# The Grunge Thread



## riverc0il (Dec 2, 2009)

And keep your sissy post grunge shit out of this thread. :uzi:

I don't go back to The Melvins, Green River, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone or anything... but Grunge has always and probably will always remain my favorite sub-genre of rock. That slowed down and dirty metal sound gives me a great big ironic warm and fuzzy feeling.

Alice in Chains were my favorite of the bunch. Some people say Layne made the band but I 100% disagree as the songwriting and riffs from Cantrell are what truly defined the pinnacle of the Seattle sound.

Though AIC later grew on me after the fact, during the 90s Soundgarden was my main musical fixation in the Grunge category. One of my biggest disappointments in High School was not being able to see them in concert. Unfortunately, I got "Black Holed to Death" and when I listen to Superunknown to this day, I skip over that song as well as Fell on Black Days. Given the over play back then, I still have a hard time listening to any Soundgarden to this day.

Pearl Jam was eh to me then though some of their selections have grown on me. Never cared for EV's vocal stylings. Blasphemy perhaps. I think they had a lot of great single tracks though not always their most well known hits.

Temple of the Dog was better than Pearl Jam, I thought. Not as good as Mad Season, though I never cared for Screaming Trees. Super groups in general are a big fail for the most part, IMHO.

Stone Temple Pilots had one heck of a first album, then a few good singles on Purple, and then they fell apart into whatever happened (and add to that the whole super group thing too, Velvet Revolver and Audioslave are both horrid). A grew to like Core a lot more when I revisited it years later. Nirvana was similar. Did not do anything for me when they were big but I got to really like a lot of their stuff years later.

What grunge do I listen to now more than anything else? Alice in Chains of course. BUT I have been listening to a lot of Tad lately. Talk about under rated. Wow. Now that was a grunge band.

Such a great decade for music. Too bad things have taken such a terrible turn for the worse. First, we were escorted out of the 90s by radio friendly post grunge. I find post grunge to be inexcusably offensive and completely without merit. It was a sad day for the world when Superman by 3 Doors Down first hit the airwaves. Prior to 3 Doors Down, at least the early post grunge bands had some pretense of being metal as opposed to mom/dad friendly pop radio rock. Grunge bands like Tad could kick Nickelback's ass and then rub their noses in their own excrement. Gah, don't even get me started on Nickelback.

Oh... for skiing related themes... my most listened to first track en route to ski areas is Rotten Apple off Jar of Flies. For some reason, I always associate hearing that song in the cold winter darkness of 6am with the anticipation of a killer day.

That is all. :grin:


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## Marc (Dec 2, 2009)

Now this is a thread I can get behind.  I'm with you on Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog... and anything else Cornell was involved in.  Soundgarden was my favorite band for a long time, and since we only got about 4 radio stations where I grew up, and only one that played grunge (AAF) I didn't notice the over exposure.  It sounds like that was for the best, for me.

:beer:



Love the mix of time signatures, whole tone modulation, Cornell's voice, despite singing like that has fried is vocal chords


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## riverc0il (Dec 2, 2009)

If you didn't notice the Black Hole Sun over exposure, you must not have been a regular viewer of MTV at the time. :lol: I got really into their older stuff when the BHS video was being played every hour on MTV. Makes me want to fire up some Badmotorfinger right now actually :lol: Though I think their best songs were on Superunknown including the title track and Like Suicide (really dig the acoustic version). That album blew me away mentally but still numbed me out at the same time, wild stuff.


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## Marc (Dec 2, 2009)

Like Suicide is my #1 favorite... and the acoustic is a close second, of Soundgarden's work.

Oh and MTV?  Yeah Black Hole Sun was playing on MTV during the days when we had five channels from which to choose.


Jesus.  I'm starting to sound like my old man.


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## marcski (Dec 2, 2009)

Umm....I ordered tix for Further at Radio City Music Hall...Oh wait, this is the grunge thread.  Not much of a grunge head here...but back in the day Nirvana, blasting as loud as it could be without any (major) distortion on the ski house stereo seemed to get everyone moving and ready to get to the hill in the mornings after a night out drinking.


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## Glenn (Dec 3, 2009)

Big AIC fan here. I still think the best song they did was the Unplugged version of Would?. I remember WAAF playing that and I thought, "wow, I need that CD..." The rest of the CD is good well. It gives you a different side of songs like Rooster and Heaven Beside You. 

I do like STP as well. I did really get into their later stuff; the Tiny Music album. I always thought Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart was good. Although, the lyrics are a bit "deep" for me. I have no idea what the F he's trying to say. "I'll breath the life..vics vapor life..." WTF? Good song regardless. 

Yeah, some of the Soundgarden stuff was over played a bit. And I think the post Soundgarden stuff was "meh" at best. 

Pearl Jam has some good songs, but I stick by my they're a bit over rated statement. Just IMHO.


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## ERJ-145CA (Dec 3, 2009)

Glenn said:


> Big AIC fan here. I still think the best song they did was the Unplugged version of Would?. I remember WAAF playing that and I thought, "wow, I need that CD..." The rest of the CD is good well. It gives you a different side of songs like Rooster and Heaven Beside You.
> 
> I do like STP as well. I did really get into their later stuff; the Tiny Music album. I always thought Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart was good. Although, the lyrics are a bit "deep" for me. I have no idea what the F he's trying to say. "I'll breath the life..vics vapor life..." WTF? Good song regardless.
> 
> ...



AIC is in my top 3 bands of all time, along with Zep and Sabbath.  When I bought Facelift it was released attached to a free live video with 5 songs or so plus the videos Man In A Box and We Die Young.  It was stolen from me in college but a few years later a co-worker gave me his copy, I've since burned it to DVD.  Here is "Love, Hate, Love" from that video.


The new album is very, very good too it's been in my car CD player for about a month now.  I've seen them twice with the new singer and their shows are great but I wish I had seen them with Layne.  This is their most recent video:


There is a good AIC tribute band out there called Facelift, I've used to see them all the time years ago when they came to my area, I haven't seen them in years but they're still around, it looks like they do about 1 show a month.  I think they're from CT.  Worth seeing if you are a Chains fan, website is: www.faceliftlive.com.  Years ago the singer sounded almost like Layne Staley but it's hard to tell from this video if he still does, Mike Starr AIC's (original bassist) showed up at this gig:


Also, I really started to like STP a lot more with the Tiny Music album.


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## BigJay (Dec 3, 2009)

Oh the 90s! My favorite music decade and still much of what i listened to has been influenced by the grunge of the 90s.

I was in high school in the early 90s... so things that were accessible were the more "popular" stuff:  Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the sounds of 91-92. I was listening to a whole bunch of other stuff along with STP during most of my high school.

I heard of Kurt Cobain's death while buying my burton air 6.1 at the snowboard shop in Jay Peak. Pat (the guy in charge back then) and I were in shock... but not surprised.

A few years later, i got into trading bootlegs thru various sites and got to sample a whole lot of shows from Nirvana. I discovered there "melodic" sides through their rarities and live concerts covers. That's how i discovered indie rock because the softer (yet kind of rebelious) side appealed to me. To this day, i can't listen to Nirvana's unplugged without getting chills.

In the late 90s, i heard a lot of post-grunge bands but i stuck with Local H. They are still out there and can turn a 10$ show into a great experience. They're nothing new but they're good... still have a very 90s attitude to their music.

Oh, can't believe i forgot the Pixies. I don't know if you consider them "grunge" but they were something very different in the late 80s. I discovered them later on as i knew only a few songs from them but Debaser must be one of their first song that kept my attention.


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## Glenn (Dec 3, 2009)

ERJ-145CA said:


> AIC is in my top 3 bands of all time, along with Zep and Sabbath.  When I bought Facelift it was released attached to a free live video with 5 songs or so plus the videos Man In A Box and We Die Young.  It was stolen from me in college but a few years later a co-worker gave me his copy, I've since burned it to DVD.  Here is "Love, Hate, Love" from that video.
> 
> 
> The new album is very, very good too it's been in my car CD player for about a month now.  I've seen them twice with the new singer and their shows are great but I wish I had seen them with Layne.  This is their most recent video:
> ...



Wow! Sweet vids! Damn, Lane is young in that first one! 

I like Check my Brain....it's got a heavier sound to it...I like that. I should get that album. 

HA! I had no idea the tribute band was from CT! I'll have to see if there ever local.


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## riverc0il (Dec 3, 2009)

ERJ-145CA said:


> The new album is very, very good too it's been in my car CD player for about a month now. I've seen them twice with the new singer and their shows are great but I wish I had seen them with Layne.


I saw them once with DuVall on their first tour with him when they were not yet planning to release new material or do anything beyond that tour. At times, I could have closed my eyes and not have noticed a difference. 

I still have not heard the new album! I am ashamed of myself for that!


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## twinplanx (Dec 3, 2009)

Candelbox,(IMHO) was an underrated band who seemed to get lost in a sea of grunge.  Just sayin...


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## riverc0il (Dec 3, 2009)

twinplanx said:


> Candelbox,(IMHO) was an underrated band who seemed to get lost in a sea of grunge.  Just sayin...


Agreed!! Too bad they only made one good album. And their recent come back album sucks (though it does actually have one track that rocks it pretty good). Some Candlebox sounds with skiing stoke, early season powder day style. Not this season though. :x

90s had some great non-grunge rock. Candlebox was amongst the best of it.


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## twinplanx (Dec 3, 2009)

riverc0il said:


> And keep your sissy post grunge shit out of this thread. :uzi:
> 
> I don't go back to The Melvins, Green River, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone or anything... but Grunge has always and probably will always remain my favorite sub-genre of rock. That slowed down and dirty metal sound gives me a great big ironic warm and fuzzy feeling.
> 
> Alice in Chains were my favorite of the bunch. Some people say Layne made the band but I 100% disagree as the songwriting and riffs from Cantrell are what truly defined the pinnacle of the Seattle sound.



I saw AIC open up for a band that I will keep out of this thread awhile back. It was a nice surprise, and would agree w/ your 100% disagree statement.


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## Mildcat (Dec 3, 2009)

There's still music like that out there you just have to look a little harder for it because it doesn't get any radio play. 

I'm surprised no one mentioned Sup Pop Records. They gave a lot of bands their starts. Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Green River, Screaming Trees, Tad were all signed to Sub Pop in the late eighties.


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## twinplanx (Dec 3, 2009)

riverc0il said:


> Agreed!! Too bad they only made one good album. And their recent come back album sucks (though it does actually have one track that rocks it pretty good). Some Candlebox sounds with skiing stoke, early season powder day style. Not this season though. :x
> 
> 90s had some great non-grunge rock. Candlebox was amongst the best of it.



Had some trouble w/ that link, it froze my computer up 2x. Could be on my end as well, not a fan of quickplayer.


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## riverc0il (Dec 3, 2009)

twinplanx said:


> Had some trouble w/ that link, it froze my computer up 2x. Could be on my end as well, not a fan of quickplayer.


Right click and save to your desktop. Pretty big file to stream. I dunno if QuickPlayer has the Xvid Codec or not... if not you might need to download that. Its Candlebox's Arrow and skiing Jay in October so you can just just fireup Candlebox's self titled album and imagine the video. It is about what I am doing right now.


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## twinplanx (Dec 3, 2009)

I like the second option, well not as much as jammin out to that CD on a road trip up North .


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## Glenn (Dec 4, 2009)

twinplanx said:


> Candelbox,(IMHO) was an underrated band who seemed to get lost in a sea of grunge.  Just sayin...




Agreed. That album they had out in the 90's was really good. They were pretty popular too...then they just faded away. I haven't really heard their new stuff. A local station had them play some of their older stuff unplugged...pretty cool to hear that version.


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## Greg (Dec 4, 2009)

Another AIC fan. Saw them in '91 when they opened for Van Halen and nobody knew who the hell they were. The new singer is very good and fits in well. The vocal harmoines are part of what defines AIC and Duvall does it very well. Some of the songs on the new album are really good. Totally AIC.


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## Glenn (Dec 4, 2009)

How about some random 90's songs? 

Someone mentioned Screaming Trees...Nearly Lost You comes to mind. 

I've always though "Unsung" by Helmet was a damn good tune. 

Oh, and we can't forget the Toadies. Possum Kingdom.


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## ERJ-145CA (Dec 4, 2009)

Glenn said:


> How about some random 90's songs?
> 
> Someone mentioned Screaming Trees...Nearly Lost You comes to mind.
> 
> ...



Never got into Screaming Trees.

Actually the whole album from Helmet with Unsung on it is awesome.

Possum Kingdom is very good too.


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