Before Nevermind: How Grunge Became Grunge
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- Опубліковано 1 тра 2024
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In 1991 music changed forever. Three misfits from Aberdeen, Washington unleashed “Smells Like Teen Spirit” onto the world and alternative rock became the mainstream. Grunge wasn’t so much a genre as a close knit selection of bands that came from the same approximate area, its epicentre being Seattle. The Sabbathy-doom of Soundgarden sounded little like the Garage Rock bluster of Mudhoney. But at the same time they were all tied together with a sense of exi-stential angst, unhurried tempos and dirty, sludgy, grungy audio qualities. But what was this scene? What were the essential steps along the way, the key tracks and influencers? And how did it get to the point where Nirvana could dethrone Guns N’ Roses as America’s biggest rock band. This is the journey to Nevermind: how Grunge became Grunge.
#Nirvana #Grunge #MusicDocumentary
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Additional writing and research by Serenity Autumn
More information on Bam Bam from A Grrl's Two Sound Cents: • Tina Bell | The Woman ...
Soundtrack
Luar - Clouds ( / luarbeats )
B-Side - Pen Unubis
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Jesse Galagher - Spirit of Fire
Luar - Anchor ( / luarbeats )
00:00 Introduction
01:58 The Prehistory of Grunge
04:59 Bam Bam
06:47 Green River & Deep Six
09:05 Melvins
10:37 The Influence of Alternative Rock
13:18 Screaming Trees
15:04 Mudhoney & Sub Pop
17:05 Soundgarden
19:33 Nirvana & Bleach
21:18 Mother Love Bone & Temple of the Dog
24:26 Alice in Chains
27:00 Outside Washington
29:21 Pearl Jam
31:41 Nevermind and Everything After
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So what proto-grunge songs do you think I missed out? Comment down below!
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thanks for the video
Pink Floyd - Nile Song
Jerusalem - Primitive Man
"Barracuda" by Heart, a band that's from that area. Chris Cornell, may he rest in peace, has cited Ann Wilson's singing as an influence on him. Her vocals on that track are clearly an influence on his work with Soundgarden. Did you cite any songs by Gang of Four? Kurt Cobain cited that band as an influence of sorts on the sound of "Bleach." Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
More like whole scenes-
Butthole Surfers?
Scratch Acid?
Texas never gets any love.
Would have loved to hear about The Gits and the tragic death of Mia Zapata..
It was a magical time to be a music fan living in Seattle. I was there and I can't help but feel like I won my generation's musical lottery.
Same here! I was right there in the middle of it all, and enjoying every minute of it. We really lucked out when it comes to location/era. You almost couldn't ask for a better soundtrack to grow up with. I am so blessed to have seen Mudhoney, Melvins, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, The Screaming Trees, Tad, Paw, Gruntruck, Filter, Tripping Daisy, Janes Addiction, Porno for Pyros, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, My Sisters Machine, etc.... all LIVE.
Super lucky!
Nirvana complete shifted my musical taste (circa 94), I'll never forget my first play through of Nevermind, also never forget finding this new cool band only to find out the singer had died months earlier :/
@@ShonnDaylee Super envious. Must have been awesome
the whinny emo generation of " the Cure- Smiths" cried louder, irritantier, stinkier, bath-less-er , older and older depending on the parents to buy drugs, more and more useless, until they became grunge.
@@reinaldofavoreto7160 interesting take
It would be interesting if you made a sister video called “after grunge” and how a lot of these bands formed or took a different direction after Kurts suicide, talking more about Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, etc.
Yes, would love to see something like this.
Or (and?) mention of more contemporary artists/acts clearly influenced musically by grunge: Bully, Skating Polly, Soccer Mommy, Pom Pom Squad, Starcrawler, for instance.
Temple at the time were not part of this movement. Only thirty years later do props put them there. The pumpkins were apart of the original grunge. Not after. Tool was there also. Foo fighters were not of course and queens were Kyuss and they were even brought up by Dave from Nirvana saying they are the future of grunge. Kyuss was epic in 92. Dave knew it and played for them years later in queens.
Temple at the time were not part of this movement. Only thirty years later do props put them there. The pumpkins were apart of the original grunge. Not after. Tool was there also. Foo fighters were not of course and queens were Kyuss and they were even brought up by Dave from Nirvana saying they are the future of grunge. Kyuss was epic in 92. Dave knew it and played for them years later in queens. I was there.
Janes addiction blew it open actually. And so did Guns N’ Roses. They were small once. In 87. They were a very small band once that was to heavy for mainstream radio for almost a year
Also all of the spin off bands like Foo Fighters, and Audioslave.
It's incredibly sad, and tragic, that so many talented people have died from this relatively small scene. I am just glad they got to share their gifts with us all before they passed. They will live on forever.
In many ways it was a punk revival wasn't it. And the drug du jour was the same drug, with all the misery it brought along with it.
Weird to think Andrew Wood has been gone over 30 years, longer than he was here.
And yet Temple Of The Dog is immortal.
They were hard working and passionate artists. Calling them "talented" is an insult.
Talent won't get you any skill, never has and never will.
@@diggie9598 But it definitely helps. You need to have some natural talent in the first place to excel. Yes you can work hard and learn skills, but that natural ability will always give you the edge.
Chris Cornell was the one that truly broke my heart. Because I figured he'd escaped that curse. He didn't OD, he didn't kill himself young, like so many of my other musical heroes from around that time and scene. He seemed to have it all: talent, success, love and family, respect of his peers from the underground to the mainstream... So when he did take his own life so many years later I couldn't believe it. Still can't, really. :(
my favorite aspect about Kurt Cobain most people ignore, or don't know much about, is that the success of Nirvana━both sonically and lyrically━can be owed to the fact that he was the biggest student in the John Lennon School of Pop Writing...I loved that he was smart and capable enough to combine that with all of his other influences (and Krist and Dave's) to create some of the best/most enduring music to ever be put on tape; just incredible!
I wish i had that software that could transpose/change vocals between songs.
John Lennon singing "Negative Creep" and Kurt singing "Twist and Shout" that sort of thing......
@@ari1234a you can with ai nowadays
That is another reason why Nirvana would become the most successful of the Seattle bands. The Beatles influence really comes through in every song on Nevermind, they were in the pop song format
That's what made Nirvana different from all the other Seattle bands and what made them break out and change everything. They were deeply punk in their ethos, but played mostly slow stuff, they had the hard edge of metal but the sloppy don't care attitude of underground punk rock. They had the weird artsy lyrics of college rock, but most importantly, they weren't afraid of using pop to hold it all together. And then of course you have Butch Vig, who somehow managed to refine what they were doing without turning it into what everyone else was doing.
There's a reason we still talk about that album.
I understand why, but I’m shocked that people don’t often talk about The Beatles’ influence on grunge. The Beatles influenced Black Sabbath’s music, which caused Sabbath to invented the genre of metal. Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell both listed The Beatles as influences on them as well.
Bam Bam are a real discovery here. What a shame they were not able to put out a 45 or LP.
Yeah I feel the same. It’s upsetting that talent like that just gets forgotten. Would love to know more.
Ive spent hours, and hours, and hours searching the internet for forgotten grunge bands. And I never once heard or read of Bam Bam. Amazing.
I could give you an off-the-head history of Grunge that would blow away most youtube content creators, but I can honestly say that I learned a couple of things from this video and will readily admit that Ive never heard of Bam Bam before. This video was outstanding.
At work, checked them out whilst gettin back to it, see this comment first thing as I start it back. And I agree. They dope.
Absolutely, I started exploring them only recently
This is a master thesis on grunge. Very informative.
I just got taken to school.
I grew up in Seattle and there are a few things in the video I didn't know about.
Or, as our commentator would inevitably put it, 'a master feces...'! ;)
the whinny emo generation of " the Cure- Smiths" cried louder, irritantier, stinkier, bath-less-er , older and older depending on the parents to buy drugs, more and more useless, until they became grunge.
I 100% recommend "Our Band Could Be Your Life" it's an amazing book that several of the quotes used in this video came from.
It's required genius touch to make a combination of Yardbirds with Stooges and record ultimate Seattle anthem "Touch me I'm sick" .Thank You Mark
Finished college in 1990. The early 90s were fantastic for exploring music and life in general. I had a blast.
Damn your old
@@A_random_NPC Yes, I am. I can spell, too.
I turned 18 in 1994. I came a little late to the party, but I know what you mean. 😎
I feel like Soundgarden is that big brother archetype that nobody really talks about, but was always the best
@John Napier personally I thought it was pretty decent. Eyelids mouth and Rowing are surprising bangers, Non-state actor and By crooked steps are single worthy, and A thousand days before and Taree are definitely top 15 Soundgarden songs to me all time, if not top 10. Besides those, I can’t say I liked the other half of the album
@John Napier I would class myself as a Soundgarden connoisseur and I really liked it. I'm realistic tho, Superunknown and Badmotofinger have already been made and Scream never should have.
Then is nirvana the youngest brother that people talk about and gets all the attention and was good but wasn’t the best
@@MrJJr-lw9zq It's art, there is no best.
Soundgarden was the first to get a mainstream record deal, so imagine how Soundgarden could educate all their friends about the big labels, that kinda puts them as the "Canaries in the coal mine"
This is what gives them the big brothers of grunge name, plus they were sensible people.
@@thehandseesall yeah that’s true but I just wanted to have fun with the comment
That’s the first time I’ve heard “Alive” compared to “Free Bird” and I’m perfectly okay with it.
Hahaha it kinda makes sense though lol Pearl Jam always had a country twang and a folky vibe
Simple Man is very grundge.
@@alexkubinski1099 lol yes
vom
Free Bird
Not only was I in Seattle from 1985 until 2004 but, I moved there from Grays Harbor. HOQUIAM/ABERDEEN. I was fortunate to be both places at the right time. I also worked within the Music Industry. I saw some incredible shows by some incredible Bands. Going to shows was a part of my job. I cherish this time in my life and know how lucky I was. To me, it's still The Seattle Scene. The Grunge word was a joke to most of us.
Hipster noises?
It was the Seattle Sound for us, well before the normies/old folks started calling it grunge.
Grunge sounds cooler though
OK boomer
You have a point. Like, the Gits were a big part of the Seattle Scene, but they weren't grunge, they were straight-up punk. Same with some of the other Rathouse bands.
Pixies original line up and first album, Surfa Rosa, are underrated and understated in their influence on Nevermind, Kurt said that at all the band listened to while to was Surfa Rosa and their friends, Sonic Youth's Music for weeks and months on tour, Grohl had joined and they did their last tour before recording 'Nevermind', he's on record as saying"Do you think we can release a Pixies song?" To Kurt and Chris. I'm not trying to get anyone to acknowledge anything about anyone, but if you haven't had a listen, Pixies "Come on Pilgrim"' "Surfa Rosa", and "Dolittle", do yourself a favour, the next two albums are good, 'Bossanova' and 'Trompe le Monde' are strong albums for '90 and '91!
If you ask me, Bossanova is the pinnacle of pop-rock. Nothing comes close. Off course at that period.
I think Kurt was quoted as saying he just wanted to do something like a Pixies song. Surfa Rosa was seminal for the whole movement IMO
I have some weird limited run book of matches with The Pixies on it and a quote from Kurt: 'I should have been in that band'. No idea where it originated, bet it's worth something beyond the obvious nostalgia etc.
I've never thought of About a Girl being "Beatles-esque", but now that you mention it, I can totally imagine how a Beatles version might sound.
..yeah with Lennon on vocals of course.. Hey there's a bit o 'proto-grunge': John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band!! ua-cam.com/video/5MqKXjclNHw/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/G_wUSHSeS-c/v-deo.html
Kurt also talked a lot about his love for the Liverpool Four
If you haven't, listen to M by The Cure off Seventeen Seconds. He pulled it straight from there.
@@Ifakkedyourmum explains why he was so garbage.
I'd never heard that Cure song, or seen it linked to Nirvana before, but the intro riff certainly has similarities to "About a Girl". I think it's quite likely that Kurt at least heard it, if not been inspired by it. He was a big fan of British alternative bands. e.g. The main riff of 'Come As You Are' was famously inspired by Killing Joke's "Eighties".
I remember seeing Guns'n'Roses in 91, some band I never heard of was opening. It was Soundgarden. They were amazing and made Guns'n'Roses look like a artifacts from the past. I never turned back after that, it was a new age of rock for me.
sound garden will always be one of my favorites.
Brilliant
Why why why and again why go and see a band with the leader called gobble
Definitely a different perspective and band from the Sunset strip kings of the streets GnR. I think they only toured together in the summer of 92, I believe. Maybe played a few gigs in the US together but not too sure. If they were touring exclusively in the US, I would have went to the closest US city to Toronto for sure because Bad Motor finger was not my first kick at the can with Sound Garden. Definitely their best work from start to finish, album. Kinda disappointed that they were crossing over to the masses with actual new fans singing their radio friendly Outshined, lol. I wanted them to be a private fraternity for the selected few. When you are young you definitely want your parents to actually say " Shut that SHIT OFF!!!, but with Sound Garden you wanted the majority of your peers to say the exact same thing, lol with only a wise few who get it!!! Thsts when you know you're a vital and dangerous rock and roll band!!!
Actually correction they toured in 91 in Europe shortly after opening in America and Canada. I think around the middle of July. I remember a pay per view gig with special guest etc in France- Hippodrome. I remember my Dad driving me to our local cable subscriber to pick up the special cable box, lol. Oh how times have changed. The reason I thought 92 was they also had another Pay per view gig in Japan. And I also saw them for my second time - both in Toronto. First time was GnR opening for the Cult in 1987. But Mettslica was I think 92. Another reason for my confusion is that they didn't release their illusions albums until early Fall of 1991. GnR toured from 91 to 93 on the Illusions discs. And I also saw Alice in Chains open for VH in the Spring of 1992 in Toronto as well. Oh it's all jumbled into about 5 to 6 years when grunge became mainstream. Snd yhat was definitely the realise of Nirvana's "Never Mind ", in 1991. Good Times. Like a wooden match, very bright flsme with s little longer burning flame, but still burns out and is gone or copied, manufactured and programmed along with planned. The very opposite of grunge when it was first coined by the American music reporters and the top 40 mainstream hipsters ala, American public!!! Grunge didn't want to be noticed by a really big audience, they definitely didn't want the responsibility for that msny minions, yhey just wanted to play their own music and to be left alone. Definitely read the program just didn't want to play their game, they just wanted to play their own music, and if a few people enjoyed that well good for you then, lol. True story!!!
I love that you mentioned John Peel; a legendary British DJ and promoter, who's personal favorites included, from one end of the spectrum to the other, Sheena Easton's Morning Train, to Teenage Kicks by The Undertones. Still loved and remembered by many; RIP John Peel.
Both incredibly cool and incredibly pretentious all in one.
I was at the legendary Reading Festival gig in 1992 when Mudhoney warmed up before Nirvana and the crowd threw mud at them (it rained incessantly all evening). John Peel was the compere/DJ that played between the bands. If memory serves, he played Teenage Kicks and Dinosaur Jr's version of 'Just Like Heaven' (and some others) between Mudhoney and Nirvana. Unforgettable day. Most people on the day said Mudhoney were better, but that may have been because Nirvana's show went on so long that we almost died of hypothermia. It was freezing in that muddy field.
Shout out peel for recording this heats material
Grunge became grunge when the media started labeling these bands grunge, but the fact is that these were actually punk rock bands and metal bands.
It was the Natural Evolution but you got to put labels on it to Market it. The nature of the Beast.
People underestimate the diversity of influences and how these bands (Nirvana, Hole, the Pixies etc) were honest to god music fans and of music that transcended genres. Kurt and Courtney loved Tracey Thorn’s Marine Girls (early 80s), a rather obscure DIY post punk band from the backwaters of the UK. Most of the people in these bands were in it for the music, the politics, the DIY energy, the connection with other musicians.
This is why the music they made still stands to this day. Manufactured music (which is pretty much all pop music), goes stale very quickly.
I am a die hard pixies fan, never was a fan of nirvana....bleach was their best recording. People of a certain age and depending on their musical tastes night not appreciate the Stooges, Pixies, The Cosmic Psychos or the Melvins but real music lovers understand the importance of these bands and their influence on alternative music.
I love Marine Girls ❤️
Er, just so you know... when it comes to music, the UK is FAR from being a "backwater"..... where did that little band come from that took America by storm back in the 60s? And by that I include Canada, and South America.... Oh yeah... Liverpool, England, UK - The Beatles.
They also went on to take the rest of the World too - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, etc...
And where did the real Heavy Metal music scene start? Oh, it was in Birmingham (pronounced Birming'um if you're English!), in England, UK, with bands like Black Sabbath in the very late 60s/early 70s, and continued later with Hawkwind, Deep Purple (at times), Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Motorhead.... you get the picture.
These bands pushed Metal Worldwide.
And what we would class a 'real' Punk started here in the UK with bands spouting their hatred of the current politics, deprivation, racism, etc in the country from around 1976 onwards, leading to what later became known as "new wave", where these artists were playing with new and varied ways to portray music, that lasted till ....... maybe today? It was a movement though that once again was felt worldwide, and has influenced music ever since - it suddenly allowed freedom of speech in ways that had never been possible before, blending genres..rock/pop/reggae for instance.
And there's probably a whole bunch of artists/styles that I've forgotten about over the years..... but that's not a bad musical influence history for the "backwaters"..... more like a whole ocean-front, of the UK.
@@SerenityChaos1975 “people of a certain age”? Well aren’t you then old enough to discard that wannabe “individual poser” attitude and just admit/accept Nevermind is Nirvana’s best recording.
I never forget the sheer awe, when I first saw Soundgarden's Hands All Over on Headbangers Ball, somewhere around 1990.
Then came AIC and PJ. My life changed. AIC is still my all time fav.
I hope you're a nerd like me and AIC's self-titled is your favorite album too lol
@@BobeBryant93 IDK, I love that too, but I can not pick a favorite. Maybe "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", lol.
AIC is in a class of their own
@@BobeBryant93 self titled as in “tripod”? Then yeah I agree!!!
AiC is def the best.
Shout out to TAD, the best of the forgotten great original grunge bands.
The one brief mention of TAD in this video was nowhere near what they deserved.
Plenty of TAD stickers but nobody knew they were a music group !!!
amazed whenever talking about Grunge or rock and roll in general nobody ever mentions The Fabulous Wailers, the first band to ever cover Louie Louie (which inspired The Kingsmen to do their own version,) pioneered garage rock, self-released their own records, and inspired The Sonics to form (which in return inspired dozens of other bands,) Jimi Hendrix would practice their songs when learning how to play, etc
probably the most influential band nobody knows about
Wow, I'd forgotten about them. I had a couple tracks on compilations that really stood out and was always promising myself I'd pick up their album 'next time' when I was trying to cut my stack down to fit my budget. Don't think I've seen a copy around in the past 20 years.
Im really glad you included Bam Bam, its a shame Tina never got the credit she deserved. RIP 🖤
This is an excellent run through of grunge and it’s background. Can’t believe it’s 30 ish years ago.
Reported for hate speech. Grunge was 10 years ago. Right? Right? 👀
@@EM-ol6rb Ha. If only!
@@EM-ol6rb I'm nearly 45 now and the 90s feel like they were 10 years ago.
Amazing how time flies.
@@dub_dub1504 Same here. How times flies, eh?
@@JC-lu4se Life is indeed like that. All my favorite albums keep popping up as 30th and 40th anniversary re-issues... and it makes my creaky knees ache.
I think I heard the words sludge or sludgier at least 50 times in this video
This is not a video, this is a History class! Thank you so much for such a great content
I love how both Boston & Killing Joke influenced Nirvana. What a Longshot they were but they cracked the musical lockbox & set a standard for the 90's.
Neither of those bands are in the Top 50 albums list by Nirvana in Kurt's journals so they couldn't have influenced them that much.
@@rocknroll_jezus9233 Emagine limiting yourself to 50 Albums for inspiration
@@GeertTheDestoyer 50 albums that were more inspirational and more influential (what the fuck is inspirational about stadium rock) than Boston and Killing Joke? Um yes good job you cracked the case Detective Sherlock Holmes
I f**king loved Killing Joke, I used to listen to Love like blood over and over back then.
You can trace it back to bowie too
I think Kurt's idolization of K Records is another important part of the story, especially with his pop sensibilities; they were of course a twee pop label from Washington, and Kurt had said he tattooed their logo to "stay a child". Of course, grunge and twee feel like on completely different ends of the spectrum, but they certainly adapted from each other.
Definitely!! All that anti solos were definitely a K Records vibe!! Especially when Nirvana started introducing more sad atmospheric tunes like Dumb and Something in the Way. It just screams Beat Happening to me
I played out in various bands since the early 80s. I assure you all....
Seattle recycled Sabbath and Neil Young to some extent. And while the rest of us practiced guitar and honed song writing, pop teens embraced simple chords and image as musical greatness.
While there is a charm to it all and Soundgarden, Screaming Trees and Mudhoney were certainly the standouts. Movements and trends (Pet Rock anyone?) are just that.
I listened to Return To Forever, VH and what moved me. When atrend went one way, I stayed the course.
And yet, AIC, Soundgard and STP remain some of my all time faves.
So WTF do I know?
I saw Nirvana play a gig in a music store. Two weeks later, they were HUGE. Before that, if I heard the word ‘grunge’ it meant the sound and attitude of Mudhoney more than anything.
I was at that event as well near the U District. Was it called Beehive Records? Remember clearly after show Kurt, Kris and Dave sitting on the sidewalk spread apart so fans could visit and get signatures.
I'm so glad you mentioned the Sonics. Not only because they were such a great band, but they were from Tacoma! Literally in the heart of the grunge scene a generation before it happened.
3 generations before!
Actually cheered in my office when Babes in Toyland came up \m/
Me too lmao
Me three!
Me four...what about Soul Asylum !?!
I remember thinking when I graduated from high school in 1989 that everything in music was stale and commercial and needed a complete revamp. And just a couple of years later I saw Alice in Chains live in LA in 1992 and it was one of the most memorable times of my entire life.
When I grew up, Rolling Stone magazine had a little section at the end of their charts that was labeled "College Rock". It was on that chart that I first heard of bands like the B-52s, RHCP, 10000 Maniacs and so many others before the media decided to label it "alternative"
God, I discovered so much great music from mtv's 120mins!
I loved that program
Me too! 120 minutes and Alternative Nation were my favorites on MTV in the 90's! Miss it so much!
*120 Minutes should be a UA-cam channel.*
@@hulkhatepunybanner great idea.
I was there, 3000 years ago. My skatepunk friends and I watched slackjawed and confused as our underground burst into pop culture after Nirvana - which had been the kind of band a few ppl paid $5 to see in tiny clubs. It was surreal.
what exactly was your reaction to that? excitement that the world was finally seeing the light, or horror at what you loved becoming mass-marketed?
@@n.nealparadise3963 Negative reactions all around. Disgust, horror, a general feeling of one's orderly universe suddenly bending the rules. Suddenly the popular kids who mocked and reviled us social outcasts were gobbling up the special unique hard-to-find music, hairstyles, and clothing that our sub-culture had produced. I watched a crowd of frat boy jocks cheer to radio darlings Stone Temple Pilots, then leave when the headliner Butthole Surfers came onstage.
@@sabertoothrobot Hi man! To be 100% honnest with you, at first (and maybe because I was such a naive boy) I found it more or less reassuring that underground was being 'validated' by the mainstream and even felt that I myself was being validated by other people who considered me for knowing so much about this music (hey, people even started to give a chance and listen to Sonic Youth!!). But, yeah, that was all illusory and soon that feeling of 'recognition' started to fade away... BTW I'm from Portugal, not USA!! so my English is rather clumsy. Even so it is almost incredible how similar your story is to mine (I'm assuming you're american...) Cheers!
Indeed. It’s was very odd.
Spin Magazine ran a last-page quiz on Are You Real or Bandwagon Grunge? The only one I remember is "How did you get your flannel shirt?" A. $30 at Macy's B. Wrestled authentic 50's style flannel off dead grandpa before paramedic arrived.
I know Kyuss is listed as stoner rock but they always felt borderline grunge to me. They were early 90s and west coast. Josh Homme is a freaking genius! Desert Sessions was life changing for me
Also Josh Homme was in Screaming Trees for some time.
Kyuss and later QOTSA have brought a whole new genre of hard-core pop-ish desert rock to the world. Another band that started at the beginning of the century and sadly ended with the group leader Will Mecum's untimely death in 2021 was Karma To Burn. That band I never got to see, but at least they recorded a lot and had some videos. Hard-core, stoner-esque, but fully West Virginia Mountain Rock!
That’s like smashing pumpkin being borderline grunge and shoe gazer rock. That’s awesome
THANK YOU for acknowledging TINA BELL & BAM BAM. They are The Architects of (Seattle) Grunge & we believe they were INTENTIONALLY left out, as many black artists & black led groups in other genres, years before.
Who is “we”? Do you have multiple personalities?
Woman, not onlyblack
Exactly V.L.R.
Shout-outs should always and respectfully be given to those who came before.
really like that you included bam bam in this (though i’m not sure the reason they were written out of the history of grunge is THAT much of a mystery)
enlighten me as to this mystery
@@Maskami racism. Tina Bell was constantly attacked physically with chains and verbally with slurs by racists and misogynists at Bam Bam's shows, and to be fair, not a lot of time have passed since the racial segregation ended. You could say it could be also sexism since riot grrrl only gained popularity after white college women started it (not that I don't like it tho), but even then, they also were attacked and sista riot appeared too
We all know why lmao.😅 it’s not hard to guess….they wasn’t ready at the time.
@@Maskami they were fronted by a black woman in a scene that was very much male and even more white (and history has a distinct pattern of erasing non-white, non-male, and queer contributions in every field)
@@peach_total I really had no idea she was a black woman. Looking at the video I thought maybe she was a white woman mixed with Asian because her hair looks straight
about the only thing I would add to this list, Janes Addiction's "Nothing Shocking" it has all the elements of grunge in place.
All time favorite band! Jane's is musical perfection to me.
Ted, Just Admit It is a banger. Among an album of other bangers.
The Cosmic Psychos are always forgotten in contemporary “grungeumentaries” that are compiled by people who didn’t experience the grunge years organically. They also influenced Nirvana and are still making music.
But...that's an L.A. band! L.A. BAD!
@@SerenityChaos1975 Also the U-Men
One thing to add to this is that The Sonics (60s garage rock band mentioned here) were actually from Seattle as well which is why they're cited by so many grunge artists as an influence despite them being rather obscure.
The Sonics were actually from Tacoma, not Seattle
I was there and rode the wave. We were all the same age as all those great Seattle band, less Hendrix and Heart.. It was a hell of a ride. They changed everything. Radio got good again, summer concerts and both Lollapalooza I and II, kicked ass. I preferred 2, my EX preferred 1, and that's why she's my EX. jk... It was all ending just as fast as it came. Then came deaths and band breakups, it was over. From '89-'96 or so was fantastic!
I was expecting this video to happen. I'm glad it did.
I think Skin Yard is the most overlooked important grunge band. I feel at this point people are fairly familiar with a lot of the non-"Big Four" bands like The Melvins, Green River, Screaming Trees, etc. But Skin Yard's story is conspicuously absent. Jack Endino wasn't just a producer, he really nailed the grunge guitar sound early on as a musician himself. Ben McMillan was a unique frontman, there was no one quite like him. Daniel House was a damn good bass player as well as the head of C/Z Records, which predated Sub Pop. And they had a bunch of drummers including Matt Cameron and Barrett Martin. Their story deserves to be told.
Just a quick piggy back on this to mention GrunTruck, Ben's subsequent effort with guys from The Accused
Hammerbox.
Thanks for the deep dive into Grunge, with a few obscure acts I had not heard of that I added to my playlists. I was 40 yrs old in 1990, experienced and listened to the music of the 60's - 80's. If I could do it over, I would have flown out to Seattle to experience the magical and powerful music genre of all time!
You missed what defines Grunge - it is the dirty guitar, with a slow, fast, slow, fast, loud, soft, loud, soft song. That is what differentiates Grunge from Punk, Rock, Goth, Metal etc. The Pixies perfected this with Where Is My Mind way before Nirvana and Pearl Jam came along.
I always thought Heart was a pretty big Seattle band that probably contributed to grunge in a lot of ways, but no one ever talks about them
The Wilson sisters even show up on the Singles soundtrack (under the name "The Lovemongers").
Honestly I was a little surprised that soundtrack didn't get a mention when he talked about the movie. It's a perfect entrypoint into grunge for anyone looking for a place to start.
@@SerialExperimentsTim Nancy being married to writer/director Cameron Crowe might have had an influence on getting The Lovemongers on the OST. I'm glad in any case because they did a fantastic version of Led Zep's "The Battle of Evermore".
@@ronbo11 That version of The Battle of Evermore is one of my all time favourite songs
Also one of heart's singers was on the track "Brother" by Alice in Chains, definitely important
@@SerialExperimentsTim Simply put, they were way too talented and had long since lost any alternarive cred with the string of pop rock albums in the mid 80s. And they were crooning away with the horrid All I want to do track while grunge was lifting off in 91.
I am biased to 90s alternative, but this has to be the best video you've ever done. I didn't know it was 36 minutes until I saw the time stamp at the end, I did not feel the time go. Your editing, content, research, layout and narration are at their next level peak power level. Thank you so much. I thoroughly enjoy everything you do, even the British music I would've never heard about or considered the story to if it weren't for your videos. Because of Trash Theory, I am thoroughly defending the Spice Girls.
Man this was a great lesson in the early days of grunge/90s alternative.. i was born in '88 so when all this was happening I was just a wee little boy.. I remember my step dad though really being into sound garden, pearl jam, alice in chains, nirvana, mad season, mother love bone, etc.. i remember in like the first or second grade getting in trouble and having to sit in time out, alone. Because i had heard Stargazer by Mother love bone for the first time on the ride home the day before and i listened to it prolly ten or fifteen times after getting home and going to school the next morning. I knew every word, and i couldnt stop singing it once i got to class. N the teacher had done told me to stop like three time n i jst kept on singing it.. So she put me in time out.. Those were the days.. lol.
@ciao214Z yeah...that's what he said.
If no-one else has said it already, THANK YOU SUSAN SILVER...
Honestly, I feel like Cobain heard the “it’s better to burn out than it is to fade away” from Devo with Neil Young. Cobain was such a big new wave fan. It makes sense that Devo brought that line to his attention.
He was also a massive Neil Yong fan. I mean, that whole flannel thing was his look, even...
barrel go boom
The phrase first appeared in 'My My Hey Hey (Out Of the Blue)' by Neil, the first track on 'Rust Never Sleeps'. It's an acoustic companion piece to 'Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)' that opens the album, while 'Hey Hey...' closes it out.
@@RTek1986 If you’re aware with how Cobain felt about Pete Townshend (old) I’m sure he would’ve felt the same way about Neil Young, he’d never once said anything close to praise about Young in interviews. But w/ Devo - Cobain “Of all the bands who came from the underground and actually made it in the mainstream, Devo is the most challenging and subversive.” “Turnaround” is the best Devo song and it was only released as the b-side of their “Whip It” single”
@@brandontingley7059 it can be argued its more Creedence Clearwater Revival with the flannel thing. Cobain was in a cover band once with Novoselic called the Sellouts and did say he was influenced by the band. He never said anything about Neil Young in interviews. I’m sure the “Better to burn out” was brought to his attention by Devo and not by Neil Young
I love Mark Lanegan's voice so much
Mark’s underrated
His vocal on QOTSA's In The Fade... oh boy
Very strongly agree! And it's aging gorgeously. Lanegan's later career solo & collaborative/guest vocal work is full of talented performances. Bubblegum (2004) is just excellent & one of those rare albums you can listen from start to finish. Blues Funeral (2012) has some musically experimental flourishes - Ode to Sad Disco is like Lanegan fronting one of New Order's gothier toned tracks.
@@Etsba_ Wow, you took most of the words right outta my mouth! I absolutely love everything Mark has put out, and yes his voice has aged amazingly 👌
Magnificent singer.
Difficult guy.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Screaming Trees with Alice In Chains and Gruntruck. Mark was on point, but during the rest of that tour he got a little too Jim Morrison in terms of antics.
Grunge was blessed with some of the best voices ever to grace rock'n'roll. I'd put Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder & Layne Staley up against any three voices from any era. Just unreal vocals.
I was married from 1983 to 1989, so I missed out on the transition of a sub genre of Punk into grunge. This video captures that transition like the compilation “Sub•Pop 200” does.
I think Jimi Hendrix and krautrock bands like Can deserve a mention for their influence, but I absolutely love this video. It was a definitely nostalgia trip. Thanks for introducing me to Bam Bam.
I love your musical analysis, but it's a mistake ignoring the socio political influences. Gen X latchkey kids raised in the cold war, 'greed is good' era made this music for a reason. 30 years later and it still resonates.
Every time I get into a conversation about the "grunge" era of music with people, they really only know Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in chains, and Pearl Jam. (Even more limiting, they only know their hits) While those are some of the titans, there are so many bands and individuals that had huge parts of making the sound. The history is quite more robust than most will ever realize.
You are so right about that! Grunge is so much more than Nirvana. You said it perfectly about everyone only knowing the hits. There is a vast collection of songs out there that were/are even better than the hits.
I love that you gave a spotlight to Bam Bam and Tina Bell. She is one of the greats.
Tad. Pre never mind the British music press held them in equal or possibly slightly higher esteem than nirvana. Both bands were lumped together as the new thing. Nowadays Tad pretty well omitted from history .
TAD GOD'S BALLS one of the best grunge records...heavy melodic ass kickin'
The music press don’t know sheet. Actually, the media in general don’t know sheet - just subversive Public Relations.
Absolutely. From a British perspective Tad were the first of the Seattle Sup Pop bands to be really feted by the music press, then Mudhoney, and then Nirvana.
I also remember music journalists using Sub Pop as a genre name, although it never caught on with anybody else.
The word grunge was widely used as an adjective for some of the bands otherwise lumped in with Grebo. Most obviously Crazyhead, but also Bomb Party and Gaye Bykers On Acid.
Also interesting when you consider that MTV refused Tad's video for Wood Goblins because it was "too ugly" only to put out the much higher budgeted video for Smells Like Teen Spirit years later.
I saw Nirvana open for Tad in 1989. Still have my stub.
So much memories... I remember when Nevermind came out. I went to the record store after school to get it. Listen to it, was blown away (though disappointed not to get the cd with the (in)famous bonus track... yeah that one...which means now I have a very limited copy WITHOUT the bonus track), recorded it onto tape right away. Going to high school, our bus drivers were pretty chill and let us give them cassettes to play during the ride. So the next day, here I came with my fresh made cassette of Nirvana... literally it lasted seconds before the driver said mope not that.
Six months later, on the bus, with the same driver, Smells like Teen Spirit played on the radio and yes, he cranked up the volume... I was laughing internally... This was in France.
Shout out to The Wipers. Well done Trash Theory. They are from Portland and had an influence on Nirvana absolutely. Anybody reading this, check out The Wipers, you might see the song Youth Of America.
Edit: Portland has always had a deep love of Punk. Punks have been in Portland for Decades.
Scratch Acid -> Melvins + The Wipers -> Nirvana
Ironically, Nirvana was the odd man out of the "big 4" of "grunge". The members of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains we're all close friends with each other, but Nirvana wasn't even from Seattle so they had little to do with the other groups.
"I don't hold any of those lyrics dear to me." - Kurt Cobain, literally the opposite to every Nirvana fanatic.
That's the whole problem with nirvana's fanbase. They worship a man who didn't give a shit about himself, or his fans. They find all this poetic meaning in nothingness.
Yeah dude. The lyrics he wrote definitely meant nothing to him and nobody has ever said somthing that wasnt true out of a bout of self hatred and extreme depression.
Nobody has ever been self destructive towards something they created and put their blood sweat and tears into. That would just be of unsound mind haha.
Kurt was really ahead of the game. And his "as long as [they lyrics are] not sexist" comment really clarifies to me why he held some of his fanbase in such contempt, and became disillusioned. But I guess that contempt gave us In Utero. All Apologies is still one of my favourite songs.
@@Neilios1000 Yeah that embrace of feminism really paid off for him - marrying a domineering woman feminist who bossed him into his grave.
@@mattkierkegaard9403 Whether his relationship with Courtney Love was good for him or not is another discussion. It doesn't make his embrace of feminism wrong.
Timeless, grunge is slowly making its way back. The Sacramento scene has some mind blowing new grunge bands, specifically Effective Denial, hope they make it big and bring grunge into the mainstream again.
Name more bands please!!
Also from Sacramento- the grunge pioneers Tales of Terror!
Thanks for giving me something new to listen to.
Violent Soho from Australia
I’m excited for when hair metal comes back and crushes it
I feel Dinosaur Jr and Pixies should had gotten somewhat more mention in the video, which is elsewhere splendid.
Melvins became the band that influnced all of the late 80's grunge bands. They all sounded quite different than Melvins, but that was the blueprint for grunge. Melvins weren't even aiming to become influencers or anything like that, but that's what they became. They just wanted to sound really different in the punk scene. It sounded odd at that time, but it ended up influencing every single grunge band that made millions of dollars after that. I think Melvins were simply revolting against the very narrow and restrictive sound of punk at the time and it spawned an entire movement. All of these other bands do matter (Mudhoney) but Melvins were the most important.
*wipers
I was just thinking about how I really, really like Layne Staley's voice when it got to the part where someone said his voice was "wrong." o_O WRONG?!
Anyway, thanks for another great video!
That person must have felt pretty silly after the fact!
That statement made me cackle...esp the part citing noted 1990 chart-topping artist DIO 😂 (I mean, if it'd just been A Guy saying that then it probably wouldn't have really struck me as funny, but that it was a total industry wonk like Dave Jerden absolutely tickled my funnybone lol).
I don't think Killing Joke gets enough credit.
HA
They were pretty popular in the alternative scene in late 80s \90s....cosmic psychos don’t get the recognition they deserve, despite being a well known influence on Nirvana and grunge
@@SerenityChaos1975 Killing Joke and whoever they are don't show up in the top 50 favorite albums by Nirvana so they couldn't have that much of an influence
Killing Joke is an interesting band regardless, going from post-punk/new wave in the 80's to industrial metal in the 90's was a cool move. Going from having minor hits in the mid 80's like Love like Blood to the 1990 album Extremities, Dirt and various Repressed Emotions was a bold move. Not sure about the impact they had on grunge but as Joy Division is sometimes mentioned one can assume Killing Joke would or could have had a similar influence.
An similarity i do see with a band like Nirvana is surely that both bands kinda disliked the fame and attention and therefore started making more abrasive music after reaching success.
@@rocknroll_jezus9233 just listen to their song eighties and tell me nirvana werent influenced…
Just wanted to drop a note to say how well done this video was. There are too many channels with some stock b-role, a few band pics, and info from wikipedia. I graduated from high school in 1989, lived in the Seattle burbs in the late 1990's, and learned a lot from this video. It is interesting to get a better glimpse into the origins of the bands that defined my college years. Sub'ed!
This is a fantastic review of that era in music and I appreciate the research that went into it. The most remarkable fact I wasn't aware of was that Pearl Jam was originally named after Mookie Blaylock.
It was an incredible time for music & I, who grew up with Zeppelin, Sabbath and Van Halen, turned to punk & post punk in the 80's, really felt at home in. I was lucky enough to meet some of these bands and stand offstage listening (but more often drawn into the pit) - the losses that stacked up quickly (Cobain, Staley) and even those more recent (Cornell) have truly taken a toll. Not a huge fan of the pop-punk that followed - so for me, grunge was the high point.
Absolutely fantastic work, one of your best!
THANK YOU for acknowledging Bam Bam and Tina 💖💖💖💖
Oooooo subbed!!!
@@MostlyCloudy Ditto!
Growing up in Seattle, I was too young for the grunge scene and totally dismissive of it. I was more into Seattle's 90s hardcore and "emo" with such bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Botch, The Blood Brothers, Murder City Devils, early Elliott Smith even..etc. But when I got older and more involved in the scene( I worked at KEXP).. I grew to appreciate the grunge scene and how INCREDIBLY TALENTED all those guys were. Seriously, all those guys were exceptional at what they were doing. Even the bands that weren't "commercial success". Whether it was the way they sang and how iconic their voices were/are or how they played their instruments. I am incredibly proud of that time in music. I am still incredibly proud of the Seattle scene. For such a tiny tucked away place, the PNW has been constantly instrumental in changing, and innovating music genres. People only think of grunge, but we also have Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Presidents of The United States, The Melvin's, Tad, The Sonics, Mud Honey, Heart, Mad Season, Minus The Bear, Queensrÿche, hell Quincy Jones even went to HS in Seattle, plus all those other epic grunge bands...the list goes on and on!
GRUNGE FOREVER, the sheer number of bands from that era you have mentioned will make me go down the rabbit hole of alternative again. NIRVANA was the best slap to the music world, wish they were still around we probably would not have has tik tok or instagram. But Garbage was undoubtedly the door closer on The scene, those 1st 2 albums were sheer perfection of art and taste and weird. Would have loved to hear more from you on Monster Magnet and the stoner/desert rock scene alternative to the alternative with Kyuss, and later QOTSA...!
I’m so glad he included wipers, D-7 is one of my favorite songs of all time
Exactly me too
The Wipers are awesome.
"When Its Over" is my favorite Wipers song. It's this crazy punk/psychedelic masterpiece
surprised you didn't mention the little tidbit about how the name "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is from a joke Kathleen Hannah (Bikini Kill) made about Kurt! speaking of which, would be interesting to compare / contrast the more male-dominated grunge bands with the riot grrrl scene.
was literally about to say
He already has a video on Smells like Teen Spirit and he goes on a whole tangent about that. Do check it out, great video even though not as well produced as the new ones.
Probably because we’ve all heard that before… and no longer care.
I grew up in Seattle during this time period, DOWN the street from Kurt and Courtney… and THISSS, this is the perfect explanation EVER 🙇🏼♀️🖤🤙🏻
Thank you. I lived through that time in the Northwest in a wanderful haze. Recently people like you managed to put it into some kind of clarity for me, and for that you have my appreciation.
Babe wake up, Trash Theory just posted!
Green River was not named after Gary Ridgeway. Its a river in WA. that the killer was named after
I thought they were named after the CCR song...
Yes, it's the name of a River but The "Green River Killer" was active way before the Band existed. I bet that had something to do with the name of the Band. It's a shit hole dirty river.
Their T-shirts had Green River soda on them, so maybe that too? 😋.
Thanks for upper left corner information. It's someting what I miss in a lot of Video, because I am not confirm in all the bands.
I love the detail of you putting all the names and years into the video. It makes it easier to follow. Cheers.
It's crazy how many great albums came out in 1991
1994 is mindblowing, too.
(1989- 1995) So much great music put out during this time…
1990 was better, Cherry Pie changed my life
This was an impressive overview of the genre. An early Foo Fighters mention there at the end wouldn't have been out of place.
A bit late for this video's period.
I mean there's no mention of In Utero even in the slightest, or of Kurt's suicide, so I think mentioning Nirvana's drummer's band would have been *pretty* out of place
@@crasstrash The end of Nirvana as it were wasn't the point I was making. The point was that during the epilogue he mentioned a list of bands that followed in grunge's wake. The Foo Fighters were one such post-grunge band which emerged from Seattle.
The first Foo's album had shades of Kurt's guitar tone but it's not really grunge, more like a then-modern take on good ol' hard rock (except for Big Me).
What really sets Soundgarden apart is their punk lineage and their non-conventional songwriting with heavy focus on odd-time riffs and alternate tunings. That's why, IMO, saying soundgarden is comparable to sabbath, is disservice to soundgarden's variety and dynamics in songwriting, albeit being compared to Sabbath is great honor in itself. On top of that, even though Chris Cornell wrote most of the music, riffs and lyrics, all band members contributed to songwriting. Drummer Matt Cameron writing 2 or 3 songs in each album and likewise with bassist, Ben Sheppard. And no 'grunge' band could rival soundgarden on the sonic spectrum of 'heaviness' and 'lightness', with Superunknown, their 1994 release, best exemplifying this variation. Songs like 4th of July and Head Down on same album is a ballsy move. Same with 'Mind Riot' and 'Jesus Christ Pose'. This is true for most of the big bands from the scene. So trying to fit these bands (AIC, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, MLB, Mudhoney) in a box of 'grunge' is exercise in futility. These are all great bands who happen to be from a same area (roughly) around same time. Great Great video nonetheless with super deep research.
I lived with the lead guitarist of Mudhoney for about a year, and one of my favorite stories I ever heard from him was when Nirvana was originally going to open for them for a show, but then Nevermind came out, went to #1 overnight, and they were like “…Yeah, I think we’re opening for them now.” Lol
Master of Reality + Funhouse + Rust Never Sleeps + Ramones S/T= Grunge
If you merge Funhouse with Ramones you get Raw Power
That's actually really good shorthand for everybody except AiC and Pearl Jam
Wow, this is such a great mini-doco. So much packed into 36 minutes, with every line genuinely informative.
One of the best UA-cam videos I've seen. Thank you for letting me relive my youth! It's sad how many great musicians we've lost. Great work
30 years ago as I write this... grunge was starting to break through. I was some kid in a Midwestern town digging on my first taste of Metallica. In a few months I'd get a taste of grunge when I'd watch Nirvana on SNL. The opening lick of Teen Spirit blew me away, and there was no turning back.
Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins cites both the My War and Slip It In albums by Black Flag for his shift in sound and slowing down. Krist Noveselic and Kurt Cobain went with Buzz to one of these shows in Seattle at the Mountaineer Club in 1984. Chris Cornell and Kim Thayil saw Black Flag and Green River in Fall of that year, Members of Skin Yard and Screaming Trees were also in the audience. It amazes me how overshadowed the Flags influence is, they were a big deal!
that album influenced the whole post-metal genre too. Neurosis
And yet most of the reviews at the time were like "This isn't Damaged, it sucks"
@@jaschul exactly. The Alternative was always there, just in 1991 it became cool
@@coryleblanc hearing Helmets Meantime after it's been a minute, I could see that
You're not a true Nirvana fan if you don't know who The melvins are. Just saying. Yet another band that didn't get the coverage that they should have as well as Mud Honey. I still can't get over the fact that Goodness didn't get more respect and love considering the lead singer also was in Hammer Box and the Rockfords just saying.
Faster Pussycat has a song called Mr Lovedog that's about Andrew Wood also. While many people know that "Would?" by Alice In Chains is about Andy Wood, most dont know that "Left Behind" by Candlebox is as well. The lead singer of Candlebox grew up with the OG Seattle cats (keep in mind that most of the Seattle bands were from outside Seattle growing up....Chris Cornell being an exception). He had a job with (future Cornell wife and Alice In Chains and Soundgarden manager) Susan Silver at a clothes/shoes store. That's where Susan helped get Chris his first pair of Doc Martins and the lead singer of Candlebox got to know guys like Chris and Andy.
Stone Gossard grew up in Capital Hill
@@neonnights3955 Mark Arm was born and raised in Seattle also.
i love the fact that "grunge", a genre i hold incredibly near and dear, is linked to Neil Young "the godfather of grunge"... and the first "real" band Neil was ever in was my late father's band "The Esquires"... it's a really trippy connection to have to the genre... great video, man! loved every second of it! :)
Your writing of these extraordinary documentaries is fucking brilliant, and assuming that's you also narrating, job well done!! I'm here forever
Man, your productions are SO well done! The Depeche Mode episode hooked me for sure.
That was the best 30 mins I’ve spent in a long time. Kudos to the writers, the commentary was silky aural poetry
This is pretty much spot on.
Cosmic Psychos from Australia were a big influence on both Mudhoney and Pearl Jam and have been cited as a significant influence on the Seattle Grunge scene
Super interesting deep dive! Could probably make an entire film about all of this and still not be able to cover everything. But the way you distilled it down to the most important parts made it very enjoyable to watch. Thanks for making this!
Such a great video, thanks for letting this together. Not only did you provide info on bands I've liked for a long time, but you've also given me another handful of bands to look into
I love the stuff trash theory puts out. So informative obviously taking a deep dive, LOVE IT, thanks for for the quality edits