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Alternative Rock Week 4
- 1. Popular Music Studies: Alternative Rock Week 4 US Alternative in the 90s
- 2. The ‘Seattle Sound’ • Grunge / Sub Pop • Garage rock, Alternative Rock, Hardcore, Heavy Metal • Mudhoney
- 3.
- 4. Nirvana • Bleach(Sub Pop, 1989) • $606.17
- 5. Nirvana • ‘Nevermindmarks the coming of age of alternative rock and the death of some cherished and deep-seated beliefs about authenticity, selling out, and the artistic purity of the rock & roll underground.’ • ‘The beginning of one era… and the end of another.’
- 6. Nirvana • Nevermind(DGC, 1991) • Initial $65,000 budget
- 7. In Bloom He’sthe one who likes all the pretty songs And he likes to sing along And he likes to shoot his gun But he don’t know what it means
- 8. Nirvana • InUtero (1993) • Produced by Steve Albini • MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)
- 9.
- 10. Grunge… • GreenRiver – Mother Love Bone – Pearl Jam • Ten (1991) outsold Nevermind on initial release • ‘…saddled with the same meaningless genre tag.’ • Large classic rock influence – little musical similarity to Nirvana?
- 12. Pearl Jam •Vs (1993) • Protracted battle with Ticketmaster • Used the hype and then shunned mainstream interference to retain their creative control • No Code (1996)
- 13. Soundgarden • Formed1984 • “Hunted Down” (Sub Pop, 1987) • Ultramega OK (SST, 1988)
- 14.
- 15. Alice in Chains Dirt (1992)
- 16. ‘Girl’ bands ingrunge • L7 • Formed in 1985 • Started “Rock for Choice” (1991-2001) • Bricks Are Heavy (1992)
- 17. ‘Girl’ bands ingrunge • Hole (formed in 1989)
- 18. Riot Grrrl •Named for a fanzine put out from 1991 by Allison Wolfe, Kathleen Hanna and other female musicians • Frequently associated with grunge • Bikini Kill (1990-97) • Pussy Whipped (Kill Rock Stars, 1993) • Sleater-Kinney
- 19. PJ Harvey •Rid of Me (Island, 1993) produced by Steve Albini • First solo album To Bring You My Love (1995) still highly US country, blues, folk influenced; produced by Flood. • Success in both US and UK
- 21.
- 22. Rage Against theMachine • Blended rock/metal with rap • Rage Against the Machine (Epic, 1992) • Politically charged music and agenda • Addressing of authenticity…?
- 23. The Aftermath ofGrunge… • Dave Grohl formed Foo Fighters after Kurt Cobain’s death • Colour and the Shape (1997) • Some bands, like Pavement, continued to actively avoid the mainstream.
- 24. Smashing Pumpkins •The standout alternative rock band of the 1990s, after Nirvana • Began with numerous UK influences – goth rock, shoegaze, psychedlia • Soon incorporated hard rock, metal, grunge
- 25. Smashing Pumpkins •Siamese Dream (1992) • Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
- 26.
- 27. Weird Rock •A line from Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa • Through the Minutemen, Butthole Surfers, etc… • Primus
Editor's Notes
- #3 Is there really a ‘grunge’ sound? Something that’s been debated a lot, as it was easily seen as a marketing label rather than stylistic categorization. The ‘big four’ of the grunge scene were all quite different in their sound, and their apparent influences. Nonetheless, it seems that the earlier scene may have had a certain style – not at all dissimilar from earlier hardcore scenes – which was only fractured after Nirvana hit the mainstream as the first of the ‘grunge’ wave. Think back to the life and death cycle or rock in the first lecture; this was a super-fast version of that process, perhaps? The ‘grunge’ sound or ‘Seattle’ sound was really the ‘SubPop’ sound. SubPop had learnt from SST and other indie labels, and was almost the pinnacle of well-organised indie business (perhaps this had a hand in making the breakthrough for Nirvana?)
- #4 Influences? Well, harcore and punk – also took on board the melodic ideas of Pixies, Dinosaur Jr and others – the quiet/loud dynamic – but by Nevermind were happily also indulging their pop sensibilities and crafting good songs, in an alternative rock style. All the elements we saw in week 2 – quiet/loud, melodies at the forefront, vocal harmonies, occasional acoustic or quiet songs along with very loud and fast songs.
- #5 Bleach (1989) recorded for $606.17 on SubPop. ‘no sin is more heinous than leaving the obscurity of an independent record label… for one of the corporate “majors”.’ p.16 – perhaps because sales were modest – the record was cheaply produced and the band was able to keep its artistic integrity intact. (Bleach)
- #7 (Teen Spirit) Artistic success and commercial success are opposing forces – therefore, Nevermind was an artistic failure? Cobain struggled with this himself – he really wanted to sign a major deal for distribution so that his music could be heard – yet knew that he wanted to retain artistic control and credibility. Makes the point, by quoting song lyrics, that their rejection of fame came ‘structurally’ rather than ‘experientially’ – ie, before they had a big hit! ‘According to the credo of alternative rock, the greater a record’s sales, the greater perforce the artists’ compromise with the public taste.’ Nevermind sold 3million in 6 months after release. The bands’ last two American shows were really good and really bad; he takes this to show that ‘they were anything but the big, slick rock-machine’ that the industry wanted. The anecdote of Kris Novoselic saying he’s Andy Kaufmann highlights an alternative credo, of rejecting celebrity status and being no better than the fans.
- #9 The success of Nevermind resulted in a ‘feeding frenzy’ that pushed huge amounts of money into alternative rock very suddenly. Cobain was happy to sell ‘a quarter as much’ on In Utero than Nevermind, because he liked it and it retained their artistic credibility, rather than having to ‘sell out’ after the former success. Two weeks and $25,000 to record! Albini was chosen because of his credibility – as a statement – because Cobain liked Surfer Rosa Steve Albini and the In Utero affair – the label didn’t want to release it, he claimed – Cobain had parts of it remixed himself, by Alan Moulder (of Creation) to bring out the more melodic songs. Touring In Utero came complete with an almost Zeppelin-esque acoustic set during the show, which paved the way to MTV’s Unplugged – a full series, but Nirvana’s being ultimately the iconic and best-known.
- #10 Extra-musical ideas? Courtney Love copped a lot of bad attention, and their relationship… Outspoken for gay rights, women’s rights. Cobain’s death A huge blow to the alternative rock world – massive outpouring of grief, akin to only the biggest celebrities The suicide was argued to be as a result of mainstream attention, so he became the ultimate poster-boy for indie rock cred and ethos. Preserved the Nirvana legacy as one of the most important bands ever, and the quintessential alternative rock band.
- #11 Pearl Jam’s Ten sold even more than Nevermind later the same year; they were ‘saddled with the same meaningless genre tag?’ They ‘grew up listening to classic rock instead of punk and new wave’. Referred to as schizophrenic (different creative forces in the band). First single was a live version, with video, of the song Alive, which set them up for success
- #13 After their second album, they took on the monopoly of Ticketmaster – and largely failed, with little support. They were initially approached by the government to talk about TM, and had been unhappy with them… By 1998 their battle with Ticketmaster was largely lost, and they reached a compromise to play where possible in alternate venues, but also to deal with them. Refused to make videos after Ten A band who used the hype and then shunned mainstream interference to do what they wanted. PJ declined to do interviews; didn’t make music videos; tried not to play the industry game, despite a largely classic rock sound Three albums of intial sound, then 1996’s No Code was a bit of a breakaway.
- #14 DeRogatis p.484 – Soundgarden blend metal, blues rock, psychedlia into ‘grunge’. One of the early Sub Pop bands, though with more of a metal and heavy rock influence than punk. Ended up touring with GnR. Their first album with SST was not to the band’s liking, contentious with their initial punk fans, then they ‘sold out’ to go more metal after that, with plenty of hard rock chops thrown in. Signed to A&M (Universal) after their first album.
- #17 As L7 said, real progress won’t be made until the segregation of ‘female’ rock bands and ‘girl groups’ disappears; yet here I am propagating it. Uh oh. Moving from history (of alt rock, of grunge) to historiography… I talked last week about how our reception of music is filtered by the press – Suede were huge. Others weren’t. Don’t believe the hype. But the press also controls our memories of music, of the importance or influence of some bands over others – hence many bands who weren’t successful becoming more notable later on. In terms of grunge, this rewriting of history has possibly left many ‘girl bands’ to one side in terms of their importance. Shifting grunge bands under the moniker of riot grrl, pushing a feminist stance on each female band and negating their importance, musically, to the scene. Or forgetting them altogether? This has also allowed grunge to be ‘reclaimed’ as a primarily male genre? L7 did an EP with Sub Pop, then used Butch Vig for their follow-up album Bricks are Heavy. ‘‘[w]omen are a perpetual novelty, and each new group of successful female performers is heralded as the first.’’ - Strong
- #18 Started with singles on indie labels Sympathy… and Sub Pop. Pretty on the Inside (Caroline Records – Virgin subsidiary, 1991), produced by Kim Gordon – noisy and difficult (Perhaps) most famous because of Courtney Love, married to Kurt Cobain. Certainly loudmouthed, difficult person – string of relationships – hated by a large number of Nirvana fans – difficulties with surviving Nirvana members and legacy Live Through This (1994) released almost immediately after Cobain’s death. Celebrity Skin (1998) added more of a polished sound, aided by Billy Corgan’s production. Love is a constant figure of belittlement for her unhinged behaviour, obviously happy to collaborate and receive help, but then accused of having her material written by others. Erlandson, the guitarist with Hole, seems to be her honest writing partner?
- #19 The term was a largely political one, describing a feminist movement heavily associated with a musical scene in which women were able to foreground their won sexuality, and discuss issues of domestic violence, rape, and female empowerment. Used anger as well as female support. Many female bands or artists who were less directly political were placed under this heading (such as L7), irrespective of musical or political activity, as the term was generalised by the media. Sleater-Kinney (side project initially) was a successful riot grrrl / queercore group from Washington, like Bikini Kill – stayed independent
- #20 Somewhat reclusive, shy, never made any pretence at liking interviews. Early influences include everything from US blues, UK stuff like Led Zep, recent noisy alt-rock like Pixies, and Captain Beefheart Is This Desire (1997) brought in a much more produced, electronic sound… eclectic ever since. "I don’t even think of myself as being female half the time. When I’m writing songs I never write with gender in mind. I write about people’s relationships to each other. I’m fascinated with things that might be considered repulsive or embarrassing. I like feeling unsettled, unsure."
- #21 Well, maybe quite a lot of these female bands just weren’t very good. Perhaps they didn’t even get the underground exposure that a lot of male bands did, either because of sexism or genuine product. Sex as a marketing tool – or, for lots of 90s bands, maybe sex was just a given, something to be addressed by women as frankly as by men. Liz Phair – used sex as a marketing tool, but sang about it in a feminist way? PJ Harvey was very frank and feminist, but used the weird sexy image for the TBYML tour? Harvey is another musician who achieved success while remaining intensely private, and doing as few interviews as possible as she went on.
- #22 Well, maybe quite a lot of these female bands just weren’t very good. Perhaps they didn’t even get the underground exposure that a lot of male bands did, either because of sexism or genuine product. Sex as a marketing tool – or, for lots of 90s bands, maybe sex was just a given, something to be addressed by women as frankly as by men. Liz Phair – used sex as a marketing tool, but sang about it in a feminist way? PJ Harvey was very frank and feminist, but used the weird sexy image for the TBYML tour? Harvey is another musician who achieved success while remaining intensely private, and doing as few interviews as possible as she went on.
- #23 The political link brings me further to LA’s Rage Against the Machine ( a band whose name is almost more famous than their music ). Formed & released first eponymous album in 1991-2. Signed straight away to Epic (a Sony label), and had three commercially successful albums during the 1990s (and a more recent Christmas No.1) Highly political charged music Early forerunners of the metal/hard rock crossover with rap music Tom Morello and extended techniques…
- #24 Foo Fighters’ eponymous first album very much in the ‘grunge’ sound mould – follow up effort Colour and the Shape similar, but started to broaden its palette. By their third album, especially the fourth, hard rock, classic rock – and later country – started taking over. Pavement were initially a recording project, and took noticeable influence from, amongst other bands, The Fall. Took a pop at SP & other bands in a light-hearted way. Stayed on independent labels and retained a cult following, quoted as very influential.
- #25 Early Pumpkins took a trick from UK shoegaze and the goth tradition of the Cure. With the power of JC’s drumming, Corgan was able to tap into his big rock desires. Pumpkins had no desire to adhere to the lo-fi aesthetic; Billy wanted a big, arty sound. Butch Vig and Flood as producers.
- #26 Definitely influenced by the UK tradition – Siamese Dream mixed by Moulder from Creation Records. Melon Collie was huge in scope, a rare example of a rock double album that worked well; lots of varied instrumentation, some electronic elements, big rock, noisy metal stuff – ‘The Wall for Generation X’ Pursued various directions afterwards…
- #27 In the US, punk made a comeback in a new form which could be called ‘pop punk’, more recently associated with skateboarders and developing into ‘emo’ culture. Once again, California was a leader in dictating musical direction to the US BUT at first it was bands like Green Day and Blink 182 purveying a mix of self-loathing apathy through punk, or stupid humour. Second album Dookie (1994) was released on major label Reprise (Warner Bros) How does having a musical made from your songs affect authenticity, alternative credibility?