Grunge...

With the re-issue of Pearl Jam seminal debut, Ten (in four different versions no less), it brought back memories of those years. I haven't been listening to any of the bands for these few years...and why there is no definitive version of Nevermind anyway?

Any one who experiences his/her teenage formation years in the early 90s would have been exposed to grunge...yes, that lyrically angst driven music that has its roots in rain drench Seattle, although the actual first sign of its emergence is way back in mid 80s, when everyone, including myself mostly, is still into one hit wonders, stadium rockers like U2, GnR, big hairdo poodle rockers like Bon Jovi and the rest...locally there is Search, Wings and Lefthanded to rock the scene as well as to churn out enough lagu kilangs to keep graveyard shift production lines boys and girls awake and in love. Grunge came at the time when acne crops up on my face, I am either too cool for the geeks or too uncool for the indie types, girl issues crop up, hormonal rage comes in waves and general loathing of myself and others.

A grunge musician is deeply rooted in punk ethos, they looked unkempt and grimy (although later generations would incarnate into cool looking dudes and babes with DM boots and checkered shorts/skirts), with a knack for multi-layered flannel thrift stores shirts to keep the cold at bay...its unfortunate that like all fashion victims going with the times, I have personally observed some friends aping that sort of gear in tropical weather like in this country...torn acid wash jeans are still okaayyy but...flannel in the tropic...nuts, either you ended up nearly passing out after a night moshing in the now defunct Pyramid in Dsara or drenched in so much foul smelling sweats and facial oils that anyone could fry an egg. The babes are not exempted either...during then, all of us lives off our parents as students and could not afford those high end, water proofing makeup stuff so, most pretty gfs ended up look like ghouls/neo goths with all the makeup smeared and trailing lines of eye shadows down the cheeks. Grunge musicians also generally like to take lots of drugs and paid the price with their lives. I took alot of dubious club whiskey and nearly paid the price with my liver.

When Nirvana's sophomore album, Nevermind, went up the stratosphere in terms of sales, the entire world went grunge with them. Suddenly, there are Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney (one of pioneers), must get releases from labels like Sub-Pop, Soundgarden. It also open up doors from other great bands who influence or is influenced by it like Sonic Youths, Dinosaur Jr, Nine Inch Nails, nice indie single artists, not heard on airwaves before, Stone Temple Pilots, as well as...hundreds of imitators. New local bands here in the tropics began to form overnight as well, emulating their grunge heroes, but mostly unsustainable. Some are great, some are outright bogus...there are truly some classic evergreen songs from this era, particularly Nirvana's first two albums and certain live versions, as well as some from the first generations of certified true blue grunge bands like Pearl Jam, AIC and even Stone Temple Pilots who aren't even from Seattle...although I always have a nagging feeling that Pearl Jam is kinda over hyped...

Then when the general public knows who is Kurt Cobain and co, that's when you suspected that the entire thing is now so over bloated that it will implode anytime soon...like the law of diminishing return, the entire genre sounding category become so saturated that I begin to switch my attention to the Brits, particularly Oasis, Blur and other emerging Britpop (which will eventually saturate as well...) bands who are more creative and offered more varieties with their songs, with greater optimism and youthful playfulness too. There can only be so much angst to sing about...it is not going on forever. Also I reckoned throughout the years, maturity and responsibility kicks in, the acne went away (it gotta do with diet), I made some good lasting friendships with both geeks and indie types, I came to accept myself as an individual and respect others around me, girl relationship comes and go, but its alright...grunge and its theme gradually losses its relevancy to me...

Then in 1994, Kurt Cobain suddenly took a bullet, resulting in Nirvana disbanded, AIC soldiered on but eventually disbanded in 1996, followed by Soundgarden in 1997 whilst Pearl Jam during that period continued to be stifled and stuck in a quagmire of legal tussles regarding their live performances. I finally tune out for good when the so-called post grunge bands came on, like Live, Creed, Bush, Collective Souls and etc etc etc...soulless cardboard bands.