As someone who was a teenager in the Midwest during this era, I can say that GRUNGE was my gateway to so many other bands that I wasn’t aware of outside of the rock spear I was raised in.
@@Ungrievable I used to love to hear him talk but as these videos go on and on it now grown to dislike him and this video has made me unsub to him. He just thinks he is Jesus himself and knows it all and if your not on his side he makes you feel like your shit.
that's a great way to put it. same for Nirvana Unplugged, it was like, less than six months before he was dead. those videos were still in rotation. horrible.
I always liked the hippy look. Ripped jeans and sleeveless shirts. I was like that in the 80s and still in 2021 I still dress the same. No long hair . I am bald . I loved metal but the hair spray and make up was a turn off. Kiss did it right however.
@@Capronice Extreme metal kinda rejected 'the look' well before grunge did. Look at old thrash metal and death metal bands, they mostly dress pretty normal. T-shirts and jeans.
Nevermind actually knocked MJ's Dangerous album off the top of the charts when it came out. I think that perfectly highlights how impactful and important that album was.
Dangerous is a work of art. 10 million spentvto create. The album cover is also a work of art. Michael was a musical genius, his sense of rhythm was impeccable. Nice guy too.
True. Then again I was around for Fear Innoculum pushing Lover off of #1. As you can expect, one finished 110 places behind the other in the year end chart... Gauging the commercial success or cultural impact of an album is surprisingly hard, and can't be done based on any one chart metric.
I'm 48 and have a 16 year old daughter. When she discovered "grunge" it was just as impactful on her as it was on me when I was 18. The music (the good stuff) has never lost its relevance or felt dated. As someone who lived thru this as a 18-23ish year old, I think you pretty well nailed it. Nice work once again!!
So glad your daughter discovered grunge. My 21 year old nephew recently discovered Nirvana and bought me their Unplugged album on vinyl for Christmas. It almost made me shed a tear.
To be fair: it's prolly because she had a great musical influence in the form of her father. 😉 I'm only 25. My dad showed me a lot of cool music, and named me after Layne Staley. It was inevitable. Haha
Man, I just recently got into Alice in Chains and honestly Dirt gotta be one of the best albums ever recorded. Also, if you count Siamese Dream as a grunge album, also one of the best ever.
I was a teenager in the 90s and Grunge quickly became my favorite music. I am still a fan of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden and it was great because it helped me transition to other genres of music that inspired Grunge.
It was essentially a blend of heavy 60's/70's rock with punk, post-punk and art rock elements. Soundgarden were frequently compared to Black Sabbath, for example.
Grunge started to feel kind of phony after a while, Steve Albini said as much. It's that kind of movement that could only happen in a decade like the 90s where not much of anything happened, after the 2000s though I just can't take all that angsty whining seriously anymore. Nu Metal at least was more interesting through it's mix of hip-hop and use of sampling in many of its bands.
@@jadedheartsz Grunge felt phony when all the wannabes came into the fold, that's something that everyone agrees upon, including grunge bands themselves. Also, a lot of nu metal was very whiny and way too many bands were being really unoriginal and borrowing everything from the Korn/Ross Robinson playbook.
The grunge era was, pretty much, completely synced to when I was in college (92-96) and it was great, while it lasted. The mortality rate of rock frontmen was staggering at that time.
Energy like that ,by it's nature, burns out faster than average. The Seattle musical influence is still very relevant. Lads now are interested in that era from a music standpoint. That whole scene epitomizes "Burning the candle at both ends, I burns so bright. But does it have enough to make it through the night?"
Big music labels can't make money from kids who dress in jeans and ratty old flannel. Moreover, the oligsrch's can't have kids hearing harrowing songs about the evils we face. They need us listening to messages that degenerate society, leading kids into gangs, drugs, violence, and risky sex.
yeah he's wrong.grunge was alive and kicking in 94. superunkown, vitalogy, purple. the death knell was actually 96. or maybe 95 after alice in chains self-titled
The “what killed (blank) genre?” And “how did (blank band) get so big?” series’s are my absolute favorite from you Finn! Keep up the good work, productivity is off the charts lately! 💪🏼
You're 100% correct about the artists using their platform to promote their influences, their peers & the stuff they were into. Krist Novoselic took every opportunity to mention Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Melvins, Soundgarden etc during interviews. Everyone was so supportive of each other.
It's one of the best parts of Nirvana IMO. There is a list somewhere of Kurt Cobains top 50 albums, most of it pretty obscure and most of it really good. Stuff like the Vaselines and the Pastels are my favourites. Just kinds weird off kilter Scottish indie pop.
And I think AIC’s music has always felt the most real. When I saw my parents struggling with drugs and drama, AIC and Mad Season were like the soundtrack
I miss the Layne Staley AIC. I’m sure the new stuff is okay, but I never could listen to it not knowing he wasn’t a part of it. I do know that they were mostly written by Jerry Cantrell, or he gets writing credit for most of their song’s.
New Alice In Chains, especially Black Gives Way To Blue connected to me as deeply emotional, as their older stuff did. You just gotta give it a chance.
I find myself often in the position of “old guy trying to explain the impact of grunge on EVERY FUCKING THING” to kids. Now, I can just direct them to this video.
In 8th grade I was a loser than grunge became popular and everything changed. Funny thing I never liked Nirvana much but I often say Nirvana changed my life even though I was never a fan. Skating, hardcore, being dirty became cool and I was ahead the curve. I went from weird kid to kid that knows all the weird music and people wanted to know where I got all my skate company clothes and band shirts. The early 90s were nuts
^^ this old guy used to play Final Fantasy with his friends on Nintendo ("NES classic" that is) while listening to either Vanilla Ice or Nitzer Ebb (we were also big fans of Nirvana and 120 minutes). Memories are clear as day. Turned 13 in 1990. We were at Lollapalooza 92 and 93. Interesting side note on the 1992. If you are familiar with the band Front 242 (we as teens were very into the industrial scene), Layne Staley came on stage during "Religion" and sang with them. It was awesome.
To me, grunge was the last time that rock music took over the world (in the UK would be britpop). After 1997, rock became a really weird time in my opinion and rap, R&B, pop started to takeover rock.
The last of rock music being a big thing was that last big wave of scenecore music like bmth and stuff, like big warped tour bands. About after 2015 that wave started dying down and rock wasn't as heard of at all since then til recent lol. But in underground terms, the underground is still alive and never died so theres that ofc
@Call Me, BLEGH Me, If You Wanna Reach Me I think you probably know what people mean when they say "emo", there's no need to be pedantic. I am aware of "real emo" but when I say "emo" to a normie they know I mean MCR and Fall Out Boy, even though all those bands are just pop-punk.
I was 16 yrs old when Nirvana blew up and I can say that everything changed literally overnight. In jr. High I was really into hair metal but by the time I went into high school I, and everyone around me were bored and stuck in a rut with the music out there. When grunge came out we not only dressed different, we thought and felt differently. We felt like we were finally being heard through this music. Before this, rock stars and their lifestyles felt unattainable and outrageous. At least to our adolescent selves these guys felt authentic and real. Mainstream killed so much of that amazing and stripped down feel. Trying to make something that was so anti- everything become cool and the way to be. We wanted this colossal wave to be for us, to be our own; not for the media and mainstream to try and latch on to it like a parasite. But they didn’t kill grunge, Kurt died and no one wanted to go on with it. I still can feel what I felt on that day he died.
Kurt leaving this world definitely affected the movement but it didn’t die until a few years after that. Also, “Soaked in Bleach” shows a lot of pretty compelling evidence that Kurt didn’t pull the trigger. Not to mention, the case has been reopened. Of course, everyone is entitled to believe what they want…
@@robwalsh9843 let's put it that way pearl jam released an album in 1996 in which they changed their sound very much screaming trees released their last album soundgarden released their last album before hiatus alice released their last album and played their last concert before hiatus and layne's death stone temple pilots also left the typical "grunge sound" around 1995 when their Tiny Music came out i really think 1996 would be a clear point to draw when considering the complete death of grunge and its disappearance
I'm now boring kids with stories of how awesome the early 90's were the way my parents' generation bored me with stories about how awesome the late 60's were. Achievement unlocked!
@@robwalsh9843 HAHAHA yeah. I find myself doing that too. Only, my kids realize how everything sucks now. Music, movies, shows, etc. And if you notice, there's a flock of teens listening to 90s music more than modern. So, I think that speaks volumes over our parents music. Of course The Doors, Beatles, Violent Femmes, Zeppelin and all the others I'm forgetting...still rock. Sorry for the ramble.
Grunge music was such a creative anomaly. Where as Soundgarden and AIC brought soul and heart to their music which inspired some already established metal bands to realize heavy sounds can be achieved by slowing down, drop tuning, and authentically singing your pain.
Nutshell is one song that really gets me when I listen to it now. That song is basic Layne Staley crying for help and it's so sad that he never got any
It's even more sad that his friends and family did try to help him, but in his last years he withdrew and did not accept help from anyone, even his bandmates.
@@nosyhobbit I don't get why anyone is allowed to refuse help that way. There was absolute proof he had a problem. There should've been some way to banish him to some rehab clinic on an otherwise deserted island from he'd not bee allowed to leave until proven clean for a few years at least. Tough love, but he'd be alive.
@@tempest411 it would have been nice. At the end of the day though, you cannot take away another person's free will. The person has to be willing to accept help.
@@nosyhobbit At some point they are no longer able to make valid decisions concerning their well being. If you're even a little buzzed you are not considered qualified to drive a car safely, so it's reasonable that a drug addict is not qualified to conduct their own affairs in life.
He got plenty of help, a lot of rehabs, therapies etc. He was just one of thoes hopeless cases: nothing was working for him or he wasn’t working on his self enough. yes, going clean demands work from addict.
Guess it depends what you thought of grunge in the first place. I never got into it and every once in a while go back and try but it just sounds dated to me.
Aww come on. Hair Metal had wayyy more classic rock anthems than grunge. Not hating on grunge, but there's a reason hair metal lasted for 4x longer than grunge did
@Soy Orbison I mean you can't say all hair metal is low quality... Def Leppard, GnR, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake are some of the most, if not THE most important and influential artists in rock history. And they are because of quality songs and exceptional musicianship. I get it if some people don't like Warrant or Firehouse (I love all of it, but not everyone's cup of tea), but dismissing that entire era that spawned the most prominent rock/metal bands in history is kinda silly.
It depends on how you feel about an era. I personally dislike most of the pop culture of roughly 1992-1994 (the grunge era) so I'd rather listen to 80's metal (whether that's hair metal, thrash metal, or the many bands that were not quite either genre like Iron Maiden or Queensryche).
Remember when the New York Times contacted Sub Pop to do an article about grunge slang and Sub Pop supplied them with a completely made-up list of grunge slang terms? Trolling before there was trolling!
I can personally attest to that shift. In mid 1991 I went into the military. Total isolation while in boot camp for 3 months. Before I left everyone in my peer group were long haired and wearing parachute pants and into the heavy metal glam rock scene. I came home near the end of 91 and just like that they all were not into that anymore. It's like a switch was flipped and it felt like a different world. Many have cut their hair and all were not wearing the heavy metal t-shirts and parachute pants anymore. For me the shift was very abrupt and mind blowing. Before I left, heavy metal was cool, come back and now it wasn't.
This was a great take on Grunge. Some takeaways from this for me would be the commercialization of Grunge was a huge contributor to it's downfall along with the death of Kurt Cobain and the transition to Post-Grunge and I would argue that Pearl Jam was the earliest example of what Post-Grunge would become, Eddie Vedder is the inventor of what King Buzzo from the Melvins calls the yal (vocal style). I grew to truly appreciate Grunge starting in the early 2000s, as I was 4 in 1990, but albums like Nervermind, In Utero and Dirt helped me through some dark times as I was a kid who was bullied and battled depression (still struggle with depression now). Dirt was also very impactful for me as I was in college to become a Social Service Worker and the understanding and appreciation for Layne's expression of his struggle with addiction became all the more impactful to me.
@Soy Orbison Fair point. I do enjoy a few Pearl Jam songs so the yarl can be used to good effect, but bands like Lifehouse, the Calling etc. made the yarl a parody of itself.
Crazy to think that grunge had such a short life but is one of the most revered forms of music there is. At least in California, we have radio stations that are still dedicated to playing the stuff and you can’t go anywhere and not find a Pearl Jam fan. They were real, real people who talked about their very real problems and you got to watch them evolve or fall apart. That kind of music just hits different.
Petal Jam Ten was soooooo good. To this day I’ve never felt an emotional charge from any music as much as from that album. Unfortunately, Pearl Jam never captured that intensity since then. I think there are two main reasons. First, the original singer died (heroin overdose), so they must’ve been deeply affected by that tragedy. Second, Eddie Vetter brought lyrics that he wrote as a troubled teen, and we all know those years are emotionally charged and can never be replicated. The combination was pure magic. The whole album is incredible. The closest thing to it I think is Temple of the Dog, but nothing Pearl Jam did afterwards interests me in the slightest.
@@SketchEtcher ..I think, that pearl jam aged well..I liked the second one musically and lyrically more, although my first contact with pj was ten..and this had a huge impact on me..until today, they're one of my favourite rockbands..
We loved grunge when it first hit because it was a blend of punk, metal and hard rock that was performed by guys who knew how to write memorable songs.
Hair Metal/ LA Glam might be the only sub genre of rock n roll that I hate all the way through. Hell even a few National Socialist hardcore songs have catchy riffs despite them being garbage. Hair metal is just watered down blues rock made in a paint by numbers fashion.
I just _love_ the story that Kurt Cobain's mother tells, of the very 1st time she heard their album 'Nevermind' sitting in her living room. She asked the boys if they were _really, truly_ ready for what was about to happen to them? She _knew_ it was amazing & unlike anything she'd ever heard before & that this was gonna be IT for them. This was gonna make them all _huge,_ rock stars... whether they liked it or not.
@Digitalhunny given how she treated Kurt during his teen years make me more inclined to believe that she didn't really give a shit about his music and especially Nevermind AT ALL. After Kurt died, there was a sense of 'Oh, we knew he was a rockstar from the start, we knew he would be successful' that kind of stuff. I was like, nah bitch, you used him and his sister as pawns in your divorce, don't try to act like you were with him all this time
I remember Nirvana's last televised performance on MTV before that European tour when Kurt started having some serious health problems. Something was very off to me as Kurt smashed the In Utero angel statues with his guitar, spat on the camera lens, and made fun of the audience for clapping. Something was not right and I did not enjoy that performance.
MTV Live and Loud. One hell of a show, but yes Kurt was weird that night. There is also some backstage footage floating around where you can see Courtney looking for him after the show. He clearly didn't want to see her.
I spent my teenage years on tumblr in the early 2010s, whoever went through that phase during that time knows exactly what impact grunge still has to this day. Nirvana is still one of the most important gateway bands into alternative/rock music for kids nowadays, at least it was for me and people around me!
I also spent my later teens on tumblr during that time and I 100% agree. Tumblr helped introduce me to so many bands back then. It was really such a fun site to be on as a teenager in to any kind of alternative music.
@@jadedheartsz yes, I couldn't stand grunge stars complaining about fame, and their records selling and sound becoming commercial. Uh, it's pretty easy not to become famous and not sell records.
@@vinyllpreviews9462 I think Kurt was legit in his complaints. He made his next album sound like shit just to combat that. I give him props for that. That said, I do think they can be a bit pretentious in their supposedly rebelliousness. Their music was always clean enough to be on radio, so how rebellious was it really?
Soundgarden dropped superunknown in 1994 so it was still very relevant. Especially considering that was their most successful album.The pumpkins dropped Mellon Collie in 1995 which we could argue whether it’s grunge but it’s definitely the alternative rock sound and that album hit number one. Point being the alternative rock scene was still hitting hard through at least 1996.
Thank you for bringing up the smashing pumpkins, I feel like everyone leaves them out of the conversation either because they are British or post-cobain. I truly do believe they fit the grunge mold, and they show that grunge still existed in mainstream thought throughout the 90’s
Yeah, to me grunge really died in 1996, after Soundgarden broke up, off course the death of Kurt was the fatal hit, but Superunknown was huge, maybe the last huge album of grunge (Nevermind, Ten, Dirt and Superunknown), as much i love Down on the upside.
@@Kondomonium Smashing Pumpkins are from Chicago. Bush were the British band who went for the American grunge sound and were more popular in the US than the UK.
I was like 15 or so when Nevermind hit big. To someone like me, who grew up in a small farming community in Saskatchewan, I didn't have anything in common with the spandex-clad hair bands who sang about screwing models and doing cocaine. But, I felt like I had tons in common with these normal looking dudes who came along and sang about feeling angry and confused all the time because that's how I felt as a teenager. And, I think that's a pretty universal language when it comes to teenagers. Smells Like Teen Spirit still takes me right back to that time.
Jane’s Addiction were ahead of the curve for an eighties band as were Pixies and Sonic Youth. Although none of these were from Seattle I feel grunge would have been very different without them.
I agree. Kurt definitely plugged Sonic Youth a few times as a band he looked up to, that was how I first listened to them, I think they toured together at one point too. Definitely Sonic Youth and Jane's Addiction were super important at that time because they were doing some of the more weird and arty stuff in the alternative scene.
Never forget the Buthole Surfers and the song Pepper doesn't count. Electric Larry Land is a good album if you take out that song and everything before that is drug fueled gold.
@@ronaldowens5025 Butthole Surfers as a band were absolutely ahead of the curve and an influence on both Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction but the song Pepper was from 1996.
Us "watching the self destruction" of these people for entertainment unfortunately hasn't ended, Chester Bennington is a prime example of that. Back in the day we all loved his lyrics for they're raw emotion, now I can't help but hear his cries for help.
Grunge and alternative artists looked, behaved, and dressed just like us and our friends back in high school - that’s why we related and loved them so much. We saw ourselves in them. They were our heroes and still are.
At the time Nirvana broke, my best friend & I were generally known as "metalheads" but in truth we were always just looking for music that spoke to us, what genre was unimportant. For example, he loved Ice Cube & I loved Duran Duran. I rarely listen to Nirvana these days but those were awesome days back then.
Man. I had been in Canada for 3 years when Nevermind was released and I bought it at an HMV. As a 15 year old immigrant with no identity and trying to find himself; everything about grunge spoke to me and helped me find an identity. When Kurt committed suicide I was devastated. He had such a reach and to this day is still embedded in music society. And to this day, my kids who I have been fortunate enough to give them what I could only dream of doing when I was their age are able to play all their songs on their instruments. Thanks for making great videos like this and educating the masses.
Through the 80's I was all metal, yes, even hair metal, for the most part, but not long after I graduated high school in `87 I became kind of obsessed with grunge. Yeah, Nirvana was great, but for me it was AIC and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and any of their side projects (Mother Love Bone, Mad Season, etc) STP came along and blew me away. I was so grateful to be able to see STP perform live shortly before Scott's passing. Other great bands I enjoyed were L7, Veruca Salt, Screaming Trees, Silver Chair, My Sisters Machine, etc. The music certainly defined the decade for me!
As long as writers write and players play a Big Bang happens. There is money. I live in Memphis which has had rockabilly, soul and rap explosions. Think of all the puke out there before those happened. There’s underground scenes where you’d never expect so I believe you’re correct.
There's no one "Seattle Sound". Nirvana doesn't really sound like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains doesn't really sound like Soundgarden. It's all just hard rock from one area.
@jetmac 47. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden do sound very similar, not only that but Gruntruck and My Sister’s Machine also sound very similar to Alice In Chains and Soundgarden.
Yeah I would say that they all actually sound different with AIC & Soundgarden sounding the most alike but Nirvana is more punky and PJ has a bit of a folksy side while AIC definitely is more metal
@@jetmac4790 I was there back in the day...either way meeh. If your interested check out a band called the Pixies if you haven't heard of em. Its a large part of where Nirvanas loud quiet loud style of music came from
I know I'm being "legalistic" but Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were already making a name on the scene with Jesus Christ pose and Man in the box before Nirvana released Smells like teen spirit. However, Nirvana ate definitely the ones that blew it up.
I know this vid is a year old, but I wanted to say this is the best breakdown of grunge I've ever seen and it is 100% how I felt during the time. As a high school kid in the midwest at this time, everything you said is spot on.
I remember the first year out of my years at college (1993) grunge had pretty much hit its peak but it was still going strong until Kurt Cobain's suicide. Then things tapered off. By the time of my senior year, you could tell that things had really changed because Korn was the most popular band with a lot of the students. Quite a big change.
Grunge’s impact on the rock scene is super visible to me when I look at Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell’s friendship. I would say that both artists were at the ceiling of talent in their respective genre’s and were so close of friends that after Chris’s suicide, Chester took his life a couple months later on Chris’s birthday
Grunge will never be dead for me. Forever my favorite genre. (However, if anyone remembers this, to respect the wishes of all the great bands of the time, they wanted to be labeled as either new wave or alternative. Pretty much all the artists hated the term "grunge")
I live in Australia and the impact of the music and fashion was huge here. I was in high school and I remember where I was when I heard that Kurt Cobain was dead - it was that massive a deal to us. The ripples of those days still resonate with me and many of my friends.
I live In Poland, and It was same here. Grunge culture was really strong here, although No band would even consider play a concert In our country back than. I guess we were Seattle of Europe XD
It would never happen organically it wouldn't be the same. Personally I'm sick of the lack of innovation musically and also with movies its a product of looking at a phone for a generation
I'm glad you talked about how much they plugged other bands that they liked. Kurt especially was really so generous about this, always talking to the press about the Breeders and Shonen Knife and TAD and the Raincoats and the Wipers and all these other bands while he was the biggest star in the world. It was really nice, and also super helpful for a teenager in Illinois who loved Nirvana and wanted to know about other bands. Music was really shitty back in '91 and being told by Kurt Cobain directly about the Pixies and the Melvins was a lifeline.
I make the distinction between the originators and the chasers. Grunge started with Green River, Soundgarden, The Melvins, Skin Yard and Malfunkshun as well as some other bands. Then along came Screaming Trees, Tad, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. Then came the non-Seattle bands. Stone Temple Pilots got a lot of flack at first, but I think now they are recognized as being one of the best bands of the 90's. But when Candlebox, Silverchair and Seven Mary Three showed up things started to feel tired and banal. And when Creed blew up in the late 90's the original first and second waves of grunge were effectively dead by then.
Grunge was the greatest thing in the world to my 12-year-old self. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone out there. I grew up in a broken, dysfunctional home, and I related to those guys way more than Michael Jackson or Bon Jovi. A lot of my ideals came from the ideas those bands planted. The not-give-a-fuck attitude, the empathy towards others, and the us-against-the-world mindset. Still carry all of that with me today, in my 40s.
I was in 11th grade in SoCal when Nirvana hit. It really was like an overnight change in many ways, but it was more like nirvana popped the cap off of a beer that had been shook up. AIC and Soundgarden were already in heavy rotation on FM radio and were getting played on MTV. Lollapalooza happened the summer prior and drew big crowds. There was clearly a market for the music, it just needed that one hit to bring it over and smells like teen spirit was that hit. What killed it is the same thing that ultimately kills everything. The industry got greedy and pushed a lot of crap on us that sounded similar and it got old and boring in a hurry.
Graduated in 93. Grunge was over before it begun but when it hit, it hit very hard. I remember getting in my buddies truck and he pulled out Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I was blown away and I was already wearing plaid flannels being from Minnesota. Then was at Lalapalooza 92.
In 1996 grunge was still around… it was just starting to transform INTO pop punk rock. 96-97 were very transitional stand alone years where new bands were coming in and completely took over completely by 1998. If you watch any movie or show grunge clothes in 1996 (Scream, Clueless, The Craft, Empire Records) grunge clothes was very in style and that music was in those movies too.
The irony of the line “don’t want a nation under the new media” yet Green Day totally were. Then again it was more criticizing the media’s cheerleading for war and common people who fell for media manipulation. Doesn’t change they were part of the same media empire. Not bad music through.
As long as our society continues to be as fake and conditioned as It Is nothing truly unique , raw , and real will ever break through again. Everyone wants to be like everyone else nowdays , and they'll do anything to fit In. The loudest ones and the ones who get propped up and marketed for nothing more than looks never have anything to say , and nobody cares It seems to work and be all you need so...
I tend to think that bands like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, EMF, and Living Colour helped pave the way from a more mainstream perspective leading up to the release of Nevermind.
Jerry Cantrell still continues to carry the torch. Seattle's king of riffs. One of the best songwriters. And I miss Chris Cornell. Soundgarden is a schizophrenic band capable of carrying different genres. Superunknown is punk, doom, psychedelic, grunge, prog and metal packed in one album
That’s what makes so much of grunge awesome. Like Fin said, it’s the crossroads between so many different styles. There’s something for everybody and the passion is definitely there.
@@sense_maker1816 agree. You can see the passion through their writing, lyrics and performance. Although most of it came from a very dark place, their addiction, depression. But its genuine, real and raw, that makes their songs relatable
Kurt Cobain wearing a shirt that says “Grunge is Dead” ala Crass “Punk is Dead” holding his daughter in 92 says it all. Love your channel man, keep it coming.
Your point about the different types of kids coming together for grunge was absolutely true. Metalheads, punks and Indie kids all hit the dancefloor when Nirvana came on.
"If we saw it today we would think about it differently." Except we wouldn't, Lil Peep is the most recent example of a star the industry and fans let die for their entertainment. Sure it's not as bad as before, some people did voice concern but the majority was "vibin'" to his demise.
You could say the same thing about Chester from linkin park. Looking back at a lot of the lyrics he wrote it felt like a cry for help and we all just let it happen.
@@iletthedevilin828 I’m weirded out by Chester and Chris Cornell’s suicide’s. They were fighting Child Sex Trafficking, and I would say it was suicide, but it may have been cleaned up to look like it, but in the book’s it’s suicide. Chester’s sister still say’s he was murdered Bc he had broken ribs, a busted up face, and there was blood in the bathtub. They were both hanging off of gym equipment with wiring. It’s just a conspiracy theory, but yes they both struggled with Drug problems.
Technically, Alice in Chains hit it big over a year before Nirvana with Man in the Box off Facelift. They were already in heavy rotation on MTV in 1990 with Facelift hitting gold status prior to Nirvana's Nevermind release.
@@soonerproud first, calm down it’s called a figure of speech it’s the equivalent of saying let’s not kid ourselves. Secondly, you can tell me with a straight face that AIC is what caused grunge to explode? They certainly help se the table but let’s not kid ourselves about the influence of Nirvana here.
@@fkillah Actually, The Melvins and Soundgarden opened the door for the grunge explosion. AIC stepped through that door (Thanks to Susan Silver, ex-wife of Chris Cornell and manager of both bands.) and broke on MTV over a full year before Nevermind was released. They got heavy rotation on Headbangers Ball and toured with Van Halen along with joining the Clash of the Titans tour as an opening act. While this was happening the members of Soundgarden were promoting Nirvana to the record company executives and helped get them signed to a major label. MTV decided to show the video "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Alternative Nation late at night because of the success they had with Alice on Headbangers Ball. Nirvana's success didn't happen in a bubble. The doors were cracked open by others and Nirvana happened to be in the right place at the right time. Nirvana were huge fans of The Melvins and took a lot of inspiration from them. So yes, I can say with a straight face that in fact Alice helped cause grunge to explode. Nirvana got their break precisely because Alice opened that door for them.
@@soonerproud not arguing with you, they all played a huge role in setting the stage but I’m saying nirvana came in and hit it out the park and grunge broke out because of them. We are agreeing about the same thing but the emphasis is different.
Hey! Glad I discovered your channel just now and great video. Maybe it’s because I’m maybe 6 yrs younger than you it seems weird hearing you say grunge died in 94. Yes there were a ton of derivatives since then but a lot definitely continued into the late 90s - one being Smashing Pumpkins. I lived in NJ so I wasn’t close to Seattle whatsoever. And I was too young to know when grunge was actually authentic. But 97 seems like a huge year for that music. Your thoughts?
@@zipzip8239 Bush’s razorblade suitcase was a big album for me. Down on the Upside, and Silverchairs freak show were also big for me. I consider this grunge. I was 12 at the time so silverchair actually was cool and sounded good in 7th grade. And Razorblade Suitcase is my favorite bush album. They all released in 96 and 97. And then Foo Fighters with Colour in 97 which is a little more straight rock… but I’d say has a lot of grunge tones-and is basically old nirvana members-makes it something that would count as well. STP released Tiny Music in 96. Big Bang Baby has to be a grunge song-if not then what other genre can you call that song? PJ released No Code in 96 too
@@zipzip8239 ok you’ve never listened to razorblade if you say it’s a pop album. It’s grungier than 16 stone. Yeah I know swallowed sounded a bit poppy but not much poppier than a nirvana chorus. I get it though. I’m not dying on this hill. I was 12
@@AnthonyRecenello Bush, Live, Silverchair, and Foo Fighters (even early Collective Soul) were all the start of what we now consider Post Grunge, and I'm not saying that to discredit those bands. They just had less of the original Melvins+Black Flag+Black Sabbath mood and mindset that defined the original scene and I would say they were a brighter and more polished version of the Seattle sound. The original thing just peaked in terms of mainstream attention by the mid 90s. I would say Nirvana's Unplugged and Soundgarden's Superunknown were the last proper Grunge releases that also felt like era-defining statements. Soundgarden's next album was pretty big, too, of course, as was Alice in Chains' s/t but nowhere near that insane level of popularity both bands had before. On top of that: after Ten and Vs, Pearl Jam was deliberately becoming an anticommercial band in terms of songwriting and marketing. Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots also had huge albums around that time but to me only Gish and Core really count as Grunge, since both bands just started exploring other styles afterwards (for example: 1979, Lady Picture Show, Tonight Tonight, or Big Bang Baby have pretty much nothing in common with Touch Me I'm Sick or Hunger Strike).
This might be a US/UK thing. Post grunge wasn't a big thing in the UK - Indie/Britpop and then Welshrock were everywhere in 1996, and dance/trance was being pushed even in magazines that used to be rock/metal. Bush and Silverchair were like Nickelback now - everyone loved to hate them and they were little more than one hit wonders. Even Smashing Pumpkins, PJ's later stuff and Foo Fighters didn't get the coverage you might expect and weren't really seen as relevant (Foo Fighters got bigger in the 2000s). It's a shame - we missed out on a tonne of great music while listening to every second-rate Brit indie band and bad dance remix the record companies could churn out :(
Did you get made fun of? Stuff like that always happens. You like something that no one likes or even hates then boom 10 years laters it's "cool" for the mainstream
@@dathotbox, sorta. It was Alaska so I dressed less for fashion and more for ' It's -20 outside and a mile and half to school '. Couple that with being poor, and, viola... FASHION!... albeit ahead of the curve.
Flannel shirts, leather jackets, ripped jeans, chuck taylors and tshirts were what all the big 4 thrash bands wore in the late 80s too. But those bands took off to massive levels the same time grunge came out too.
@@MrAaron194 That was Benders outfit in the breakfast club, a 1985 movie. So 80's punks and metal-heads basically were onto the grunge thing to some extent before other people caught up in the 90's.
@@leoglasmeyer2853 Drug’s have been a part of every genre. It even killed Billy Holliday after she made Strange Fruit and played it in public anywhere Bc she wasn’t allowed to get treatment, and they busted all of her contacts from her getting it. Heroine was given to doctor’s in the 1900’s to get off of cocaine they were supposed to use on their patient’s for surgery, but this is a music page, so I’m saying it has been around for a while.
@@mockingslur6945 that’s all true...but heroin seemed like a prerequisite to get into the grunge scene...like was said in the video...Alice in chains made an entire album pretty much dedicated to heroin....I am aware of heroin’s history, especially in the music business...I am a recovering addict who has 6 years clean. Lots of these bands helped me get through it.
There is a book about how Courtney Love was getting people in the Punk and Grunge scene introduced to Herion. She was also working with a undercover cop to get people busted.
Having grown up and lived through the grunge movement I think it’s quite simple what killed it, terrible second wave grunge bands. Bands like Bush and Creed came out playing crap songs with no originality and we quickly realized that bands outside of Seattle simply didn’t get it.
"we quickly realized that bands outside of Seattle simply didn’t get it." I agree that post-grunge/second wave grunge mostly sucked, but there were a lot of non-Seattle bands that could hold their own. Dinosaur Jr.(Amherst, Mass.) L7(Los Angeles), Babes In Toyland(Chicago), Stone Temple Pilots(San Diego), Nudeswirl(New Jersey), Paw(Kansas), Greta(Los Angeles), etc. But those bands didn't achieve anything like the success of Creed and Candlebox(who were actually from Seattle, but sucked)
@@robwalsh9843 yeah, there were exceptions, but those exceptions stayed buried as far as radio play beneath the crappy second wave bands. As for Dinosaur Jr., they predated grunge and in my opinion released their best stuff before grunge ever hit.
When I was 11 I heard smells like teen spirit and it absolutely changed my life. It made me want to play guitar and that lead me to meet all the friends I have now. Kurt influenced my life more than anyone else ever has just from that one song. He was truly incredible. Rest In Peace dude.
Don’t forget, Dave was originally from the DC area & Was actually the drummer in scream. He had actually flown from DC to Seattle to Trey out on drums for Nirvana, and when he saw the crowds there for a local band like Nirvana, he had only seen that before at a Fugazi concert. And for Dave to have come from one community to another was literally howundergrounds of punk and hard-core blended together for those backing influences in grunge.
While I was in the Navy, I ended up in Bremerton in late '95 for a few months. And I was excited to be so close to Seattle -- the grunge scene, of which I was a fan, was still very much a part of my musical intake and I couldn't wait to see it up close. But, major disappointment was in store. The entire scene was just gone by then. And I started hearing a similar refrain -- there's a hole in Seattle where the music scene used to be. Great video, man! Brought back a lot of memories.
@Soy Orbison I would have LOVED to have seen Candlebox but they were starting to develop a reputation for canceling shows too often -- which earned them the hilarious nickname "Cancelbox". As it was, I ended up catching Soul Asylum at the Paramount. Not a Seattle band and certainly not grunge but still really cool to catch some live music in Seattle. Radiohead was supposed to open but I have no memory of them actually playing. Great show, though.
I really love how you can hear the the transitions into and out of Grunge. Early STP and Alice In Chains have an 80s recording sound. Just listen to man in the box. Deftones' first album sounds like the transition from Grunge to NuMetal.
Fun fact-Alice in Chains actually started out as a Hair Metal band with Chains spelled with a Z, if you listen to their early demos you can definitely hear the sound, and Facelift still has some traces of hair metal. there were also other bands that rode the line between the two like Ugly Kid Joe(whose name was a reference to a Hair Metal group called Pretty Boy Floyd) and Mother Love Bone(too bad their lead singer died, I would've rather had them become big then Pearl Jam who I always found overrated honestly).
The amount of people that took up playing an instrument as a result of the grunge movement is absolutely staggering. Kurt Cobain likely inspired more people to pick up a guitar and start a band than the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix, which is a massive legacy, and why Nirvana DNA still is still visible in rock music 30 years later.
that was me maria. I loved the post grunge scene too, I listen to music more for how it sounds, not for song meanings. I was just the mtv music video dude.
Soundgarden still amazing after all these years... a good mix of metal. punk, classic rock, with splashes of prog and alternative... the musical equivalent of spicy turducken
@@joejones9520 disagreed Soundgarden did a wider variety of songs. Musically, lyrically, and even philosophically. They even have songs that make you happy... An incredible concept in their era and genre. AIC did aome depressing songs and then decided to outdo themselves. Also, Jerry Cantrell overrated as a guitarist/ songwriter.
Awesome video! Seriously great analysis! I would have also mentioned the rise of BritPop and post-grunge bands. The latter of which commercialised the sound (especially vocals!!) even more to the point of saturation by the late 90’s to early 2000s: Live, Bush, Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, Godsmack, Creed and Matchbox 20!!!
good connection to how Grunge took aspects of Punk, Indie Rock and Heavy Metal into its collective and made something fresh. that's what rediscovering the sound is all about. Once the artist puts their own interpretation into the uncover you have the "New Sound".
I definitely remember the day Kurt Cobain died. So many people at my school were crying. And I'm over by the Boston area, about as far away from Seattle as you could get. I had already long moved on to metal and punk by then, but it was definitely sad to lose somebody so important to rock. Pearl Jam was one of the bands that broke me into rock and started my music obsession, and obviously I was I liked a lot of nirvana too. But I saw people crying that I never would've even thought listened to them. Def a day I won't soon forget.
Huge Nirvana fan from Ireland. A young nirvana fan from my hometown ended his life in a copycat suicide in 94. Nirvana were due to play Dublin the day Kurt's body was found.
@@alanmurray5963 I heard a lot of stories similar to that. That's horrible. A lot of famous singers have died since then....Layne Staley from Alice in chains, the guy from Blind Melon, Aliyah, Chris Cornell and plenty more. But none had the impact. I'd say the closes were tupac and biggie, but that seemed completely different.
"Grunge Forever" is still my most played Spotify playlist. That era of music was when I graduated high school and was trying to figure out what my purpose in life was. Lots of fantastic and tragic memories.
@@ConwayChicago I think they were the most raw and emotional band as well. The music still hits me even now. Jar of flies is a masterpiece and it’s just an ep.
@@swatchcovers5401 Are you saying their better than Stone Temple Pilots. This question isn't confrontational. I just never got into Alice in Chains... really for no reason other than I've never been exposed to their music... but if they're really that seminal, where do I start with their catalog?
Grunge’s horrible attitude towards hair metal and within grunge itself is one of the reasons you have rock brats know hating on MGK for winning a rock award with rock music. This snobby “you’re not allowed to sit with us” mentality. Kurt felt he got the right to judge whether Pearl Jam was “real” or not....and him trying to glorify himself by vilifying Guns ‘n Roses without even knowing them on a personal level. What’s the point of “anti-pretension” if you’re just using it to declare yourself better than others instead of trying to build an understanding unified rock community. I ain’t seeing the greatness here.
Dirt by AiC is still my favorite all time rock album. Also, riot grrrl is a very underrated genre imo. Bikini Kill and to a lesser extent Hole are rad!
Join my Discord! discord.gg/dpKTrW9Q4R
Paint my chicken coup
As someone who was a teenager in the Midwest during this era, I can say that GRUNGE was my gateway to so many other bands that I wasn’t aware of outside of the rock spear I was raised in.
Wow that’s hilarious how you talked about montly crue but yet you showed a picture of Def Leppard. Smdh thought you knew it all.
@@Ungrievable I used to love to hear him talk but as these videos go on and on it now grown to dislike him and this video has made me unsub to him. He just thinks he is Jesus himself and knows it all and if your not on his side he makes you feel like your shit.
@@thabugman9433 I love most music. Grunge, glam, electronic, rap, whatever.
"What actually killed grunge? But first, I wanna mention my merch..." pretty much nailed it.
Ha. Perfect.
You Tube Generation.
I'm sure the Irony is lost on Mr. Presenter.
hes gotta be joking right? lol
Lol grunge killed itself. But this comment was fucking hilarious 🤣
I once heard someone say "Watching Alice in Chains unplugged was like watching someone sing at their own funeral.", and that hit hard.
Still one of the best live albums of all time.
that's a great way to put it. same for Nirvana Unplugged, it was like, less than six months before he was dead. those videos were still in rotation.
horrible.
that’s some heavy truth
Agreed - but that's my favorite album of all time.
Even with Layne's goof ups, that performance was a deeply emotional experience.
In my opinion, the best unplugged along with Nirvana and Eric Clapton
"WHAT *ACTUALLY* KILLED GRUNGE?"
Heroin.
Totally.
I always liked the hippy look. Ripped jeans and sleeveless shirts. I was like that in the 80s and still in 2021 I still dress the same. No long hair . I am bald . I loved metal but the hair spray and make up was a turn off. Kiss did it right however.
@@Capronice
Extreme metal kinda rejected 'the look' well before grunge did. Look at old thrash metal and death metal bands, they mostly dress pretty normal. T-shirts and jeans.
Ozzy : pathetic
Hahahaha before I watched the video I swear I said the exact same thing.
Nevermind actually knocked MJ's Dangerous album off the top of the charts when it came out. I think that perfectly highlights how impactful and important that album was.
Dangerous is a work of art. 10 million spentvto create. The album cover is also a work of art. Michael was a musical genius, his sense of rhythm was impeccable. Nice guy too.
True. Then again I was around for Fear Innoculum pushing Lover off of #1.
As you can expect, one finished 110 places behind the other in the year end chart...
Gauging the commercial success or cultural impact of an album is surprisingly hard, and can't be done based on any one chart metric.
and what album knocked Nevermind off the charts? ^
sure did
But it was alread out for weeks tho. Still impressive
I'm 48 and have a 16 year old daughter. When she discovered "grunge" it was just as impactful on her as it was on me when I was 18. The music (the good stuff) has never lost its relevance or felt dated. As someone who lived thru this as a 18-23ish year old, I think you pretty well nailed it. Nice work once again!!
So glad your daughter discovered grunge. My 21 year old nephew recently discovered Nirvana and bought me their Unplugged album on vinyl for Christmas. It almost made me shed a tear.
Yo I discovered grunge last year when I was into hip hop/trap stuff(16M) now I'm more of a Alt dude but man, these are just something
I found my 11 year old daughter listening to Pearl Jam's Ten. It was a proud moment.
To be fair: it's prolly because she had a great musical influence in the form of her father. 😉
I'm only 25. My dad showed me a lot of cool music, and named me after Layne Staley. It was inevitable. Haha
Man, I just recently got into Alice in Chains and honestly Dirt gotta be one of the best albums ever recorded. Also, if you count Siamese Dream as a grunge album, also one of the best ever.
I still think Layne has one of the all time greatest voices in all of music. Not just rock.
Layne was one of a kind.
Possibly the greatest in my opinion
Agreed
He had a unique voice.
Cornell had a incredible voice,but Layne low range was spine chilling.
These days, when a celebrity dies, kids just photoshop them onto a picture of bright sunny clouds.
They did that for Scott weiland and Chester Bennington. Both I'm a huge fan off
Lol that’s some true boomer perspective…look at the reaction to Lil Peep’s death
@@bgmzy Who?
Can't believe he liked this comment
I was a teenager in the 90s and Grunge quickly became my favorite music. I am still a fan of Alice in Chains and Soundgarden and it was great because it helped me transition to other genres of music that inspired Grunge.
So awesome! Check out our Music
Grunge was an effort to bring back the feeling and passion of 70s rock. What we got instead was something much grittier and darker
It was essentially a blend of heavy 60's/70's rock with punk, post-punk and art rock elements. Soundgarden were frequently compared to Black Sabbath, for example.
@@robwalsh9843 I thought AIC sound more like Sabbath the Soundgarden
An extension of the hippie-movement; swap out LSD with heroine.
Grunge started to feel kind of phony after a while, Steve Albini said as much. It's that kind of movement that could only happen in a decade like the 90s where not much of anything happened, after the 2000s though I just can't take all that angsty whining seriously anymore. Nu Metal at least was more interesting through it's mix of hip-hop and use of sampling in many of its bands.
@@jadedheartsz Grunge felt phony when all the wannabes came into the fold, that's something that everyone agrees upon, including grunge bands themselves. Also, a lot of nu metal was very whiny and way too many bands were being really unoriginal and borrowing everything from the Korn/Ross Robinson playbook.
Always has amazed me how short a time the cycle was for grunge was, considering how influential it was and has been to this day.
The grunge era was, pretty much, completely synced to when I was in college (92-96) and it was great, while it lasted. The mortality rate of rock frontmen was staggering at that time.
Energy like that ,by it's nature, burns out faster than average. The Seattle musical influence is still very relevant. Lads now are interested in that era from a music standpoint. That whole scene epitomizes "Burning the candle at both ends, I burns so bright. But does it have enough to make it through the night?"
Big music labels can't make money from kids who dress in jeans and ratty old flannel. Moreover, the oligsrch's can't have kids hearing harrowing songs about the evils we face. They need us listening to messages that degenerate society, leading kids into gangs, drugs, violence, and risky sex.
Look at the Beatles. Still the most influential band ever but they weren’t even together for a decade since they landed in the us.
yeah he's wrong.grunge was alive and kicking in 94. superunkown, vitalogy, purple. the death knell was actually 96. or maybe 95 after alice in chains self-titled
The “what killed (blank) genre?” And “how did (blank band) get so big?” series’s are my absolute favorite from you Finn! Keep up the good work, productivity is off the charts lately! 💪🏼
Same 🤙
You're 100% correct about the artists using their platform to promote their influences, their peers & the stuff they were into. Krist Novoselic took every opportunity to mention Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Melvins, Soundgarden etc during interviews. Everyone was so supportive of each other.
It's one of the best parts of Nirvana IMO. There is a list somewhere of Kurt Cobains top 50 albums, most of it pretty obscure and most of it really good. Stuff like the Vaselines and the Pastels are my favourites. Just kinds weird off kilter Scottish indie pop.
And I think AIC’s music has always felt the most real. When I saw my parents struggling with drugs and drama, AIC and Mad Season were like the soundtrack
I miss the Layne Staley AIC. I’m sure the new stuff is okay, but I never could listen to it not knowing he wasn’t a part of it. I do know that they were mostly written by Jerry Cantrell, or he gets writing credit for most of their song’s.
New stuff is fantastic. Black gives way to blue is just as emotional, just in a different way.
New Alice is really good, give them a listen some time if you can.
New Alice In Chains, especially Black Gives Way To Blue connected to me as deeply emotional, as their older stuff did. You just gotta give it a chance.
@@mockingslur6945 even the devil put dinosaurs here is pretty great.
I find myself often in the position of “old guy trying to explain the impact of grunge on EVERY FUCKING THING” to kids. Now, I can just direct them to this video.
In 8th grade I was a loser than grunge became popular and everything changed. Funny thing I never liked Nirvana much but I often say Nirvana changed my life even though I was never a fan. Skating, hardcore, being dirty became cool and I was ahead the curve. I went from weird kid to kid that knows all the weird music and people wanted to know where I got all my skate company clothes and band shirts. The early 90s were nuts
Dude, totally gonna to the exact same thing, thanks for pointing it out.
^^ this old guy used to play Final Fantasy with his friends on Nintendo ("NES classic" that is) while listening to either Vanilla Ice or Nitzer Ebb (we were also big fans of Nirvana and 120 minutes). Memories are clear as day. Turned 13 in 1990.
We were at Lollapalooza 92 and 93. Interesting side note on the 1992. If you are familiar with the band Front 242 (we as teens were very into the industrial scene), Layne Staley came on stage during "Religion" and sang with them. It was awesome.
To me, grunge was the last time that rock music took over the world (in the UK would be britpop). After 1997, rock became a really weird time in my opinion and rap, R&B, pop started to takeover rock.
Emo definitely was the last though ending in the late 2000s rock hasnt been mainstream since
💯
@Call Me, BLEGH Me, If You Wanna Reach Me facts.
The last of rock music being a big thing was that last big wave of scenecore music like bmth and stuff, like big warped tour bands. About after 2015 that wave started dying down and rock wasn't as heard of at all since then til recent lol. But in underground terms, the underground is still alive and never died so theres that ofc
@Call Me, BLEGH Me, If You Wanna Reach Me I think you probably know what people mean when they say "emo", there's no need to be pedantic. I am aware of "real emo" but when I say "emo" to a normie they know I mean MCR and Fall Out Boy, even though all those bands are just pop-punk.
I was 16 yrs old when Nirvana blew up and I can say that everything changed literally overnight. In jr. High I was really into hair metal but by the time I went into high school I, and everyone around me were bored and stuck in a rut with the music out there. When grunge came out we not only dressed different, we thought and felt differently. We felt like we were finally being heard through this music. Before this, rock stars and their lifestyles felt unattainable and outrageous. At least to our adolescent selves these guys felt authentic and real. Mainstream killed so much of that amazing and stripped down feel. Trying to make something that was so anti- everything become cool and the way to be. We wanted this colossal wave to be for us, to be our own; not for the media and mainstream to try and latch on to it like a parasite. But they didn’t kill grunge, Kurt died and no one wanted to go on with it. I still can feel what I felt on that day he died.
Grunge died in the mainstream when Kurt took his own life,Aic unplugged was the last heartbeat.
'96 was the year grunge disappeared completely, left only maybe in our hearts
Kurt leaving this world definitely affected the movement but it didn’t die until a few years after that. Also, “Soaked in Bleach” shows a lot of pretty compelling evidence that Kurt didn’t pull the trigger. Not to mention, the case has been reopened. Of course, everyone is entitled to believe what they want…
@@southernladyish when was it reopened?
When Kurt died, grunge had already burned out. Soundgarden and Screaming Trees also had final hurrahs.
@@robwalsh9843 let's put it that way
pearl jam released an album in 1996 in which they changed their sound very much
screaming trees released their last album
soundgarden released their last album before hiatus
alice released their last album and played their last concert before hiatus and layne's death
stone temple pilots also left the typical "grunge sound" around 1995 when their Tiny Music came out
i really think 1996 would be a clear point to draw when considering the complete death of grunge and its disappearance
"Crazy how old this looks now, feels like the 90's was ten years ago"
My brain: it was 30 years ago
😳
Yup
Lies it was yesterday!
@ippos_khloros Damn, I've never even thought of that. Crazy,!
I'm now boring kids with stories of how awesome the early 90's were the way my parents' generation bored me with stories about how awesome the late 60's were.
Achievement unlocked!
@@robwalsh9843 HAHAHA yeah. I find myself doing that too. Only, my kids realize how everything sucks now. Music, movies, shows, etc. And if you notice, there's a flock of teens listening to 90s music more than modern. So, I think that speaks volumes over our parents music. Of course The Doors, Beatles, Violent Femmes, Zeppelin and all the others I'm forgetting...still rock. Sorry for the ramble.
"Hey Butthead, where's Seattle?"
"Eh huh huh huh, it's a place where stuff is like, really cool"
“Who do you you think would win in a fight? Plantman or Spoonman?”
“Uhhhh I think Spoonman would win, cause he’s like, a bum, uhuhuhuh.”
So very far away from where I am?
Seattle hasn’t been cool for a looong time. From what I remember it’s kind of a shithole now. An expensive, corporate run, trash filled shit hole.
Beavis: "Hey isn't seattle in Washington?" Butthead: "Yeah" beavis: "cuz I was thinking after this we can go see hole" butthead: "hole huhuhuh"
Nuhvarna rules
Grunge music was such a creative anomaly. Where as Soundgarden and AIC brought soul and heart to their music which inspired some already established metal bands to realize heavy sounds can be achieved by slowing down, drop tuning, and authentically singing your pain.
Nutshell is one song that really gets me when I listen to it now. That song is basic Layne Staley crying for help and it's so sad that he never got any
It's even more sad that his friends and family did try to help him, but in his last years he withdrew and did not accept help from anyone, even his bandmates.
@@nosyhobbit I don't get why anyone is allowed to refuse help that way. There was absolute proof he had a problem. There should've been some way to banish him to some rehab clinic on an otherwise deserted island from he'd not bee allowed to leave until proven clean for a few years at least. Tough love, but he'd be alive.
@@tempest411 it would have been nice. At the end of the day though, you cannot take away another person's free will. The person has to be willing to accept help.
@@nosyhobbit At some point they are no longer able to make valid decisions concerning their well being. If you're even a little buzzed you are not considered qualified to drive a car safely, so it's reasonable that a drug addict is not qualified to conduct their own affairs in life.
He got plenty of help, a lot of rehabs, therapies etc. He was just one of thoes hopeless cases: nothing was working for him or he wasn’t working on his self enough. yes, going clean demands work from addict.
It’s truly remarkable how much better so much of the Grunge stuff has held up than the Hair Metal that preceded it by just a couple of years.
Exactly
Guess it depends what you thought of grunge in the first place. I never got into it and every once in a while go back and try but it just sounds dated to me.
Aww come on. Hair Metal had wayyy more classic rock anthems than grunge. Not hating on grunge, but there's a reason hair metal lasted for 4x longer than grunge did
@Soy Orbison I mean you can't say all hair metal is low quality... Def Leppard, GnR, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake are some of the most, if not THE most important and influential artists in rock history. And they are because of quality songs and exceptional musicianship.
I get it if some people don't like Warrant or Firehouse (I love all of it, but not everyone's cup of tea), but dismissing that entire era that spawned the most prominent rock/metal bands in history is kinda silly.
It depends on how you feel about an era. I personally dislike most of the pop culture of roughly 1992-1994 (the grunge era) so I'd rather listen to 80's metal (whether that's hair metal, thrash metal, or the many bands that were not quite either genre like Iron Maiden or Queensryche).
Remember when the New York Times contacted Sub Pop to do an article about grunge slang and Sub Pop supplied them with a completely made-up list of grunge slang terms? Trolling before there was trolling!
Megan Jasper
Was just thinking this...lol i remember that.... tripping the flippity flop
I can personally attest to that shift. In mid 1991 I went into the military. Total isolation while in boot camp for 3 months. Before I left everyone in my peer group were long haired and wearing parachute pants and into the heavy metal glam rock scene. I came home near the end of 91 and just like that they all were not into that anymore. It's like a switch was flipped and it felt like a different world. Many have cut their hair and all were not wearing the heavy metal t-shirts and parachute pants anymore. For me the shift was very abrupt and mind blowing. Before I left, heavy metal was cool, come back and now it wasn't.
This was a great take on Grunge. Some takeaways from this for me would be the commercialization of Grunge was a huge contributor to it's downfall along with the death of Kurt Cobain and the transition to Post-Grunge and I would argue that Pearl Jam was the earliest example of what Post-Grunge would become, Eddie Vedder is the inventor of what King Buzzo from the Melvins calls the yal (vocal style). I grew to truly appreciate Grunge starting in the early 2000s, as I was 4 in 1990, but albums like Nervermind, In Utero and Dirt helped me through some dark times as I was a kid who was bullied and battled depression (still struggle with depression now). Dirt was also very impactful for me as I was in college to become a Social Service Worker and the understanding and appreciation for Layne's expression of his struggle with addiction became all the more impactful to me.
@Soy Orbison Fair point. I do enjoy a few Pearl Jam songs so the yarl can be used to good effect, but bands like Lifehouse, the Calling etc. made the yarl a parody of itself.
Crazy to think that grunge had such a short life but is one of the most revered forms of music there is. At least in California, we have radio stations that are still dedicated to playing the stuff and you can’t go anywhere and not find a Pearl Jam fan. They were real, real people who talked about their very real problems and you got to watch them evolve or fall apart. That kind of music just hits different.
Petal Jam Ten was soooooo good. To this day I’ve never felt an emotional charge from any music as much as from that album. Unfortunately, Pearl Jam never captured that intensity since then.
I think there are two main reasons. First, the original singer died (heroin overdose), so they must’ve been deeply affected by that tragedy. Second, Eddie Vetter brought lyrics that he wrote as a troubled teen, and we all know those years are emotionally charged and can never be replicated. The combination was pure magic. The whole album is incredible. The closest thing to it I think is Temple of the Dog, but nothing Pearl Jam did afterwards interests me in the slightest.
@@SketchEtcher ..I think, that pearl jam aged well..I liked the second one musically and lyrically more, although my first contact with pj was ten..and this had a huge impact on me..until today, they're one of my favourite rockbands..
@@SketchEtcher idk pearl jam was alright.. the voice of eddie vedder always kind of turned me off lol
Exactly. This stuff totally changed my life.
We loved grunge when it first hit because it was a blend of punk, metal and hard rock that was performed by guys who knew how to write memorable songs.
"Hair metal was instantly irrelevant."
Thank you, Nirvana, we are in your debt.
@@Ungrievable I don't think one needs to be a snob to think hair metal is naff. LOL
Grunge was hair metal
@@GBTWC Glam was Grunge Metal
Word.
Hair Metal/ LA Glam might be the only sub genre of rock n roll that I hate all the way through. Hell even a few National Socialist hardcore songs have catchy riffs despite them being garbage.
Hair metal is just watered down blues rock made in a paint by numbers fashion.
I just _love_ the story that Kurt Cobain's mother tells, of the very 1st time she heard their album 'Nevermind' sitting in her living room. She asked the boys if they were _really, truly_ ready for what was about to happen to them? She _knew_ it was amazing & unlike anything she'd ever heard before & that this was gonna be IT for them. This was gonna make them all _huge,_ rock stars... whether they liked it or not.
The key word here is STORY.
@@johnaaron37 Hey, gobble up that positivity wherever & whenever you can get it. Do you not know this is the internet?🤣🤣
@Digitalhunny given how she treated Kurt during his teen years make me more inclined to believe that she didn't really give a shit about his music and especially Nevermind AT ALL. After Kurt died, there was a sense of 'Oh, we knew he was a rockstar from the start, we knew he would be successful' that kind of stuff. I was like, nah bitch, you used him and his sister as pawns in your divorce, don't try to act like you were with him all this time
I remember Nirvana's last televised performance on MTV before that European tour when Kurt started having some serious health problems. Something was very off to me as Kurt smashed the In Utero angel statues with his guitar, spat on the camera lens, and made fun of the audience for clapping. Something was not right and I did not enjoy that performance.
MTV Live and Loud. One hell of a show, but yes Kurt was weird that night.
There is also some backstage footage floating around where you can see Courtney looking for him after the show. He clearly didn't want to see her.
decapitation was staged. Clapping wasn't.
Kurt tell his fans you're all stupid you pay me and you clapped 😅
He was just making fun of the audience for mindlessly clapping at everything he did
That "clap, monkeys! Clap!" Moment was hilarious. I genuinely laughed when I saw that. But yeah, you're right. Something weird was going on.
I spent my teenage years on tumblr in the early 2010s, whoever went through that phase during that time knows exactly what impact grunge still has to this day. Nirvana is still one of the most important gateway bands into alternative/rock music for kids nowadays, at least it was for me and people around me!
I also spent my later teens on tumblr during that time and I 100% agree. Tumblr helped introduce me to so many bands back then. It was really such a fun site to be on as a teenager in to any kind of alternative music.
Man I sure do wish I was on Tumblr in the early 2010s, even though I wasn't a teenager
I flashed back hard to 'soft grunge' like I was in a war movie
So true, grunge influences were everywhere on there back then
"Rock got like 90% less douchey thanks to grunge and that's worth it to me" favorite part of this video hahaha
a lot of grunge comes off as douchey to me with how whiny and self-absorbed it is.
@@jadedheartsz yes, I couldn't stand grunge stars complaining about fame, and their records selling and sound becoming commercial.
Uh, it's pretty easy not to become famous and not sell records.
@@vinyllpreviews9462 I think Kurt was legit in his complaints. He made his next album sound like shit just to combat that. I give him props for that. That said, I do think they can be a bit pretentious in their supposedly rebelliousness. Their music was always clean enough to be on radio, so how rebellious was it really?
@@jadedheartsz hit the nail on the head. Aside from soundgarden every band felt pretentious
@@jimmym3352 Exactly, and people like Steve Albini have argued that Nirvana were never really truly Grunge.
Soundgarden dropped superunknown in 1994 so it was still very relevant. Especially considering that was their most successful album.The pumpkins dropped Mellon Collie in 1995 which we could argue whether it’s grunge but it’s definitely the alternative rock sound and that album hit number one. Point being the alternative rock scene was still hitting hard through at least 1996.
Third Eye Blind/Blink 182/ Eve 6/Matchbox Twenty came around with the PopRocks that kind of ended grunge in 1997 give or take
Thank you for bringing up the smashing pumpkins, I feel like everyone leaves them out of the conversation either because they are British or post-cobain. I truly do believe they fit the grunge mold, and they show that grunge still existed in mainstream thought throughout the 90’s
Yeah, to me grunge really died in 1996, after Soundgarden broke up, off course the death of Kurt was the fatal hit, but Superunknown was huge, maybe the last huge album of grunge (Nevermind, Ten, Dirt and Superunknown), as much i love Down on the upside.
@@Kondomonium they're not British
@@Kondomonium Smashing Pumpkins are from Chicago. Bush were the British band who went for the American grunge sound and were more popular in the US than the UK.
I was like 15 or so when Nevermind hit big. To someone like me, who grew up in a small farming community in Saskatchewan, I didn't have anything in common with the spandex-clad hair bands who sang about screwing models and doing cocaine. But, I felt like I had tons in common with these normal looking dudes who came along and sang about feeling angry and confused all the time because that's how I felt as a teenager. And, I think that's a pretty universal language when it comes to teenagers. Smells Like Teen Spirit still takes me right back to that time.
Exactly
Jane’s Addiction were ahead of the curve for an eighties band as were Pixies and Sonic Youth. Although none of these were from Seattle I feel grunge would have been very different without them.
I agree. Kurt definitely plugged Sonic Youth a few times as a band he looked up to, that was how I first listened to them, I think they toured together at one point too. Definitely Sonic Youth and Jane's Addiction were super important at that time because they were doing some of the more weird and arty stuff in the alternative scene.
@@Christovsk Kurt loved JA and the Pixies too, those three laid the groundwork IMO x
yess totally
Never forget the Buthole Surfers and the song Pepper doesn't count. Electric Larry Land is a good album if you take out that song and everything before that is drug fueled gold.
@@ronaldowens5025 Butthole Surfers as a band were absolutely ahead of the curve and an influence on both Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction but the song Pepper was from 1996.
Us "watching the self destruction" of these people for entertainment unfortunately hasn't ended, Chester Bennington is a prime example of that.
Back in the day we all loved his lyrics for they're raw emotion, now I can't help but hear his cries for help.
Grunge and alternative artists looked, behaved, and dressed just like us and our friends back in high school - that’s why we related and loved them so much. We saw ourselves in them. They were our heroes and still are.
I know that they’re more “grunge-adjacent”, but Smashing Pumpkins deserve some love as well.
I’ve always thought if SP was from Seattle they would be at the top of the grunge mountain. Possibly exceeding Nirvana. Maybe...
They deserve so much love for sure
SP certainly checked as.many of the boxes as the likes of Soundgarden and possibly more than Pearl Jam
@@BellsCuriosityShop Agree. I love Pearl Jam a lot but I think you’re right - SP just felt more gloomy and well...for lack of...”grungey”
@@northgeorgiahex6663 Smashing Pumpkin’s had their time. Let’s not kid ourselves.
At the time Nirvana broke, my best friend & I were generally known as "metalheads" but in truth we were always just looking for music that spoke to us, what genre was unimportant. For example, he loved Ice Cube & I loved Duran Duran. I rarely listen to Nirvana these days but those were awesome days back then.
For me grunge has never died ✌️
Same here.
"We show them that human spirit is still alive".
Not just for you. Grunge has never died, nor will it ever!
Sorry to hear that
I listen to grunge every day for at least 10 years so it ain't dead for me lol
DAMN STRAIGHT 👊🏼
Man. I had been in Canada for 3 years when Nevermind was released and I bought it at an HMV. As a 15 year old immigrant with no identity and trying to find himself; everything about grunge spoke to me and helped me find an identity. When Kurt committed suicide I was devastated. He had such a reach and to this day is still embedded in music society. And to this day, my kids who I have been fortunate enough to give them what I could only dream of doing when I was their age are able to play all their songs on their instruments. Thanks for making great videos like this and educating the masses.
So awesome! Check out our Music
Through the 80's I was all metal, yes, even hair metal, for the most part, but not long after I graduated high school in `87 I became kind of obsessed with grunge. Yeah, Nirvana was great, but for me it was AIC and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and any of their side projects (Mother Love Bone, Mad Season, etc) STP came along and blew me away. I was so grateful to be able to see STP perform live shortly before Scott's passing. Other great bands I enjoyed were L7, Veruca Salt, Screaming Trees, Silver Chair, My Sisters Machine, etc. The music certainly defined the decade for me!
Frogstomp is legit a totally under-rated album. They just hit a little late, I think.
You missed noise rock
Alice In Chains forever.
Meh, Mudhoney deserves more credit there than PJ.
@@ambientnoiseaddict You're kidding right? Alright then...
I feel like we're back in that era just before grunge. Feels like something big is about to happen.
As long as writers write and players play a Big Bang happens. There is money. I live in Memphis which has had rockabilly, soul and rap explosions. Think of all the puke out there before those happened. There’s underground scenes where you’d never expect so I believe you’re correct.
I was just thinking the same thing!
i'm hoping it isn't that mgk stuff... not my thing
A TikTok video gonna blow up!
You got it right buddy check Niil,skating polly etc.
There's no one "Seattle Sound". Nirvana doesn't really sound like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains doesn't really sound like Soundgarden. It's all just hard rock from one area.
@jetmac 47. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden do sound very similar, not only that but Gruntruck and My Sister’s Machine also sound very similar to Alice In Chains and Soundgarden.
This is very true but when it all came out at the same time, it sounded all the same.
@@kayceeyou I would also like to point out I wasn’t alive during that time (unfortunately), so my view might be different than someone’s who was
Yeah I would say that they all actually sound different with AIC & Soundgarden sounding the most alike but Nirvana is more punky and PJ has a bit of a folksy side while AIC definitely is more metal
@@jetmac4790 I was there back in the day...either way meeh. If your interested check out a band called the Pixies if you haven't heard of em. Its a large part of where Nirvanas loud quiet loud style of music came from
I still listen to Nirvana, Alice in Chains and STP today. Grunge speaks for me and helped me cope with a lot of things in my life.
All Of Them Are My Favorite Grunge bands I Listen To Them All The Time
You look exactly like Travis Barker and nothing like Travis Barker all at the same time.
...and a little like Travis Barker, too.
They were all huge stars. And Eddie Vedder is the only one left Alive..
Everyone hates Courtney Love but she was part of that scene too, Hole was a great band, like it or not.
@@Blisteryn hole kept me sane for like 6 months
AWWW IIIIII OOOOOOOH IM STILL ALIVE YEAHHHHHH
@@Blisteryn so true, I feel like 90s folk hated her out of jealously of her ending up with Kurt
Cant forget the riff lord Cantrell
I know I'm being "legalistic" but Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were already making a name on the scene with Jesus Christ pose and Man in the box before Nirvana released Smells like teen spirit. However, Nirvana ate definitely the ones that blew it up.
You are correct! Nirvana is overrated AF
Also, Tad's 1990 video for Wood Goblins was refused by MTV for being too ugly.
Smells Like Teen Spirit blows up a year later.
I know this vid is a year old, but I wanted to say this is the best breakdown of grunge I've ever seen and it is 100% how I felt during the time. As a high school kid in the midwest at this time, everything you said is spot on.
I remember the first year out of my years at college (1993) grunge had pretty much hit its peak but it was still going strong until Kurt Cobain's suicide. Then things tapered off. By the time of my senior year, you could tell that things had really changed because Korn was the most popular band with a lot of the students. Quite a big change.
Grunge’s impact on the rock scene is super visible to me when I look at Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell’s friendship. I would say that both artists were at the ceiling of talent in their respective genre’s and were so close of friends that after Chris’s suicide, Chester took his life a couple months later on Chris’s birthday
Grunge died when Kurt wore the grunge is dead shirt while holding Frances
Grunge will never be dead for me. Forever my favorite genre. (However, if anyone remembers this, to respect the wishes of all the great bands of the time, they wanted to be labeled as either new wave or alternative. Pretty much all the artists hated the term "grunge")
I live in Australia and the impact of the music and fashion was huge here. I was in high school and I remember where I was when I heard that Kurt Cobain was dead - it was that massive a deal to us. The ripples of those days still resonate with me and many of my friends.
I live In Poland, and It was same here. Grunge culture was really strong here, although No band would even consider play a concert In our country back than. I guess we were Seattle of Europe XD
Still love Grunge and I was a little kid when this hit. Guess that's why I was always into Alt Rock and still am.
Yeah I’m of the opinion that whatever music genre was big when you where a tween will shape your life tastes
If 90’s Nostalgia goes full swing then we could see a Grunge revival soon
Another one?
Another Prozac generation of suicides. Fuck that.
@@BlastBeatBreakdown uiu
It would never happen organically it wouldn't be the same. Personally I'm sick of the lack of innovation musically and also with movies its a product of looking at a phone for a generation
@@stevilkenevil9960 It was just another fad.
I'm glad you talked about how much they plugged other bands that they liked. Kurt especially was really so generous about this, always talking to the press about the Breeders and Shonen Knife and TAD and the Raincoats and the Wipers and all these other bands while he was the biggest star in the world. It was really nice, and also super helpful for a teenager in Illinois who loved Nirvana and wanted to know about other bands. Music was really shitty back in '91 and being told by Kurt Cobain directly about the Pixies and the Melvins was a lifeline.
There is a bit of a fucked up poetic justice with how grunge advocated for authenticity yet became so unauthentic.
Dang, I really love Candlebox.
Same thing that happened with punk.
I make the distinction between the originators and the chasers. Grunge started with Green River, Soundgarden, The Melvins, Skin Yard and Malfunkshun as well as some other bands. Then along came Screaming Trees, Tad, Nirvana, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam.
Then came the non-Seattle bands. Stone Temple Pilots got a lot of flack at first, but I think now they are recognized as being one of the best bands of the 90's. But when Candlebox, Silverchair and Seven Mary Three showed up things started to feel tired and banal. And when Creed blew up in the late 90's the original first and second waves of grunge were effectively dead by then.
But for real, there’s a movie called “Hype!” And I 100% recommend it.
My favourite Grunge documentary.
Such a great documentary, I like how it really focused on a lot of the smaller acts like Crackerbash and Tad.
It's free to watch on tubi fyi
@@daviddr115111 I have the DVD.
@@zombiesatemyfriend6282 That’s fancy and I’m jealous! Mine is on a “hard to watch after all the years of watching” vhs tape
No song will ever portray sadness and anger like "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam. Grunge still lives in us late 30yr olds haha
Lol... aka the mainstream grunge sad anthem? Yea... no. Jeremys got nothing on Staleys material in Dirt.
No way..... I thought you guys were pussies. Us total badasses listened to shit like Wreck or The Cows.
Anything with Layne and Jerry will.
👎
@@nycriotgrrrl6110 Thanks for your single emoji reply, you must have spend all day coming up with that one!
Grunge never died anyways because Nirvana have 21M monthly listeners on Spotify
Grunge was the greatest thing in the world to my 12-year-old self. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone out there. I grew up in a broken, dysfunctional home, and I related to those guys way more than Michael Jackson or Bon Jovi. A lot of my ideals came from the ideas those bands planted. The not-give-a-fuck attitude, the empathy towards others, and the us-against-the-world mindset. Still carry all of that with me today, in my 40s.
I was in 11th grade in SoCal when Nirvana hit. It really was like an overnight change in many ways, but it was more like nirvana popped the cap off of a beer that had been shook up. AIC and Soundgarden were already in heavy rotation on FM radio and were getting played on MTV. Lollapalooza happened the summer prior and drew big crowds. There was clearly a market for the music, it just needed that one hit to bring it over and smells like teen spirit was that hit. What killed it is the same thing that ultimately kills everything. The industry got greedy and pushed a lot of crap on us that sounded similar and it got old and boring in a hurry.
Emo was commercialized as fast if not even faster. Harry Potter was emo in the Goblet of Fire!!!
Graduated in 93. Grunge was over before it begun but when it hit, it hit very hard. I remember getting in my buddies truck and he pulled out Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I was blown away and I was already wearing plaid flannels being from Minnesota. Then was at Lalapalooza 92.
In 1996 grunge was still around… it was just starting to transform INTO pop punk rock. 96-97 were very transitional stand alone years where new bands were coming in and completely took over completely by 1998. If you watch any movie or show grunge clothes in 1996 (Scream, Clueless, The Craft, Empire Records) grunge clothes was very in style and that music was in those movies too.
The emo/pop punk goth, esthetic from like 2005, amrican idiot, my chemical romance, hot topic thing was also super co-opted by corporate america
The irony of the line “don’t want a nation under the new media” yet Green Day totally were. Then again it was more criticizing the media’s cheerleading for war and common people who fell for media manipulation. Doesn’t change they were part of the same media empire. Not bad music through.
we use to punk and bully on the emo kids back in the day lol
Same thing with the psychedelic look back in the 60's and 70's.
@@robwalsh9843 i probably would of bullied them too lol
@Karina Sanchez odd that you put panic and the disco and linkin park in the same bracket tbh
I wish something like grunge would happen again..
As long as our society continues to be as fake and conditioned as It Is nothing truly unique , raw , and real will ever break through again. Everyone wants to be like everyone else nowdays , and they'll do anything to fit In. The loudest ones and the ones who get propped up and marketed for nothing more than looks never have anything to say , and nobody cares It seems to work and be all you need so...
One day... hopefully
Trust me, it will happen. The rap and pop game today is what hair metal was in the 80s. It is starting to become dinosaur music.
I tend to think that bands like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, EMF, and Living Colour helped pave the way from a more mainstream perspective leading up to the release of Nevermind.
Good take. They were very unorthodox, but, Nirvana was just so much different than any of the aforementioned bands you brought up.
Jerry Cantrell still continues to carry the torch. Seattle's king of riffs. One of the best songwriters.
And I miss Chris Cornell. Soundgarden is a schizophrenic band capable of carrying different genres. Superunknown is punk, doom, psychedelic, grunge, prog and metal packed in one album
Well said.,
That’s what makes so much of grunge awesome. Like Fin said, it’s the crossroads between so many different styles. There’s something for everybody and the passion is definitely there.
@@sense_maker1816 agree. You can see the passion through their writing, lyrics and performance. Although most of it came from a very dark place, their addiction, depression. But its genuine, real and raw, that makes their songs relatable
Stone Temple Pilots were even more schizophrenic lmao. That’s why I loved Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots
@@idkanymore9869 i should check them out. Never really got into STP but seems interesting
The legacy of Grunge is still alive and kicking in this household.
Glad I don't have your beta outlooks.
#NPCs
If I had to pick a genre to listen to for the rest of my life it would be grunge.
Same here..
I'd pick grindcore, no hesitation.
grunge is not a music genre though
For me its Thrash Metal I would listen to until I die.
Kurt Cobain wearing a shirt that says “Grunge is Dead” ala Crass “Punk is Dead” holding his daughter in 92 says it all. Love your channel man, keep it coming.
Your point about the different types of kids coming together for grunge was absolutely true. Metalheads, punks and Indie kids all hit the dancefloor when Nirvana came on.
Commercialization killed the Grunge star, now in my mind, and in my flannel
I see what you did there 😁
That last section should be 'injecting in my arm'.
Growing up in South America I got bullied for wearing a flannel and liking rock/metal. Now everyone's into rock/metal & flannels XD ah the irony
"If we saw it today we would think about it differently."
Except we wouldn't, Lil Peep is the most recent example of a star the industry and fans let die for their entertainment. Sure it's not as bad as before, some people did voice concern but the majority was "vibin'" to his demise.
It’s truly the constantly repeating tale of fame
Valid point
You could say the same thing about Chester from linkin park. Looking back at a lot of the lyrics he wrote it felt like a cry for help and we all just let it happen.
As they say poor addict doesn’t just become sober because of fame and money, they just become rich addicts.
@@iletthedevilin828 I’m weirded out by Chester and Chris Cornell’s suicide’s. They were fighting Child Sex Trafficking, and I would say it was suicide, but it may have been cleaned up to look like it, but in the book’s it’s suicide. Chester’s sister still say’s he was murdered Bc he had broken ribs, a busted up face, and there was blood in the bathtub. They were both hanging off of gym equipment with wiring. It’s just a conspiracy theory, but yes they both struggled with Drug problems.
Technically, Alice in Chains hit it big over a year before Nirvana with Man in the Box off Facelift. They were already in heavy rotation on MTV in 1990 with Facelift hitting gold status prior to Nirvana's Nevermind release.
It was nirvana that blew the lid and changed the scene. Let’s not lie about it
@@fkillah Why don't you google who had the first hit on MTV, Alice or Nirvana before calling someone a liar.
@@soonerproud first, calm down it’s called a figure of speech it’s the equivalent of saying let’s not kid ourselves. Secondly, you can tell me with a straight face that AIC is what caused grunge to explode? They certainly help se the table but let’s not kid ourselves about the influence of Nirvana here.
@@fkillah Actually, The Melvins and Soundgarden opened the door for the grunge explosion. AIC stepped through that door (Thanks to Susan Silver, ex-wife of Chris Cornell and manager of both bands.) and broke on MTV over a full year before Nevermind was released. They got heavy rotation on Headbangers Ball and toured with Van Halen along with joining the Clash of the Titans tour as an opening act. While this was happening the members of Soundgarden were promoting Nirvana to the record company executives and helped get them signed to a major label. MTV decided to show the video "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Alternative Nation late at night because of the success they had with Alice on Headbangers Ball.
Nirvana's success didn't happen in a bubble. The doors were cracked open by others and Nirvana happened to be in the right place at the right time. Nirvana were huge fans of The Melvins and took a lot of inspiration from them. So yes, I can say with a straight face that in fact Alice helped cause grunge to explode. Nirvana got their break precisely because Alice opened that door for them.
@@soonerproud not arguing with you, they all played a huge role in setting the stage but I’m saying nirvana came in and hit it out the park and grunge broke out because of them. We are agreeing about the same thing but the emphasis is different.
Hey! Glad I discovered your channel just now and great video. Maybe it’s because I’m maybe 6 yrs younger than you it seems weird hearing you say grunge died in 94. Yes there were a ton of derivatives since then but a lot definitely continued into the late 90s - one being Smashing Pumpkins. I lived in NJ so I wasn’t close to Seattle whatsoever. And I was too young to know when grunge was actually authentic. But 97 seems like a huge year for that music. Your thoughts?
@@zipzip8239 Bush’s razorblade suitcase was a big album for me. Down on the Upside, and Silverchairs freak show were also big for me. I consider this grunge. I was 12 at the time so silverchair actually was cool and sounded good in 7th grade. And Razorblade Suitcase is my favorite bush album. They all released in 96 and 97. And then Foo Fighters with Colour in 97 which is a little more straight rock… but I’d say has a lot of grunge tones-and is basically old nirvana members-makes it something that would count as well. STP released Tiny Music in 96. Big Bang Baby has to be a grunge song-if not then what other genre can you call that song? PJ released No Code in 96 too
@@AnthonyRecenello freak show is so damn good, I like it as much now as when I heard it 6+ years ago
@@zipzip8239 ok you’ve never listened to razorblade if you say it’s a pop album. It’s grungier than 16 stone. Yeah I know swallowed sounded a bit poppy but not much poppier than a nirvana chorus. I get it though. I’m not dying on this hill. I was 12
@@AnthonyRecenello Bush, Live, Silverchair, and Foo Fighters (even early Collective Soul) were all the start of what we now consider Post Grunge, and I'm not saying that to discredit those bands. They just had less of the original Melvins+Black Flag+Black Sabbath mood and mindset that defined the original scene and I would say they were a brighter and more polished version of the Seattle sound. The original thing just peaked in terms of mainstream attention by the mid 90s. I would say Nirvana's Unplugged and Soundgarden's Superunknown were the last proper Grunge releases that also felt like era-defining statements. Soundgarden's next album was pretty big, too, of course, as was Alice in Chains' s/t but nowhere near that insane level of popularity both bands had before. On top of that: after Ten and Vs, Pearl Jam was deliberately becoming an anticommercial band in terms of songwriting and marketing. Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots also had huge albums around that time but to me only Gish and Core really count as Grunge, since both bands just started exploring other styles afterwards (for example: 1979, Lady Picture Show, Tonight Tonight, or Big Bang Baby have pretty much nothing in common with Touch Me I'm Sick or Hunger Strike).
This might be a US/UK thing. Post grunge wasn't a big thing in the UK - Indie/Britpop and then Welshrock were everywhere in 1996, and dance/trance was being pushed even in magazines that used to be rock/metal. Bush and Silverchair were like Nickelback now - everyone loved to hate them and they were little more than one hit wonders. Even Smashing Pumpkins, PJ's later stuff and Foo Fighters didn't get the coverage you might expect and weren't really seen as relevant (Foo Fighters got bigger in the 2000s). It's a shame - we missed out on a tonne of great music while listening to every second-rate Brit indie band and bad dance remix the record companies could churn out :(
‘Grunge’ fashion was how I dressed in High School in the mid-80’s.
Sucks to be a decade ahead of the curve.
Did you get made fun of? Stuff like that always happens. You like something that no one likes or even hates then boom 10 years laters it's "cool" for the mainstream
@@dathotbox, sorta.
It was Alaska so I dressed less for fashion and more for ' It's -20 outside and a mile and half to school '.
Couple that with being poor, and, viola... FASHION!... albeit ahead of the curve.
Flannel shirts, leather jackets, ripped jeans, chuck taylors and tshirts were what all the big 4 thrash bands wore in the late 80s too. But those bands took off to massive levels the same time grunge came out too.
@@infinitygirlak fair enough, I know Kurt dressed like that due to being poor. I can relate to that when I was a kid for sure
@@MrAaron194 That was Benders outfit in the breakfast club, a 1985 movie. So 80's punks and metal-heads basically were onto the grunge thing to some extent before other people caught up in the 90's.
Heroin played a major role in killing(literally) the ‘grunge scene.’ Surprised it was barely mentioned.
yeah it looks like a joke but the extreme abuse of it was a characteristic that made grunge so volatile.
@@leoglasmeyer2853 Drug’s have been a part of every genre. It even killed Billy Holliday after she made Strange Fruit and played it in public anywhere Bc she wasn’t allowed to get treatment, and they busted all of her contacts from her getting it.
Heroine was given to doctor’s in the 1900’s to get off of cocaine they were supposed to use on their patient’s for surgery, but this is a music page, so I’m saying it has been around for a while.
@@mockingslur6945 that’s all true...but heroin seemed like a prerequisite to get into the grunge scene...like was said in the video...Alice in chains made an entire album pretty much dedicated to heroin....I am aware of heroin’s history, especially in the music business...I am a recovering addict who has 6 years clean. Lots of these bands helped me get through it.
There is a book about how Courtney Love was getting people in the Punk and Grunge scene introduced to Herion. She was also working with a undercover cop to get people busted.
Having read/listened to Mark Lanegan's memoir this ssems definitely true.
Having grown up and lived through the grunge movement I think it’s quite simple what killed it, terrible second wave grunge bands. Bands like Bush and Creed came out playing crap songs with no originality and we quickly realized that bands outside of Seattle simply didn’t get it.
Completely agree!
I you nailed it. Good Grunge band only came form same sub culture that could not spread. So post grunge came which become the new hair metal.
"we quickly realized that bands outside of Seattle simply didn’t get it."
I agree that post-grunge/second wave grunge mostly sucked, but there were a lot of non-Seattle bands that could hold their own. Dinosaur Jr.(Amherst, Mass.) L7(Los Angeles), Babes In Toyland(Chicago), Stone Temple Pilots(San Diego), Nudeswirl(New Jersey), Paw(Kansas), Greta(Los Angeles), etc. But those bands didn't achieve anything like the success of Creed and Candlebox(who were actually from Seattle, but sucked)
@@robwalsh9843 yeah, there were exceptions, but those exceptions stayed buried as far as radio play beneath the crappy second wave bands. As for Dinosaur Jr., they predated grunge and in my opinion released their best stuff before grunge ever hit.
Big love from South Africa man, always love to hear your perspective on things!
Same big love from SA 🙌
Haai sjoe
What killed grunge? The major labels and the media.
grunge killed grunge
@@KillforKickz Yep! Because it got absolutely ridiculous. The song Tangerine by The Flaming Lips immediately comes to mind.
Nah. It was heroin.
@@johnconti1329 ew nooo. please don't mention the flaming lips x/ lol thank make me puke. my band writes better songs than that X)
@@Johncornwell103 say no to drugs kids
When I was 11 I heard smells like teen spirit and it absolutely changed my life. It made me want to play guitar and that lead me to meet all the friends I have now. Kurt influenced my life more than anyone else ever has just from that one song. He was truly incredible. Rest In Peace dude.
Don’t forget,
Dave was originally from the DC area & Was actually the drummer in scream.
He had actually flown from DC to Seattle to Trey out on drums for Nirvana, and when he saw the crowds there for a local band like Nirvana, he had only seen that before at a Fugazi concert.
And for Dave to have come from one community to another was literally howundergrounds of punk and hard-core blended together for those backing influences in grunge.
While I was in the Navy, I ended up in Bremerton in late '95 for a few months. And I was excited to be so close to Seattle -- the grunge scene, of which I was a fan, was still very much a part of my musical intake and I couldn't wait to see it up close. But, major disappointment was in store. The entire scene was just gone by then. And I started hearing a similar refrain -- there's a hole in Seattle where the music scene used to be. Great video, man! Brought back a lot of memories.
@Soy Orbison I would have LOVED to have seen Candlebox but they were starting to develop a reputation for canceling shows too often -- which earned them the hilarious nickname "Cancelbox". As it was, I ended up catching Soul Asylum at the Paramount. Not a Seattle band and certainly not grunge but still really cool to catch some live music in Seattle. Radiohead was supposed to open but I have no memory of them actually playing. Great show, though.
@Soy Orbison Better than what was to come 5 years later (Staind, Creed, Godsmack, Nickelback)
@Soy Orbison Were you in Seattle for that Soul Asylum show? If so, then we were at the same show.
short story: commercialization killed it
Straight faxxx! to these cooperate shills it always be about the money and how they'll make self product/trend appeal to the younger audience
Same thing that killed Star Wars
Heroin
I really love how you can hear the the transitions into and out of Grunge.
Early STP and Alice In Chains have an 80s recording sound. Just listen to man in the box.
Deftones' first album sounds like the transition from Grunge to NuMetal.
Fun fact-Alice in Chains actually started out as a Hair Metal band with Chains spelled with a Z, if you listen to their early demos you can definitely hear the sound, and Facelift still has some traces of hair metal.
there were also other bands that rode the line between the two like Ugly Kid Joe(whose name was a reference to a Hair Metal group called Pretty Boy Floyd) and Mother Love Bone(too bad their lead singer died, I would've rather had them become big then Pearl Jam who I always found overrated honestly).
I vividly remember when I would get confused of who was this on the radio, STP or Pearl Jam.
@@jadedheartsz
The irony ofc the UKJ had a hot singer lol.
@@jadedheartsz once Vitalogy came out, I kind of lost interest in Pearl Jam. STP and Bush imo made better music of the mid 90s
@@zachrizzo6525 stp and bush i would say are just as good as pearl jam and soundgarden, aic and nirvana are obviously tiers above
The amount of people that took up playing an instrument as a result of the grunge movement is absolutely staggering. Kurt Cobain likely inspired more people to pick up a guitar and start a band than the Beatles or Jimi Hendrix, which is a massive legacy, and why Nirvana DNA still is still visible in rock music 30 years later.
I realized grunge was dead when the same people started buying that Hootie and the Blowfish album.
that was me maria. I loved the post grunge scene too, I listen to music more for how it sounds, not for song meanings. I was just the mtv music video dude.
Get that was a good album ......
Hoodie was great
lol
@@nonyobussiness3440 Hoodies are great.
Soundgarden still amazing after all these years... a good mix of metal. punk, classic rock, with splashes of prog and alternative... the musical equivalent of spicy turducken
AIC's even better.
@@joejones9520 disagreed
Soundgarden did a wider variety of songs. Musically, lyrically, and even philosophically. They even have songs that make you happy... An incredible concept in their era and genre. AIC did aome depressing songs and then decided to outdo themselves. Also, Jerry Cantrell overrated as a guitarist/ songwriter.
Awesome video! Seriously great analysis! I would have also mentioned the rise of BritPop and post-grunge bands. The latter of which commercialised the sound (especially vocals!!) even more to the point of saturation by the late 90’s to early 2000s: Live, Bush, Puddle of Mudd, Nickelback, Godsmack, Creed and Matchbox 20!!!
Give me hair metal any day over that drab and plodding crap. Rock has mostly sucked since the early 2000's.
good connection to how Grunge took aspects of Punk, Indie Rock and Heavy Metal into its collective and made something fresh. that's what rediscovering the sound is all about. Once the artist puts their own interpretation into the uncover you have the "New Sound".
I definitely remember the day Kurt Cobain died. So many people at my school were crying. And I'm over by the Boston area, about as far away from Seattle as you could get. I had already long moved on to metal and punk by then, but it was definitely sad to lose somebody so important to rock. Pearl Jam was one of the bands that broke me into rock and started my music obsession, and obviously I was I liked a lot of nirvana too. But I saw people crying that I never would've even thought listened to them. Def a day I won't soon forget.
Huge Nirvana fan from Ireland. A young nirvana fan from my hometown ended his life in a copycat suicide in 94. Nirvana were due to play Dublin the day Kurt's body was found.
@@alanmurray5963 I heard a lot of stories similar to that. That's horrible. A lot of famous singers have died since then....Layne Staley from Alice in chains, the guy from Blind Melon, Aliyah, Chris Cornell and plenty more. But none had the impact. I'd say the closes were tupac and biggie, but that seemed completely different.
"Grunge Forever" is still my most played Spotify playlist. That era of music was when I graduated high school and was trying to figure out what my purpose in life was. Lots of fantastic and tragic memories.
In retrospect Aic we’re the best grunge band I think.
Agreed, their sound is most representative of the era.
@@ConwayChicago I think they were the most raw and emotional band as well. The music still hits me even now. Jar of flies is a masterpiece and it’s just an ep.
@@swatchcovers5401 Are you saying their better than Stone Temple Pilots. This question isn't confrontational. I just never got into Alice in Chains... really for no reason other than I've never been exposed to their music... but if they're really that seminal, where do I start with their catalog?
@@jovanreid6782 id start with dirt and facelift., and then jar of flies and the unplugged live album.
@@swatchcovers5401 Thanks I'll be delving into your suggestions pronto via Spotify!
Grunge is not dead. Not in my heart.
Grunge killed itself literally and figuratively.
Grunge’s horrible attitude towards hair metal and within grunge itself is one of the reasons you have rock brats know hating on MGK for winning a rock award with rock music. This snobby “you’re not allowed to sit with us” mentality. Kurt felt he got the right to judge whether Pearl Jam was “real” or not....and him trying to glorify himself by vilifying Guns ‘n Roses without even knowing them on a personal level. What’s the point of “anti-pretension” if you’re just using it to declare yourself better than others instead of trying to build an understanding unified rock community. I ain’t seeing the greatness here.
Hair metal fans had a equally horrible attitude towards grunge. At least the older non impressionable ones did.
Dirt by AiC is still my favorite all time rock album.
Also, riot grrrl is a very underrated genre imo. Bikini Kill and to a lesser extent Hole are rad!
Hole is NOT rad.
Dirt is a great rock album....that was released in the grunge era
This is really great, man. So good to have someone educating the public on this.