Friday, May 20, 2005

Who Created Grunge

Grunge is basically the use of overdriven guitars mixed with overwrought vocals. As is often the case the belief is that Nirvana created Grunge, although their sound is mostly the base for modern grunge. Grunge has its roots in Punk, Metal and New Wave. Grunge can probably be traced back to Black Sabbath and the Velvet Underground. Black Sabbath (Nirvana said their main influences were Black Sabbath and Black Flag, an Eighties punk band) was one of the first bands to use heavily distorted guitar.

The Velvet Underground, although their career was short, they influenced many later bands, including the punk generation. Out of the Velvet Underground came the notion of indie guitar, New Wave and Alternative which both ran parrel with punk throughout the seventies and eighties with such bands as the Psychedelic Furs, the
Police
and the Black Crowes. Another indie-punk band that was heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground was the Pixies. They, together with a band called Green River, must be credited as the first grunge bands due to their use of the overdriven guitars (which funnily enough was a technique first used by Neil Young) and overwrought vocals.

When Andrew Wood (Green River lead singer) died in 1990, Stone Gossard, (lead guitarist) and Jeff Ament (bassist) along with two members of Sound Garden created the Temple Of The Dog album as a tribute to Wood. The album along with Nirvana’s Nevermind is considered two of Grunge’s definitive albums. Seattle became known as the Grunge city as three of the most influential bands of modern grunge made their mark on the music scene there. Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam who had formed from the ashes of Green River and Temple Of The Dog.

It must be said that Nirvana was the band commercialised grunge due to their almost overnight success that was to be a popular sound of the Nineties and into the Naughties. Modern Grunge bands include Queens of the Stone Age, the Foo Fighters, Audioslave and Silverchair. Interested in a more in depth study of Grunge, check out www.seattlesound.de.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dude,
Great site - If you haven't got it, look for the Black Sabbath Reunion Album, rec Dec 4&5 1997 on a return to Birmingham..first time they'd played together in 17 years!
Performance is excellent and recording superb.

If you like DVD's - The Who (and friends) live at Royal Albert Hall c. 2000 is excellent - Zak Starkey on Drums is great - John Entwistle really shows what bass playing is about - a stunning 5.1 sound also.

Was in the US just 2 weeks ago as the Stones tour was being launched - the publicity in CA was execellent and plenty of Stones on the radio.... just love how Charlie Watts manages to create such a big drum sound with minimal kit - and plays like he always did..

7:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice piece. Grunge was also heavily influenced by 30's blues (Leadbelly was a heavy influence for both Nirvana and Pearl Jam)

3:36 AM  

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