[DarkAngel]

This is a place to discuss and reveal any hidden gems you have discovered form this genre which refers to bands from 1990's pacific northwest area whose style is best known by groups like:
-Nirvana
-Soundgarden
-Pearl Jam
-Alice in Chains
-Stone Temple Pilots
-Etc

Last few months have been digging up more obscure stuff and adding more CDs to my current collection with cheap used CDs.

Pearl Jam
One thing I am discovering is that PJ has never made a bad album, I can't believe how consistently good thier large catalog is, I just pretty much buy any used CD by them I can find. Even rarities collection "lost dogs" is great (although disc 2 drags a bit), only one more to get 2006 "pearl jam" album. I had the first three albums long ago:
-Ten
-Vs
-Vitalogy
but now I have even more respect for this group after getting enitre catalog very cheap on used market, didn't realize they were that good.

More Grunge ideas and comments needed............
(besides the very obvious like Nirvana "nevermind" etc)

 

[mwallace573]

I'll throw in Temple of the Dog. You got Chris Cornell in his prime with Eddie Vedder singing backup. It's pretty much the instrumental part of Pearl Jam before they were Pearl Jam with Chris as frontman. I consider it an essential album for fans of the genre. It's not exactly an obscure album, but it doesn't seem to get much talk round these parts.

Oh, and I really didn't like PJ's self titled album, but pretty much everything before that is golden in my book.

 

[fuzydice]

Sponge - "Rotting Pinata" .. a fantastic album from start to finish.

 

[appophylite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzydice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sponge - "Rotting Pinata" .. a fantastic album from start to finish.

God, yes. I love that album. Heck, the first time I heard the band, I fell in love with their style.

Nirvana aside, I like all the bands on DarkAngel's list a lot as well. It's not to say I don't like Nirvana, I have a fair bit of their stuff as well. It's just that I get tired of their sound much faster than I do any of the other bands.

 

[JadeEast]

Northwest proto-grunge from the band Slow.

YouTube - Slow-Have Not Been The Same

 

[luckybaer]

My favorites are two from Soundgarden:
Badmotorfinger
- Rusty Cage
- Outshined
- Jesus Christ Pose
- Drawing Flies
- Searching With My Good Eye Closed

Superunknown
- Let Me Drown
- My Wave
- Fell On Black Days
- Black Hole Sun
- Spoonman
- Kickstand (for pure silliness)

 

[DarkAngel]

I will tell you the most under rated group from the grunge era is:
Screaming Trees

Thier Epic label albums during 1990s are great:
-Dust
-Sweet Oblivion
-Ocean of Confusion 1989-96 (collection)

They were kicking out the jams long before the grunge scence broke and have several albums from 1980s on SST label, fortunately there is a good SST anthology that gives you the best from these early albums:

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by luckybaer /img/forum/go_quote.gif My favorites are two from Soundgarden: Badmotorfinger - Rusty Cage - Outshined - Jesus Christ Pose - Drawing Flies - Searching With My Good Eye Closed Superunknown - Let Me Drown - My Wave - Fell On Black Days - Black Hole Sun - Spoonman - Kickstand (for pure silliness)

Soundgarden like Pearl Jam has a much better total catalog of work than I thought as I collected all the old works. Besides those two super albums thier early works are also surprisingly good:
-Louder than Love
-Ultramega OK

Cornell has fully formed vocal technique even on early works and band is very tight and rocks.......like these better than Nirvana "bleach" for instance

 

[Tridacnid]

Second on the Screaming Trees. Absolutely amazing. Uncle Anesthesia and Dust are probably my favorite albums.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzydice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sponge - "Rotting Pinata" .. a fantastic album from start to finish.

Never heard of Sponge before.......picked up 1st two albums for under $1 used at Amazon after checking some samples. Hope this thread doesn't start costing me big bucks

 

[bong]

i'll second Temple of the Dog... great album.

i'll mind as well throw in Mother Love Bone for history completists. i only have their compilation album of the same name though, can't comment on the regular albums.

 

[Tone Def]

Foo Fighters?

The Colour and Shape is a classic. Also, I think, Jane's Addiction deserves a mention.

Oh, and don't forget Bush and The Pixies.

 

[Night Surfer]

Agreed on the uniformity of quality that Pearl Jam exhibits...remarkable.

I have been practically obsessed with one particular track lately:
Yellow Ledbetter
The guitar work is superb with some lovely harmonics and a great solo.
I love this track despite the illegible lyrics (which still don't make since even when you look them up).

 

[GlendaleViper]

There was a pretty wicked stoner band called Grasshopper that got around a lot in Toronto in the early 90s. Bloody insane live, a couple of HIWATT walls always framed them. Hard to find much on them, but I found this link a while ago:

Disography

Their recordings did zero justice to the tubey assault of their live set.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Night Surfer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Agreed on the uniformity of quality that Pearl Jam exhibits...remarkable. I have been practically obsessed with one particular track lately: Yellow Ledbetter The guitar work is superb with some lovely harmonics and a great solo. I love this track despite the illegible lyrics (which still don't make since even when you look them up).

Also want to mention the sound quality for PJ is very high, especially the later albums. Wasn't Vetter sound kind of audiophile or sound freak????