Who likes Grunge?

[Eric***]

Am I to understand these are supposed to be examples of what's GOOD? Cause I had to laugh they are so bad. Almost a parody in themselves.

To each his own. I'm sure your music sucks bunnies too. What styles do you like? There's probably something out there currently that would float your boat.

[Commodore 64***]

When i watched the the Lamb of God video, about 35 seconds in I was thinking, "OK, OK, I get it already. You know how do do a pinch harmonic." Then the vocalist started screaming like a yeti with bronchitis, so I pressed stop. :P

[Retro Hound]

To each his own. I'm sure your music sucks bunnies too. What styles do you like? There's probably something out there currently that would float your boat.

I have no doubt that my music sucks bunnies. I'm something of a music omnivore, but I guess that style of metal isn't for me. Currently some music I listen to includes Cross Canadian Ragweed, Ashley Cleavland, and The Choir is releasing a new album June 28th. I discovered Bonamassa here at this forum, so that's new to me as well. I agree that there is always good music, just sometimes one has to search harder to find it.

As to the grunge thing, I loved it when it happened. Music had gotten stale, as it does every 10 years or so, and needed something to kick it up a notch. Grunge opened the doors to lots of alternative bands and some very interesting music.

[Eric***]

When i watched the the Lamb of God video, about 35 seconds in I was thinking, "OK, OK, I get it already. You know how do do a pinch harmonic." Then the vocalist started screaming like a yeti with bronchitis, so I pressed stop. :P

Just out of curiosity, have you listened much to Avenged Sevenfold? They draw many comparisons to Iron Maiden, so I guess I wonder how they stack up as a modern-day version.

There are some sacred-cow vibes from Maiden lovers that would probably prevent any band from ever approaching them, but I'm curious from an objective subjective standpoint, if you will.

[Eric***]

As to the grunge thing, I loved it when it happened. Music had gotten stale, as it does every 10 years or so, and needed something to kick it up a notch. Grunge opened the doors to lots of alternative bands and some very interesting music.

You know, that's a good point. When I hear the word "grunge", I tend to think of early-to-mid-90s bands, but many of them did not really fall into the grunge category.

I think you're right that the movement itself opened the door for a lot of new music, most of which was (inexplicably) called alternative. I never really understood that label, since alternative music was the most popular stuff out there. Anyway...

[bcdon***]

Am I to understand these are supposed to be examples of what's GOOD? Cause I had to laugh they are so bad. Almost a parody in themselves. But then, that's just my opinion.

Before judging something a parody of itself, I'd expect you would have to have familiarity with the bands in the first place. I happen to like Machine Head and Lamb of God. It may not be your cup of tea but that's fine too.

[bcdon***]

When i watched the the Lamb of God video, about 35 seconds in I was thinking, "OK, OK, I get it already. You know how do do a pinch harmonic." Then the vocalist started screaming like a yeti with bronchitis, so I pressed stop. :P

HAHA. Their lead guitarist Mark Morton is really a gifted musician, he is certainly more than pinch harmonics.. I picked that song because, well, because I dig that style. As for the screaming, I dig that too.

The reason I posted two videos is to show that there are plenty of great bands out there playing great music. It may not be your thing, but that is OK. One thing for sure, you aren't going to find any good music on your local b.s. radio station.

[FrankenFretter***]

This topic has become heated somewhat, and seems to have departed from the friendly spirit of our beloved forum at times. Let's try to respect each other, and each other's tastes in music (and clothing?). We're all here because we love music, whether it's the kind of music our neighbors love or not shouldn't matter.

As Hurley might say...Chill dudes!

[bcdon***]

As Hurley might say...Chill dudes!

Oh, I certainly didn't mean to come off like that. Sorry if that is how things sounded. Music is all a matter of taste, and if you like something -- or not -- it really doesn't matter what other people think. For the record, my wife doesn't think much of my music taste either. Women!

[Commodore 64***]

This is simply a lively discussion. I think people often read text in a harsher manner than it was intended when written.

I, for one, often post in hyperbole because that's the point of the forum...to stimulate discussion. I actually don't mind Green Day, for example. They are what they are.

[Eric***]

I think I have to side with C64 here. The only one who would be pissed off is bcdon, and he seems to be mature about the whole thing.

So back to that whole grunge thing...

[bcdon***]

So back to that whole grunge thing...

Well I'm glad our buddy FrankenFretter is looking out for the civility of this forum. There are so many places on the internet(s) that are just plain rude. Looking back over my responses I can certainly see how they could be taken the wrong way. No worries. Now, if only you guys would get some decent taste in music things would be peachy keen.

[deeaa*]

Grunge - what did it do to guitar players all over the world? I think it took the shredder mentality away, to some degree at least. Perhaps some think that's a good thing.

The Grunge movement left me completely cold. Musically speaking, it was dead boring to me. So I just stayed away and worked on my good old blues licks and jazz progressions.

How about you?

I liked and still like most grunge a lot.

As you said, it made music more everyman; there was a feeling that you didn't need a big hair and/or extreme guitar skills or costumes to be able to make powerful music...and it was great. It was OK to even make mistakes or sing a little off or scream a little too much; all that mattered was the conveyed emotion once again, not perfect sounds and superb playing.

I guess my music has ever since been mostly like grunge; there's always variation from lighter parts to harder parts, hard/metal type guitar stuff but quite melodic songs, etc. etc.

One thing that grunge brought back was a proper jam mentality, songs like Alice In Chain's did that worked over just one riff that was jammed over and over, or like Hunger Strike by Temple of Dog...you know. Or, some evolved the jamming mentality further into intricate grooves like Soundgarden did, or their descendants like modern Tool...definitely grunge.

Without grunge, there would not be bands I love today; Danko Jones, Billy Talent, Tool, System of Down, lots of newer bands are so clearly grunge descendants.

Besides, any music that features driven guitars is worth a listen. I can't stand them cookie monster vocals as someone said about Lamb of God, yeah, but that's got nuthing to do with grunge. Grunge vox is Vedder, Cornell, Staley, Cobain et al. in the order that most spells grunge to me.

[guitarmadman85]

I liked and still like most grunge a lot.


Without grunge, there would not be bands I love today; Danko Jones, Billy Talent, Tool, System of Down, lots of newer bands are so clearly grunge descendants.

When I think about what inspired Tool, grunge is not the first thing to come to mind. I mean, opiate came out in 1992... When I think of their jamming influence, I think more of pink floyd or maybe even zepplin.

I really think of the "nu metal" bands as people trying to recreate rage against the machine. I could be wrong, but that's just my opinion.

As for grunge, I used to listen to it, not so much any more. There is good grunge, and there is bad grunge. The true indicator for me is the stuff that stands the test of time. Stuff like "man in the box" or "spoonman"

[deeaa*]

Well, wasnt 1992 the very top year for grunge...even up here I made my first grunge release that year...I always firmly put tool under grunge.

[Jimi75]

Well I think Pearl Jam's Ten album was a milestone. It culminated great songwriting, extraordinary vocals, cool guitarplaying and a new kind of lyrics and lifestyle. Most people of my generatin could identify with it. The Seattle scene was already cooking before that album and my friends and I did import demo cassetes of several different bands. I liked also the other music around at that time, but a lot of that late 80s early 90s stuff was faky, unreal, unmusical to behonest. Grunge songs you could easily play at the campfire and for most of my guitar playing friends playing rhythm and full chords instead of power chords was totally new. To answer your question - I liked and I still like Grunge!

[Kazz]

Someone above said...that all this grunge started as indie/alternative music in the Pacific (read: cold, wet and soggy over half the year) North West. By the time it was discovered by the rest of the country it was really no longer alternative but mainstream and that was what the originals were campaigning against to begin with. It turned into a mockery of itself. Grunge came in and killed what was left of truly decent music in my opinion. Looking back some of the music that came out of Seattle was great and still holds up. Alot of tragedy there tho.

[oldguy]

Some genres are not executed technically perfect........nor should they be.
They are about the message, be it political, depressing, wishful, etc.
Sometimes we need a mirror held before us to make us aware of the direction we're going, whether it be good or bad.
I wasn't a fan of grunge per se, although I do love me some good flannel.
I also rather liked this.

[omegadot]

There is a lot of music I like just because it almost resets my ears. I like Grunge when I just want my music to be a little muddier and less clear. My musical moods change quickly and for no apparent reason so I'd never cut out an entire genre.

I still say some bands like Meat Puppets, Mud Honey, Pearl Jam, Nirvana (sorry if you gagged reading that), Sonic Youth, Sound Garden, and many others have added to my appreciation of music without taking anything away.