Grunge Rock

Been on a huge grunge rock kick lately. Listening to some Mother Love Bone, Green River, Mad Season, Malfunkshun. And then of course your obvious ones like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots.

Missing me some Chris Cornell and Layne Staley. Their voices were incredible

I still listen to Alice In Chains all the time. Listened to Dirt the whole way through while cleaning my apartment last weekend. I really love that album.

I rocked out to Mad Season last weekend. The song Wake Up sends chills down the spine

And then of course your obvious ones like Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots.

I'm definitely a fellow grunge rocker. The albums from these 5, plus the Smashing Pumpkins, are absolute mainstays in my rotation.

My older sister used to call Alice In Chains, Alice Cooper In Chains, and she was serious.

Over Now was my favorite song of theirs.

Used to love listening to Pearl Jam, STP, Soundgarden, & a host of others.

Not a fan of grunge. Too depressing!

Not a fan of grunge. Too depressing!

The word 'grunge' just sounds depressing, IMO.

Not a fan of grunge. Too depressing!

 

The word 'grunge' just sounds depressing, IMO.

Grunge rock doesn't necessarily designate depression or dark music. And the word "grunge" itself is intended more to describe the "who cares how I dress, and who cares whether or not my voice, or my guitar tone sound perfectly polished" attitude that most of the individuals in grunge bands generally embraced.

The word 'grunge' just sounds depressing, IMO.

Not a fan of grunge. Too depressing!

It certainly isn't for everyone. But if you liked it, the late 80's and all of the 90's were a special time. So much talent. Couldn't even to begin to think about the songs that we missed out on due to these guys dying so young. Adam Wood, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland, Kurt Cobain.

Grunge rock doesn't necessarily designate depression or dark music. And the word "grunge" itself is intended more to describe the "who cares how I dress, and who cares whether or not my voice, or my guitar tone sound perfectly polished" attitude that most of the individuals in grunge bands generally embraced.

 

[ATTACH]66069[/ATTACH]

That is depressing!

Grunge rock doesn't necessarily designate depression or dark music. And the word "grunge" itself is intended more to describe the "who cares how I dress, and who cares whether or not my voice, or my guitar tone sound perfectly polished" attitude that most of the individuals in grunge bands generally embraced.

 

[ATTACH]66069[/ATTACH]

That makes sense. I was a huge fan of SNL at that time. Rarely missed it. Would see these grunge bands perform on the show. Did not see the talent at all. But if tone and voice were not important in the performance, then it makes sense why I did not understand the talent.

That is depressing!

That makes sense. I was a huge fan of SNL at that time. Rarely missed it. Would see these grunge bands perform on the show. Did not see the talent at all. But if tone and voice were not important in the performance, then it makes sense why I did not understand the talent.

There certainly are plenty of songs in the grunge genre that aren't necessarily intended to be about the most positive of topics...but that's because in most ways the genre is a response to the music of the 80's age of excess. The big-hair music of the 80s and its flashy rockers, the 80s new wave and its artsy, produced synth/electronic sounds...in a lot of ways grunge rock was a counter-cultural response from the music community. Musical counter-culture is much of what has driven the change of sound in the 20th and 21st centuries. In the early 1920s/30s/40s you saw big band jazz and crooning that was responded to with the converse sound of the blues - which even by its own namesake is not exactly intended to be the most uplifting of music. Still, even though the sound may be called grunge, there are still songs that come off more as anthems than as downers...like Pearl Jam's "

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When I'm working out I love when this song comes on.

Pearl Jam ( my fav) is really the only one left.

Grunge may have been the last great rock era.

When it comes to Grunge I won't throw the baby out with the bath water because there was some of it that I did like, and I get and can relate to all of the reasons spelled out by @Colonels_Wear_Blue as to how it was a response to the music of the 80's age of excess, and in some ways also a call back to the hard rock of the 70's that I did very much dig, ...and at the time hair metal especially was really beginning to bore me, and this is coming from someone who was a huge Judas Priest, Accept, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Queenryche, Dio fanatic.

The 80's MTV era did introduce me to a lot of British new wave and alternative stuff like The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode etc... that I really did enjoy, and some I still do. I even like The Cure more now than I did then because it has stood the test of time, and their brilliance is even more evident to me now than before.

I initially liked the Smashing Pumpkins with their debut Gish which still sounds great, but I never really categorized them as Grunge, and their later efforts started grating on my nerves because I thought that Billy was becoming self indulgent and his psycho depressive side was becoming more and more apparent. In a way they to me were like the bridge from Metal to Grunge, but neither of the two.

I typically am fine with Alice in Chains but only when I'm cleaning my razor blades. I've a ton of respect for Chris Cornell and Soundgarden as he was truly a phenomenal singer. Nirvana rocked. I dug a little bit of Stone Temple Pilots. Pearl Jam got on my nerves, and bored me to tears.

There was so much other stuff during that era, or near the end of it that was huge as well that didn't comfortably fall into Grunge where some of it worked for me while some of it felt too trendy...

Jane's Addiction launched an interesting artistic direction, and The Offspring was sorta fun, Limp Bizkit and Lincoln Park had some bright spots, but I couldn't take all of it. Red Hot Chili Peppers made a statement, but they were never big favorites of mine. NIN caught my attention, but no way could I stomach a steady diet of them. Korn were definitely innovative, as well as 311 and Sublime, but while I sampled a lot of it, I could never really join the cult.

In truth during this Grunge alternative period, I was seeking out alternatives to alternative, and was attracted more to stuff like The Verve, The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Travis, Keane, Oasis, Sigur Ros, Love Spit Love, and some other cool British offerings as well as indie club stuff like Luna, Mercury Rev, Cop Shoot Cop, Urge Overkill, The Jesus Lizard, Jeff Buckley, Low, or Alternative Country like Wilco, Son Volt, and Whiskeytown. Grunge definitely took a back seat to me when it came to these other bands of the day.

Grunge undeniably had its place, and altered the music scene in a big way, and while I could handle some of it, it was never my first choice.