Rethinking the Grunge era

are the grifters grunge?

i don't know if they always caught that label but they seem to represent the best aspects of grunge imo

I think my most-played C/Z LP was by Slack, Portland wacky funk that hasn't aged well. Tone Dogs were on C/Z too (love Amy Denio!) but we're far removed from grunge there...

C/Z's very first release (Deep Six LP from 1986) was more grunge than anything Sub Pop ever produced:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Deep-Six/release/1812635

Green River – "10,000 Things" – 3:37
Melvins – "Scared" – 2:19
Melvins – "Blessing the Operation" – 0:44
Malfunkshun – "With Yo' Heart (Not Yo' Hands)" – 3:54
Skin Yard – "Throb" – 5:29
Soundgarden – "Heretic" – 3:22
Soundgarden – "Tears to Forget" – 2:06
Malfunkshun – "Stars-N-You" – 1:46
Melvins – "Grinding Process" – 2:09
Melvins – "She Waits" – 0:40
Skin Yard – "The Birds" - 3:56
Soundgarden – "All Your Lies" – 3:53
Green River – "Your Own Best Friend" – 6:21
The U-Men – "They" – 3:32

Sub Pop 200 tracklist is pretty grunge though:

"Sex God Missy" - Tad
"Is It Day I'm Seeing?" - The Fluid
"Spank Thru" - Nirvana
"Come Out Tonight" - Steven J. Bernstein
"The Rose" - Mudhoney
"Got No Chains" - The Walkabouts
"Dead Is Dead" - Terry Lee Hale
"Sub Pop Rock City" - Soundgarden
"Hangin' Tree" - Green River
"Swallow My Pride" - Fastbacks
"The Outback" - Blood Circus
"Zoo" - Swallow
"Underground" - Chemistry Set
"Gonna Find a Cave" - Girl Trouble
"Split" - The Nights And Days
"Big Cigar" - Cat Butt
"Pajama Party in a Haunted Hive" - Beat Happening
"Love or Confusion" - Screaming Trees (Jimi Hendrix cover)
"Untitled" - Steve Fisk
"You Lost It" - The Thrown Ups

I used to run a challops racket involving claiming the best grunge band was actually Stone Temple Pilots, but now I just admit that it's Soundgarden.

Nah.

Tad > Mudhoney pre-1990 > Soundgarden > Mudhoney post-1990 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Pearl Jam >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Nirvana

yeah, deep six was awesome, love most of those songs. heavy as hell and probably the single best document of grunge ground zero. way more ferociously single-minded in its attack than either of the early sub-pop comps. if you culled a bunch of the best SP tracks from 87-90, you could beat it, but that's hardly fair.

my list would probably go (not worrying about what phase of who):

melvins > mudhoney > nirvana > tad > soundgarden > screaming trees > the fluid >>>>>> some other stuff

I have never thought of the Melvins as a grunge band. But I never liked them until they assimilated Big Business.

they're not grunge canon, but the label fits them better than most who carry it. huge inspiration to (and contemporary of) the bands for whom the term was coined.

it is hard for me to accept the existence of those who would deny lysol & bullhead

I do kinda like Lysol, actually, but mostly for the cover songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBW9tTpuXSA

i've tried with melvins i really have. well, in a youtube way anyway. i never hear anything i really like. they allude me. and they totally sound like grunge every time i hear them.

i think the only grungy thing i own is that Only Living Witness double CD that Decibel magazine made me buy cuz everyone at Decibel loves them. or Albert did anyway. pretty good. though they weren't technically grunge. too metallic. but they had kind of an alice in chains thing going on. i'd rather listen to Kyuss though. i really like Kyuss.

i mean this is totally grungy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mGI-_j_i6c

Melvins are pretty good live. If they're playing, say, a block from your house (or your store), and it's free, you should totally check them out.

Seems like there's a little bit of grunginess creeping up in the last few years of the garage rock scene. Kurt Vile seems kind of grunge-y to me. Or at least Mascis-y. And I saw that Jeff The Brotherhood band open for somebody last summer and it felt like a real grunge flashback... and some of that late-period Jay Reatard stuff reminded me a lot of early Nirvana's poppier stuff.

But I don't listen to any of this stuff or grunge much so I may be making this up as I go along.

"Kurt Vile seems kind of grunge-y to me. Or at least Mascis-y."

i think "sleepy" is the word...

ty segall is pretty grungey too

someone mention sic alps and then all the people that make me sleepy will be accounted for.

ha i think i might actually have meant ty seagall, i get him and kurt vile mixed up

just don't call my new fave band grungy

are FIDLAR the best new rock band?

Heh I saw Sic Alps last Thursday and the support band was way Dinosaur Jr sounding. Can't remember what they were called tho.

Also Purling Hiss.

also milk music

ty segall's songwriting has always struck me as p strongly influenced by nirvana (or if not influenced, esque). just the tunes, i mean, even without the fuzz & roar.

and yeah, i thought about jeff the brotherhood in relation to this thread yesterday. they bring up a lot of associations (stoner rock, weezer pop), but the grunge is definitely in there somewhere.

ok i was thinking about kurt vile as beeing mascisy/sleepy, but agree about ty seagall

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/01/12/577063077/the-grunge-gold-rush

poor jawbox <3

i'm sure some people are nostalgic for it, but virtually all of the notable "grunge" bands still sound pretty bad to me.

looking back, still the worst thing about it was the the perpetual flu season aesthetic of flannel shirts, overlong sleeves and lack of vitamin d. not a healthy scene.

"aesthetic of flannel shirts, overlong sleeves and lack of vitamin d"

Also known as Canada.

Great piece but (in reference to the opening anecdote) two sides to every story -- here's a blog entry from the drag queen mentioned but not identified in the shoot, which was a David LaChappelle one. And personally I'd love to have a photo shoot from him!

http://lindasimpson.org/2011/05/i-was-a-model-for-david-lachapelle-in-new-jersey/

it's a great look

listening to grunge today:

couple Gruntruck albums (solid!)

Skin Yard (there's a newer remix of Fistful of Chunks that sounds pretty fucking great, very underrated grunge album)

U-Men (2017 subpop comp) - I get why they were important to grunge but definitely feel of a different era (didn't know they formed in 1980)...i dig it, like Scratch Acid meets Wipers or something like that

Love Battery - Dayglo is good grunge