Thank God itยดs #NinetiesFriday the 13th!
Is that a thing?
Well, it gave me a chance to do a little Special on Templars and other Slashers:
But okay enough promoting my own stuff, last week I was being a happy #TRUE90sKid stating that we loved it loud in the 90s.
We Like It Loud
Back in the nineties, we invented, metalrap, rock-funk metal, alternative metal, now metal, new metal, screamo, and many other noisy shit.
And all of them got a lot more attention thanks to the sound of the Seatle Underground that reared its ugly head above the tarmac in the early nineties.
Grunge
Even the nice, sweet, well-educated, over-privileged white boys could not stop themselves from falling in love with that loud loser scene.
Grunge was the magic mushroom of the nineties, that unexpected sound that came from nowhere Seattle and concurred the planet.
We were all sucked up by this huge Black Hole Sun!
So why the F Seatle?
I get to the Seattle part in a bit, but do you guys know who is called the Godfather of Grunge?
TBH I did not till I was deep-diving a bit more into the lives and deaths of the folks.
That made me curious as hell, and I found this crazy horse clip. The vid comes with many shots of the audience. Looking at those dudes and dudettes showed me that yes, this might have been the foundation for the Grunge era.
Now I am not gonna say that Grunge was born in Seattle, but it definitely grew up there, and that is like growing up in The Netherlands at least when it comes to the weather.
The rain-soaked, working-class environment of Seattle shaped the grunge aestheticโflannel shirts, thrift-store fashion, and an unpolished slacker attitude.
And Johnny was a visionary once again, after turning Punk mainstream he knew where the next musical shockwave would come from.
Alienation and Discontent
Grunge spoke to their alienation and discontent, a little similar to how punk responded to the 60s and early 70s, and to Disco and Hippies.
Grunge was a not-so-silent rebellion against the flashy 80s. Against the materialistic culture symbolized by glam rock and consumerism.
That 80s vibe clashed with the disillusionment of a generation facing economic instability, political cynicism, and environmental concerns.
Basically, those Grunge folks are very similar to the Snowflakes growing up at this moment, so musically I expect some new guitar-based super scene to emerge any time soon.
The thing is with sensitive people they often lack the words to let it out. They will express themselves through art, through music, but that's not enough to numb the agony on the inside.
That agony is the engine for creation and destruction.
You hear it from start to end in the Seattle music scene. Itยดs cultivating a distinct sound characterized by angst-filled lyrics and loud-quiet dynamics.
Building on the distorted sound of metal, drawing inspiration from bands like The Stooges and Black Sabbath.
Not just musically, also the lifestyle. But you can not expect a Snowflake to be like Ozzy Osbourne or Iggy Pop.
Snowflakes are not made out for that....
Epic Come At A Price
Grunge needed a generation that was a bit mental to come up with crazy shit, and there are side effects to making epic tunes.
Epic Tunes & Crazy shit, why do I think Axl? Just look at that due nowadays, and he survived.
What is even more insane is that all those Gunners are still alive????
WTF, yes, Gilby Clarke, Slash, Matt Sorum, Izzy, Dizzy, Duff, and even Steven Adler
Grung = Death?
While so many Grunge heroes did not survive their ยด90s heroin years.
Just off the top of my head Alice in Chains' Layne Staley, Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon, and this guy that drowned....so they say, Jeff Buckley who died at 30 in 1996.
And one of my personal favorites, Andrew Wood was the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, whose members later formed Pearl Jam (with Eddie Vedder) and Temple of the Dog (with Cornell).
Wood died in 1990 of a heroin overdose at age 24.
Ohh and please forget this guy:
Scott Weiland Singer of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver but as always Scott was a faker dying in 2015 and not in the mental nineties or early 00s.
But remember this guy:
Bradley Nowell
The Sublime frontman mixed ska, punk, reggae, grunge rock, and hip-hop into short-lived musical magic until his 1995 death from a heroin overdose at age 28.
Then there was this other pandemic:
Rock & Roll Suicides
I am not gonna list Kurt Cobain here because I still believe he was shot, or want to believe.
I will bring up this guy....no he was not Grunge but he deserves a place on my list...even if itยดs just because we looked a lot alike in the nineties.
Let's skip to one of the biggest losses, or actually two.
Chris Cornell, I love voices where you here that little bit of mental. I said that before, and yes I know these artists suffer more than most, but they deliver Gems that help a generation to cope.
Of course, I list his close friend from that other just not Nineties band killed himself a couple of months later.
I liked Grunge, but for me, the party did not really start till Linkin Park and Chester hit the scene....guitars, synths, and a little insanity how can you love that?
Not just singers
To credit a few more;
Gin Blossoms' guitarist Doug Hopkins committed suicide in 1993.
One more, Kristen Pfaff the bassist for Courtney Love's band Hole died of a drug overdose in 1994 at age 27.
And that Hole lady is still walking, while she was the biggest junkie of all??? You see real MOFOs never die, guess that is why I am still here.
But like with Kurt, Kirsten left some question marks....
Ans strangely they all point to the lady who wants to be the girl with the most cake...again.
#NinetiesFriday was brought to you by My Nineties Rant
WTF do I do on #NinetiesFriday?
Well, don't do what I do because that would be copy/pasta!
But some ideas are music, movies, television, sports, or really anything Nineties related.
I assume movie, TV, or music topic reviews or talk will be most common, but you could also talk about a sports memory or something else.
Thank Goodness you made it till the end Pees, Love and I am out of here!
