Thursday, July 19, 2007

Grunge

Dang, 10-15 years have gone by since grunge was king, and looking back, I really don't remember what was considered "grunge." Wikipedia defines it as "dirty guitar, strong riffs, and heavy drumming; lyrics concern similar themes such as social alienation, apathy, entrapment and a desire for freedom." However, I think all you needed was to be photographed wearing a flannel shirt and hail from the greater Seattle area to be considered grunge. I have decided to rank, in my opinion, the greatest grunge bands of the era. I am leaving out several signature bands here, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Green River, Mother Love Bone, not because they aren't great, I just wasn't "with it" enough (remember I live outside of "Van Halen haven" Detroit) in the 90's to appreciate them.


How great was this music scene? I can't think of another genre where so many bands shared members and often would collaborate on great one-off albums. Serious, and the music was really good too - not to mention some of the best music videos ever If I could rank the greatest grunge bands of the era, would you (drum fill) - didn't think so, I needed some metrics to measure them by:

  • Appearance on the singles soundtrack (shouldn't Cameron Crowe just release mixtapes?)
  • From Seattle

  • MTV Unplugged appearance

  • Drug overdose death

  • Goatee(s)

  • Band member sharing with other bands on this list
7. Bush
Yes, Bush is at best, a rich man's Nirvana (well, a rich man's teenage daughter's). A little too pretty & British to be considered truly "grunge" but 'Glycerine' (ooooh! grungy sepia tone!) fits well somewhere in there.

6. Temple of the Dog / Mad Season


Again, between these two 'supergroups' can't go without mention, but really can't be considered for a top spot. Temple of the Dog is basically Pearl Jam + Chris Cornell and Mad Season is 2/10's of Pearl jam sung through Alice In Chains. 'River of Deceit' with its "Down..." lyrics reflected the mood of the time and TOD's 'Hunger Strike' cannot go without mention. How cool is 'Hunger Strike' - just watch this. (is that Brian Whitmer at the immediate start of the video?)

5. Stone Temple Pilots


Grungiest band not to come out of Seattle and lived the lifestyle well. Weiland was the rock star of the grunge world, dyed goatee, high profile in the media, and drugs, drugs, drugs. Did a lot of nice acoustic versions of Plush, Creep, etc. on MTV, when the channel was in the last throes of music relevance. Wait, did grunge kill MTV? Cool.

4. Nirvana


It's easy to chase misprinted lies that Nirvana was the greatest band of all time. This is garbage, it's not even the best band Dave Grohl has been a part of. Nirvana was a great band, but if Eddie Vedder had died, Pearl Jam would be in this vaunted spot.

3. Pearl Jam


Tough call here. To me, Pearl Jam is the greatest "rock" band out there, a nice mix of The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. As for their "grunginess" I think that they fit the bill, although really didn't intend to. From Seattle, great goatees, Temple of the Dog members, Jeff Ament's hats, an Unplugged appearance that didn't make it to CD because Eddie broke the rules on "Porch." Eddie, Jeff, and Stone are member's of singles' Citizen Dick. Pearl Jam's current drummer, Matt Cameron was made available with the break-up of...

2. Soundgarden

Yes, less qualifying items than Pearl Jam, but Chris Cornell saves them. I am dubbing him "The Face of Grunge." Dude was everywhere: Temple of the Dog, with the band and solo on the singles soundtrack and appeared in a cameo in the movie. Bonus points for dropped-D tuning. Chris Cornell even appeared on the song 'Right Turn' on the 1990 album SAP by...

1. Alice In Chains


If grunge is "dirty guitar, strong riffs, and heavy drumming; lyrics concern similar themes such as social alienation, apathy, entrapment and a desire for freedom" than 'Man In The Box' is grunge in a 'Nutshell' (yes, I know). The rumbling baseline of 'Would?' was the theme for singles and the band actually appeared in the movie, so they win that one. Let's check the other stats, a great Unplugged CD which made fun of Metallica years before it was cool ("Friends don't let friends get Friends haircuts" scrawled on Inez's bass), a braided goatee in the 'Them Bones' video, which I am dubbing "Grungiest Video Ever" - sorry 'Jeremy,' 'Rusty Cage,' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' a heroin death of Layne Staley, and a great one-off CD in Mad Season. Even Godsmack, a decent band, took their name from an AIC song.

What do you think?

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Bent Objects


Bent Objects

METAL!

Check the solo at 3:25. Your face may melt.