Jogja Grunge People
For those of you who like the same band nirvana, must have known that his name grunge. JGP comment about grunge: grunge as we interpret our ideology, and ideology had a meaning that is a collection of ideas. JGP was formed on 1 October 2009 and consists of musicians who had been hiding. Jogja is usually silent, turned into a mess at every event. JGP consists of several bands that have helped her form this community, including: Illegal motives, Distorsi liar, Fekal meter, Dostink, Mosi, Sickill moo, Never mind, Sound error, Nebula stars, The flambo, Junkyard, Djingga, The Sickness dan Rental pelacur. formation of this community serves to establish communication between communities inside and outside the city. so interwoven brotherhood and unity that will be great and solid. This community allows bands who have never felt the concerts. Grunge Jogja CP Browse: 081227242788
Indonesian Grunge Not Played Out Yet
On Saturday nights, crowds of youths wearing threadbare flannel shirts and dirty jeans can be seen trickling into sauna-hot warehouses in the Jakarta satellite cities of Tangerang and Bekasi to hear the sounds of their favorite local grunge bands and slam into each other in old-fashioned mosh pits.
It has been almost two decades since the whole grunge thing came into vogue in Seattle, but in parts of Indonesia and elsewhere around the world, the musical genre is still considered edgy.
Vendors have been selling bootlegged cassettes and tour T-shirts of grunge icons like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam near the pedestrian bridge to Blok M mall in South Jakarta since the late ’90s, and still they refuse to give up the grunge ghost and let it die.
Although grunge became more or less a marketing ploy to cash in on the mystique of singers like Kurt Cobain with their thoughtful lyrics and scruffy, sweaty look, it all began as something of an in-joke. Mark Arm of the Seattle band Mudhoney was one of the first to use this now-ubiquitous term, when he wrote a review (under his real name, Mark McLaughlin) of his old band, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, calling it “Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure s***!” And by 1987, Bruce Pavitt, who cofounded Seattle record label Sub Pop with Jonathan Poneman, had also begun referring to some albums as grunge.
Petrus Saiya is the lead singer and songwriter of Toilet Sounds, a Jakarta band he has commandeered since 1993, just as the Indonesian independent scene was taking shape. In the mid-’90s, the band was so popular it played two or three gigs a week. Unfortunately, both of its major label-released albums tanked. Still, Petrus soldiered on, changing personnel along the way.
“Grunge is in my heart. It is the only type of music that can make me feel a wealth of emotions, like I did in my youth” the 31-year-old singer said.
Like many other local grunge acts, Petrus is seemingly unaware that bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana in fact disliked being lumped together as grunge.
Still, it is precisely that raw honesty that has made grunge so influential even today. After all, how many rock singers seem to have morphed into Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder? The singer’s husky drawl touched a nerve as much as Kurt Cobain’s tormented tones, and both were much emulated.
Petrus said: “I admit most local grunge bands sound like either Nirvana or Pearl Jam. But it’s not because we think it will sell albums — I mean, you know how many records I’ve sold, right? It’s because these kids relate to those bands, because if you read their [Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder] histories, they came from low-income families, not like these bands that the current independent bands are taking their cues from.”
Amar Gill from the band Besok Bubar (which loosely translates as “tomorrow the band breaks up”) concurs with Petrus, while citing Toilet Sounds as the “Godfathers of Indonesian grunge.”
Amar said: “When we started, our musical skills were obviously very basic. Those grunge bands, they gave us the conviction that we could play music that was simple but heavily emotional.”
Egy Hariri, who plays in the grunge-punk hybrid trio Bolong (Hole) boils it down to “Love.”
“The love for grunge is imbedded in these bands’ hearts. I don’t know how to explain it, but grunge fits whatever mood you’re in – whether it be frustration, anger, or happiness.”
Andre Bangun, whose band Shockbreaker lies at the heavier end of the grunge spectrum, said: “For Indonesian kids, it filled a hole at a time when more technical acts like Van Halen and Metallica were all the rage.”
Most of these Indonesian grunge bands base their sound on the simple power-chord riffs of Nirvana, while merging it with various styles. Toilet Sounds and Shockbreaker’s music combines the soft-loud dynamics of the grunge groups with the more commercial-rock sound of commercially successful bands such as the Foo Fighters. Many other bands, such as The Northside and Navicula — which has released two albums with Sony Music — inject classic rock elements from bands such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin into their grunge.
Tubagus Eko Nurdiyanto is one of the most prevalent organizers of grunge music events in Jakarta and its surrounding areas. He said grunge shows were always crowded. But unfortunately, most of the newer bands tend to stick to playing covers.
Tubagus — who because of his facial features is also known as Bango (Stork) — said most bands tended to specialize in covering Seattle bands. Playing hits by Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden guarantees a wild crowd.
“Even in the smallest venue, at least 100 people will show up” Tubagus said proudly.
Still, theses rough-and-tumble gigs do have a minus side.
Aldi Reza, who used to play drums for Toilet Sounds, said: “There are a lot of things that still need to be taken care of in the grunge scene. Things like management, venue and payment issues.”
Petrus, his ex-bandmate, said: “A lot of these bands have been playing the same things for years. And the audience just wants us to play the same old Nirvana songs we’ve been playing for 15 years.”
Nevertheless, all the bands interviewed said the grunge scene would live on.
Petrus concluded: “It’s music by frustrated guys for frustrated guys – how can it ever end?”
Upcoming Events:
Pearl Jam new album ‘Backspacer’ Listening party
Oct. 10, 7 p.m.
Skipper Café, Midpoint, Senayan
Free entrance
Info: 081310669962 (Eko) or 08129668346 (Egha)
Grunge’s Forgiving Day
Oct. 29
Magical Cafe
Depok Town Square
Jl. Margonda Raya
Entrance: Rp 20,000
Date subject to change. Info: 0856-1254-573
Tanggerang Wake Up
Nov. 22, 4 p.m.
The First Café
Jl. Raya Serpong KM 7 no.76
Serpong, Tanggerang
Featuring Besok Bubar and others
Info: 021 951-55344
Hole Biography
Throughout Hole's career, vocalist/guitarist Courtney Love's notorious public image has overshadowed her band's music. In their original incarnation, Hole was one of the noisiest, most abrasive alternative bands performing in the early '90s. By the time of their second album, 1994's Live Through This, the band had smoothed out many of their rougher edges, also adding more melodies and hooks to their songwriting. Through both versions of Hole, Love's combative, assaultive persona permeated the group's music and lyrics, giving the band a tense, unpredictable edge even at their quietest moments. Love formed Hole in Los Angeles in 1989, recruiting guitarist Eric Erlandson through a newspaper ad. Love had played with numerous bands before Hole, including early versions of both Babes in Toyland and Faith No More. Erlandson and Love eventually drafted bassist Jill Emery and drummer Caroline Rue into the band, recording their first album with producer Kim Gordon, the bassist for Sonic Youth. The violent and uncompromising Pretty on the Inside, Hole's debut record, was released on Caroline Records in 1991 to numerous positive reviews, especially in the British weekly music press.
In early 1992, Courtney Love married Kurt Cobain, the lead singer/songwriter of Nirvana. For a couple of months, the couple was the king and queen of the new rock world; soon, that world came crashing in. Cobain became addicted to heroin and the couple fought to keep custody of their baby after a piece in Vanity Fair accused Love of shooting heroin while pregnant, charges which she vehemently denied at the time; she would later admit that she had taken small quantities of the drug. By 1993, their private world had settled down somewhat, with Cobain and Love recording new albums with their respective bands.
Halfway through 1993, Love reassembled Hole with Erlandson, adding bassist Kristen M. Pfaff and drummer Patty Schemel. Hole was set to release their first major-label album, the more pop-oriented Live Through This, on DGC Records in April of 1994. Advance word on the album was overwhelmingly positive, with many critics calling it one of the best records of the year. Four days before the album was released, Kurt Cobain's body was discovered in the couple's Seattle home; he had died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound three days before.
Two months after Cobain's death, Kristen M. Pfaff was found dead of a heroin overdose in a Seattle apartment, with rumors swirling that Love (understandably distraught over the recent tragedies) was abusing the drug as well. Two months later, Hole began touring again, with bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur taking Pfaff's place. "Doll Parts" was released as a single late in 1994, climbing into the Top 60 by the beginning of 1995. Live Through This topped many critics' polls at the end of the year, including Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. Shortly thereafter, Hole toured with the fifth Lollapalooza tour, staying on the road for the remainder of the year.
Despite all the hardships, the album became the group's commercial breakthrough, spawning several MTV/radio hits and being certified platinum early the following year. The band went on an extended hiatus afterwards, during which time many assumed the band had broken up when it appeared that Love was focusing more on her burgeoning acting career (Feeling Minnesota, The People vs. Larry Flynt) than music. To satisfy their fans' demand for new music, two rarities collections were issued -- the 1995 EP Ask for It and the 1997 import My Body, the Hand Grenade.
After numerous delays, the band finally regrouped to work on a follow-up to Live Through This, with longtime friend Billy Corgan signed on to be a musical consultant. The album was finally issued in September of 1998 to favorable reviews, but Schemel left the band (for reasons unknown) around the same time. Former drummer for New York City alt-rockers Shift, Samantha Maloney, filled the vacant slot as the group embarked on their first substantial tour in two years. By the tour's completion, Auf Der Maur had left to join the Smashing Pumpkins, while Maloney eventually served as a stand-in drummer for Mötley Crüe. Even though Skin was certified platinum shortly after its release, Love was unhappy with the way the album was handled by her record company and felt stifled by her contract, eventually bringing a lawsuit against the Universal Music Group trying to terminate her contract (she still owes five more albums under her current agreement), so she can release music via the Internet.
The future of Hole became even more uncertain in early 2001, when Love announced plans to launch a new outfit, called Bastard. Signing with Epitaph, the band consisted of Love, former Veruca Salt guitarist Louise Post, former Rockit Girl bassist Gina Crosley, and to the delight of longtime Hole fans, Schemel is back on drums. In typical Love style, this lineup eventually dissolved into only her and Schemel and the group essentially broke up before it even began. Despite the lack of any substancial project, Love finally announced the end of Hole in May of 2002. Unlike her often bitter press situations, she claimed that the situation was friendly and she would still remain friends with the previous members of the band. Love released her first solo album, America's Sweetheart, in 2004. The following year she began working on new songs, despite battling an alleged eating disorder and a stay in rehab after violating her probation by using drugs. Working with artists including producer Linda Perry, Billy Corgan and guitarist Micko Larkin, formerly of Larrikin Love, the album Nobody's Daughter began to take shape over 2006 and 2007. In mid-2009, Love announced that Nobody's Daughter would in fact be a Hole album. She began promoting the album in earnest in early 2010, performing shows in Europe and the U.S. -- including gigs at the South by Southwest Festival and on The Late Show with David Letterman -- before its release. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, Rovi
Robert Pattinson As Nirvana's Kurt Cobain?
Robert Pattinson has never really seemed content to be pigeonholed as that vampire guy, and though his recent attempts to be taken seriously as an actor haven’t quite taken hold, this might be the one to do it. Rumor has it that he’s playing Kurt Cobain.
The source for this wild piece of gossip is The Sun, where they’ve played host to a wide assortment of mostly wrong rumors over the years (Cher as Catwoman anyone?). So treat this as wild speculation until there’s some sort of confirmation. That said, they claim Pattinson, better known as dreamboat vamp Edward Cullen, has landed the part of Nirvana’s lead singer in a biopic being made by David Fincher. The movie’s called All Apologies, a reference to this Nirvana song.
The word here is that Pattinson got the part by basically annoying Courtney Love until she gave in. They further claim Love thinks Scarlett Johansson should play her. Scarlett, for those keeping score, is the default casting wish of every woman who has no idea what they really look like. Courtney, you are no ScarJo.
So this is probably completely wrong, since it’s from The Sun. This is the first anyone’s even heard of Fincher making a Nirvana movie, let alone casting for it. But let’s play a friendly game of “what if”. What if Robert Pattinson played Kurt Cobain? It’s easy to imagine him pulling off the look, he’s got the pale, suffering thing pretty well down. Throw on a wig and drape him in flannel and you’ve got the spitting image of Cobain. I can’t, however, imagine Nirvana fans being all that happy with it.
The only people still buying Nirvana records are, well, they’re me. We’re in our 30s, we’re married, we’re boring, we’re old, and we really hate those Twilight movies. They represent everything Nirvana railed against. The last thing any hardcore Nirvana fan wants is Edward Cullen sparkling his way through the most important band of their high school years. If Pattinson plays Cobain does that mean Taylor Lautner has to play Dave Grohl? I've always suspected Grohl might be part wolf. Can Pattinson even sing? Can Lautner play the drums? I’ll be happy with The Sun’s story turns out to be wrong.
By Josh Tyler
Will Ryan Gosling play Kurt Cobain?
Paddy Power make The Notebook star Ryan their 5/2 favourite over other big names like James McAvoy, Michael Pitt and Henry Cavill while Scarlett is the 2/1 choice over the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Sienna Miller to play his wild rock-star girlfriend/wife Courtney.
One Hollywood heavyweight who is being pretty much ruled out of the running at 66/1 is Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson. The 24-year-old who plays Edward Cullen in the Vampire saga is currently embroiled in a war of words with Love after she said he was “stupid” and “wrong” for the role of Kurt.
Sharon McHugh, spokesperson for Paddy Power, told Bettingpro: “Let’s face it, when it comes to a movie about Kurt Cobain Courtney Love’s opinion will count a lot! So far she favours Ryan Gosling and Scarlett Johansson, both of which bear a striking resemblance to the real deal.”
Who will play Kurt Cobain?
5/2 Ryan Gosling
11/4 James McAvoy
3/1 Joe Anderson
6/1 Michael Pitt
8/1 Charlie Hunnam
16/1 Matt Smith
16/1 Henry Cavill
20/1 Sam Riley
20/1 Joseph Gordon-Levitt
25/1 Rupert Grint
25/1 Jared Leto
25/1 Orlando Bloom
25/1 Nicholas Hoult
28/1 Sam Worthington
33/1 Zac Efron
33/1 Cillian Murphy
33/1 Michael Fassbender
40/1 Ewan McGregor
40/1 Leonardo Di Caprio
66/1 Robert Pattinson
Who will play Courtney Love?
2/1 Scarlett Johansson
3/1 Lindsay Lohan
6/1 Anna Paquin
8/1 Mischa Barton
10/1 Lady GaGa
12/1 Sienna Miller
14/1 Taylor Momsen
18/1 Blake Lively
20/1 Mena Suvari
20/1 Kate Bosworth
20/1 Kate Hudson
25/1 Charlize Theron
33/1 Cameron Diaz
40/1 Miley Cyrus
50/1 Paris Hilton
66/1 Peaches Geldof
500/1 Kerry Katona
Nirvana exhibit to open in Seattle
Popular alternative rock band Nirvana are set to be the subject of a major museum exhibition in their native Seattle.
The exhibition titled "Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses" will open to the public next spring at Seattle`s Experience Music Project and will feature memorabilia and artefacts conjuring up the spirit of the legendary grunge trio - Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, reports contactmusic.com.
"I`m really excited for Nirvana to be a touchstone for this exhibition... It`s great that there will soon be a collection that celebrates that contribution to music and culture," said Noveselic.
The exhibit will be accompanied by a new book on the band titled "Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind", which will include rare and unseen photographs and artwork.
Navicula Band Profile
“You could say music is our religion... in it there is philosophy, ethics and rituals. Our money and time is spent on music. Your religion is where you spend most of your time.”
- Robi (vocalist of Navicula)
Navicula was formed in 1996 in Bali, Indonesia by two musician activists: Robi and Dankie. After changing personnel numerous times, the current formation is: Robi (vocals, guitar), Dankie (guitar), Made (bass), and Gembull (drums). The name Navicula was inspired by a type of single celled golden algae, which is shaped like a small ship (in Latin Navicula means small ship). Their music has a grunge rock undertone, but is combined with many other genres of sound, such as ethnic, folk, psychedelic, punk, alternative, funk, blues, and straightforward rock. The band’s lyrics are heavy with activism messages of Peace, Love and Freedom.
Though the band has always been active in the indie music scene, in 2004 they signed a contract with Sony-BMG, a major label. Navicula released their 4th album, Alkemis, with Sony-BMG. But, in 2007 they released their 5th album, Beautiful Rebel, independently and returned to following their ideals through the indie music scene. In 2009 Navicula released a 6th album “Salto”, and they are now working on their 7th full-length studio album (release date still to be announced). Navicula is based in Bali, but continue to keep up a national profile.
Navicula’s music is strongly influenced by alternative 90’s rock, especially grunge rock/Seattle sound, through bands such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Nirvana. But what makes their music so unique is their condition of beginning in the melting pot of modern Bali and having the opportunity to mold their creativity out of contrasts so extreme. From the spiritual mountains of Bali’s ancient kingdoms, to passion driven international artists who have come to find inspiration in Bali, and the raw punk rockers of down-town Kuta, this band finds their own taste through it all, the taste of ‘golden green grunge’, the taste of Navicula.
For booking, contact:
Lakota: 081 7974 3034
email: navicula.bali@gmail.com
The “Death” of Grunge
It’s hard to say if grunge really died or if it just evolved into something else. But if it did die, it happened on April 8th, 1994.
The success of grunge was taking its toll on all involved, and one of those most obviously affected by it was Kurt Cobain. Cobain, who had suffered from an undiagnosed stomach ailment for many years, began to self medicate with heroin in the late 80s to ease the pain. It didn’t take long for his use to become a problem; He would pass out during photo shoots and started to become less reliable at shows. After his marriage to Courtney Love and the realization that he would become a father, Cobain tried to get clean. It was during this time that Cobain looked worse than ever, having gone through withdrawls in addition to his stomach ailment. The mainstream press had a field day covering Cobain and Love, with stories about how their daughter Frances Bean was born addicted to heroin (she wasn’t) and Cobain’s drug problems (some of which were valid).
In late 1994, Love staged an intervention for Cobain with friends and recording associates. They convinced Cobain to go to rehab, which he did for a short while in Los Angles before escaping back to Seattle.
In late March of 1994, Cobain was hospitalized for a heroin overdose, and rumors were that he was dead. He had actually survived, but for bandmate Dave Grohl, it was an emotional and confusing time:
“So they called and said he’d passed in Rome, and I fucking freaked out. I just lost my mind and started wailing. As disconnected as our relationship had become, you just can’t imagine real tragedy in your life. Twenty minutes later someone called me and said, “Actually, no, he’s not dead, he’s awake.” How weird. That could have been the happiest moment of my life. When he came home, I talked to him on the phone. We tried to avoid the subject — we were talking about buying minibikes or something, and I told him, “Look, man, I was really scared.” He said, “I know. I’m really sorry. It was just an accident.” I was trying to reach out to him and tell him that I really cared about him, but it wasn’t enough. The time leading up to his death was really strange. He disappeared. He just seemed like he wanted to get away. He bailed. I honestly did not think he was going to kill himself. I just thought he was on someone’s floor in Olympia, listening to albums. Or something.”- (Rolling Stone, July 14th, 2005)
The conditions of Cobain’s death remain a bit of a mystery. What is known is that Cobain had gotten back on heroin and was very depressed. He was found dead by an electrician in his home on April 8th, 1994. The cause of death was ruled to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
News of Cobain’s death spread like wildfire. MTV ran 24 hour coverage of what was happening in Seattle following the news. Cable news channels like CNN carried the story. Conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh covered the story and chastised the grunge music. Cobain’s face even appeared on the cover of Newsweek.
Pearl Jam, who were on tour at the time, dedicated a show on April 8th to Cobain, with Vedder saying “Sometimes, whether you like it or not, people elevate you. It’s really easy to fall. I don’t think any of us would be here if it weren’t for Kurt Cobain.”
A memorial service for Cobain was held at the in downtown Seattle on April 10th, where about 10,000 people attended.
Cobain’s death marked the end of an era, and that was the era of grunge.
Grunge Grunge Grunge !!!
After Kurt Cobain’s death, the grunge began to fade out of the mainstream. Many bands broke up or went back to just playing shows in the Seattle area. Other bands evolved into something else as time went on.
Without a doubt, Pearl Jam has remained the biggest band to come out of the Seattle grunge scene that is still playing today. Many other grunge musicians have moved on to other things, like Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, who joined the supergroup Audioslave. Dave Grohl went on to start his own band Foo Fighters in addition to working with several other bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails. Even Alice in Chains is touring again, though without Layne Staley, who died of a drug overdose on April 5th 2002 (coincidentally, the same day that Kurt Cobain died eight years later).
The lasting impression of grunge on today’s music is immeasurable. But what we do know is that it has definitely influenced a lot of people.
And it’s almost come full circle: Mark Arm, formerly of Mudhoney, may be getting back together with his bandmates for a new Green River tour.
The Rise of the Underground
In the late 80s, grunge acts were starting to get some recognition outside of the Puget Sound area. Some of the big bands at this time included Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, Nirvana and Screaming Trees. It was in this time that the grunge sound that was to become mainstream was forged. Soundgarden, for example, had broken away from the high-pitched metal wail and went into a darker mode, one that would come to be on the album Badmotorfinger in 1991. Mother Love Bone could have been the big band to break grunge into the mainstream if not for lead singer Andrew Wood’s untimely heroin overdose and death on March 19th, 1990. Mother Love Bone’s Apple, released after Wood’s death, would prove to be formidable record, though due to Wood’s demise, its impact wasn’t felt far from Seattle. (The tribute to Wood, Temple of the Dog, would later become a spuergroup-esque release featuring Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and guitarist Mike McCready.) Although it did reach former Chicagoan Eddie Vedder, who would join former Mother Love Bone members Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard in Pearl Jam.
The true grunge explosion happened September 24th, 1991. Nirvana released the now landmark grunge album Nevermind, and became an overnight national success. Fueled by the hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana became the biggest band in America, knocking Michael Jackson out of the #1 spot on the Billboard Charts. With them, several other bands were also picked up. Pearl Jam released their first record Ten shortly before Nevermind, though record sales were sluggish until after Nirvana’s success. The same was true for Alice in Chains’ album Facelift, which was released in 1990 (followed by the Sap EP in 1992). Alice in Chains wasn’t like Nirvana or Pearl Jam, and their vocalist, Layne Staley, drove the songs with a unique voice that has, in recent years, become imitated. The other driving force in the band was guitarist Jerry Canterell
Bands like Soundgarden and Screaming Trees were getting recognized also. The Screaming Trees album Sweet Oblivion brought out a side of grunge with instrumentation similar to Mother Love bone but with vocals more like Kurt Cobain. Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanagan’s distinctive vocals really drive the album, and the raspy voice gives the songs a certain authority.
But with the musical success came some negatives. Once the mainstream media started reporting on this “grunge” phenomena, the markets of the world needed to know how to sell grunge. Part of this was in conjunction with a question asked by several media outlets of the early 90s: “What is today’s generation?” The new early 20s population didn’t have an identity that the market could latch onto. The big question was, “What do they want?” And the answer they got was “Nirvana.” But not specifically Nirvana the band, but the look and sound that came with grunge, which many people connected with Nirvana. The result is what Entertainment Weekly called the biggest “kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the ’60s.” The marketing for young people to grunge was overwhelming. Clothing designers in New York started making “The Grunge Look” and stores like Macy’s had flannel shirt sections. Grunge was being exploited to sell everything from clothes to cars to insurance. A dynamic shift had taken place. Film maker Cameron Crowe, who had set his latest film, “Singles,” in Seattle, went from pleading to producers to let the film be set there to being asked, “Is Nirvana in the movie?” (Nirvana was not, but the members of Pearl Jam were).
Pearl Jam released their Second album, Vs., in 1993. Vs. is considered by many fans to be the best Pearl Jam album released. While not a commercially successful as Ten, Vs. was a stripped down, more energetic album with more guitar distortion and more anger. The album was clearly less produced, which gave it a more natural feel than Ten.
Pearl Jam,TIME
As Pearl Jam got more popular, however, there came associations to the band from magazines like Time. Vedder was picture on the cover of Time (but declined to be interviewed) with the headline “All the Rage: Angry Young Rockers Like PEARL JAM Give Voice to the Passions and Fears of a Generation.” Eddie Vedder, was unhappy and responded:
“I think this is a whole bunch of crap. To look at it is very strange. It looks like one of those things you get at Magic Mountain for $10 or whatever where they impose your image on the cover of a magazine…This is my parents’ magazine, if I had parents…We’re on the cover as entertainment. Am I paranoid by thinking that we’re just a decoy? Do you know we’re declaring war on Haiti?” – (Loser,1995)
Certainly Pearl Jam was getting a lot of press. In fact, it would be less than a year before Pearl Jam would visit the White House and visit President Clinton to discuss one of the biggest events in grunge.
Video Links:
Stardog Champion – Mother Love Bone
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Rusted Cage – Soundgarden
Hunger Strike – Temple of the Dog
Jeremy – Pearl Jam
I Nearly Lost You – Screaming Trees
Man in the Box – Alice in Chains
The Early Years
The term grunge was first used to describe music in 1981 by Mark Arm to describe his band Mr. Epp and the Calculations. Arm would also go on to be in several influential bands, including Green River and Mudhoney.
So it was out of the environment of rainy Seattle that grunge was born. And reborn, as it happens. In fact, grunge is one musical genre that is so inbred that it’s hard to distinguish who came up with what and when. Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard alone was involved in nine different bands between 1982 and 1994. The genre changed about as much as the bands and their line-ups did. As a result, the music scene was very much like a big dysfunctional family, one that could be described as the Partridge Family on downers. Still, it was a family that put together some great music.
As a genre, grunge is a mix of punk and metal, with a definite mix of early 60s rock in there too. It’s no secret that many bands were influenced by artists like Neil Young, and were big fans of Rust Never Sleeps. The lyric “it’s better to burn out than to fade away” is one embrace and/or questioned by several grunge musicians.
It makes sense to start talking about grunge by talking about Green River. Green River was a band that included several people that would go on to be very popular during the grunge explosion of the early 90s. These were, primarily, Jeff Ament, Mark Arm and Stone Gossard. Ament and Gossard would go on to play in Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam (among others) and Arm would later front the band Mudhoney. Green River’s sound came from a mix of dark rock with a punk feel. With some influence from metal bands, early Green River releases like 1985′s Come On Down represent this very well. And for much of the grunge scene at that point, this was the standard. Early Soundgarden sounded much more like Led Zeppelin than it did Superunknown.
The first big break for grunge artists was the Deep Six compilation. The compilation featured Green River, Soundgarden, The Melvins, Malfunkshun (featuring Andrew Wood, who would later front the band Mother Love Bone), Skinyard and The U-Men. It was released in March of 1986 and became the “grunge” album of the time. And while the compilation probably doesn’t sound like the grunge we think of, but it was definitely the basis (The Melvins, for example, sound more like just punk rock than grunge).
Another significant album was the first Nirvana album Bleach, which received very little attention outside of the Seattle area.
Nirvana
In 1991, Nirvana released Nevermind, an album that would go on to become one of the 1990′s biggest and most influential records. To a then homeless Kurt Cobain, the massive exposure of grunge to the mainstream would be a dizzying few years. In fact, the grunge explosion that occurred following the record’s release really put Seattle on the musical map.
But Nirvana was far from the innovators of grunge. In fact, it was almost a decade earlier that the term “grunge” came into use, years before Nirvana was a band. Bands like Green River, Soundgarden and The Melvins enjoyed moderate local success, and some broke into the mainstream later.
So as for the history of grunge, a logical starting point would be in the early 1980s and the logical end point would be in 1994 with the death of Kurt Cobain.
