, has a really strong page focused on "post grunge" bands. I was legit surprised to see some bands that are considered post grunge had actually released albums in 1993 even before Nirvana's In Utero came out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_post-grunge_bands

All non-Nirvana grunge that I've heard is just mundane classic rock w/o the hooks.

Honestly, I've read that the term came about more to describe the scene/fashion than the actual bands themselves and it's pretty evident that's the case. Almost every "grunge" band were simply hard rock bands but they usually had distinct leanings e.g. metal, psychedelic rock, 70's arena rock, or 80's new wave.

I've actually found myself delving deeper into the 80's era of early grunge (Screaming Trees, Green River, Melvins, Mudhoney, etc.) and I've found a much greater appreciation towards Screaming Trees and their work. One of the bands that leaned heavily towards more of a psychedelic rock.

 

[luke-o]

You should check out Dinosaur Pile Up. They're a UK three piece. I saw them live a couple of years back and they finally realsed their first album last year - which is ace.

Dinosaur Pile-Up - Birds and Planes

 

[Laz]

Almost every "grunge" band were simply hard rock bands but they usually had distinct leanings e.g. metal, psychedelic rock, 70's arena rock, or 80's new wave.

This. Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were metal bands that just dressed "grunge" and happened to gain mainstream notoriety post-Nevermind. It seems as though 90's rock-based music separated into multiple genres simply due to their year of arrival as opposed to legitimate musical leanings. Nu-metal's very similar in that the term applies to a wide variety of bands who just came about during the same time period as opposed to legitimately sharing many musical ties (though the quality of output was considerably less than that of grunge's overall output).

 

[vivisectvi]

Grunge and Alternative were always marketing terms used by the media and the record labels. I'd never heard a band from that era (well the good ones anyway) actually label themselves as such. To them they were just playing rock music in a band.

 

[DMann1979]

Almost every "grunge" band were simply hard rock bands but they usually had distinct leanings e.g. metal, psychedelic rock, 70's arena rock, or 80's new wave.

Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were metal bands that just dressed "grunge" and happened to gain mainstream notoriety post-Nevermind.

Hey, AiC had a hit with 'Man in the Box' a full year before Nevermind came out, but it's true then they were just considered a 'metal' band (which they always were), then once Nirvana hit because they were from Seattle suddenly they were "grunge".

 

[Youth N Asia]

I liked Local H a lot in high school. "Eddie Vedder" was my favorite song with "No Problem" as a close #2. A fun album all the way through. Pack Up The Cats was an alright album, but other than "The Kids Are Alright" I don't remember too much about it really.

Alas I think Kurt killing himself made Nirvana the most overrated band ever. Nevermind was great. Bleach and In Utero were good, but nothing too special for me.

 

[Gary]

I think one of the main reasons AiC get lumped with the whole "grunge" tag is because of the acoustic EP's they did.

 

[Kinetic]

I saw Local H open for Stone Temple Pilots in '96 or '97. They were good! My dad will still occasionally remark on how amazing it was that just two guys could make all that noise.

 

[Agent of Oblivion]

Time was not kind to these bands.

 

[vivisectvi]

I think one of the main reasons AiC get lumped with the whole "grunge" tag is because of the acoustic EP's they did.

Well, there was really only one of those. SAP. But yeah, I guess that would be partially true.. I think a lot of the reason has to do with them being tight with other bands who had already been lumped in with the "grunge' label, and the fact there was always crossover with these bands, it was inevitable that they'd be categorized in the same manner. That and they were from Seattle.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I've decided we need more 300 pound lead singers with bushy beards in our lives.

 

[Epic Springs]

Alice In Chains were miles ahead of any band during that era. I also hated how any group that came out in the early-mid 90's that had any type of aggressiveness in their music were labeled Nirvana rip-offs (STP, Silverchair)

 

[atticus Chaos]

Live through this by Hole is a fantastic album. Damn shame they never really got the credit they deserved, because everyone thought Courtney was riding on Kurt's coattails (which, in fairness, she was, but her band was still great.)

 

[Red Baron]

Hands on the Bible was the best song Local H ever done.

 

[snuffbox]

Melvins still got it.

 

[Edwin]

At any given moment, I'd say it's 3:1 odds or better that the XM 90s alternative station is playing Soundgarden or Alice in Chains. This is one of the more reassuring constants in my life.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Also related to Grunge, I always found it humorous that any female fronted/female heavy band that dared play any form of hard rock was suddenly thrown under the Riot Grrl label. At the time bands like Hole and even early No Doubt were considered by some to be Riot Grrl.

It was a lot like Grunge where none of the bands liked the term nor wanted to be associated with it.

 

[vivisectvi]

They must have not liked it enough because I've never heard of that term until now. Wassat?

 

[HarleyQuinn]

They must have not liked it enough because I've never heard of that term until now. Wassat?

Partly coined by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, it was supposed to be a essentially the 90's form of a female rock revolution. Mainly it was hard rock music focused more on the female side of life such as rape, sexism, discrimination, gender conformity, stalking, etc. A lot of the bands only existed for a 3-5 year period at most and many released albums off independent labels (Kill Rock Stars being the most well known).

The music itself was more reminiscent of the Nirvana style of Grunge. 3 chord hard rock with punk leanings and a mixture of pop melody and abrasive rock.

Typical bands usually included in the genre are...
- 7 Year Bitch
- Babes In Toyland
- Bikini Kill* (Arguably the "founder")
- Bratmobile
- Cadallaca
- Emily's Sassy Lime
- Excuse 17
- Frumpies
- Heavens To Betsy
- Huggy Bear
- L7
- Sleater-Kinney
- Team Dresch
- The Butchies
- Veruca Salt

 

[vivisectvi]

Ahh.. interesting. The only thing I could picture when I read the term was Tank Girl.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Ahh.. interesting. The only thing I could picture when I read the term was Tank Girl.

The interesting thing is that the term's pretty much dated to the era of 1990-1997 (at the latest) but has pretty much disappeared in relation to modern day female fronted/female bands. Nowadays female bands are usually labeled under the respective genres that they actually apply to.

Video Example: Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls

Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls

 

[King Kamala]

That CoolTV channel I mentioned in CTDWAT yesterday shows a disproportionate amount of third rate grunge videos. I'm sure Seven Mary Three and Cracker are thrilled to get exposure to thousands and thousands again.

 

[Red Baron]

At any given moment, I'd say it's 3:1 odds or better that the XM 90s alternative station is playing Soundgarden or Alice in Chains. This is one of the more reassuring constants in my life.

Pearl Jam probably gets 50% of the stations radio coverage, despite having their own radio station.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

That CoolTV channel I mentioned in CTDWAT yesterday shows a disproportionate amount of third rate grunge videos. I'm sure Seven Mary Three and Cracker are thrilled to get exposure to thousands and thousands again.

CoolTV is awesome.

 

[Jaxxxson Mayhem]

They must have not liked it enough because I've never heard of that term until now. Wassat?

Partly coined by Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, it was supposed to be a essentially the 90's form of a female rock revolution. Mainly it was hard rock music focused more on the female side of life such as rape, sexism, discrimination, gender conformity, stalking, etc.

That sounds..........stupid.

 

[BUTT]

Anyone remember the episode of Roseanne where she and Jackie pick up a hitchhiker played by Jenna Elfman who tells them about Bikini Kill and then they have a long discussion of tough female rockers? What an oddly inconsequential scene in a sitcom.