Favourite Grunge band?

DerekSmalls

For me, it's Pearl Jam. They just have some absoloutely excellent songs like Black, I Am Mine, Alive and Daughter. Saw them at the point last summer, and they were unreal!

Also a big fan of Temple Of The Dog. They're not as well know though. Chris Cornell is the singer and the rest is pratically Pearl Jam. They're a lot softer than most Grunge bands, but still are excellent.


So, who are yours?

Mushy

Had a similar talk with a mate today, its really difficult. Most of my favourite bands are from that era, but for grunge specifically, it'd be between PJ and Alice in Chains. Too difficult to choose from really.

It wasn't me!

Smashing Pumpkins I suppose, though have a soft spot for Soundgarden.

psilocybe

Alice In Chains

qwertplaywert

Pumpkins, Nirvana a close second, followed by Soundgarden

JC 2K3

Alice in Chains by far.

Music4life

Alice in Chains ...Mad Season...

It wasn't me!

Forgot Alice in Chains actually, they're definitely up there too.

DeadSkin

Definitely Alice in Chains, best album has to be Dirt, the lyrics and Staley's voice f*ckin' excellent.

Hmmm, Sonic Youth, do they fall into the grunge pigeon hole?
They had a huge influence on bands around the Seattle scene back then.

Undergod

Alice in Chains probably.

Creature

Hmmmm probably Soundgarden, though I do love them all really.

eroo

alice in chains

Ph3n0m

Mudhoney, FTW!

JC 2K3

DeadSkin wrote:

Hmmm, Sonic Youth, do they fall into the grunge pigeon hole?
They had a huge influence on bands around the Seattle scene back then.

Nah, I wouldnt class them as grunge. You could put them in the category of "pre-grunge" I guess. Not exactly a genre, but just a bunch of bands that were very influential on bands in the grunge era like Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, The Pixies, Meat Puppets etc.

Pyr0

Soundgarden for me !

Froot

Soundgarden.

Pearl Jam second.

Alice In Chains suck btw

*tOpLaSs

Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Nirvana; in that order..

Alucard II

AIC, hands down

invisiblewill

Wham!

toffo

Mother Love Bone

LivingDeadGirl

AIC and Soundgarden. I love all grunge though, the likes of Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees and Babes In Toyland are savage. I love all the videos from back then too! Classic stuff.

tubedude

My personal fav would have to be Melvins, cant believe no ones mentioned them so far!
Did no one see their rocking show hear last year?!?!
Also Screaming Trees are up there too.
Supersuckers rock too, who also played hear last year.
But yeah, long live grunge, or should I say R.I.P.

Ph3n0m

tubedude wrote:

My personal fav would have to be Melvins, cant believe no ones mentioned them so far!
Did no one see their rocking show hear last year?!?!
Also Screaming Trees are up there too.
Supersuckers rock too, who also played hear last year.
But yeah, long live grunge, or should I say R.I.P.

yeah but I would have considered the Melvins more of an influence, since they keep changing musical style

Screaming Trees - fantastic band, so them and Mudhoney, FTW

ThousandLeaves

Melvins probably. It all really depends on your definition of grunge though. Is it just the Seattle/Washington State bands? If not it blurs into the whole "alternative" (shudder) explosion of the early 90s.
Dinosaur Jr are incredible, but grunge just doesn't do them justice and there's really no way you can call Sonic Youth a grunge band considering they came out of the no-wave scene in New York back in 1981 and are still going. But at the same time Goo & Dirty were fairly grungey albums and they were very important to the scene. Same with the Meat Puppets.

Smegball

Alice In Chains without a doubt.

Earthhorse

Nirvana, without a doubt. Kurt was just an amazing songwriter and the line up was perfect. They rocked. They just out and out rocked.

invisiblewill wrote:

Wham!

Surprised you're the only one to mention them, though to be honest, I think they were more of an influence on the scene than an actual grunge band. And their last album was just phoned in frankly.

Alter-Ego

Probably Alice in Chains. Melvins are worth a mention.

evad_lhorg

since when are smashing pumpkins in the same category as the others named?

Id have to say Pearl Jam definitely

Schism

Have to say Alice in Chains but Pearl Jam are a close second.

tech77

Mine are fairly predictable choices but:

1) Pearl Jam: Black is one of my favourite tracks. Ten is a great album.

2) Nirvana: Nevermind- Their most commercially successful/radio-friendly album but still some amazing tracks on it like Stay Away, Drain You, Something in the Way, Lithium etc. First real album i got into in my early teens when it came out and listened to nothing else for a while.

3) Pixies for pre-grunge era: Another band that (like Nirvana) i was totally blown away by when i first heard them. Frank Black's primal vocals and wierd lyrics etc vs Kim Deal's more melodic voice.

kev_s88

Alice in Chains without a shadow of a doubt.

RIP Layne Staley

hyn-zie

Alice In Chains by far! Stone Temple Pilots 2nd (Core), i wouldn't consider Smashing Pumkins Grunge ! ! ! ! ! ! Nirvana wouldn't even be in my top 10 bands of all time, over rated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell one of the best duo's from the 90's

Den_M

Smashing Pumpkins are not grunge.
Nirvana gets my vote.

Civilian_Target

Do Tiamat count?

Then Soundgarden, but with much appreciation for Nirvana, Screaming Trees and Alice in Chains.

spaceboy

Alice in chains or soundgarden

nij

Alice In Chains, Nirvana.

Pearl Jam sound bland and boring IMHO

Shryke

Probably Nirvana. They get far too much praise, especially Cobain (whiny ****ing heroine addict), but I still loved there music once upon a time. I have Dirt but I find it a bit boring although everyone tells me I should love AiC. I haven't given it much of a chance I guess. I agree with Pearl Jam being bland but I still like them enough. I wouldn't call the Pumpkins grunge but if I did they'd be in there.

tubedude

I dunno why people are saying they wouldnt call the pumpkins grunge, they're one of the pioneers! I know they're albums can be schizophrenic and may not be what some people think grunge is, but as a genre there was no typical sound, it was the opposite, some had theyre own new kinda sound and some bands embodied elements of different styles, from punk(fitz of depression) to classic(screaming trees)(pearl jam) to metal(aliceinchains)(melvins) and even country(supersuckers!?) and then just grunged it up. But they all shared the same kind of attitude and ideals that defined them more so than the actual music did.

A Primal Nut

Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins.

I don't really know what's grunge and what isn't so I'm really just naming my two favourite early-mid 90's hard rock bands.

Its kinda silly arguing about what is grunge and what isn't - its not really a style of music - I don't see what sets any of the bands mentioned in this thread apart from any other style of hard rock tbh. If anything its just a term for a scene - any rock music that came out of Seattle early-mid 90's. In which case, I guess the Pumpkins don't count coz they're from Chicago - nothing really to do with the style of music though.

matrim

Alice in Chains followed by Screaming Trees and Pearl Jam.

eoin5

Pearl Jam

Double C

Pearl Jam, in terms of a band that outlived grunge, adapted and improved as time went on. Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Alice in Chains really embodied the grunge sound imo, especially albums like Badmotorfinger and Dirt. Of all the grunge bands my favourite albums are the more relaxed ones like No Code, Nirvana & Alice in Chains Unplugged and Jar of Flies/Sap.

Smashing Pumpkins are not grunge, Siamese Dream was grunge tinged but there is far too much going on in their music to pigeon-hole them.

nij

I think Alice In Chains have the edge over most of those bands. They have so much richness and melody in their sound. Excellently creepy vocal harmonies, menacing riffs and outstanding musicianship. Just 'metal' enough to kick ass, and 'grunge' enough to know not to take themselves TOO seriously.

Dave H

Not meaning to get too serious about this, but I think the term grunge (early 90's grunge) really applied to location rather than musical style.
It seemed that most bands that emerged from Seattle in the early 90's were labelled grunge,yet apart from crooning vocals, most of the music was completely different. Nirvana had the late 70's punk vibe to them, Soundgarden were like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin having a fist fight, Alice in Chains,bless 'em, were like nothing anyone had ever heard before. I even heard Mother Love Bone been described as grunge before, yet they were pure over the top operatic rock.
A lot of people say grunge is defined by the moody style of music with vocalist that have a deep voice but can move it all over the vocal spectrum, but if that's the case why are'nt bands like Life of Agony lumped in the same category? Have a listen to "This Time" and you'll see what I mean.
Sorry for dragging that out so long, what I meant to say is Alice in Chains are the best grunge band, they piddled from a height on the rest:p .

DerekSmalls

I know they're not "grunge" per se, but what do ye all think of Temple Of The Dog? Favourite songs? I do believe "Hungerstrike" was the first song Eddie Vedder did with Pearl Jam. Fantastic song. My favourites are Times of Trouble and Wooden Jesus.

gucci

in terms of who i still listen to and who makes me flick to the next track in my mp3 player, alice in chains, screaming trees and pearl jam.
Seen alice in chains a while back, eveny without stanely it was one of the happiest days of my life to hear them play some of the great old tracks

Dragan

I like Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but for me it will always be Alice in Chains.

It's pretty funny, if you listen to them Unplugged and follow that with Nirvana the Nirvana one sounds almost bad! :eek:

Moneymaker

Alice in Chains and Blue October.

nij

Dragan wrote:

I like Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but for me it will always be Alice in Chains.

It's pretty funny, if you listen to them Unplugged and follow that with Nirvana the Nirvana one sounds almost bad! :eek:

I'll agree with that. Nirvana Unplugged had lots of covers too. Of the non-covers, I'd say About A Girl was one of the best. Pennyroyal Tea was ghastly - even worse than the studio version. In fact, I think the In Utero album in WAY overrated. I personally think it's rubbish, apart from one or two. It's just a bunch of whiny, screaming noise.

AIC Unplugged, on the other hand, is pure musical pleasure, and they didn't need to do a single cover.

Dragan

nij wrote:

AIC Unplugged, on the other hand, is pure musical pleasure, and they didn't need to do a single cover.

That entire album for me is what the Unplugged sessions were all about. Fantastic musicianship, amazing vocals, savage atmosphere.....and the harmonies they pulled off....live?

Awesome stuff.

JC 2K3

nij wrote:

AIC Unplugged, on the other hand, is pure musical pleasure, and they didn't need to do a single cover.

What about Enter Sandman?