Since I’m now back home in Seattle, it seems like an appropriate time to comment on an odd social phenomenon I’ve been noticing. For whatever reason, grunge music has been making headlines in the music world. More and more, I’m noticing that people are talking about everyone’s favorite moody alt-rockers from the 90s, despite the fact that grunge has seemed almost forgotten for most of this decade. Just looking at the “Big 4” grunge bands, let’s see what’s been in the news this year:
-Alice In Chains: they supposedly have a new album coming out…sometime…despite the fact that the band’s heart, soul and voice, Layne Staley, passed away in 2002. The remaining band members assure us that new singer William DuVall isn’t all that bad. We’ll see…if the album ever actually comes out. Could this be the grunge Chinese Democracy?
-Pearl Jam: they also say a new album is coming at the end of the year, whi
ch I hope will be slightly more interesting than 2006’s self-titled, avocado-covered release. They also received major national press by reissuing a tricked-out deluxe edition of their celebrated 1991 debut, Ten. They say similar reissues of the rest of their back catalogue are on the way.
-Soundgarden: back in March, three-fourths of Soundgarden (singer Chris Cornell was absent) reunited to play a small show in downtown Seattle. Meanwhile, Cornell is also keeping himself in the headlines, by releasing a dreadful solo album produced by Timbaland, of all people. Well, any press coverage is good press coverage, right…? (Answer: no.)
-Nirvana: April marked the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. Let the tears flow.
Even quasi-grunge bands, like the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, have reunited for cash-raking tours recently. Suddenly, the “Seattle Sound” is all anyone is talking about. Amazingly, the only place where you can’t find grunge’s fingerprints these days is in actual music. Almost nothing coming out recently seems to owe any debts to the 90s Seattle scene. Perhaps, with all these people yammering away about these bands, that will change.
-Alice In Chains: they supposedly have a new album coming out…sometime…despite the fact that the band’s heart, soul and voice, Layne Staley, passed away in 2002. The remaining band members assure us that new singer William DuVall isn’t all that bad. We’ll see…if the album ever actually comes out. Could this be the grunge Chinese Democracy?
-Pearl Jam: they also say a new album is coming at the end of the year, whi
ch I hope will be slightly more interesting than 2006’s self-titled, avocado-covered release. They also received major national press by reissuing a tricked-out deluxe edition of their celebrated 1991 debut, Ten. They say similar reissues of the rest of their back catalogue are on the way.-Soundgarden: back in March, three-fourths of Soundgarden (singer Chris Cornell was absent) reunited to play a small show in downtown Seattle. Meanwhile, Cornell is also keeping himself in the headlines, by releasing a dreadful solo album produced by Timbaland, of all people. Well, any press coverage is good press coverage, right…? (Answer: no.)
-Nirvana: April marked the 15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death. Let the tears flow.
Even quasi-grunge bands, like the Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots, have reunited for cash-raking tours recently. Suddenly, the “Seattle Sound” is all anyone is talking about. Amazingly, the only place where you can’t find grunge’s fingerprints these days is in actual music. Almost nothing coming out recently seems to owe any debts to the 90s Seattle scene. Perhaps, with all these people yammering away about these bands, that will change.
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