Smells Like Seattle: the history of grunge in 10 songs
By the end of 1990, rock and roll didn’t feel like it was real anymore. The lingering stench of hair metal was still in the air, but there was no clear place to go afterwards. The next trend was anyone’s guess until we started hearing new sounds from Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
Arriving like a bolt of lightning, the new wave of grunge rock was a breath of fresh air from the tight spandex of hair metal just a few years earlier. In the span of a few weeks, tight pants and hairspray were out the door, and fans were lacing up their Doc Martens and throwing on their grimiest flannel shirts.
The music was the most important, though. Taking the sounds of old-school rock and roll and punk, these artists saw rock and roll as an anything-goes mentality, with songs that could hit like a sledgehammer or plucked out on an acoustic guitar.
Even if the song was a little hard to understand, what the words had to say almost didn’t matter. It was about how the music made you feel, and even if you couldn’t quite pin down what they were saying, you knew it was some of the most intense feelings on Earth.
The history of grunge in 10 songs:
‘This is Shangri La’ – Mother Love Bone
None of the Seattle natives were looking to make it big. At the beginning of grunge, these were just a bunch of kids getting their rocks and figuring out what they wanted to be. However, for a first outing, Mother Love Bone had tons of potential from the get-go.
While the term ‘grunge’ might have been used loosely here, ‘This is Shangri La’ was ground zero for some of the most adventurous sounds of Seattle, combining everything from arena rock to funk rock to even a bit of humour sprinkled into the mix. Taking the sounds of ‘70s rock, Andy Wood is the ultimate frontman of grunge, strutting around like his heroes Paul Stanley and Freddie Mercury.
Though the song was meant for a stadium, the band was not, with Wood passing away from a drug overdose before the album was even released.
‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ – Mudhoney
The mission statement behind most grunge bands was to take the piss out of regular rock and roll. Although Mudhoney may have started in the same clubs that gave us Mother Love Bone, they were the punk counterpart to Mother Love Bone’s arena rock.
Across ‘Touch Me I’m Sick,’ Mark Arm doesn’t care what key he’s singing in, looking to make enough noise to break the entire place to the ground. Whereas most grunge rockers got soaring choruses to tie their songs together, Arm mentions feeling sick as he wails over this track, crossing the boundaries between hardcore punk and drunken screaming.
The sounds of Seattle weren’t being blasted into homes across America just yet, but this was the baby steps into something more abrasive. Grunge may have thrived on having heavy riffs, but Mudhoney also had a healthy respect for the Stooges in their music as well.
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – Nirvana
There’s always been a debate as to where grunge really started. It may have begun in the late ‘80s when bands were still trying to find their sound, or it could have started when Mother Love Bone formed. One thing that’s not up for debate: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ lit the entire scene on fire.
After making a pretty decent debut record with Bleach, not even Kurt Cobain was prepared for what happened to this song, becoming a rallying cry for disenfranchised kids who just wanted something better than Poison for the 1000th time. While it is technically a pop song, Cobain puts a lot of contradictory statements against each other, being just as jaded as his audience.
Despite becoming a cornerstone of ‘90s culture, this became an albatross over Cobain’s neck, who hated the glossy production of the record despite fans calling him the next voice of his generation. Then again, you don’t get to be one of the biggest bands in the world if you don’t have good songs, and this track touched Generation X right on its wound.
‘Hunger Strike’ – Temple of the Dog
In the aftermath of Andy Wood’s passing, Mother Love Bone didn’t know if they were going to be a band again. In an effort to console his musician friends, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell suggested they make Temple of the Dog, with the surviving members of the band creating an album with him in tribute to Wood’s memory.
Though ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ might be the tearjerker from the record, ‘Hunger Strike’ was a better indication as to where the band was going to be heading next. In the midst of recording, the band found a singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder, who duetted with Cornell on this track.
Hearing both of these alt-rock giants bouncing off each other is already surreal, but this supergroup wasn’t meant to last. Soundgarden had commitments to keep, and the beginnings of Pearl Jam were already underway.
‘Man In the Box’ – Alice in Chains
It feels strange putting every single band from Seattle under the grunge umbrella. Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were used to playing rock and roll that filled up arenas, while Kurt Cobain always held onto his punk credentials in Nirvana. As for Alice in Chains, this was the closest the Seattle scene came to a bonafide metal band.
Although Alice was not treated warmly on their first tours while opening for Van Halen, ‘Man in the Box’ was what made people turn their heads. It had a riff so heavy that Tony Iommi could have hammered it out in the first incarnation of Black Sabbath. Though the tune was heavy, the real standout was the harmonising between Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley, creating an element of beauty in between the harsh riffs.
The good times weren’t meant to last for too long. As the band became more popular, their personal lives continued to spiral, leading to albums where they are practically at death’s door, like Jar of Flies. However, when everything was dialled, there was no one else in Seattle who could hold a candle to these guys.
‘Black’ – Pearl Jam
Everything in Seattle has been defined by some sort of tragedy. The death of Mother Love Bone cast a shroud over Pearl Jam initially, but Eddie Vedder helped put them back on track. Then again, Vedder had his own share of demons too, and he was tapping into something much more vulnerable on ‘Black’.
Though most of Ten is a brutal listen from a lyrical perspective, this is a basic breakup song that shows Vedder wearing his heart on his sleeve. Although Vedder seems to accept the fact that his lover doesn’t want to see him anymore, you can feel the emotion draining out of him with every held note, practically sounding on the verge of tears throughout the performance.
The real gut punch comes at the end of the tune, where Vedder hopes that someday this person will have a beautiful life, only to wish that he were still in it in some capacity. The sound of grunge may not have done cheesy ballads, but there’s nothing cheesy about making yourself this vulnerable.
‘Spoonman’ – Soundgarden
Out of every band to come out of Seattle, Soundgarden were the first to be pegged for stardom. Chris Cornell’s voice was slowly becoming one of the most powerful voices in rock and roll, but things took a different turn once Nirvana became the biggest band in the world. While Soundgarden were the last of the ‘Big Four’ of grunge to have mainstream success, they made the most of what they had when they unleashed ‘Spoonman’.
In the wake of classics like ‘Black Hole Sun’, this feels like the Seattle answer to ‘Black Dog’ by Led Zeppelin, with Chris Cornell tapping into his Robert Plant wails. Although this ended up being one of the biggest songs of their career, it’s also full of surprises, like the 7/4 time signature throwing you for a loop before settling into the main groove.
After spending almost a decade cutting their teeth in the underground, this was the moment when Soundgarden went from Seattle’s brightest stars to one of the kings of rock and roll. Since it took them so long to get to primetime, ‘Spoonman’ is what happens when you let a band roam free in the studio. Soundgarden may have been the Zeppelin of the ‘90s, but they were no copycats. They were looking to take what Page and Plant did and take it one step further.
‘Interstate Love Song’ – Stone Temple Pilots
When talking about the greatest grunge bands of all time, it gets a bit awkward talking about Stone Temple Pilots. For as much success as they got at the time, some Seattle purists thought Scott Weiland’s lazy baritone was a carbon copy of Eddie Vedder. While there were some definite similarities, even Pearl Jam couldn’t have written anything as breezy as ‘Interstate Love Song’.
Compared to every other grunge song, this tune is almost closer to country in its construction, making you feel like you just landed on a highway bound for nowhere. Despite being pegged as poster boys, there’s a lot more going on underneath the surface here, like Dean DeLeo using jazzy chords in the verses to throw off the original groove.
While most grunge bands were channelling people like Neil Young, this is what grunge would have sounded like if the Eagles had written it. Grunge may have always been about rebelling against the mainstream, but there’s nothing wrong with writing a good tune every now and again.
‘Touch Peel and Stand’ – Days of the New
Most grunge fans didn’t know what to do after the death of Kurt Cobain. The news of his suicide sent a shockwave through the world of rock, and some fans are still recovering from losing one of their icons so suddenly. The grunge scene was ready to take over the world, so what do you do when the leader of the pack dies by his own hand? The answer: you keep pushing through.
Although Days of the New comes right at the border between grunge and post-grunge, their unique approach to the genre set them apart from their contemporaries. Sticking mostly to acoustic guitars, ‘Touch Peel and Stand’ is the ultimate sound of frustration, as Travis Meeks finally lets go of his inhibitions and tells this unnamed person what he really thinks of them.
Then again, the sound of Meeks’ voice became sort of a litmus test over the years, as bands kept copying him and Eddie Vedder to create the dreaded yarl of Scott Stapp. This tone of voice may have worn out its welcome, but it’s all about how to use it properly, and Meeks is out for blood here.
‘Monkey Wrench’ – Foo Fighters
No one would have blamed Dave Grohl if he never wanted to pick up an instrument ever again after Nirvana ended. Although Grohl decided to get out of music for a while, seeing Nirvana memorabilia everywhere started to get to him. After wallowing in his sadness for a little while, Grohl found the one thing that was going to help him out of his funk: music.
Although the debut Foo Fighters record was indicative of the older grunge sound, ‘Monkey Wrench’ was the first shot of optimism from Grohl, penning an optimistic breakup song with a melody that owed as much to the Beatles as it did to Minor Threat. Despite being a nightmare to record, this shiny side of grunge was a message to everyone who got burned by Cobain’s passing.
It was never going to be easy to move on from grunge’s glory years, but songs like this meant it didn’t have to be all bad. Grunge was beautiful while it lasted, and if someone like Grohl could overcome Cobain’s passing, then so could we.
