music Grunge Thread

[Frostgage 7,972]

Discuss or simply post songs or both. How many grunge enthusiasts do we have here? Let's find out

 

[CheeryFox 23,811]

My list:

Stone Temple Pilots 💕

Soundgarden

Alice 'n Chains

Bush

Foo Fighters

 

[Jeric 46,835]

I graduated high school in 1995. This is a pretty good depiction of me in highschool .. 

 

Doc Martens instead. 

 

I'm not going to repeat bands mentioned above, and I'm disinterested in the grunge vs. 90's alt debate so ... You'll see some in here that may not be exactly the ...'fuck it ... here's my music' feeling grunge has when it's great.  

 

Some of my favs. 

Smashing Pumpkins (had probably my favorite album during this era). 

Hole 

Pearl Jam (some not all)

Radiohead (only early albums)

Candlebox 

Screaming Trees (a little obscure)

Lubricated Goat (tres obscure)

And yeahhhhhhhh even though I think they are listed way too high on people's charts ... Nirvana. 

 

 

Man. I miss this whole era. I had some fucking great music in highschool

 

 

 

[Ganondox 899]

9 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Steaming Trees (a little obscure)

Pretty sure you mean Screaming Trees, unless that band is more than a little bit obscure, in which case I am interested. 

 

Anyway, this is my favorite grunge song: 

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ganondox

[Jeric 46,835]

1 hour ago, Ganondox said:

Pretty sure you mean Screaming Trees

Hey look, you are the first person in the entire history of the internet who ever pointed out a typo. Surprised this is the first time since ... I do it all the bloody time. Something about having a busy life do household things tends to make one not care about line editing and proofreading posts on a fan forum for a cartoon. But, alas you caught me. 

 

 

Yes I meant Screaming Trees. And yes, even though they have cachet among die hard fans of the genre, bands like them and U-Men are not typically going to have any name recognition with casual music fans since they never were really mainstream. Hence the modifier. 

[Ganondox 899]

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

Hey look, you are the first person in the entire history of the internet who ever pointed out a typo. Surprised this is the first time since ... I do it all the bloody time. Something about having a busy life do household things tends to make one not care about line editing and proofreading posts on a fan forum for a cartoon. But, alas you caught me. 

 

 

Yes I meant Screaming Trees. And yes, even though they have cachet among die hard fans of the genre, bands like them and U-Men are not typically going to have any name recognition with casual music fans since they never were really mainstream. Hence the modifier. 

Not all typo corrections are pedantic. It was actually was important to catch it in this particular instance precisely because they aren't too mainstream. If you google steaming trees it does NOT bring up screaming trees, the only reason I knew what you were referring to was because I already knew the band.

[Denim&Venöm 16,516]

While I do like some material produced by the genre, enjoyed that it stormed the fashion world and made it more practical, and I do enjoy myself some Alice in chains, I think grunge overall did more harm than good. 

Yes, it did rid the world of power ballad heavy glam metal, which was a very overstaurated sub-genre. But it also nearly killed off the main stream appeal of metal in the u.s. Sending speed metal, thrash metal and the brittish new wave into the underground or back where they came from. 

The metal scene was almost singly handedly sustained by Pantera before Korn and Slipknot could shake things up. And any new bands from abroad were pretty much kept out of the country due to metal being branded as 'dated'. Grunge made everyone slow down and go the alt. Rock and punk route. 

And sadly, we're still stuck w/ the grunge formula to this day. Seemingly half the bands on radio today are trying to sound like they came from Seattle. Grunge has changed how rock bands and the music industry operate. And it hasn't changed back since. 

Let me rephraise that. The Rock industry hasn't been able to come up w/ anything new since then. Same punk aesthetic. Same mid tempo groove. Same somber tone and lyrics about life. From creed to three days Grace, the style of grunge seems like it's here to stay. 

[joanro 247]

I am going be cliche and say Nirvana. If we are including Smashing Pumpkins then them as well. Also, would the Toadies be considered grunge as well? If so, then them too. 

[Frostgage 7,972]

10 hours ago, Storminess said:

Stone Temple Pilots 💕

YES <3 Absolutely one of the greatest

10 hours ago, Jeric said:

I'm not going to repeat bands mentioned above, and I'm disinterested in the grunge vs. 90's alt debate so ... You'll see some in here that may not be exactly the ...'fuck it ... here's my music' feeling grunge has when it's great.

Much respect for this. There's no room for genre classification snobbery here (even though I made that term up)

10 hours ago, Jeric said:

Steaming Trees (a little obscure)

I've heard of them - though I'll admit I'm the type that mostly just knows every band's most famous song hehe

Spoiler

 

 

1 hour ago, joanro said:

Also, would the Toadies be considered grunge as well? If so, then them too. 

Of course!! Made one of my favorite songs EVER

Spoiler

 

 

[Ganondox 899]

7 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

While I do like some material produced by the genre, enjoyed that it stormed the fashion world and made it more practical, and I do enjoy myself some Alice in chains, I think grunge overall did more harm than good. 

Yes, it did rid the world of power ballad heavy glam metal, which was a very overstaurated sub-genre. But it also nearly killed off the main stream appeal of metal in the u.s. Sending speed metal, thrash metal and the brittish new wave into the underground or back where they came from. 

The metal scene was almost singly handedly sustained by Pantera before Korn and Slipknot could shake things up. And any new bands from abroad were pretty much kept out of the country due to metal being branded as 'dated'. Grunge made everyone slow down and go the alt. Rock and punk route. 

And sadly, we're still stuck w/ the grunge formula to this day. Seemingly half the bands on radio today are trying to sound like they came from Seattle. Grunge has changed how rock bands and the music industry operate. And it hasn't changed back since. 

Let me rephraise that. The Rock industry hasn't been able to come up w/ anything new since then. Same punk aesthetic. Same mid tempo groove. Same somber tone and lyrics about life. From creed to three days Grace, the style of grunge seems like it's here to stay. 

I’d actually argue pretty much the opposite. Speed metal was a trend that burned itself out on its own, it had nothing to do with grunge. What grunge actually did was bring metal acceptance to the  alternative rock crowd (just not metal which was currently popular at the time, 70s metal and various underground acts were very influential on grunge), which were going to become dominant anyway regardless of whether or not grunge took off. What grunge did was ensure a metal influenced strain of alternative rock become dominant rather than the traditional post-punk based ones, and it stayed that way for the rest of the decade. 

Anyway, rock HAS changed since then, indie rock has gotten popular, and it appears to have little to do with grunge. The main base appears to be post-punk again, with influence from emo, post-rock, electronic music, and new prog. Metal outside of the alternative scene has also gotten legs again, and has expanded in countless different directions. At this point the Creed clones appear to be more of a last decade thing. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ganondox

[Jeric 46,835]

9 hours ago, Ganondox said:

Not all typo corrections are pedantic. It was actually was important to catch it in this particular instance precisely because they aren't too mainstream.

Your method and approach left a lot to be desired, quite surprising since you profess to be such a well read fan of psychology. A little Dunning Kruger perhaps? Going forward, you will need to find another way to point out my non-pedantic failings ... as I will not see them on a topic. Just letting you know as you seem so very very concerned. 

 

7 hours ago, Denim&Venom said:

While I do like some material produced by the genre, enjoyed that it stormed the fashion world and made it more practical, and I do enjoy myself some Alice in chains, I think grunge overall did more harm than good. 

Yes, it did rid the world of power ballad heavy glam metal, which was a very overstaurated sub-genre. But it also nearly killed off the main stream appeal of metal in the u.s. Sending speed metal, thrash metal and the brittish new wave into the underground or back where they came from. 

The metal scene was almost singly handedly sustained by Pantera before Korn and Slipknot could shake things up. And any new bands from abroad were pretty much kept out of the country due to metal being branded as 'dated'. Grunge made everyone slow down and go the alt. Rock and punk route. 

And sadly, we're still stuck w/ the grunge formula to this day. Seemingly half the bands on radio today are trying to sound like they came from Seattle. Grunge has changed how rock bands and the music industry operate. And it hasn't changed back since. 

Let me rephraise that. The Rock industry hasn't been able to come up w/ anything new since then. Same punk aesthetic. Same mid tempo groove. Same somber tone and lyrics about life. From creed to three days Grace, the style of grunge seems like it's here to stay. 

I actually agree that Grunge and Alt-Rock was a huge factor in the evaporation of new rising artists in Metal. It's was one of the unfortunate side-effects of the 90's music scene in general. I've actually shocked we haven't seen a massive surge in Metal recently considering that music tends to go hand in hand with the emotional temperature of society. 

[Ganondox 899]

32 minutes ago, Jeric said:

Your method and approach left a lot to be desired, quite surprising since you profess to be such a well read fan of psychology. A little Dunning Kruger perhaps? Going forward, you will need to find another way to point out my non-pedantic failings ... as I will not see them on a topic. Just letting you know as you seem so very very concerned. 

 

I actually agree that Grunge and Alt-Rock was a huge factor in the evaporation of new rising artists in Metal. It's was one of the unfortunate side-effects of the 90's music scene in general. I've actually shocked we haven't seen a massive surge in Metal recently considering that music tends to go hand in hand with the emotional temperature of society. 

What should I have said? It was straight to the point with only a dab of humor to keep it non-serious. You’re putting way more effort into this than it’s worth, and haven’t exactly been polite about it yourself. Ever considered that maybe the problem was your interpretation? Let’s try to be objective here: my original correction has three brohooves, your sarcastic retort has none, so that *probably* means people didn’t find it socially unacceptable.

On a side note, what does Dunning-Krugar have to do with anything? You’re the trying to tie psychology here in a way that doesn’t make sense, basically just in an attempt to make a personal attack that is completely irrelevant to the conversation. Correct me if I am wrong, but you are a medical doctor, not a psychologist? My focus is abnormal psychology, not interpersonal relations, and you do realize that just because someone studied something doesn’t necessarily mean they can exemplify it? Especially considering the fact I’m just a student, a very knowledgeable student, but a student none the less.

Anyway,  back on topic, metal actually is doing better now than it ever was before in absolute terms, it’s just spread across more bands now, and eclipsed by pop stars which get regular radio play. I don’t think we’re ever going to see another metal pop star not because metal is no longer popular, but because at this time pop music and metal have established themselves as being niches, and trying to combine them is seen as even more niche. 

Back to the original topic, does anyone know of any contemporary grunge acts? I can think of countless post-grunge acts, and some noise rock bands which would probably appeal to grunge fans, but nothing comes to mind which I’d consider to be grunge proper. 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Ganondox

[Denim&Venöm 16,516]

7 minutes ago, Ganondox said:

I’d actually argue pretty much the opposite. Speed metal was a trend that burned itself out on its own, it had nothing to do with grunge. What grunge actually did was bring metal acceptance to the  alternative rock crowd (just not metal which was currently popular at the time, 70s metal and various underground acts were very influential on grunge), which were going to become dominant anyway regardless of whether or not grunge took off. What grunge did was ensure a metal influenced strain of alternative rock become dominant rather than the traditional post-punk based ones, and it stayed that way for the rest of the decade. 

I dunno. Metal wasn't all that clear cut and defined in the 70s as it woudl be in the 80s. Many a 70s 'metal' band would probably profess themselves a hard rock band, as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin and even Motorhead have done. Metal as we recognize it today arguably didn't start until Judas Priest entered the picture in '74. But I do acknowledge the influences of the 70's and grunge going more hard rock w/ punk leanings. 

I'd also argue against speed metal burning out that early, depending on if  you refer to speed metal is it's own sub-genre or an umbrella term for fast metal music.

If the former, then yes it rather did. The British new wave bands and the following 'speed metal/ proto-thrash' bands wore out their welcome, or got swept away by the rise of glam metal and it's insane popularity. 

Thrash on the other hand, was actually rising in popularity, w/ bands like Slayer and Anthrax going gold for the first time and Megadeth & Metallica going platinum. Thrash bands left and right were getting major label deals due to the huge rise in popularity.. There was even enough interest for a thrash centric 'Clash Of The Titans' festival.  Which coincidentally, had Alice In Chains as the opener. 

And lets not forget that glam metal was still very huge, though the image was changing thanks to Guns 'n Roses stripping away the pretty boy look and getting straight to the point. 

The decline was not a gradual one. Both glam and thrash pretty much got cut off at the legs in '91-92. Though it was more the industry than the public. Radio stations and music outlets swapped out the former two for grunge. If anyone wanted air play, they had to sound grungier. And this turned off all the old school fans, and left the grunge fans unimpressed. 

So Grunges rise and the immense wave of popularity it rode shifted the focus of the music industry to a 'back to basics' approach, eschewing flamboyant looks and/or dexterous technicality. The battle of hair spray, make up and tight pants, vs. denim, leather and bullet belts was settled by flannel. 

Though while glam had it coming with it's over exposure, thrash didn't die because of grunge I will admit. At least, not just grunge. Metallica releasing the 'Black album' the highest selling metal record in history around the same time Nevermind came out, changed how bands would play. Pretty much sound like Metallica, sound like you're from Seattle or loose your record deal. 

35 minutes ago, Jeric said:

I actually agree that Grunge and Alt-Rock was a huge factor in the evaporation of new rising artists in Metal. It's was one of the unfortunate side-effects of the 90's music scene in general. I've actually shocked we haven't seen a massive surge in Metal recently considering that music tends to go hand in hand with the emotional temperature of society.

I think there's a decline in metal and rock's appeal overall. Rap and pop are the king and queen. Aggressive music is no longer in vogue. Look at the times metal was popular. It was in rebellion to Regan's family values conservatism, as well as people who grew up pissed off at the lingering remnants of the cold war. Lots of angry kids who needed that outlet to lash out, and that outlet became metal music. 

Now? I think that emotional temperature is indifferent. Grunge became popular due to the angst of the generation that came after. Now that angst has turned to apathy. It's a strange time, where things should be getting better, where there's hope for the future. But at the same time, there's doubt, and those would be angry musicians have been brought up in a post 9/11 world. 

Yes, there is great heavy music still being made. Just not in america for the most part. The popular thing for american audiences to do, is to use music as a distraction. Distance themselves away from the problems of the world, rather than confronting them. 

[Ganondox 899]

6 minutes ago, Denim&Venom said:

I dunno. Metal wasn't all that clear cut and defined in the 70s as it woudl be in the 80s. Many a 70s 'metal' band would probably profess themselves a hard rock band, as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin and even Motorhead have done. Metal as we recognize it today arguably didn't start until Judas Priest entered the picture in '74. But I do acknowledge the influences of the 70's and grunge going more hard rock w/ punk leanings. 

I'd also argue against speed metal burning out that early, depending on if  you refer to speed metal is it's own sub-genre or an umbrella term for fast metal music.

If the former, then yes it rather did. The British new wave bands and the following 'speed metal/ proto-thrash' bands wore out their welcome, or got swept away by the rise of glam metal and it's insane popularity. 

Thrash on the other hand, was actually rising in popularity, w/ bands like Slayer and Anthrax going gold for the first time and Megadeth & Metallica going platinum. Thrash bands left and right were getting major label deals due to the huge rise in popularity.. There was even enough interest for a thrash centric 'Clash Of The Titans' festival.  Which coincidentally, had Alice In Chains as the opener. 

And lets not forget that glam metal was still very huge, though the image was changing thanks to Guns 'n Roses stripping away the pretty boy look and getting straight to the point. 

The decline was not a gradual one. Both glam and thrash pretty much got cut off at the legs in '91-92. Though it was more the industry than the public. Radio stations and music outlets swapped out the former two for grunge. If anyone wanted air play, they had to sound grungier. And this turned off all the old school fans, and left the grunge fans unimpressed. 

So Grunges rise and the immense wave of popularity it rode shifted the focus of the music industry to a 'back to basics' approach, eschewing flamboyant looks and/or dexterous technicality. The battle of hair spray, make up and tight pants, vs. denim, leather and bullet belts was settled by flannel. 

Though while glam had it coming with it's over exposure, thrash didn't die because of grunge I will admit. At least, not just grunge. Metallica releasing the 'Black album' the highest selling metal record in history around the same time Nevermind came out, changed how bands would play. Pretty much sound like Metallica, sound like you're from Seattle or loose your record deal. 

I think there's a decline in metal and rock's appeal overall. Rap and pop are the king and queen. Aggressive music is no longer in vogue. Look at the times metal was popular. It was in rebellion to Regan's family values conservatism, as well as people who grew up pissed off at the lingering remnants of the cold war. Lots of angry kids who needed that outlet to lash out, and that outlet became metal music. 

Now? I think that emotional temperature is indifferent. Grunge became popular due to the angst of the generation that came after. Now that angst has turned to apathy. It's a strange time, where things should be getting better, where there's hope for the future. But at the same time, there's doubt, and those would be angry musicians have been brought up in a post 9/11 world. 

Yes, there is great heavy music still being made. Just not in america for the most part. The popular thing for american audiences to do, is to use music as a distraction. Distance themselves away from the problems of the world, rather than confronting them. 

While that is true, here are a few things to consider:

First, that from the perspective of alternative rock, the distinction between hard rock and heavy metal didn't matter. Before grunge, pretty much none of them took much influence from ANY hard rock bands, the major exception being Dinosaur Jr. (do they count as grunge?), unless you count punk rock or hardcore punk as being a form of hard rock. Also, when grunge bands attacked heavy metal, they were really attacking 80's hard rock. In the 80s bands like Van Halen, Bon Jovi, and Guns N' Roses continued to straddle the line between hard rock and heavy metal, and they were the main targets of grunge. There is good portion of the metal scene that actually thanks grunge for killing hair metal as they never even considered it metal in the first place. For the most parts alternative bands had no problems with underground metal (though some found extreme metal to be comical), and many took influence from thrash metal, including all of the big four except Pearl Jam. Thrash metal has always been dependent on punk rock, and there was especially a lot of crossover between thrash and hardcore during the late 80s and 90s, right before grunge picked up. I'd argue pure thrash metal was dying out on it's own because Metallica made their transition to a more hard rock/traditional heavy metal sound before grunge really took off, and grunge kept thrash metal influence living on by making way for alternative metal bands who incorporated thrash metal riffs without having them define their sound. Pantera only thrived because they weren't exactly playing thrash metal, they were playing something new and interesting. So yeah, grunge probably kept many metal bands from getting signed, and it being hard rock/metal influenced probably caused alternative to take over more quickly than if it stayed post-punk based, but in the long-term grunge was probably good for metal because it allowed *different* metal bands to get signed, which is what the genre needed to have long-lasting appeal. 

Here is another interesting thing: my parents were big fans of alternative rock in the 80s and didn't listen to much mainstream rock, but stopped listening to it in the 90s after grunge got big because it took over the alternative radio stations. From their perspective, grunge didn't metal, rather, it killed alternative rock. While grunge is punk from the perspective of mainstream rock, where metal was dominant before, from the perspective of the alternative music scene it was metal. It was not only heavier than traditional alternative rock, but also more technical, so what direction it puts rock in depends on whether you're comparing it with popular metal, or a different style alternative rock which could have gotten popular (and arguably has nowadays). 

Rock has definitely decreased in popularity recently, but it's still really popular and regularly makes the charts and gets radio play. It's moved from being THE popular music genre to being A popular music genre. Metal meanwhile appears to be more or unless unaffected, because it's always been a niche thing, with it's commercial success in the 80s just being a one time fluke that really probably comes more down to branding than anything else. The kids who are looking for metal are going to continue to find metal, and they are always going to be a large demographic because human nature does not change. There actually is lots of good bands from the US nowadays, while terrible metalcore bands get most the attention, the US is also the king of progressive metal. We have bands like Mastodon and Periphery making waves. Finally, I'd say the emotional temperament of America has changed again, 9/11 is no longer the defining event in the lives of the youth as they are now too long to remember it, and now the fact we managed to elect Trump is pushing on people's minds. We might be in for another wave of punk rock/heavy metal, hard, angry music of some sort, though I'm putting my bets on the dominant force some form of electronic music along the lines of Dubstep or Aggrotech. 

[Denim&Venöm 16,516]

@Ganondox

I'll give you that Grunge did diversify the metal genre, and bands that came since did have to innovate in order to make a difference. Interesting to hear the other perspective, how rock and alternative music were effected by the grunge wave. 

Though I will argue that metal was effected, cause even though it was almost killed, it did spike back, albeit w/ the alt. metal and nu-metal explosion. Grunge did leave an impact. I'd also argue that it's succsess wan't a one time thing, as it probably would be a bigger commercial avenue had it been not for one other industry change: downloads. That's hit the music industry on all levels. Gold record bands today would probably have been multi-platinum 15 years earlier. 

Not saying America doesn't have great bands, even today. Prog definitely seems to be the in thing. Revocation and Vector being examples of progressive technicality being mixed in w/ thrash.  I'm just saying that as far as popularity and respect for the genre, the greener pastures lie abroad.  

And while yeah, today's youth probably don't care, I'm saying they're still effected due to the broader impacts. No, they aren't motivated by 9/11, but they are raised in a world that's been changed by it. Terrorism. On going conflict in the middle east. A government on edge. An over abundance in nationalism. Privacy no longer guaranteed. The effects are still being felt. 

And I hear people complaining about Trump, but he hasn't really done a whole lot yet. As of now, I don't think he'll have the lasting cultural impact Reagan or Bush had. 

If anything would kick start the tide of pissed off music, it'd be Hillary, if she and her dicey dealings made it to office. 

Heck, this whole election should have been more than enough fodder for a few punk and hardcore albums. 

And yeah, the EDM movement seems to be how the youth are expressing themselves most often. 

[Jeric 46,835]

1 hour ago, Denim&Venom said:

And I hear people complaining about Trump, but he hasn't really done a whole lot yet. As of now, I don't think he'll have the lasting cultural impact Reagan or Bush had. 

Huh. This is a curious statement, and it's almost counter intuitive considering the divisive nature of his administration, with everything other day something happening with him ... yet ... you just may be right in that Trump may not have inspired a pop culture revolution like Reagan.

The pre-Trump climate has influenced some Broadway productions  ... but that's another story. 

 

Anyway ... going through that box in my closet labeled "Won't ever need" ... I found an album from Malfunkshun.

 

 

[Frostgage 7,972]

Looove this one. As far as I know Marigold is the lone Nirvana song featuring Dave on vocals

 

[Prospekt 10,984]

I've listened to grunge music for a good chunk of my lifetime, even though I was born in the late 90s. My dad introduced me pretty early on with some Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam in the car as a kid, and then I kind of expanded my taste on my own. Nowadays, I love the aforementioned artists, but I've also got a soft spot for Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, The Presidents of the USA, and some "post-grunge" acts like Audioslave and Collective Soul. And of course there's Radiohead and Foo Fighters, but for both bands only the first couple of albums had a sound that could be described as "grunge."

[Guest]

Babes, bonfires and beers on the beach.

[Frostgage 7,972]

"The waiting drove me mad... you're finally here and I'm a mess"

This song is a rare example where I don't like the studio version that much. This is a superb live performance

[lua 105]

This is kinda old but whatever. I really like nirvana but that's pretty much it. I don't really like any other bands expect for a few pearl jam and soundgarden songs.But at the moment nirvana is my favorite band.

[Frostgage 7,972]

They unveiled a statue of Chris Cornell today in Seattle. Frickin awesome

[Frostgage 7,972]

"I'm so excited I can't wait to meet you there
And I don't care"