Grunge

So...

What do you think about Grunge? Which bands you like?

For my part, I never considered it that much as a musical genre, but rather a movement. Bands with a similar background, from more or less the same area, and around the same time (Stone Temple Pilots being the exception to almost all of this).

My favorite band here would be Alice in Chains, followed by Soundgarden maybe.

About the poll: I only included the most know bands, though there's a lot more amazing bands from the Seattle area around the late 80s-early 90s. Such as Screaming Trees, Green River, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, etc...

And of course, some music:

Alice in Chains - Them Bones

Soundgarden

Stone Temple Pilots

Great topic.

In terms of the poll, I’d have to go with Nirvana. They were the band that meant the most to me when I was younger and I think out of all of them, they had the highest highs.

I too think of Grunge as a movement rather than a musical genre, since a lot of it centered around Seattle and the Sub Pop label in the late eighties, and I consider Mudhoney's 1988 single 'Touch Me I'm Sick' to be the opening salvo. Although of course, the 'big four' were the ones who took the commercial baton and ran with it.

I would go back to 1985 as the beginning of the movement, with Green River's Come on Down EP.

This band was formed in 1984 and it's members would later be part of Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam.

Agree on that, Green River were a hugely significant influence on the Grunge sound, but in terms of threatening to make a commercial impact on a wider world and the whole movement aspect (it was the first single on Sub Pop), I do think 'Touch Me I'm Sick' was the breakout moment, even though Mudhoney, for whatever reason, never really broke out themselves.

^ My theory is that it's because Mark Arm wasn't a very good singer 

Well, in terms of commercial impact, yes, the thing could have started to take off with Mudhoney's single. Green River remained in a more underground ambient.

Alice in Chains too was one of the first Grunge band to get a wider recognition with their debut album Facelift. I find interesting though (as I pointed out in the Metal thread) that this album, as well as Soundgarden's first releases, were labelled as "Alternative Metal. And it wasn't till Nirvana's breakthrough with Nevermind that the Grunge term began to be widely used. 

This thread makes me feel very old

Anyways, tough choices to choose from SB!!!

This thread makes me feel very old

 

Anyways, tough choices to choose from SB!!!

Yes, kind of tough choices, all those bands are great!

Well, I actually didn't live the grunge era, I was like 1 year old when the movement began to explode, and 6 years old or so when it began to fade. I started listening a lot of Grunge some 3 years ago through a very strong Alice in Chains era I had.

^ I just found out how young you are!!!

^  !!

On 14/08/2013 at 8:07 PM, Stormbringer said:

Alice in Chains too was one of the first Grunge band to get a wider recognition with their debut album Facelift. I find interesting though (as I pointed out in the Metal thread) that this album, as well as Soundgarden's first releases, were labelled as "Alternative Metal. And it wasn't till Nirvana's breakthrough with Nevermind that the Grunge term began to be widely used. 

That is interesting. I suppose it's debatable since most of the music incorporated elements of punk and metal, and while Nirvana and Pearl Jam were very punk-inspired, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains leaned more towards metal/hard rock. Personally though, I'd classify them all as Grunge, since it was a scene and they were all a part of it. They were from Seattle, had a certain appearance, were anti-mainstream rock, and had similarly dark lyrics.

^ Though their music was different in many aspects, I think too that is appropriate to classify them as Grunge. Mainly because they we're all part of the same scene as you say. And even when their music was different, they all shared a particular sound.

And definitely metal and punk are some of the strongest influences in the Grunge movement.

Stone Temple Pilots is the only band out of these that, though still classified as Grunge, wasn't part of the Seattle scene.

I feel so many bands fit into other _{genres as well. It often very subjective.}

^ I feel the same. That's why I prefer calling Grunge a movement rather than a genre.

(That sig is hypnotizing  )

Pearl Jam

Amazing song!! One of my favorites of them

And of course, Nirvana, and the song that made Grunge explode

Mother Love Bone, one of the most promising bands of the Seattle scene, but their career ended abruptly with the death of lead singer Andrew Wood shortly before the scheduled release of their debut album Apple.

It's former members would participate in the project Temple Of The Dog as a tribute to Andrew Wood, and would form Pearl Jam around this time too.

One of my favorites songs from Facelift:

Love, Hate, Love

Listening to this right now, from the album Badmotorfinger 

Outshined