Grunge Music Revisited

[Riordan]

screaming trees!
darkangel forgot to mention 'sweet oblivion' - almost as good as 'dust', better than 'uncle anesthesia'. and that wonderful sst set is the main reason I've set up my turntable again...

also, kindred spirit to mark lanegan and sometimes-collaborator greg dulli reared his afghan whigs with grunge before they made even better albums: 1990s 'up in it' is pure grunge, its first track 'dumb' one hell of a grunge anthem.

another underrated grunge heavy-weight: tad. heavy stuff indeed

 

[mark_h]

Out of curiosity, are there any UK grunge bands that you rate? I personally know of none I would class as grunge but would be very interested in sugestions?

 

[Tone Def]

^Bush.

 

[Tridacnid]

@Riordan. I believe that Screaming Trees albums Uncle Anesthesia-Dust were released on Epic, not SST.

 

[tescosamoa]

they are not grunge but the three albums by swervedriver rocked. Good old shoegazing. You can get lost in those albums.

 

[Ingo]

Did anyone mention Mad Season?

 

[dclancy]

Wow, good thread, this one takes me back!
This goes back several pages but, big YES to Soundgarden Superunknown. Whatever happened to Kim Thayil, he had some of the best licks.
Even though, they're kinda "post-punk" I remember being a huge fan of the Meat Puppets back then. In fact I just relistened their "Up on the Sun" album the other day to see how their unique brand of psychodelia-rock holds up to higher end audio equipment (just as good as ever btw). Note: Meat Puppet II is a must own for the Nirvana Unplugged fans.
Lastly, I have to show love for my home town boys Smashing Pumpkins!! Meloncholy is genius but Siamese Dream is the true must own.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark_h /img/forum/go_quote.gif Out of curiosity, are there any UK grunge bands that you rate? I personally know of none I would class as grunge but would be very interested in sugestions?

The "grunge" rock genre/fashion aesthetic is almost exclusively centered around bands from the NW region of USA from early 1990's...........UK had Britpop music scence during this time, can't think of any UK group that was in the grunge genre

Davey
Hammerbox was a wise purchase but I think I will like Goodness even better, still awaiting those to arrive......

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tridacnid /img/forum/go_quote.gif @Riordan. I believe that Screaming Trees albums Uncle Anesthesia-Dust were released on Epic, not SST.

the 'sst set' i referred to was the one DarkAngel mentioned earlier in the thread, the sst anthology. sorry for my confusing wording.

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tone Def /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^Bush.

(as british grunge band). one of the few mainstream rock bands i like (though their later albums are a bit same-ish) and i think they come closest to being uk grunge. apparently they were too british for americans (gwen stefani excluded) and too american for the uk.

they never get mentioned in britpop-threads and till your post weren't mentioned in grunge threads. missing link?

 

[Tone Def]

^Yeah, Sixteen Stone was their best.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tone Def /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^Yeah, Sixteen Stone was their best.

I guess you could say Bush was a UK version of Nirvana.......and no doubt debut 16 Stone was thier best work

 

[PhaedrusX]

i always loved the music that came out of the Pacific Northwest during that time. however, i could never understand the "Grunge" label that was used by the media and record labels to package a wide variety of bands in a neat little flannel-wrapped package.
there was a resurgence of interest in Mother Love Bone, who were purely glam rock, and a few other lesser bands (Seaweed) received recognition simply for being "in the area."
ultimately, there were more differences than similarities between most of those bands, and when the Stone Temple Pilots came along and decided to meld all of those great bands into one generic grunge blob, the jig was up.

 

[Relayer71]

My faves:

Alice In Chain's Dirt - one of THE darkest, most depressing albums ever recorded. From the title to the cover artwork to the closer, "Would?" this one is one very powerful and emotive collection of songs.

Soundgarden's Superunknown - this album was adventerous and bold, occasionally stepping into progressive rock territory and experimenting with different sounds and moods.

Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream - this one, like Superunknown really took it up a notch - showcasing many different moods/sounds and making for an interesting and never dull listen all the way through. And like Soundgarden, this was the band's masterpiece and it went downhill VERY fast on the next release(s).

Of course you can't really mention "grunge" without Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney and The Melvins (and other lesser bands) and they all had great albums but those 3 albums above stand the test of time for me.

Never kept up with Pearl Jam after Yield but Ten is a classic; Cobain left us much too soon (In Utero was a great album) and I've seen Mudhoney and The Melvins a few times in the last couple of years.

The Melvins are an unusual beast in that they are MUCH BETTER now than they ever were and they're still relatively unknown! Their last 3 albums have been excellent.

Had their latest, "A Senile Animal" been released back then it would be on my list above. It kicks all kinds of asses

Also: I think it's a shame that Stone Temple Pilots were often mentioned as "Pearl Jam copycats". I think they sounded NOTHING like Pearl Jam. Even on their first album they had their own sound - not only that but they improved on every album after.

They also had more of a sense of songcraft and pop than these other bands did save for Kurt Cobain's ear for catchy melodies.

 

[Relayer71]

Doh! Forgot one more: Sunny Day Real Estate.

Although they were more at the tail end of "grunge" and labelled "emo rock" or some such meaningless label (like "grunge", heh) they could still be considered part of the scene.

"How It Feels To Be Something On" would then be my favorite album of this period/movement/sub-genre/silly-label-name-thingie/era

These guys always had a more ambitious, "epic" sound than their contemporaries - definitely the most unique sounding of the bunch.

Think Smashing Pumpkins with a real singer (who can actually sing melodies), no guitar solos, and a distinguishable and audible bass.