Grunge for sure. Changed culture completely. It brought underground music to the mainstream. People who were different felt like they had a voice. Not to mention the changes on fashion. Unfortunately, that to me was the last great cultural revolution inspired by music.
Having grown up and in junior high and highschool during the height of glam metal, that’s my first love but I did enjoy some of the grunge era bands as well and credit them for the more commercial post grunge era bands that I enjoy to this day as well (Candlebox, Creed, Godsmack, Alterbridge, and others). Singles is one of my all-time favorite movies and it always gives me such good feelings of nostalgia everytime I watch it. Takes me back to my college days so I just wanted to throw that into the conversation here, the fact that movies like Singles, Reality Bites, Clerks, Empire Racords, and others appealed to the pop culture of the time and the popularity of grunge.
Difficult to answer this as I am not sure how you would define 'glam metal', 'grunge' or what you mean by 'impact'. Are Guns n Roses a 'glam metal' band or are they hard rock? Cinderella - 'glam metal' or hard rock? What's 'glam' - the look or the sound? Is glam metal really 'metal'? All sorts of grey areas. Are the Smashing Pumpkins a 'grunge' band or are they 'alternative rock'? What's the difference? How would you differentiate, say, R.E.M and Nirvana? Why is R.E.M not grunge but alternative and why is Nirvana grunge? What's 'grunge'- the look or the sound? 🙂Do you have to be a band from Seattle to be grunge? To be grunge, do you have to be on the Sub Pop label as that's where the term originated from? Does that mean Sonic Youth are grunge? Is 'impact' the music impact? The commercial impact? The critical acclaim? Popularity? The legacy and longevity? Aren't glam metal and grunge both just sub-genres of 'hard rock'? Essentially the same genre. I see a lot of people in the comments section trying to grapple with this but I wonder if they have thought about these questions.
@@benedictdonald4338anything ever played on a radio is considered pop music. It’s funny now looking back because it’s like the musical revolution: brought to you by
Never grew up with glam or grunge, but glam metal for me is the most definite pick. Love bands with killer guitar work and solos, great melodic singers and I love the energy it has. Van Halen really inspired a genre for many great bands in the 80s and early 90s.
Brendon, great episode, thank you! Gets us thinking! Question-you made an interesting point about how there were just a few grunge artists who sold mega albums (Pearl Jam, Nirvana). Who would you put in the next tier of grunge era bands below the AIC’s, Pearl Jam’s, Nirvanas, and Soundgardens?
Great subject! Would love to see your take on the history and evolution of 3 piece rock groups. The most popular notion was that they started with Cream, but Elvis' first band was a 3 piece for a year, then they added a drummer. Also, Bo Didley's first band and the 2nd incarnation of Buddy Holly & the Crickets after their rhythm guitarist left.
Some falsehoods here I would argue. Grunge isn't a cut and dry "genre", it was a movement that was part of the larger alternative/indie rock rise to the mainstream in the late 80s early 90s. Grunge didn't "kill" off Glam Metal, the whole of the Alternative movement did along with glam metal itself. Independent bands that were on labels like SST, Sub Pop, Creation, etc, that existed as far back as the early 80s got major label deals in the wake of the Grunge movement. Also you are thinking in terms of the States and not considering the UK alternative scenes like Shoegaze, Britpop and Manchester scenes. I would counter your point of view and say there was far more alternative rock influence (including the grunge bands) that has carried on in modern music then glam/hair metal has. You also make the secondary point about the fashion, which to me is exactly why glam metal did itself no favors. It was tied more to the fashion and look rather than substance of the music. The media made grunge an aesthetic, not the musicians.
Some good points here. Speaking as someone who was a fan of 80s hard rock, metal/thrash, punk and "alternative", I develop an involuntary twitch whenever someone starts to talk about "grunge" as a clearly-defined style, or especially reducing it to a miserable sort of music that killed off party-hearty 80s glam-related rock. I'm not saying Brendan did that in this video BTW, it is a good topic to delve into. It's more about the comments I see constantly. Remember that more "credible" metal took a nose-dive as well in the early 90s. Thrash/speed metal as a commercial force was over around the same time as Poison etc. It was just timing, certain styles got saturated and people were ready for different things. To be clear and fair, both "glam" and "thrash" had bands early on that were original and distinct, but then got flooded with 2nd tier bands once they became marketable. Yes, this happened in the most generic "post grunge" era too, when we were dealing with horrors like Puddle of Mudd, Staind, Sillverchair, Creed, Bush etc, but to me none of those had anything in common with the post-punk, metal, infie, classic/psych rock and hardcore-influenced bands like Mudhoney/Green River, Mother Love Bone, Tad, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Nirvana etc. All those bands had deep roots in rock music history.
It was a much a movement as the “counter culture” thing in Laurel Canyon was a movement. Read Dave McGowan’s book And you’ll never see this stuff the same again
While it seems that grunge had a shorter shelf life, I think it had a bigger impact. It seemed to change the musical landscape overnight. Glam metal has had it's ups and downs, but it's had a longer shelf life.
I think its hard to compare the impact of music today vs then because there is so much less music being bought. I think Nu Metal was really big, and if there was not downloading would have been just as big as Grunge or Glam. In the case of Linkin Park that is definitely true.
Glam/Hair Metal made more of a long term long lasting impact for sure(still going kind of strong today), but I think Grunge made the biggest most intense shorter term impact at the time when it was popular.
I would have to say Glam Metal hands down. It's initial impact lasted from 1983 to roughly 1992 (wiith a few bands going a year or so beyond). Grunge was popular from 1991 until maybe 1996 or 1997 with the amount of bands lasting beyond that few and far between, either due to the fad burning out or due to the bands own demises. Also you would need to look at the amount of bands from each genre that are still talked about today. With glam there are dozens and some of them are even reuniting, while there are new bands that have formed to this day that fly the flag high. With grunge, there are a few, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins & arguably Alice in Chains come to mind. While I hear a few bands that have a bit of influence from the genre, nobody really comes right out and identifies as grunge.
Dude, if Generation X is gone, then the bands you're probably thinking of will probably have been dead long before that, lol. Band members dont live forever, and i don't think most of them have the intention of passing over the torch to younger members. Besides grunge died when kurt cobain blew his brains out, lol. At least glam wasn't just a personality cult of one person
To me, Grunge was a short lived genre. I was born at the peak of Grunge but I grew up listening to glam metal bands, from Dee Snider’s ‘House of Hair’ radio show on my local rock station every Saturday morning and watching the documentaries about ‘Glam Metal’ on VH1 and VH1 Classic now MTV Classic, so glam metal out lasted when Grunge began to fade. Rock music is about having a good time and not being depressed. From the KISS reunion in ‘96 to glam bands releasing new recordings and going out on tour in the early to mid 2000s and the birth of Rocklahoma and the M3 Rock festivals in Pryor, Oklahoma and Columbia, Maryland.
Some interesting thoughts there. I was born in 1966 and never really listened to the Hair/Glam Metal bands (preferred Slayer/Kreator etc in 80s metal) but I enjoyed Nirvana, Screaming Trees and Soundgarden when they appeared although even then the word "grunge" made me cringe. At about the same time as Nirvana (early 1990s) I fell into the Death Metal scene. A comparison of impact between Grunge and Death Metal might also be interesting to consider.
Glam was greater. To this day there are new bands influenced by the genre today, especially in Europe and Japan. As for Grunge, tell me a new band today that wants to keep the genre alive
Alright buddy… the answer to this is “glam” metal even though it was a part of a collective rock scene that included heavy metal, thrash metal, etc. Glam metal/Hair metal isn’t really a thing - these are terms that came out after the era ended as disparaging terms for the era. It was Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Statistically, the greatest era in music history is 1978-1992. This is the period of the greatest albums sales, greatest ticket sales, greatest merch sales of any other period in music. This is factual, stats that can be looked up. I was in the industry in this time and stayed in it to roughly the 2000’s. Grunge music…. Statistically is in the top3 worst (shortest time) of all genres from birth to peak, lumped in with disco and nu metal. Nirvana wasn’t the end of the 80’s rock scene. It was record labels over saturating the industry signing everything that looked like a rock star. Nirvana was a right place, right time band… it was Soundgarden, Alice In Chains that truly led the scene but unfairly taking second seat to Nirvana. Without the 80’s rock scene there wouldn’t be a grunge scene. Remember Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were metal bands before being lumped into the grunge scene. That said, Alice In Chains is one of my favorite bands of all time even with William Duvall. As far as style… that was already changing in the rock scene. Towards the late 80s into the 90s bands started to strip down to jeans and leather abandoning the spandex and poofed hair. The musicianship also from a technical level was greater with the 80s scene vs the grunge scene. This is always a good topic for discussion… but rarely get a behind the scenes, statistical perspective. I get into discussions all the time with younger folks who swear by the 90s and even 2000s era rock. …..and that all said, music is subjective and everybody likes what they like. For me, as long as the musicians are actually singing and playing their instruments vs. tracks and beats… all good.
The riff for Smells Like Teen Spirit was already heard on the Men Without Hats title tune Sideways. Yes, the light synth pop band that gave us Safety Dance and Pop goes The World. Check it out. They did a hard rock album. Nirvana was warmed over Pixies so I don't understand the fixation on them as leading grunge?
Good video and overview. I can quibble about the timeline(s) that you outlined for both genres but that would be silly. Unfortunately, the music/entertainment critics have NEVER taken heavy metal/glam metal seriously but have ALWAYS given their critical approval/acclaim to alternative/grunge from the get go. The most glaring example of this is Rolling Stone magazine and its coverage of the alternative/grunge movement (just compare the amount of cover features between the 2 genres if you don't believe me). Additionally, two (2) of my favorite U.S. magazines (CIRCUS and CREEM that had always covered hard rock/metal/glam metal) were also casualties of the alternative/grunge movement and both ceased publication by the early 90's. Only the U.K. magazine KERRANG! has been able to survive. Additionally, the amount of movies that were made surrounding the grunge/alternative rock scene far outweigh anything that was made that was reflective of the metal/glam metal scene. I was lucky enough to work in a record store from 1986 to 1991 when I was going to college in Sacramento, CA and then moving to the Pacific Northwest (Ashland, OR and Seattle, WA) from 1991 to 1996 for my first two (2) jobs post-graduation. Even though I was able to incorporate more of the grunge look into my wardrobe (there was nothing in the glam metal world clothing/hair wise that I ever wore), I still found it somewhat challenging in adopting this new sound in my "musical" life. Thankfully, the rise of thrash metal and especially Metallica helped to keep hard rock/metal around but otherwise it was pretty much alternative/grunge throughout the entire 90's and our beloved metal/glam metal finally coming back into the scene when Bruce Dickinson reunited with Maiden in 2000. I still (and hopefully ALWAYS will) listen and buy both, but my heart belongs to that glorious time between 1983 and 1990 when it really was "Ain't Nothin' But a Good Time..." Keep rocking, collecting and keeping it positive, my friend. The world needs super fans like you to help remind us all to enjoy the music, WHATEVER genre it may be... Cheers!
It's always been pretty simple to me. When I think of glam I think of so many classic songs, Kickstart My Heart, Youth Gone Wild, Round & Round, Talk Dirty To Me, Gypsy Road, Rip & Tear, Cherry Pie, Play With Me, and let's not forget the ballads, Home Sweet Home, I Remember You, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Nobody's Fool, The Ballad Of Jayne, Heaven, More Than Words, To Be With You etc. On the other hand, apart from the Big 5 (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots), I couldn't name one song by any grunge band.
Glam spawned Grunge. Almost all musicians from the 90s grunge movement were in failed glam bands in the 80s. Lane Stanley and Alice In Chains started glam. Mother Love Bone were glam. Pearl Jam’s Mike Mccready and Duff Mckagan were in a band together. Let’s just say glam gave birth or was one of the parents of “grunge”
Thrash & Death Metal - Beer Southern Rock - Jack Daniels & Jim Beam Progressive Rock - Wine Hardcore / Straight Edge Punk - Soda & Gatorade Outlaw Country - Moonshine Bro / Pop Country - Flavored Water
It doesn't matter..to each his own..on certain days i can listen to Grunge and get a kick out of it..but Glam Metal will forever be in my heart..no trend can take it away nor critics to sway them aside. Btw nothing wrong wearing a Cinderella tee.. just saying.😊
I’m firmly on team glam, but it definitely started to die before Nirvana hit. When Headbangers Ball started playing Jane’s Addiction , Smashing Pumpkins, Voivid, and Soundgarden , usually in the 3rd hour( all pre-Nirvana), I kinda got the feeling the glam party was already over. Even the “glam” bands had stared to dress more grunge by this time. Also, I have to disagree with your timeline a little. No way glam lasted anywhere near into ‘94 in any real or mainstream sense. As a matter of fact, I have a very specific memory of buying the Wildside CD in ‘92 and feeling slightly self conscious about it, like I was already some old fossil. (I was 21 at the time) LOL
First off, Guns N' Roses are not glam. Period. IMO, grunge had a bigger impact but glam has had more longevity. Both styles of music were ruined by copy cat bands like the Trixter's, White Lion's and the Creed's of the world. I hated grunge and was bored of the 80's generic cock rock style of sound (I'm old enough to have lived through both eras) but I appreciated it because it made me discover underground metal bands. After Nirvana and the likes, I discovered non-radio music that lives with me today. I'm just as comfortable at a Poison concert as I am at a Cannibal Corpse show. And I completely disagree with your stance on the mid to late 90''s bands not being as impactful. Most of those bands maybe didn't spike the "sales charts" but name someone who doesn't know Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, etc. Maybe I missed the point of the vid if the barometer is just album sales.
First of all: guns n roses is not a glam metal band..I get why you say it but that lasted one album, and slipknot is not a nu metal band..again.. I get why people say they are. I think glam metal made a bigger impact, a lot ..a lot of bands got fame or recognition, although not many could sustain commercial success over the years.. motley crue fills stadiums and all the others maybe arenas but mostly clubs, as far as I know. But the music is more relevant, it captures more attention than grunge, that's why steel panther is succesful. Whereas, grunge ...it's like they were the transition between glam metal and nu metal.. grunge didn't kill glam metal, it was just a commercial move-we all know that- but grunge basically died when Kurt Cobain died, and died again with Chris Cornell. But what do we got from grunge? post-grunge? nickelback, creed, etc? I like those bands.. glam metal was or is..hard rock or heavy metal, so... it was good for the rock and metal world, it was a big contribution. I don't know if van halen counts as a glam metal band. Then we have side effects like stryper xD..who would've thought that we would get to see and hear a bunch of guys wearing spandex playing preachy songs about Jessusssss?! There is a movie about Kurt Cobain called last days, it's a biopic..
@Metalfan81-q6t , yup it went into hiding for a good while .., some perhaps being " killed " was not a bad thing as some was getting plain silly , and the schmalzy ballads and over sexualized misogyny .., but then grunge got tiring too with all the angst , heroin , and just dark themes .
For me personally i would rather watch paint dry than listen to Grunge. Such miserable music. Hair metal was huge for me back in the day but when grunge came in i moved more into the thrash, Death and NY Hardcore as i despised grunge especially Nirvana. Hair metal killed itself with an over satuation of bands and also the record labels not supporting the bands anymore. Hair metal deffinatley wins supreme though as its so huge around the world. Awesome video mate and always love your thoughts.
The Record Industry along with MTV ruined Glam Hair Metal . It became so big , subsequently so saturated by 91-92 . The power ballads became too much , and so those same labels and MTV found and funded Grunge , then subsequently killed it by same means . To me , bands like Depeche Mode and Janes Addiction, RHP were more influential than Nirvana . Foo Fighters have been more important than Nirvana . I loved STP , wouldn’t call them Grunge , but they had a sonic sound and Scott was exceptional. Pearl Jam were the Doors 2.0 and AIC was Sabbath 2.0 .
I’m sorry Grunge definitely killed Glam metal, no one wanted glam music in the 90’s, Motley Crue the biggest glam band couldn’t even sell out stadiums anymore reverted back to clubs & bars while Metallica were selling out every album & venue, Motley or Glam not being advertised that’s not true at all, you can LITERALLY look up clips of Motley on HOWARD STERN, Jay Leno which you CLAIM they weren’t on & they were even on Regis Philibin of all shows 😂😂 again all of those clips were in 1997 to promote Generation Swine but at the end of the day it just shows Motley Crue can go do all these top tier shows at the time watched by millions & still can’t sell during the time of grunge & alternative music. Your argument doesn’t hold any water when a simple research can fix that.. @14:55 i literally see no one my age younger or older dress styles influence by glam😂😂 saying that is beyond ridiculous bro maybe in your neck of the woods but everywhere else I see no glam influence
Grunge absolutely saved music from the crappy so called metal we were getting subjected to in the 80's, Motley, Ratt etc. Of course there was great heavy music in the 80's, Iron Maiden's peak etc. Soundgarden, Alice In Chains etc. was just way cooler than Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, the list goes on, they were all the same anyway.
I asked a kid in a Nirvana shirt the other day what her favorite song of theirs was. She said she didn't know they were a band, thought it was a clothing brand 😅
At the time, I used to call Grunge “crybaby rock”. It was young boys singing about how hard life was and how life sucked though they hadn’t even begun to live their lives. It was miserably depressing, literally suicidal rock. If Kurt Cobain were still alive, he and Nirvana wouldn’t be looked upon so highly. He’d just be an old rocker from another era.
Grunge 🙄😆 had the short shelf life of bread for a couple years in the early 90s. Miserable and depressing. 80s Glam lasted for ten years, and many of the bands still around today, and the singing, musicianship, songwriting stood the test of time. And yes, glam metal was not all about just fun sex, drugs, and rock n roll, many of the bands and songs had depth to the lyrics, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The genre even has its own channel on Sirius XM. I can't believe this is even a question. Oh, and Glam Metal is Metal. It sure wasn't AOR rock. Metal is forever!
Looking it today, I say glam. I see so many new or relatively new bands coming up who have found all those bands that made glam so big. At least here in otherside of the ocean new grunge bands are almost nowhere.
I gotta say Glam, but I have to disagree with your timeline & impact. The 80s Glam scene ran from 82-83 (Quiet Riot first #1 album for metal band) til 90-91 when Nirvana hit. But by the mid-90s Grunge had been replaced on radio and MTV by Pop acts like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys etc. Grunge was more of an ugly boring blip in music history.
When I was born in 1979 rasied in Blaine minneasota I started out listening to oldies but switched from oldies to listening to Kris’s Kris’s run DMc sir mix a lot ll Cool j new kids on the block weird Al yankovic but then when I started jr high and Blaine high school I started listening to Aerosmith Alice In Chains Def Leppard Metallica skid row Motley Crue
I am not huge on grunge I always preferred glam however grunge has great musicians such as layne staley. I also view glam as metal just pop metal I mean glam is definitely not the same as slayer or sabbath but it is heavier then the glam rock which pre dated it which is why i call it metal
Personally I think Glam because Glam sparked other genres out of spite, IE, Thrash Metal, which came about as the anti-glam movement. Grunge just spawned butt rock, which yeah I love Nickleback and Creed, but Thrash will always take precedent
It’s the total opposite lol. Glam was killing rock. It’s awful. The authenticity in most of what is labeled as grunge excited people again. I suspect this comment is age related.
@thomasmandeno2776 Agree 100%, those 80's bands were considered posers in my high school parking lot, you would be tormented if you liked those bands, mostly the girls liked that crap
Glam metal was the Friday/Saturday night party and Grunge was the Sunday/Monday hangover.
Grunge for sure. Changed culture completely. It brought underground music to the mainstream. People who were different felt like they had a voice. Not to mention the changes on fashion. Unfortunately, that to me was the last great cultural revolution inspired by music.
Welcome to everything since 1955
My vote is on Glam Metal , heck im still listening to it .
Thanks again for taking my question for your recent Q&A, and for turning it into an entire show/video! Always appreciate your insight!
Thanks again for the suggestion as it was a lot of fun to make the full length episode. So many great memories from that era.
Having grown up and in junior high and highschool during the height of glam metal, that’s my first love but I did enjoy some of the grunge era bands as well and credit them for the more commercial post grunge era bands that I enjoy to this day as well (Candlebox, Creed, Godsmack, Alterbridge, and others).
Singles is one of my all-time favorite movies and it always gives me such good feelings of nostalgia everytime I watch it. Takes me back to my college days so I just wanted to throw that into the conversation here, the fact that movies like Singles, Reality Bites, Clerks, Empire Racords, and others appealed to the pop culture of the time and the popularity of grunge.
Great video Brendon and very interesting topic. 👍🏻
Difficult to answer this as I am not sure how you would define 'glam metal', 'grunge' or what you mean by 'impact'.
Are Guns n Roses a 'glam metal' band or are they hard rock? Cinderella - 'glam metal' or hard rock? What's 'glam' - the look or the sound? Is glam metal really 'metal'? All sorts of grey areas.
Are the Smashing Pumpkins a 'grunge' band or are they 'alternative rock'? What's the difference? How would you differentiate, say, R.E.M and Nirvana? Why is R.E.M not grunge but alternative and why is Nirvana grunge? What's 'grunge'- the look or the sound? 🙂Do you have to be a band from Seattle to be grunge? To be grunge, do you have to be on the Sub Pop label as that's where the term originated from? Does that mean Sonic Youth are grunge?
Is 'impact' the music impact? The commercial impact? The critical acclaim? Popularity? The legacy and longevity?
Aren't glam metal and grunge both just sub-genres of 'hard rock'? Essentially the same genre.
I see a lot of people in the comments section trying to grapple with this but I wonder if they have thought about these questions.
100% true. You are totally right!
Great analogy
Nirvana was essentially pop-rock, at least Nevermind was. Hard to categorize it as anything else, and it explains why is appealed to so many.
@@benedictdonald4338anything ever played on a radio is considered pop music. It’s funny now looking back because it’s like the musical revolution: brought to you by
As a Gen X, I lived through both the glam and grunge eras. Their sounds feel familiar and close to me.
Never grew up with glam or grunge, but glam metal for me is the most definite pick. Love bands with killer guitar work and solos, great melodic singers and I love the energy it has. Van Halen really inspired a genre for many great bands in the 80s and early 90s.
Brendon, great episode, thank you! Gets us thinking! Question-you made an interesting point about how there were just a few grunge artists who sold mega albums (Pearl Jam, Nirvana). Who would you put in the next tier of grunge era bands below the AIC’s, Pearl Jam’s, Nirvanas, and Soundgardens?
I think Glam metal.like you said and it still kicking around.
80's glam / 80's rock by miles. Easy choice.
Great subject!
Would love to see your take on the history and evolution of 3 piece rock groups.
The most popular notion was that they started with Cream, but Elvis' first band was a 3 piece for a year, then they added a drummer.
Also, Bo Didley's first band and the 2nd incarnation of Buddy Holly & the Crickets after their rhythm guitarist left.
Glam metal is still fun. Grunge is still depressing.
It’s funny how that is true and how the whole thing was lit up overnight, like someone threw a switch. “Now you will think this way”
Some falsehoods here I would argue. Grunge isn't a cut and dry "genre", it was a movement that was part of the larger alternative/indie rock rise to the mainstream in the late 80s early 90s. Grunge didn't "kill" off Glam Metal, the whole of the Alternative movement did along with glam metal itself. Independent bands that were on labels like SST, Sub Pop, Creation, etc, that existed as far back as the early 80s got major label deals in the wake of the Grunge movement. Also you are thinking in terms of the States and not considering the UK alternative scenes like Shoegaze, Britpop and Manchester scenes. I would counter your point of view and say there was far more alternative rock influence (including the grunge bands) that has carried on in modern music then glam/hair metal has. You also make the secondary point about the fashion, which to me is exactly why glam metal did itself no favors. It was tied more to the fashion and look rather than substance of the music. The media made grunge an aesthetic, not the musicians.
Some good points here. Speaking as someone who was a fan of 80s hard rock, metal/thrash, punk and "alternative", I develop an involuntary twitch whenever someone starts to talk about "grunge" as a clearly-defined style, or especially reducing it to a miserable sort of music that killed off party-hearty 80s glam-related rock. I'm not saying Brendan did that in this video BTW, it is a good topic to delve into. It's more about the comments I see constantly.
Remember that more "credible" metal took a nose-dive as well in the early 90s. Thrash/speed metal as a commercial force was over around the same time as Poison etc. It was just timing, certain styles got saturated and people were ready for different things. To be clear and fair, both "glam" and "thrash" had bands early on that were original and distinct, but then got flooded with 2nd tier bands once they became marketable.
Yes, this happened in the most generic "post grunge" era too, when we were dealing with horrors like Puddle of Mudd, Staind, Sillverchair, Creed, Bush etc, but to me none of those had anything in common with the post-punk, metal, infie, classic/psych rock and hardcore-influenced bands like Mudhoney/Green River, Mother Love Bone, Tad, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Nirvana etc. All those bands had deep roots in rock music history.
It was a much a movement as the “counter culture” thing in Laurel Canyon was a movement. Read Dave McGowan’s book And you’ll never see this stuff the same again
I love both subgenres, unapologetically.
I liked both during their respective eras but I have returned to collecting glam records and seeing those types of shows.
Always been a grunge fan.. or especially Nirvana❤️
He is from Tennessee. McKenzie
Hi from New Jersey! 🖐️
You are the best, greatest guy. Do you know an architect Keith Traywick?
While it seems that grunge had a shorter shelf life, I think it had a bigger impact. It seemed to change the musical landscape overnight. Glam metal has had it's ups and downs, but it's had a longer shelf life.
I think its hard to compare the impact of music today vs then because there is so much less music being bought.
I think Nu Metal was really big, and if there was not downloading would have been just as big as Grunge or Glam. In the case of Linkin Park that is definitely true.
Glam/Hair Metal made more of a long term long lasting impact for sure(still going kind of strong today), but I think Grunge made the biggest most intense shorter term impact at the time when it was popular.
I would have to say Glam Metal hands down. It's initial impact lasted from 1983 to roughly 1992 (wiith a few bands going a year or so beyond). Grunge was popular from 1991 until maybe 1996 or 1997 with the amount of bands lasting beyond that few and far between, either due to the fad burning out or due to the bands own demises. Also you would need to look at the amount of bands from each genre that are still talked about today. With glam there are dozens and some of them are even reuniting, while there are new bands that have formed to this day that fly the flag high. With grunge, there are a few, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins & arguably Alice in Chains come to mind. While I hear a few bands that have a bit of influence from the genre, nobody really comes right out and identifies as grunge.
Glam bands sell out arenas because of nostalgia. Once Generation X is gone, that will be over.
Dude, if Generation X is gone, then the bands you're probably thinking of will probably have been dead long before that, lol. Band members dont live forever, and i don't think most of them have the intention of passing over the torch to younger members. Besides grunge died when kurt cobain blew his brains out, lol. At least glam wasn't just a personality cult of one person
@
To me, Grunge was a short lived genre. I was born at the peak of Grunge but I grew up listening to glam metal bands, from Dee Snider’s ‘House of Hair’ radio show on my local rock station every Saturday morning and watching the documentaries about ‘Glam Metal’ on VH1 and VH1 Classic now MTV Classic, so glam metal out lasted when Grunge began to fade. Rock music is about having a good time and not being depressed. From the KISS reunion in ‘96 to glam bands releasing new recordings and going out on tour in the early to mid 2000s and the birth of Rocklahoma and the M3 Rock festivals in Pryor, Oklahoma and Columbia, Maryland.
Some interesting thoughts there. I was born in 1966 and never really listened to the Hair/Glam Metal bands (preferred Slayer/Kreator etc in 80s metal) but I enjoyed Nirvana, Screaming Trees and Soundgarden when they appeared although even then the word "grunge" made me cringe. At about the same time as Nirvana (early 1990s) I fell into the Death Metal scene. A comparison of impact between Grunge and Death Metal might also be interesting to consider.
Some from both, all from neither. Variety being the spice of life and playlists etc.
Glam was greater. To this day there are new bands influenced by the genre today, especially in Europe and Japan. As for Grunge, tell me a new band today that wants to keep the genre alive
Can name more popular songs from 80’s than (vs.) the 90’s
I find grunge kinda boring
Alright buddy… the answer to this is “glam” metal even though it was a part of a collective rock scene that included heavy metal, thrash metal, etc. Glam metal/Hair metal isn’t really a thing - these are terms that came out after the era ended as disparaging terms for the era. It was Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Statistically, the greatest era in music history is 1978-1992. This is the period of the greatest albums sales, greatest ticket sales, greatest merch sales of any other period in music. This is factual, stats that can be looked up. I was in the industry in this time and stayed in it to roughly the 2000’s. Grunge music…. Statistically is in the top3 worst (shortest time) of all genres from birth to peak, lumped in with disco and nu metal. Nirvana wasn’t the end of the 80’s rock scene. It was record labels over saturating the industry signing everything that looked like a rock star. Nirvana was a right place, right time band… it was Soundgarden, Alice In Chains that truly led the scene but unfairly taking second seat to Nirvana. Without the 80’s rock scene there wouldn’t be a grunge scene. Remember Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were metal bands before being lumped into the grunge scene. That said, Alice In Chains is one of my favorite bands of all time even with William Duvall. As far as style… that was already changing in the rock scene. Towards the late 80s into the 90s bands started to strip down to jeans and leather abandoning the spandex and poofed hair. The musicianship also from a technical level was greater with the 80s scene vs the grunge scene. This is always a good topic for discussion… but rarely get a behind the scenes, statistical perspective. I get into discussions all the time with younger folks who swear by the 90s and even 2000s era rock. …..and that all said, music is subjective and everybody likes what they like. For me, as long as the musicians are actually singing and playing their instruments vs. tracks and beats… all good.
The riff for Smells Like Teen Spirit was already heard on the Men Without Hats title tune Sideways. Yes, the light synth pop band that gave us Safety Dance and Pop goes The World. Check it out. They did a hard rock album. Nirvana was warmed over Pixies so I don't understand the fixation on them as leading grunge?
Good video and overview. I can quibble about the timeline(s) that you outlined for both genres but that would be silly. Unfortunately, the music/entertainment critics have NEVER taken heavy metal/glam metal seriously but have ALWAYS given their critical approval/acclaim to alternative/grunge from the get go. The most glaring example of this is Rolling Stone magazine and its coverage of the alternative/grunge movement (just compare the amount of cover features between the 2 genres if you don't believe me). Additionally, two (2) of my favorite U.S. magazines (CIRCUS and CREEM that had always covered hard rock/metal/glam metal) were also casualties of the alternative/grunge movement and both ceased publication by the early 90's. Only the U.K. magazine KERRANG! has been able to survive. Additionally, the amount of movies that were made surrounding the grunge/alternative rock scene far outweigh anything that was made that was reflective of the metal/glam metal scene. I was lucky enough to work in a record store from 1986 to 1991 when I was going to college in Sacramento, CA and then moving to the Pacific Northwest (Ashland, OR and Seattle, WA) from 1991 to 1996 for my first two (2) jobs post-graduation. Even though I was able to incorporate more of the grunge look into my wardrobe (there was nothing in the glam metal world clothing/hair wise that I ever wore), I still found it somewhat challenging in adopting this new sound in my "musical" life. Thankfully, the rise of thrash metal and especially Metallica helped to keep hard rock/metal around but otherwise it was pretty much alternative/grunge throughout the entire 90's and our beloved metal/glam metal finally coming back into the scene when Bruce Dickinson reunited with Maiden in 2000. I still (and hopefully ALWAYS will) listen and buy both, but my heart belongs to that glorious time between 1983 and 1990 when it really was "Ain't Nothin' But a Good Time..." Keep rocking, collecting and keeping it positive, my friend. The world needs super fans like you to help remind us all to enjoy the music, WHATEVER genre it may be... Cheers!
One is fun and the other is depressing, as designed and intended
😎👍
Heavy metal and classic rock for sure
It's always been pretty simple to me. When I think of glam I think of so many classic songs, Kickstart My Heart, Youth Gone Wild, Round & Round, Talk Dirty To Me, Gypsy Road, Rip & Tear, Cherry Pie, Play With Me, and let's not forget the ballads, Home Sweet Home, I Remember You, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Nobody's Fool, The Ballad Of Jayne, Heaven, More Than Words, To Be With You etc. On the other hand, apart from the Big 5 (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots), I couldn't name one song by any grunge band.
Heartbreak Station by Cinderella was the best ballad of that era House of Pain by Faster Pussycat had meaning!
Glam spawned Grunge. Almost all musicians from the 90s grunge movement were in failed glam bands in the 80s. Lane Stanley and Alice In Chains started glam. Mother Love Bone were glam. Pearl Jam’s Mike Mccready and Duff Mckagan were in a band together. Let’s just say glam gave birth or was one of the parents of “grunge”
Another day another video.
Glam-Cocaine Grunge - Heroine
Thrash & Death Metal - Beer
Southern Rock - Jack Daniels & Jim Beam
Progressive Rock - Wine
Hardcore / Straight Edge Punk - Soda & Gatorade
Outlaw Country - Moonshine
Bro / Pop Country - Flavored Water
It doesn't matter..to each his own..on certain days i can listen to Grunge and get a kick out of it..but Glam Metal will forever be in my heart..no trend can take it away nor critics to sway them aside. Btw nothing wrong wearing a Cinderella tee.. just saying.😊
I’m firmly on team glam, but it definitely started to die before Nirvana hit. When Headbangers Ball started playing Jane’s Addiction , Smashing Pumpkins, Voivid, and Soundgarden , usually in the 3rd hour( all pre-Nirvana), I kinda got the feeling the glam party was already over. Even the “glam” bands had stared to dress more grunge by this time.
Also, I have to disagree with your timeline a little. No way glam lasted anywhere near into ‘94 in any real or mainstream sense. As a matter of fact, I have a very specific memory of buying the Wildside CD in ‘92 and feeling slightly self conscious about it, like I was already some old fossil. (I was 21 at the time) LOL
what kids listen to today and try to dress as and definitely sound like is grunge, not glam metal, that's all there is to the debate tbh
Glam Metal, no question.
I would rather slurp spaghetti through a used colostomy bag, than have to listen to grunge.
Hope this paints an unmistakable, accurate picture.
Will always be glam .
My opinion glam made bigger impact.
Speaking of bio pics. Just found out there is going to be one on Slaughter, not sure when it will be out.
First off, Guns N' Roses are not glam. Period. IMO, grunge had a bigger impact but glam has had more longevity. Both styles of music were ruined by copy cat bands like the Trixter's, White Lion's and the Creed's of the world. I hated grunge and was bored of the 80's generic cock rock style of sound (I'm old enough to have lived through both eras) but I appreciated it because it made me discover underground metal bands. After Nirvana and the likes, I discovered non-radio music that lives with me today. I'm just as comfortable at a Poison concert as I am at a Cannibal Corpse show. And I completely disagree with your stance on the mid to late 90''s bands not being as impactful. Most of those bands maybe didn't spike the "sales charts" but name someone who doesn't know Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, etc. Maybe I missed the point of the vid if the barometer is just album sales.
Glam made a huge impact but THRASH metal over took glam.
First of all: guns n roses is not a glam metal band..I get why you say it but that lasted one album, and slipknot is not a nu metal band..again.. I get why people say they are.
I think glam metal made a bigger impact, a lot ..a lot of bands got fame or recognition, although not many could sustain commercial success over the years.. motley crue fills stadiums and all the others maybe arenas but mostly clubs, as far as I know. But the music is more relevant, it captures more attention than grunge, that's why steel panther is succesful. Whereas, grunge ...it's like they were the transition between glam metal and nu metal.. grunge didn't kill glam metal, it was just a commercial move-we all know that- but grunge basically died when Kurt Cobain died, and died again with Chris Cornell. But what do we got from grunge? post-grunge? nickelback, creed, etc? I like those bands.. glam metal was or is..hard rock or heavy metal, so... it was good for the rock and metal world, it was a big contribution. I don't know if van halen counts as a glam metal band. Then we have side effects like stryper xD..who would've thought that we would get to see and hear a bunch of guys wearing spandex playing preachy songs about Jessusssss?!
There is a movie about Kurt Cobain called last days, it's a biopic..
grunge was a blip , lasted 5 years in the big time and faded quick , glam made a much longer impact
Yes grunge was short-lived but it killed good fun rock music in that short period.
@Metalfan81-q6t , yup it went into hiding for a good while .., some perhaps being " killed " was not a bad thing as some was getting plain silly , and the schmalzy ballads and over sexualized misogyny .., but then grunge got tiring too with all the angst , heroin , and just dark themes .
In my opinion Grunge is highly over rated. Still love glam
Glam metal period 🤘
Oh, and glam metal musicians play circles around grunge
For me personally i would rather watch paint dry than listen to Grunge. Such miserable music. Hair metal was huge for me back in the day but when grunge came in i moved more into the thrash, Death and NY Hardcore as i despised grunge especially Nirvana. Hair metal killed itself with an over satuation of bands and also the record labels not supporting the bands anymore. Hair metal deffinatley wins supreme though as its so huge around the world. Awesome video mate and always love your thoughts.
The Record Industry along with MTV ruined Glam Hair Metal . It became so big , subsequently so saturated by 91-92 . The power ballads became too much , and so those same labels and MTV found and funded Grunge , then subsequently killed it by same means . To me , bands like Depeche Mode and Janes Addiction, RHP were more influential than Nirvana . Foo Fighters have been more important than Nirvana . I loved STP , wouldn’t call them Grunge , but they had a sonic sound and Scott was exceptional. Pearl Jam were the Doors 2.0 and AIC was Sabbath 2.0 .
I’m sorry Grunge definitely killed Glam metal, no one wanted glam music in the 90’s, Motley Crue the biggest glam band couldn’t even sell out stadiums anymore reverted back to clubs & bars while Metallica were selling out every album & venue, Motley or Glam not being advertised that’s not true at all, you can LITERALLY look up clips of Motley on HOWARD STERN, Jay Leno which you CLAIM they weren’t on & they were even on Regis Philibin of all shows 😂😂 again all of those clips were in 1997 to promote Generation Swine but at the end of the day it just shows Motley Crue can go do all these top tier shows at the time watched by millions & still can’t sell during the time of grunge & alternative music. Your argument doesn’t hold any water when a simple research can fix that.. @14:55 i literally see no one my age younger or older dress styles influence by glam😂😂 saying that is beyond ridiculous bro maybe in your neck of the woods but everywhere else I see no glam influence
born in 1972, I always strongly disliked glam metal, and totally embraced grunge...
Grunge absolutely saved music from the crappy so called metal we were getting subjected to in the 80's, Motley, Ratt etc. Of course there was great heavy music in the 80's, Iron Maiden's peak etc. Soundgarden, Alice In Chains etc. was just way cooler than Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, the list goes on, they were all the same anyway.
Grunge made the bigger impact. Tons of kids are still buying Nirvana albums and dressing grunge. How many are buying Poison albums and dressing foam?
Alot of people dress glam, on Halloween.
Lol, that's because it's "cool" to wear a Nirvana shirt. They don't actually listen to the music. Another passing fad and trend for followers
@@MetalAsylumNJ They do. The local record store sells tons of Nirvana records. Either way, it’s not cool to wear a Cinderella tshirt.
@jpcastrianni 😆🤣🤣🤣
I asked a kid in a Nirvana shirt the other day what her favorite song of theirs was. She said she didn't know they were a band, thought it was a clothing brand 😅
At the time, I used to call Grunge “crybaby rock”. It was young boys singing about how hard life was and how life sucked though they hadn’t even begun to live their lives. It was miserably depressing, literally suicidal rock. If Kurt Cobain were still alive, he and Nirvana wouldn’t be looked upon so highly. He’d just be an old rocker from another era.
I'm hot, sticky sweet
From my head to my feet, yeah
Grunge was about real clothing...
until the Vans I used to buy went from 10 bucks a pair to 50 , the flannel shirts became boutique and went from 15 bucks to 100 , lol
Grunge 🙄😆 had the short shelf life of bread for a couple years in the early 90s. Miserable and depressing.
80s Glam lasted for ten years, and many of the bands still around today, and the singing, musicianship, songwriting stood the test of time. And yes, glam metal was not all about just fun sex, drugs, and rock n roll, many of the bands and songs had depth to the lyrics, about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The genre even has its own channel on Sirius XM. I can't believe this is even a question.
Oh, and Glam Metal is Metal. It sure wasn't AOR rock. Metal is forever!
Looking it today, I say glam. I see so many new or relatively new bands coming up who have found all those bands that made glam so big. At least here in otherside of the ocean new grunge bands are almost nowhere.
I gotta say Glam, but I have to disagree with your timeline & impact. The 80s Glam scene ran from 82-83 (Quiet Riot first #1 album for metal band) til 90-91 when Nirvana hit. But by the mid-90s Grunge had been replaced on radio and MTV by Pop acts like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys etc. Grunge was more of an ugly boring blip in music history.
I liked both but preferred thrash and death metal. I listened to it all though.
Glam metal
I will always love glam metal I never could get into grunge none of it
When I was born in 1979 rasied in Blaine minneasota I started out listening to oldies but switched from oldies to listening to Kris’s Kris’s run DMc sir mix a lot ll Cool j new kids on the block weird Al yankovic but then when I started jr high and Blaine high school I started listening to Aerosmith Alice In Chains Def Leppard Metallica skid row Motley Crue
I am not huge on grunge I always preferred glam however grunge has great musicians such as layne staley. I also view glam as metal just pop metal I mean glam is definitely not the same as slayer or sabbath but it is heavier then the glam rock which pre dated it which is why i call it metal
Nu metal killed rock music
Personally I think Glam because Glam sparked other genres out of spite, IE, Thrash Metal, which came about as the anti-glam movement. Grunge just spawned butt rock, which yeah I love Nickleback and Creed, but Thrash will always take precedent
Glam all the way
Personally - Glam Metal Bands have more impact to my musical taste than Grunge.
None of them, both sucks for me!
Well at least you like cats 👍
Grunge ruined and killed rock forever. Miserable music. 👎
Plenty of rock bands out there. Rock is far from dead.
😅
It’s the total opposite lol. Glam was killing rock. It’s awful. The authenticity in most of what is labeled as grunge excited people again. I suspect this comment is age related.
@thomasmandeno2776 Agree 100%, those 80's bands were considered posers in my high school parking lot, you would be tormented if you liked those bands, mostly the girls liked that crap
Grunge killed himself in middle 90s
Music needed grunge... early 90s glam was terrible...
😢
I will never have any respect for grunge. So overrated. Absolutely garbage. Glam metal will rise once again.
Disco lasted longer than grunge...
I find grunge kinda boring
Hair Metal forever ♾️
Hated Grunge. Still do. It doesnt hold up at all. I would take glam metal anyday if its going against Grunge
Glam metal