The rebellious band Eddie Vedder thought should have been massive: “It never really took off”
It wasn’t just the distorted guitars and dynamic vocals that left people comparing grunge to punk. The two movements shared a lot of similarities, including a series of events that would catapult them into the mainstream.
Both genres were filled to the brim with energy and welcomed in a new type of music that the simple ears of the global public had not yet been blessed with. They demanded attention and were deliberate reactions to an otherwise bloated music scene then more concerned with commercialism than creativeness.
“It’s important to remember that at that very moment in the early ’90s, there were a lot of people making kind of a new punk-rock music in short pants and plaid shirts,” he said, “The grunge movement was just getting off the ground. Nirvana had just released ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Pearl Jam were coming through with Ten [1991]. Primal Scream had done something similar with Screamadelica [1991]. Then Radiohead was coming through. Oasis. Massive Attack. Björk. It was a very fertile period, the early ’90s.”
The eagle-eared will immediately get their backs up when they hear this comparison, as there are a lot of differences in the actual sound of both styles. Yes, some elements remain consistent, such as the aforementioned distortion and vocals, but the movements have a lot more variables than similarities. The chord sequences and song structure in grunge music is much more complicated than punk music, and while grunge bands might be political, their music expands beyond just the political hemisphere.
The reason the movements can be compared so easily is less about their sound and more about the means by which they rose to province. Both styles of music originally lingered on the outskirts of the mainstream before being ushered in thanks to break out bands. For punk it was Sex Pistols, for grunge it was Nirvana and Pearl Jam. These acts were catalysts, they were sparks that set alight some of the biggest movements in music, and they were very much the bands who reaped the rewards of their respective movements.
Pearl Jam were not the foundation of grunge. Eddie Vedder himself would tell you that. Ask around the Seattle stalwarts, and they will tell you, there were bands before them who were pioneering the sound and who started the movement, but they go shamelessly underappreciated. Mother Love Bone released their album Apple in 1990, and became icons of the fledgling movement. When their lead singer, Andrew Wood, tragically passed away due to an overdose, the industry shook.
Those who love the group rallied and Eddie Vedder provided vocals in Temple of the Dog, a band formed in tribute to Wood. The more famous grunge bands that we know and love today essentially took what these initial musical outfits did and popularised it.
Vedder has always been open about this, and he drew parallels between grunge and punk given how much the original bands opened the door that allowed other bands to run through. He likened this to The Ramones, who he credited with being the first punk rockers but who didn’t get the credit they deserved. They should have been playing stadiums, but instead became a cult classic, quite frequently credited for the birth of punk but without the spoils to show for it.
“My understanding from talking to people like Johnny and Marky [Ramone] is that the first punks were all waiting to reap some spoils from it,” said Vedder, “But it never really took off. The Ramones never took over the radio like they should have, playing arenas like they should have.”
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