Grunge - A great unifier? (1 Viewer)

Alan Dugdales Moustache · Apr 10, 2020

Otis said:
Well, the people who founded the movement as such, said it was punk roots with rock added. That's from the horses mouth. Very much punk influenced if you listen to the early stuff.

In this documentary, the very early bands of this scene were very punky.

I know quite a lot of people in bands and generally, punks really liked Nirvana.

Grunge is grunge. I think you're reading things that are not there. It's not a unifier of anything. It has a sound that has influences from other genres. , As most music does.
Punks were influenced by reggae, which means grunge is influenced by reggae in that case. Every genre is influenced and inspired by another genre, but it doesn't make it a great unifier. Surely ska and reggae are influencial in music and have been for decades, as is Motown . They have been more a factor in influencing musicians than grunge .

Otis · Apr 11, 2020

Alan Dugdales Moustache said:
Grunge is grunge. I think you're reading things that are not there. It's not a unifier of anything. It has a sound that has influences from other genres. , As most music does.
Punks were influenced by reggae, which means grunge is influenced by reggae in that case. Every genre is influenced and inspired by another genre, but it doesn't make it a great unifier. Surely ska and reggae are influencial in music and have been for decades, as is Motown . They have been more a factor in influencing musicians than grunge .

We will have to agree to disagree.

The people who founded the movement said it came from punk.

I did say I was generalising, but in those days back then I never met anyone who liked punk and heavy metal.

Grunge appealed to both for an awful lot of people.

I don't wish to argue with you. I know what my experience was and the people around me and who I mixed with.

Used to go to a gig a week back in the day.

mrtrench · Apr 11, 2020

skybluetony176 said:
some years ago found a love of punk but don’t get the Sex Pistols, over-rated in my opinion.

I think you had to be there and the right age. At the time, the Pistols were a revolution - I'd never heard anything like it before. I seldom if ever listen to NMTB nowadays but do still listen to other bands from that time (Clash; 999; Buzzcocks...). I cannot imagine listening to some of the heavier punk now though (Menace; Slaughter & The Dogs; Sham 69) - I guess it's the bands that had a bit more that passed the test of time.

I agree with Otis about grunge - but I recall at the time that some of the rockers liked The Stranglers and some of the punks could bear Motorhead. At my school the rockers were split into Pink Floyd and Rush lovers.

Which band were you in, Otis? I was heavily into the Cov music scene at that time (Squad; Vietnamese Babies; Urge; Riot Act; Urge...) and also played in a band (although we were pretty young and pretty crap we did get a couple of (terrible) reviews in Alternative Sounds).

Addendum: I still remember the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit - in a pub after a 5-a-side game in Swindon. I'd been turned off by new music for a few years (later 80s music was so crap), so it was a similar revelation to first hearing the Pistols.

Otis · Apr 11, 2020

mrtrench said:
I think you had to be there and the right age. At the time, the Pistols were a revolution - I'd never heard anything like it before. I seldom if ever listen to NMTB nowadays but do still listen to other bands from that time (Clash; 999; Buzzcocks...). I cannot imagine listening to some of the heavier punk now though (Menace; Slaughter & The Dogs; Sham 69) - I guess it's the bands that had a bit more that passed the test of time.

I agree with Otis about grunge - but I recall at the time that some of the rockers liked The Stranglers and some of the punks could bear Motorhead. At my school the rockers were split into Pink Floyd and Rush lovers.

Which band were you in, Otis? I was heavily into the Cov music scene at that time (Squad; Vietnamese Babies; Urge; Riot Act; Urge...) and also played in a band (although we were pretty young and pretty crap we did get a couple of (terrible) reviews in Alternative Sounds).

Addendum: I still remember the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit - in a pub after a 5-a-side game in Swindon. I'd been turned off by new music for a few years (later 80s music was so crap), so it was a similar revelation to first hearing the Pistols.

Yup, you had to be there and the Pistols just blew everything out of the water of what had been there before it.

My band was called The Fuse and then later Blownfuze.

Heard of all the bands you mentioned. I was good friends with Johnny from the Wild Boys.

mrtrench · Apr 11, 2020

Otis said:
Yup, you had to be there and the Pistols just blew everything out of the water of what had been there before it.

My band was called The Fuse and then later Blownfuze.

Heard of all the bands you was good mentioned. I was good friends with Johnny from the Wild Boys.

I forgot the Wild Boys - did you go see them at the Cov Theatre in Risky City? I put the cassette of that on eBay about 10 years ago and was amazed to have 3 Japanese buyers fighting over it - it sold for much more than I could have imagined. Sorry, don't remember The Fuse. However in about 1980 I split up with my first girlfriend and just worked on my A levels for a year - so if you were around then I wouldn't have.

I wasn't friends with any other band per se... I kinda knew some of The Clique as we were at the same school and John from Urge was always friendly to us when we played. But we were 16 year old kids when we were playing and I guess the other bands just thought we weren't worth bothering with.

Otis · Apr 11, 2020

No, I missed Risky City. Wanted to go, but can never remember why I didn't.

It was a great time then though. Bands sprouting up everywhere.

jimmyhillsfanclub · Apr 11, 2020

I saw nirvana, faith no more and red hot chilli peppers all when they were virtually unheard of.....all at Portsmouth polytechnic in 1989...

....whilst I enjoyed bouncing around in the mosh pit, I cant say I was ever a big fan of any of them.....

As far as the "Grunge scene" goes, I always felt it was a soulless corporate creation and certainly could not hold a candle to any of the truly creative and independent scenes in the UK at the time.....I was way more interested in rave, madchester, shoegaze and the fantastic indie labels like 4ad and creation......a lot of grunge bands were just poor impressions of bands like dinosuaur Jr. And pavement who had been doing it for years.....so imho grunge didn't unify anything and was a big noise about a little talent....sorry Otis.

Otis · Apr 11, 2020

jimmyhillsfanclub said:
I saw nirvana, faith no more and red hot chilli peppers all when they were virtually unheard of.....all at Portsmouth polytechnic in 1989...

....whilst I enjoyed bouncing around in the mosh pit, I cant say I was ever a big fan of any of them.....

As far as the "Grunge scene" goes, I always felt it was a soulless corporate creation and certainly could not hold a candle to any of the truly creative and independent scenes in the UK at the time.....I was way more interested in rave, madchester, shoegaze and the fantastic indie labels like 4ad and creation......a lot of grunge bands were just poor impressions of bands like dinosuaur Jr. And pavement who had been doing it for years.....so imho grunge didn't unify anything and was a big noise about a little talent....sorry Otis.

Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana were all great bands though weren't they?

I am sure there were many less talented bands who got airtime on the back of it all, but some great bands did emerge from that scene.

clint van damme · Apr 11, 2020

SAJ said:
I must have been and possibly still an odd. I was into both Punk and Heavy metal. Saw The Damned The Clash Buzzcocks in Brum Stiff little Fingers in Stoke. Also saw Sabbath Judas Priest and a little later Iron Maiden. Also saw AC/DC in Cov around the same time. I would guess these gigs were around 77-79 time.

I love punk but can't get metal at all.

jimmyhillsfanclub · Apr 11, 2020

Otis said:
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana were all great bands though weren't they?

I am sure there were many less talented bands who got airtime on the back of it all, but some great bands did emerge from that scene.

Well....no....I wouldn't call them great bands. Nirvana had 2 good albums in bleach and nevermind. Pearl Jams ten was Pretty good too, but none of their albums would get anywhere near my top 50, and whilst I never saw pearl jam live, nirvana were shambolic and poor...

clint van damme · Apr 11, 2020

mrtrench said:
I think you had to be there and the right age. At the time, the Pistols were a revolution - I'd never heard anything like it before. I seldom if ever listen to NMTB nowadays but do still listen to other bands from that time (Clash; 999; Buzzcocks...). I cannot imagine listening to some of the heavier punk now though (Menace; Slaughter & The Dogs; Sham 69) - I guess it's the bands that had a bit more that passed the test of time.

I agree with Otis about grunge - but I recall at the time that some of the rockers liked The Stranglers and some of the punks could bear Motorhead. At my school the rockers were split into Pink Floyd and Rush lovers.

Which band were you in, Otis? I was heavily into the Cov music scene at that time (Squad; Vietnamese Babies; Urge; Riot Act; Urge...) and also played in a band (although we were pretty young and pretty crap we did get a couple of (terrible) reviews in Alternative Sounds).

Addendum: I still remember the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit - in a pub after a 5-a-side game in Swindon. I'd been turned off by new music for a few years (later 80s music was so crap), so it was a similar revelation to first hearing the Pistols.

Punk and the internet are man's 2 greatest inventions.

clint van damme · Apr 11, 2020

jimmyhillsfanclub said:
Well....no....I wouldn't call them great bands. Nirvana had 2 good albums in bleach and nevermind. Pearl Jams ten was Pretty good too, but none of their albums would get anywhere near my top 50, and whilst I never saw pearl jam live, nirvana were shambolic and poor...

I really liked In Utero. And as the late, great John Peel said, Unplugged showed glimpses of the potential they had.

ccfctommy · Apr 11, 2020

I like Pearl Jam as a grunge band. Neil Young's grunge phase is a good listen. I think he did an album with Pearl Jam actually.

westcountry_skyblue · Apr 11, 2020

NMTB still sounds as fresh today,Nothing even comes close imho.
Blows everything else out of the water!!

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