So much musical greatness in those 2 albums. Creative originality, powerful and yet beautiful vocals, lyrics, irregular but tight rhythm sections, meaty guitar riffs and meaningful lyrics with great song structure.
@@travzimmerman1340 Alice N Chains , yes. Alice In Chains never was. Cantrell had the feeling to capture the next turn that music was going to, you know? The guy was playing funky stuff at the time. And yes. AIC was a alt heavy metal band.
I saw them twice, once with Layne & once with William DuVall. No one can truly replace Layne, but both shows were amazing. They still have the duel harmonies plus now a second guitar.
What made grunge grunge? Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, Alice Mudgarden. This was rock's version of collaboration, but it wasn't collaboration. In each of these cases it was *creation.* It was creation involving different people with their own unique sound and set of influences, creating a whole new band with a whole new sound entirely. Something no other genre of rock at the time was doing, nor had done since about the late 60s (Traveling Wilburys excluded).
Yeah the sense of community was really important. A lot of these bands went to each other’s shows before they all blew up which I think is awesome too. They were just good friends trying to one-up each other while maintaining a strong sense of individuality. The lyrics to the album Above by Mad Season add f-ing loads to the song when you think about where Layne Staley was at that point...
To me A.I.C tried too hard to be "Grunge" they were originally a really cringy hair metal band. Grunge to me is Nirvana Bleach and the underground Grunge bands from the late 80's. The likes of A.I.C and Pearl Jam were more of a manufactured "Grunge"
@Skip R if you really listen to it you'll hear common qualities from band to band. Just listen to all the guitar sustain, then listen to other hard rock and heavy metal from before 1988.
Because "grunge music" isn't really a thing. The only thing "grunge bands' have in common is time and place. They were bands from Seattle, in the late '80s to early '90s. If grunge was anything it was an aesthetic.
This is one of the reasons i love Kim Thayil, he emphasises heavy riffs instead of fast boring solo. just like him i usually find myself sleeping through or skipping overly long guitar solos unless they are melodic/rythmic and actually sevre anything to the song.
mindblowing stuff, the lead in Fell on Blk Days, who the hell could come up with that? I play it on guitar and still never get bored with it and always it sounds freakier than I expected it would.
@@azeiras Yeah Malmsteen might be technically proficient but he is really bad as a musician(If that makes sense). He has way too big ego, he should learn from guitarists like Slash that actually can create good solo-project songs where he doesen't always need to be in the center of attention all the time...
I was young when Kurt died, like 11, but the news caught my attention and I dove into their music and shortly after became a silverchair fanatic. I bought many varying albums at the time including the self titled AIC album but I was a young teenager I didn’t know what I was living in. Now that I’m almost 38 I can not go a day with out listening to Layne Staley. He’s the best and I wish he was still around making music.
Grunge was not just a wall of sound, but a wall of emotion and energy. Even heavy metal may be having less) I wonder what genre will be next in terms of giving even more emotion and raw energy and passion ! )
This is so true! Because with grunge, bands had something unique about them. For instance; Nirvana sounded nothing like Mudhoney, yet they are mentioned in the same sentence all the time.
When I was a kid I was always listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden, but didn't even know about Alice in Chains until around 4 years ago. I like to think that I accidentally saved the best 'til last.
I'm glad Guns n' Roses is mentioned in a positive light here. There's always focus on Axl's 1990s excesses but _Appetite for Destruction_ was the first domino to fall in the change of music from the 80s to 90s.
If not the first, then definitely the best AND most successful. A case could be made for Electric by The Cult as being a major dominoes as well. Ironically, GNR's first major tour was opening for The Cult on this tour. I'll add that GNR's preference for Les Paul's (Slash) and ES-175's (Izzy) and Marshall amps, and Stephen Adler's small drum kit (double bass was still the norm in 87) instigated am aesthetic change as well.
One word I forgot to mention regarding guitar tone in GNR and grunge: sustain! Few had that kind of sustain for much of the 80's. They all knew how to find good gear at the pawn shops and in the classifieds.
My top 5 favourite grunge albums: 1. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger 2. Green River - Rehab Doll 3. Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains 4. Soundgarden - Louder Than Love 5. Nirvana - In Utero Honourable mentions: Alice In Chains - Dirt, Alice In Chains - Facelift, Gruntruck - Inside Yours, Gruntruck - Push, Mad Season - Mad Season, Nirvana - Bleach, Nirvana - Nevermind, Soundgarden - Ultramega OK, Soundgarden - Superunknown
Some other decent Grunge albums/artists - Bundle of Hiss - Sessions Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff Mudhoney - Mudhoney Tad - 8-Way Santa Tad - Salt Lick Blood Circus - Deadbeats Hater - Hater Green River - Come on Down Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments Melvins - Bullhead My Sister's Machine - Diva Sceaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion Love Battery - Dayglo Rein Sanction - Broc's Cabin L7 - Smell the Magic Gruntruck - Inside Yours Paw - Dragline Pond - Pond Fire Ants - Stripped Truly - Fast Stories From Kid Coma Mad Season - Above Skin Yard - 1000 Smiling Knuckles Mono Men - Bent Pages Brad - Shame Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds Sweet Water - Ter Dandelion - I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick Veruca Salt - American Thighs The Fluid - Purplemetalflakemusic Coffin Break - Crawl Hammerbox - Numb Pile Up - Norwalk Some Velvet Sidewalk - Whirlpool Sprinkler - More Boy, Less Friend Smile - Maquee Daisy Chainsaw - Eleventeen Calamity Jane - Martha Jane Cannary Thrillhammer - Giftless
@@matty7006 that’s all of them. Including Cobain & Cornell. You don’t notice so much because their voices are higher pitched, but they absolutely use(d) the same technique.
@@gab.lab.martins its obvious you dont sing, or you wouldnt have said something that dumb. Layne and eddie are closer than eddie to chris. Even then they all 3 use different techniques, hense why you can tell them apart
Facelift, Dirt and the Tripod Dog are some of my all time favourite albums by my favourite band. Only band that I love as much as Alice in Chains is probably TOOL. Badmotorfinger & ten are deffo up there for me as well.
All my heroes are gone.....CORNELL, LAYNE, COBAIN, WOOD, WEILAND may you all rest in power my boys. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SO MUCH. You changed my life...
And now we had Mark Lanegan added to the list of these fallen icons / heroes, this current decade is so becoming increasingly distressing for the rock music industry.
From a musical point of view and as a guitarist I couldn't write anything that would be considered grunge. I could play punk, thrash, hair metal, metal, sleazy blues, but grunge? Those guys were blessed with that style. There has been no other band that could touch the style of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, etc. Grunge spoke to me in a huge way, because I was depressed at 20, 21 years old. I felt like I wasn't going to measure up to others who had privilege. I couldn't take authority like joining the military. I didn't know where I fir in and grunge spoke to me and made me happy with who I am.
@@wornstrat5517 and riff writer, he doesnt seem amazing in interviews but then you play his stuff and then try to imagine what mind could come up with this and wow, he is magical.
I'd say as long as you have dark lyrics and catchy, metal influenced tuned down riffs, dissonant sounds, and fuckin Layne Staley kinda vocals, all with a alternative rock edge, grunge is whatever you want it to be. RIP Layne Staley. Hope your still rocking up there. 🤟😔🙏
Grunge must be known for bringing out a new technique/subject in voice called distortion sound especially from Chris Cornell,Layne Staley Kurt Cobain Eddie Vedder they put this technique out in the world and that's what I love about them.
When you threw on Facelift, it was unique at every instrument and lyric. I think AIC would have had a chance to be at the top of the food chain with the masters (Zeppelin) if Layne stayed healthy. They wrote at the highest level of all music styles.....not to mention that they were as good of live band as anyone. You had "different" and you had "talented" ..... the were definitely both.
When I first saw the video for Teen Spirit, it stopped me dead in my tracks, and I knew things were about to change. Wasn’t long after that, that superficial shit that people thought they cared about no longer mattered as much anymore. People could be who they really are.
Loving the content so far. Feels like I’m watching a mini documentary. Also, candlebox’s first album is a great album, in my opinion. Far behind is so fucking good.
Great video, cant wait for part 2. Chains, Melvins, that whole wall of sound really created a change as the world changed to create it's own movement. Right time and place, right mood..
Loudwire I appreciate that focus and great release of this documini, really wish Mark was involved in this like when asked in the Mudhoney doc. I have found it funny that the industry has done so much to build up the grunge idea and label in the 90s to now trying to avoid it and now just label any new a metal band or alternative. Grunge wasnt just a Seattle thing, it just got recognized in the masses there. Grunge if you want to label it that was a world wide movement in the change of music, bands from all over the world during this time were playing music that sounded and fell into this category and still to this day are doing so. The industry creates a monster they couldn't control by labeling a genre that couldnt be tied down as one certain type and now its the black sheep of the music industry and back to the underground where its is full of so many great bands that span from the beginning to ones that are just playing their first show. Seattle is an amazing place, I love it I belong there and miss it but by no means should Seattle be the one place that is labeled as grunge being the Seattle sound. Js. And damn I love love all the bands from Seattle some much more then others, so much talent congested in that Washington state, but before the net, what else was a kid gonna do that wasnt considered a jock or prep? Long live "G R U N G E" and go support your local scene just like then thats what mattered and still matters to this day. Set down the screens and go out live life leave the house.
Grunge is melancholic and depressing, depressingly real. Grunge songs often mixed minor and major scales which created weird and melancholic emotions. I would say grunge is a mix of indie-metal and punk.
You're not really wrong, but they had so many of the key sonic elements. Listen to the guitar tone. Each overdub has a tone that could stand alone. Then there's the use of drop D tuning that Jerry learned from Chris Cornell. AIC proved you can be as heavy and dark as Slayer without being thrash.
They didn’t sound like Led Zep at all and weren’t even close to the talent that Zep had. They probably didn’t party nearly as hard either so sorry but I can’t see that comparison at all
In the early 90s, the first grunge song I heard on the radio (late at night) was Stardog Champion. A few days later (unless my memory is off) I saw the Outshined video. Couple days after that...Man in the Box. As a guitar player, I knew something cool was happening. Then came Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was like a tsumani hit the country. All the kids I went to school with, who hated heavy music, overnight got on that band wagon. It was funny to see most my classmates just be posers.
Alice In Chains is a Metal band with some songs being more grungey and acousticy. Jerry, Sean and Mike have all said they were labeled grunge but are and always have been a metal band. Not to mention these guys played with freakin slayer and megadeath in the 90s to name a few even heavier bands. I rest my case.
@@nolandavis2927 Right but if your going to completely label a band grunge Alice In Chains is just not that band. Most of there songs are a mix of Heavy Metal, Sludge Metal and Alternative Metal. Sure they have a grungy vide in certain songs but not nearly to the level of nirvana.
I grew up in Vancouver BC Canada. Seattle and Wash State are neighbours. I just got it right away when it came to the music. It's the god damn rain! Seattle bands weren't dancing around on the Sunset Strip in sunny California. I related to those bands immediately.
Just finished watching the two videos so far. Congrats, nice work. One thing not touched upon yet that I would find really interesting: info on the venues where the scene grew up in.
I miss moments like Grunge that changed our culture with music. Is this still happening in 2021? I'm a Gen Xer - and old now so I can't tell what's going on anymore.
@@chrisridenhour I'm with you. After nu metal from 1999 through 2010 I stopped paying attention to what's on top 40 lists today. I do know I don't find any of it appealing.
I will never forget seeing eddie vedder in his combat boots and flannel screaming out evenflo and hanging from the stage. I had just discovered the doors too and all that changed me in ways i guess ever 15 or 16 year old changes or atleast i hope that happens to everyone.
Soundgarden and Alice In Chains hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember buying the cassettes, Face Lift and Louder Than Love at a music store and the dude behind the counter with big hair asked me who these bands were in a dismissive way. I remembered that when hair metal was dead!
Nirvana Alice in chains Seether Soundgarden. They wrote songs that inspired many but no one else could fallow up on that genre. Pear jam are still going, sadly its dyin out. The bands u see live now QOTSA greta van fleet. Rock isn't a strong. But the fans deeply love it new and old.
When I think grunge, I think "Nothing to Say" by Soundgarden. Jack Endino was impressed by the fact that a small Seattle band (at the time) could create a song that was so heavy and had such a unique vocal quality, and he effectively based his definition of grunge off of it, "seventies-influenced, slowed-down punk music". This was before Alice in Chains and Nirvana even existed. It didn't become popular, but that doesn't mean it didn't have and influence on the scene.
Wow, that was exceptionally good! Love this series. But you left out the bands that also started what became grunge - The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum. The Minny scene was a couple years earlier, almost as fertile, but with none of the attention that Seattle got.
What started grunge was musicians liking all or most of the above bands while also liking Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (which was rare before 1988). It was true Rock N Roll; music made by people who were fans of diverse artists, often contrary to existing party lines of the time.
Blues Vocals, really one primary guitarist with not too much emphasis on solos but a heavy wall of sound with generous use of pedal effects, pickups and distortion to one degree or another. Loud and hard drum set ups either killing it with power or open handed and finally a little bit of Pixes style Bass with quiet and loud singing.
I’ve always heard Mother Love Bone was the first to sign to a major label and Andy was the artist who brought the major labels to Seattle. Soundgarden released an album for sst records oct 31 1988. MLB signed to A&M in November of 1988. A lot of bands want to take credit for being the first grunge band to be signed to a major label and it’s hard to find out who really was because different websites report different facts. Imo Apple is the most underrated album of the 90’s. It’s in my 5 greatest albums ever. So sad that Andy died right before he would’ve become a superstar. I watched MTV religiously back then and I can tell you Andy Wood would’ve fit MTV like hand and glove. This has been a tremendous series, awesome 👏🏻 RIP Andrew
Badmotorfinger was so good my older brother ran out to buy it on CD the day after my buddy played a few songs for us from his cassette. I remember Facelift was a huge impact as well.
@@OGGOAT23 saw Melvins supporting Slayer a few years ago in London and Mudhoney/Soundgarden/Tad/Nirvana on a Subpop tour 89/90? Imagine Nirvana going on first!?
It's hard to believe how many legendary albums were recorded in the late 80's in this genre and rock in general. Now..... we need something new. I'm almost 50yo and STILL listen to this music vs new music mostly. I played drums in a garage band as was a HUGE Metallica fan but loved all the Seattle bands and G&R was ruling the planet. Thank you Loudwire for putting this together! 🤟
Mark Lanegan the winding sheet Was released in 1990 is one of the unsung grunge albums it even features nirvana members on the album among others ! If you love grunge and love Nirvana's unplugged in New York check out the winding sheet !
Alice in Chains changed my life and how I listened to songs. Also, Myles Kennedy was in the most underrated band ever which was The Mayfield Four who also had great songs that I listen to to this day.
On a localradio station here in Iowa a few years back they said Nirvana was the most played band in the last 10 years which is a testament to how good they were & timeless there music is. It would have been successful in any era & not just them Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mother Love Bone
I always felt like grunge was more of a look and lifestyle not so much the music because a lot of so called grunge did not resemble each other , Nirvana and Alice in Chains not the same but both awesome
To me what Grunge did to Hair Metal in the early 90's was very similar to what Dylan did to traditional rock in the early 1960's when he came in and blew up the existing paradigm. Chuck Berry had set the initial template for rock (hot rods, getting "chicks", going to sock hops, etc. - Basically high school life themes) which, while great, was quite vacuous. Then Dylan came in and turned the entire scene on its head because suddenly the music was DEEP. Prior to Grunge erupting Hair Metal had pretty much brought things full circle, devolving into the same sort of shallow subject matter as early rock. Grunge was a necessary cleansing of the genre.
I'm mostly a Mudhoney & Nirvana fanboy. I collected all the outtakes, compilations etc. Mudhoney basically defined grunge, or leastways co-defined it with The Melvins. & MY Nirvana is the noise punk combo of "Beeswax" & "Oh the Guilt", both of which sound very little like "Teen Spirit"... thats when Kurt was at his rawest, & most reminiscent of John Lennon's "primal scream therapy" era, which produced a similarly tuff output.
This was gen x breaking away from main stream rock n roll. All these great bands where born in the mid to late 60s. A new generation of musicians exploring all the emotions of growing up in that time frame. It's the gen x revolution!!
Some perhaps lesser known brilliant grunge albums - Bundle of Hiss - Sessions Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff Mudhoney - Mudhoney Tad - Salt Lick Tad - 8-Way Santa Blood Circus - Deadbeats Hater - Hater Green River - Come on Down Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments Melvins - Bullhead My Sister's Machine - Diva Sceaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion Love Battery - Dayglo Rein Sanction - Broc's Cabin L7 - Smell the Magic Gruntruck - Inside Yours Paw - Dragline Pond - Pond Fire Ants - Stripped Truly - Fast Stories From Kid Coma Mad Season - Above Skin Yard - 1000 Smiling Knuckles Mono Men - Bent Pages Brad - Shame Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds Sweet Water - Ter Dandelion - I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick Veruca Salt - American Thighs The Fluid - Purplemetalflakemusic Coffin Break - Crawl Hammerbox - Numb Pile Up - Norwalk Some Velvet Sidewalk - Whirlpool Sprinkler - More Boy, Less Friend Smile - Maquee Daisy Chainsaw - Eleventeen Calamity Jane - Martha Jane Cannary Thrillhammer - Giftless
Great video!!! Alice in chains music saved my life back then literally...and continues to effect my life... Not the newer aic still love jerry but their bubblegum singer duvall doesn't do it for me... There's now sorrow or pain in his voice.... Jerry is still pumping out gold but duvall sounds sesame streetish to me
I'm so glad that people are finally giving GNR credit for indirectly giving grunge a chance to succeed on a mainstream level, without them ever being a grunge band. Also, It's So Easy is basically the first real grunge song.
Not imo,they still had that LA Motley feel to them,and Axel ego was big you could feel it,subset strip whiskey go go. I flew down to Los Angeles first time and saw them I believe San Anita track,but my main goal was to see Red Hot Chili peppers at the time.
It's funny to me because if you think about it, Megadeth and Metallica, for instance are thrash metal, which is a mixture of punk and metal. (but mainly influenced by 70s punk and NWOBHM). And grunge bands were also pretty much a mixture of punk and metal, but evolved versions of punk and metal. Like Hardcore and thrash. So really if you think about it, it's just all different versions of rock with different aesthetic levels turned up and down.
@@nothx962 yea that's all very true actually. That's a great way of analyzing it. The hair thing makes sense. I've never actually thought about that, but yea. It's like punk/blue collar worker style but long hair is accepted.
Sounds about right.. if there's a specific sound, IMO, it does not fit all four. There are similarities between Soundgarden, AIC, Mudhoney, TAD, and the Melvins though, I'd say.
Soundgarden and Alice in Chains especially Badmotorfinger and Dirt are my all time favourite bands and albums
So much musical greatness in those 2 albums. Creative originality, powerful and yet beautiful vocals, lyrics, irregular but tight rhythm sections, meaty guitar riffs and meaningful lyrics with great song structure.
Badmotorfinger - perfect summer album.
Dirt - perfect autumn album.
Soundgarden super unknown is their best start to finish
@@jonathangomez5176 it's all down to personal preference i prefer Badmotorfinger
but yes superunknown is one of the top 3 soundgarden albums
Alice in Chains all the way 👍🏻
@Skip R
Lets also point out they were a spandex wearing 80s glam rock band originally.
@@travzimmerman1340 Alice N Chains , yes. Alice In Chains never was. Cantrell had the feeling to capture the next turn that music was going to, you know? The guy was playing funky stuff at the time.
And yes. AIC was a alt heavy metal band.
Grunge Was A Genres, Nirvana All the way Alice in Chains All the way
They were Always A Grunge band
NIRVana Was Always A Grunge band, Alice in Chains Was always a Grunge band
*Alice In Chains - "Dirt"*
Enough said for me.
The lyrics where you definitely know what it means.
Nuff said
facts
AIC not Grunge IMO.
@@texasturner2313 if jerry considered them a metal band then so do I.
Alice In Chains. Dirt is one of the most important albums ever
Got that right 😎
Alice in Chains GOAT
Facelift has to be one of the greatest debut albums from any band at any time...
I saw them twice, once with Layne & once with William DuVall. No one can truly replace Layne, but both shows were amazing. They still have the duel harmonies plus now a second guitar.
What made grunge grunge?
Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, Alice Mudgarden.
This was rock's version of collaboration, but it wasn't collaboration. In each of these cases it was *creation.* It was creation involving different people with their own unique sound and set of influences, creating a whole new band with a whole new sound entirely. Something no other genre of rock at the time was doing, nor had done since about the late 60s (Traveling Wilburys excluded).
Yeah the sense of community was really important. A lot of these bands went to each other’s shows before they all blew up which I think is awesome too. They were just good friends trying to one-up each other while maintaining a strong sense of individuality.
The lyrics to the album Above by Mad Season add f-ing loads to the song when you think about where Layne Staley was at that point...
“Ahh yeahhhhh, you know grunge ain’t gonna dieee”
It's a music Genres
Grunge music is NOt Dead
When I first heard it! I said to myself “THAT is MY MUSIC “ ! I felt it in my soul and it hit me emotionally! It’s still my music!
That’s exactly what I thought back in the day. I miss the 90s.
Layne Staley is always what I picture when I hear grunge
Same, him and Kurt. I think of Dave Grohl to since he is still doing his thing!
I relate to Every Grunge band singers
I Relate To Every Grunge bands
I don't even know what grunge is until Kurt Cobain.
To me A.I.C tried too hard to be "Grunge" they were originally a really cringy hair metal band. Grunge to me is Nirvana Bleach and the underground Grunge bands from the late 80's. The likes of A.I.C and Pearl Jam were more of a manufactured "Grunge"
Notice how they all struggle with describing the thing called “grunge”. That is exactly what’s makes it awesome IMO!
@Skip R if you really listen to it you'll hear common qualities from band to band. Just listen to all the guitar sustain, then listen to other hard rock and heavy metal from before 1988.
Same as goth. 🤷
Because "grunge music" isn't really a thing. The only thing "grunge bands' have in common is time and place. They were bands from Seattle, in the late '80s to early '90s. If grunge was anything it was an aesthetic.
@@jasonsguitarjourney2060 Did you mean “isn’t” ?
@@superjoint57 I did, thanks.
Alice in Chains ! Layne's voice (the raw power and emotion in it) made me love grunge (Seattle sound )
Nirvana Kurt's Voice Also! Raw power and emotion it too, Both Grunge band Singers Are Good
Nutshell. Grunge.
@@nolandavis2927 love Cobain and still love my grunge.
This is one of the reasons i love Kim Thayil, he emphasises heavy riffs instead of fast boring solo. just like him i usually find myself sleeping through or skipping overly long guitar solos unless they are melodic/rythmic and actually sevre anything to the song.
mindblowing stuff, the lead in Fell on Blk Days, who the hell could come up with that? I play it on guitar and still never get bored with it and always it sounds freakier than I expected it would.
Agree , can't stand yngwie malmsteen and all those fast metal solos , so boring and very predictable
@@azeiras Yeah Malmsteen might be technically proficient but he is really bad as a musician(If that makes sense). He has way too big ego, he should learn from guitarists like Slash that actually can create good solo-project songs where he doesen't always need to be in the center of attention all the time...
I was young when Kurt died, like 11, but the news caught my attention and I dove into their music and shortly after became a silverchair fanatic. I bought many varying albums at the time including the self titled AIC album but I was a young teenager I didn’t know what I was living in. Now that I’m almost 38 I can not go a day with out listening to Layne Staley. He’s the best and I wish he was still around making music.
dont you wish youd gone to seattle and hung out until you got to actually meet layne? All those years we couldve but we didnt.
Same here , I was 13 when he died
Grunge was not just a wall of sound, but a wall of emotion and energy. Even heavy metal may be having less) I wonder what genre will be next in terms of giving even more emotion and raw energy and passion ! )
@Ken Krackers Cringe opinion
@Ken Krackers Yeah the urban music took over
@Ken Krackers It is self expression not music. Rap and all of that rot.
This is so true! Because with grunge, bands had something unique about them. For instance; Nirvana sounded nothing like Mudhoney, yet they are mentioned in the same sentence all the time.
Grunge is A sound from the Seattle Grunge bands
When I was a kid I was always listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden, but didn't even know about Alice in Chains until around 4 years ago. I like to think that I accidentally saved the best 'til last.
I didn’t discover AIC until 2017. Only Led Zeppelin was better.
The early 90s was the greatest time in my life for music...such great bands making such great albums...
I'm glad Guns n' Roses is mentioned in a positive light here. There's always focus on Axl's 1990s excesses but _Appetite for Destruction_ was the first domino to fall in the change of music from the 80s to 90s.
If not the first, then definitely the best AND most successful. A case could be made for Electric by The Cult as being a major dominoes as well.
Ironically, GNR's first major tour was opening for The Cult on this tour.
I'll add that GNR's preference for Les Paul's (Slash) and ES-175's (Izzy) and Marshall amps, and Stephen Adler's small drum kit (double bass was still the norm in 87) instigated am aesthetic change as well.
One word I forgot to mention regarding guitar tone in GNR and grunge: sustain! Few had that kind of sustain for much of the 80's. They all knew how to find good gear at the pawn shops and in the classifieds.
Janes Addiction and RHCP both released albums in 1987.
The director of the Stranged video once said that GNR was a punk band that got too big.
@@turdferguson3855 Nothings Shocking is my favourite album ever! ❤️🏴
My top 5 favourite grunge albums:
1. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
2. Green River - Rehab Doll
3. Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains
4. Soundgarden - Louder Than Love
5. Nirvana - In Utero
Honourable mentions: Alice In Chains - Dirt, Alice In Chains - Facelift, Gruntruck - Inside Yours, Gruntruck - Push, Mad Season - Mad Season, Nirvana - Bleach, Nirvana - Nevermind, Soundgarden - Ultramega OK, Soundgarden - Superunknown
Solid list 👍
Some other decent Grunge albums/artists -
Bundle of Hiss - Sessions
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
Mudhoney - Mudhoney
Tad - 8-Way Santa
Tad - Salt Lick
Blood Circus - Deadbeats
Hater - Hater
Green River - Come on Down
Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments
Melvins - Bullhead
My Sister's Machine - Diva
Sceaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion
Love Battery - Dayglo
Rein Sanction - Broc's Cabin
L7 - Smell the Magic
Gruntruck - Inside Yours
Paw - Dragline
Pond - Pond
Fire Ants - Stripped
Truly - Fast Stories From Kid Coma
Mad Season - Above
Skin Yard - 1000 Smiling Knuckles
Mono Men - Bent Pages
Brad - Shame
Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds
Sweet Water - Ter
Dandelion - I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick
Veruca Salt - American Thighs
The Fluid - Purplemetalflakemusic
Coffin Break - Crawl
Hammerbox - Numb
Pile Up - Norwalk
Some Velvet Sidewalk - Whirlpool
Sprinkler - More Boy, Less Friend
Smile - Maquee
Daisy Chainsaw - Eleventeen
Calamity Jane - Martha Jane Cannary
Thrillhammer - Giftless
AIC. Nutshell. Layne was a man singing at his own funeral.
Love Mad Season though it was a kind of grunge superband! I dont know how else to sayit???
@@garychevalier2809 Absolutely, I love the Mad Season album! Not to mention Temple Of The Dog.
They’re not talking about *the* most iconic thing in grunge: curbing singing technique. “Erm gerning herngrerr, yeahr!”
That's Eddie Veder
@@matty7006 that’s all of them. Including Cobain & Cornell. You don’t notice so much because their voices are higher pitched, but they absolutely use(d) the same technique.
@@gab.lab.martins Nah
@@adamezell7650 wow great arguments im convinced well done
@@gab.lab.martins its obvious you dont sing, or you wouldnt have said something that dumb. Layne and eddie are closer than eddie to chris. Even then they all 3 use different techniques, hense why you can tell them apart
McCready is extremely underrated as a guitarist
So true
It’s got to be hard being in the shadow of Stoney. Dudes a genius
Amen, he's killer
Ah. The overused underrated comment.
Didn't take long to find it.
He’s insane
Raw honest emotion and the best singing voices....Layne, Chris, Shannon and Andrew .
Alice In Chains… Pearl Jam’s Ten. Come on so amazing
Nirvanas Nevermind album
Facelift, Dirt and the Tripod Dog are some of my all time favourite albums by my favourite band.
Only band that I love as much as Alice in Chains is probably TOOL.
Badmotorfinger & ten are deffo up there for me as well.
Bro!!!!! TOOL and AIC are the Goats!!!🔥🔥🔥
All my heroes are gone.....CORNELL, LAYNE, COBAIN, WOOD, WEILAND may you all rest in power my boys. I LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU SO MUCH. You changed my life...
And now we had Mark Lanegan added to the list of these fallen icons / heroes, this current decade is so becoming increasingly distressing for the rock music industry.
From a musical point of view and as a guitarist I couldn't write anything that would be considered grunge. I could play punk, thrash, hair metal, metal, sleazy blues, but grunge? Those guys were blessed with that style. There has been no other band that could touch the style of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, etc.
Grunge spoke to me in a huge way, because I was depressed at 20, 21 years old. I felt like I wasn't going to measure up to others who had privilege. I couldn't take authority like joining the military. I didn't know where I fir in and grunge spoke to me and made me happy with who I am.
One Song - Man In The Box
One Name - LAYNE MOTHERFUCKIN’ STALEY
Not one bad song. Incredible musicians. Jerry cantrell is an incredible songwriter.
Amen!
Fing A. Laynes the man.
@@wornstrat5517 and riff writer, he doesnt seem amazing in interviews but then you play his stuff and then try to imagine what mind could come up with this and wow, he is magical.
@@joejones9520 Have you checked out degradation trip and boggy depot? Wow.
I'd say as long as you have dark lyrics and catchy, metal influenced tuned down riffs, dissonant sounds, and fuckin Layne Staley kinda vocals, all with a alternative rock edge, grunge is whatever you want it to be. RIP Layne Staley. Hope your still rocking up there. 🤟😔🙏
Grunge must be known for bringing out a new technique/subject in voice called distortion sound especially from Chris Cornell,Layne Staley Kurt Cobain Eddie Vedder they put this technique out in the world and that's what I love about them.
When you threw on Facelift, it was unique at every instrument and lyric. I think AIC would have had a chance to be at the top of the food chain with the masters (Zeppelin) if Layne stayed healthy. They wrote at the highest level of all music styles.....not to mention that they were as good of live band as anyone. You had "different" and you had "talented" ..... the were definitely both.
Too funny. Led Zeppelin was the best. AIC second.
No. Grunge was dying
The grunge generation is still around @@Xxrocknrollgod
When I first saw the video for Teen Spirit, it stopped me dead in my tracks, and I knew things were about to change. Wasn’t long after that, that superficial shit that people thought they cared about no longer mattered as much anymore. People could be who they really are.
idk something about watching and listening to Kim Thayil just makes me feel better
Staley 😍
He has never gotten the praise he so deserved as a vocalist and a lyricist.
I love Kim style,pure skill no show offs
Loving the content so far. Feels like I’m watching a mini documentary. Also, candlebox’s first album is a great album, in my opinion. Far behind is so fucking good.
Cover me.
Great video, cant wait for part 2. Chains, Melvins, that whole wall of sound really created a change as the world changed to create it's own movement. Right time and place, right mood..
Loudwire I appreciate that focus and great release of this documini, really wish Mark was involved in this like when asked in the Mudhoney doc. I have found it funny that the industry has done so much to build up the grunge idea and label in the 90s to now trying to avoid it and now just label any new a metal band or alternative. Grunge wasnt just a Seattle thing, it just got recognized in the masses there. Grunge if you want to label it that was a world wide movement in the change of music, bands from all over the world during this time were playing music that sounded and fell into this category and still to this day are doing so. The industry creates a monster they couldn't control by labeling a genre that couldnt be tied down as one certain type and now its the black sheep of the music industry and back to the underground where its is full of so many great bands that span from the beginning to ones that are just playing their first show. Seattle is an amazing place, I love it I belong there and miss it but by no means should Seattle be the one place that is labeled as grunge being the Seattle sound. Js. And damn I love love all the bands from Seattle some much more then others, so much talent congested in that Washington state, but before the net, what else was a kid gonna do that wasnt considered a jock or prep?
Long live "G R U N G E" and go support your local scene just like then thats what mattered and still matters to this day. Set down the screens and go out live life leave the house.
Grunge is melancholic and depressing, depressingly real. Grunge songs often mixed minor and major scales which created weird and melancholic emotions. I would say grunge is a mix of indie-metal and punk.
Grunge Music Is very Impressing
i think a lot of grunge is actually not depressing
oh gawd why y´all styled like how we grew up ? lololololol
Well we were living in changing times thanks to the fucking boomers.
badass is the opposite of depressing...
Alice in Chains is a metal band. Always have been. They were just in Seattle.
You're not really wrong, but they had so many of the key sonic elements. Listen to the guitar tone. Each overdub has a tone that could stand alone. Then there's the use of drop D tuning that Jerry learned from Chris Cornell.
AIC proved you can be as heavy and dark as Slayer without being thrash.
Not "always have been" they were a spandex wearing 80s glam rock band for a while.
What's so metal about stay away no excuses down in a hole 🤔
Agreed
@@travzimmerman1340 that was Alice N' Chains and Sleeze
My dad's CD of Superunknown in my Disc Man, Mailman was my favorite because my dad was a mailman ❤
Is it me or is everyone in the comment section going out of their way to not mention Kurt Cobain's voice and Nirvana in general
“Guns n Roses was a punk rock band” LOL. The most dense comment on music that I’ve ever heard. Cmon man
Truthfully, when I first heard G&R...
I felt like they were going to save rock and roll.
@@OldHeathen1963 yea but to call them punk rock? That just doesn’t make sense
They were Led Zeppelin clones.
@@tktimber418 not even close lol
They didn’t sound like Led Zep at all and weren’t even close to the talent that Zep had. They probably didn’t party nearly as hard either so sorry but I can’t see that comparison at all
In the early 90s, the first grunge song I heard on the radio (late at night) was Stardog Champion. A few days later (unless my memory is off) I saw the Outshined video. Couple days after that...Man in the Box. As a guitar player, I knew something cool was happening. Then came Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was like a tsumani hit the country. All the kids I went to school with, who hated heavy music, overnight got on that band wagon. It was funny to see most my classmates just be posers.
Nirvana Is A Grunge band, Alice in Chains Is A Grunge band, Soundgarden Is A Grunge band, Pearl Jam is A Grunge band.
Alice In Chains is a Metal band with some songs being more grungey and acousticy. Jerry, Sean and Mike have all said they were labeled grunge but are and always have been a metal band. Not to mention these guys played with freakin slayer and megadeath in the 90s to name a few even heavier bands. I rest my case.
Alice in Chains Is A Grunge band Nirvana Is A Grunge band, Same Music Genres But Comparely Related
AIC has more metal influence than Nirvana, I agree
They're all More Grunge Influence
@@nolandavis2927 Right but if your going to completely label a band grunge Alice In Chains is just not that band. Most of there songs are a mix of Heavy Metal, Sludge Metal and Alternative Metal. Sure they have a grungy vide in certain songs but not nearly to the level of nirvana.
I grew up in Vancouver BC Canada. Seattle and Wash State are neighbours. I just got it right away when it came to the music. It's the god damn rain! Seattle bands weren't dancing around on the Sunset Strip in sunny California. I related to those bands immediately.
"Only Love Can Save Me Now" is the most Grunge-sounding mainstream-ish tune in years
It reminds me of SG's Live to Rise. A little propped up and smoothed over, but still true to itself.
Grunge Sounding Music Genres Mainstreamish
Lyane my favorite singer of all time. RIP BROTHER
Just finished watching the two videos so far. Congrats, nice work. One thing not touched upon yet that I would find really interesting: info on the venues where the scene grew up in.
I miss moments like Grunge that changed our culture with music. Is this still happening in 2021? I'm a Gen Xer - and old now so I can't tell what's going on anymore.
grunge is dead now, but Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell and Pearl Jam are still doing their own thing
@@BonaldDrump It's great they are still out there - And GnR as well even though they are their own genre almost
grunge is not dead, modern grunge could be bands like Nothing and Whirr, etc. or Billie Eyelash as grunge. then there's post-rock and blackgaze
@@chrisridenhour I'm with you. After nu metal from 1999 through 2010 I stopped paying attention to what's on top 40 lists today. I do know I don't find any of it appealing.
Listen to Kim normal, especially their first album from 2019. More dinosaur jr like than AIC, but they’re AMAZING
Never mentioned and although not a Seattle band but Meat Puppets was a very influential band for a lot of these guys.
Alice In Chains -Would
Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
Stone Temple Pilots Plush
PEARL Jam Black
Soundgarden Outshined
what made grunge was alice in chains , soundgarden, nirvana, tad, green river, mother love bone, gruntruck and paw
I hope the next installment has more TAD in it…they are a critical band from this period.
lol next installment
I will never forget seeing eddie vedder in his combat boots and flannel screaming out evenflo and hanging from the stage. I had just discovered the doors too and all that changed me in ways i guess ever 15 or 16 year old changes or atleast i hope that happens to everyone.
Soundgarden and Alice In Chains hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember buying the cassettes, Face Lift and Louder Than Love at a music store and the dude behind the counter with big hair asked me who these bands were in a dismissive way. I remembered that when hair metal was dead!
layne, eddie, andy, chris and kurt. THE NAME GRUNGE WAS PERFECT
Grunge Music was perfect genres name for Grunge bands Nirvana Alice in Chains Soundgarden Pearl Jam
Nirvana Alice in chains Seether
Soundgarden. They wrote songs that inspired many but no one else could fallow up on that genre. Pear jam are still going, sadly its dyin out. The bands u see live now QOTSA greta van fleet. Rock isn't a strong. But the fans deeply love it new and old.
The short answer without watching this first? Heroin.
When I think grunge, I think "Nothing to Say" by Soundgarden.
Jack Endino was impressed by the fact that a small Seattle band (at the time) could create a song that was so heavy and had such a unique vocal quality, and he effectively based his definition of grunge off of it, "seventies-influenced, slowed-down punk music". This was before Alice in Chains and Nirvana even existed.
It didn't become popular, but that doesn't mean it didn't have and influence on the scene.
Wow, that was exceptionally good! Love this series. But you left out the bands that also started what became grunge - The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum. The Minny scene was a couple years earlier, almost as fertile, but with none of the attention that Seattle got.
What started grunge was musicians liking all or most of the above bands while also liking Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (which was rare before 1988).
It was true Rock N Roll; music made by people who were fans of diverse artists, often contrary to existing party lines of the time.
King's X,
Blues Vocals, really one primary guitarist with not too much emphasis on solos but a heavy wall of sound with generous use of pedal effects, pickups and distortion to one degree or another. Loud and hard drum set ups either killing it with power or open handed and finally a little bit of Pixes style Bass with quiet and loud singing.
I’ve always heard Mother Love Bone was the first to sign to a major label and Andy was the artist who brought the major labels to Seattle. Soundgarden released an album for sst records oct 31 1988. MLB signed to A&M in November of 1988. A lot of bands want to take credit for being the first grunge band to be signed to a major label and it’s hard to find out who really was because different websites report different facts. Imo Apple is the most underrated album of the 90’s. It’s in my 5 greatest albums ever. So sad that Andy died right before he would’ve become a superstar. I watched MTV religiously back then and I can tell you Andy Wood would’ve fit MTV like hand and glove. This has been a tremendous series, awesome 👏🏻 RIP Andrew
I'm pretty sure Queensryhe brought the major labels to Seattle.
Alice and chains, Soundgarden both great bands. But they started alot more metal.
I remember hearing Mudhoney for the first time in the '80s ❤️❤️❤️🏴😊🏴
Love Myles so much, one of my favorite musicians and people of all time. A true gentleman and rocker.
Badmotorfinger was so good my older brother ran out to buy it on CD the day after my buddy played a few songs for us from his cassette. I remember Facelift was a huge impact as well.
I love all of these bands but I wish TAD and The Melvins would get some love too
Pisses me off..TAD Mudhoney Melvins those bands were instrumental and influential
@@OGGOAT23 saw Melvins supporting Slayer a few years ago in London and Mudhoney/Soundgarden/Tad/Nirvana on a Subpop tour 89/90? Imagine Nirvana going on first!?
@@staceyenglish8936 lol i saw soundgarden and mudhoney in 2012 great shows
Good job once again on providing more in depth stories to it all. Bravo.
Sadness, and the acceptance of it for an entire generation, made Grunge Grunge. After all, Nirvana said, “Come, as you are….”
It's hard to believe how many legendary albums were recorded in the late 80's in this genre and rock in general. Now..... we need something new. I'm almost 50yo and STILL listen to this music vs new music mostly. I played drums in a garage band as was a HUGE Metallica fan but loved all the Seattle bands and G&R was ruling the planet. Thank you Loudwire for putting this together! 🤟
I can remember when and where I was the first time I heard Nirvana. Though I can't say the same for AIC and Soundgarden, they are my 2 favorite!
Mark Lanegan the winding sheet Was released in 1990 is one of the unsung grunge albums it even features nirvana members on the album among others ! If you love grunge and love Nirvana's unplugged in New York check out the winding sheet !
Alice in Chains changed my life and how I listened to songs. Also, Myles Kennedy was in the most underrated band ever which was The Mayfield Four who also had great songs that I listen to to this day.
Soundgarden was the grunge's led zeppelin
Agreed! Well put!
On a localradio station here in Iowa a few years back they said Nirvana was the most played band in the last 10 years which is a testament to how good they were & timeless there music is. It would have been successful in any era & not just them Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mother Love Bone
Love both Layne and Kurt...both born in 1967 and died at same date 5 April. so ironic😢😢
@Skip R Layne's autopsy report says otherwise. There's a chance he could have died the day before.
I bet kurt hated AIC. It seems like the type of band he'd hate.
I always felt like grunge was more of a look and lifestyle not so much the music because a lot of so called grunge did not resemble each other , Nirvana and Alice in Chains not the same but both awesome
To me what Grunge did to Hair Metal in the early 90's was very similar to what Dylan did to traditional rock in the early 1960's when he came in and blew up the existing paradigm. Chuck Berry had set the initial template for rock (hot rods, getting "chicks", going to sock hops, etc. - Basically high school life themes) which, while great, was quite vacuous. Then Dylan came in and turned the entire scene on its head because suddenly the music was DEEP. Prior to Grunge erupting Hair Metal had pretty much brought things full circle, devolving into the same sort of shallow subject matter as early rock. Grunge was a necessary cleansing of the genre.
2:03....
They were punk. Just like RHCP did "from FUNK to PUNK!" It was a shift. So fast people coldnt see it but would findout. hard
I'm mostly a Mudhoney & Nirvana fanboy. I collected all the outtakes, compilations etc.
Mudhoney basically defined grunge, or leastways co-defined it with The Melvins.
& MY Nirvana is the noise punk combo of "Beeswax" & "Oh the Guilt", both of which sound very little like "Teen Spirit"... thats when Kurt was at his rawest, & most reminiscent of John Lennon's "primal scream therapy" era, which produced a similarly tuff output.
Nirvana, AIC, Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, TAD, Mudhoney, Soundgarden. Grunge was f*cking awesome!
Matt Pinfield was my idol growing up. 120 minutes was the highlight of my week as a teenager.
WRSU.
I’m overgrunged now, it was grunge that made grunge grunge…. btw Grunge was sooo AMAZING!!
You're being grungie.
It blew hard, obviously you don't ask much from your music
@@Volunteerfan8082 r/whoosh
I'm being Grungie, Grunge Is Always a Music Sound Genres, All Seattle bands our Called Grunge bands.
It was mix of punk and metal with a more metal sound
nah rock
Alice in chains 👍🏻💯🎸 should have had t attention Nirvana wnd pearl jam received, Alice were brilliant. My favourite.
Hello Allison I like how you approached the Nirvana aspect of Grunge..
Alice in Chains and Nirvana are my goto Grunge bands.
All Of Them Are My Favorite Influential Grunge bands
3 songs that are the most grunge. “rusty cage,” “them bones” “died” “quiet”
Nirvana smells Like teen Spirit & Alice in Chains Angry Chair
Come as you are & in bloom
This was gen x breaking away from main stream rock n roll. All these great bands where born in the mid to late 60s. A new generation of musicians exploring all the emotions of growing up in that time frame. It's the gen x revolution!!
Some early sixties
After watching this all i can say for now is thank you Buzz
14:21 mins - Spot on! Same here!
Nirvana & AIC enough said
Some perhaps lesser known brilliant grunge albums -
Bundle of Hiss - Sessions
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff
Mudhoney - Mudhoney
Tad - Salt Lick
Tad - 8-Way Santa
Blood Circus - Deadbeats
Hater - Hater
Green River - Come on Down
Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments
Melvins - Bullhead
My Sister's Machine - Diva
Sceaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion
Love Battery - Dayglo
Rein Sanction - Broc's Cabin
L7 - Smell the Magic
Gruntruck - Inside Yours
Paw - Dragline
Pond - Pond
Fire Ants - Stripped
Truly - Fast Stories From Kid Coma
Mad Season - Above
Skin Yard - 1000 Smiling Knuckles
Mono Men - Bent Pages
Brad - Shame
Janitor Joe - Big Metal Birds
Sweet Water - Ter
Dandelion - I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick
Veruca Salt - American Thighs
The Fluid - Purplemetalflakemusic
Coffin Break - Crawl
Hammerbox - Numb
Pile Up - Norwalk
Some Velvet Sidewalk - Whirlpool
Sprinkler - More Boy, Less Friend
Smile - Maquee
Daisy Chainsaw - Eleventeen
Calamity Jane - Martha Jane Cannary
Thrillhammer - Giftless
Fast Stories...from Kid Coma of truly are so underrated
not lesser known to the grunge generation
Great video!!! Alice in chains music saved my life back then literally...and continues to effect my life... Not the newer aic still love jerry but their bubblegum singer duvall doesn't do it for me... There's now sorrow or pain in his voice.... Jerry is still pumping out gold but duvall sounds sesame streetish to me
I'm so glad that people are finally giving GNR credit for indirectly giving grunge a chance to succeed on a mainstream level, without them ever being a grunge band. Also, It's So Easy is basically the first real grunge song.
Not imo,they still had that LA Motley feel to them,and Axel ego was big you could feel it,subset strip whiskey go go.
I flew down to Los Angeles first time and saw them I believe San Anita track,but my main goal was to see Red Hot Chili peppers at the time.
@@davidmiller532 I agree as far as imagine is concerned. But musically, if not lyrically, it's a grunge song.
It's funny to me because if you think about it, Megadeth and Metallica, for instance are thrash metal, which is a mixture of punk and metal. (but mainly influenced by 70s punk and NWOBHM). And grunge bands were also pretty much a mixture of punk and metal, but evolved versions of punk and metal. Like Hardcore and thrash. So really if you think about it, it's just all different versions of rock with different aesthetic levels turned up and down.
Grunge was like slowed down metal with talented vocalists and a punk rock look (but long hair was okay, in punk that was a no no).
@@nothx962 yea that's all very true actually. That's a great way of analyzing it. The hair thing makes sense. I've never actually thought about that, but yea. It's like punk/blue collar worker style but long hair is accepted.
Sounds about right.. if there's a specific sound, IMO, it does not fit all four. There are similarities between Soundgarden, AIC, Mudhoney, TAD, and the Melvins though, I'd say.
yeah we grew up with it all
Exactly. Both were mixtures of both metal and punk
ALICE IN CHAINS N SOUNDGARDEN IS GRUNGE
NIRVANA & ALICE IN CHAINS & SOUNDGARDEN and PEARL JAM Are Grunge bands
Soundgarden - Louder Than Love
Nirvana - Bleach
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Temple of the Dog
Mother Love Bone 👌👌👌👌👌
INXS predated grunge and kind of got lost in the wave sadly. Loved them.
They are not very grunge
I'm glad part 2 is out!
Mother Love Bone would've been huge if Andy Wouldn't have died 😔