Grunge or Britpop

aginor wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: I'd never consider Pearl Jam a grunge band. They were/are a rock n roll band who just so happened to have a dude singing from way back in his throat - just like most of the grunge bands had. The guitars and rhythm section were taken straight out of the 70s if you ask me. Anyway, I dig a few bands from both sides of the fence: Supergrass, Blur (13 is a wonderful album!) and The Verve. Alice in Chains and Melvins. Like I said, I don't hear Pearl Jam as a grunge band and that goes for Soundgarden as well. Both are pretty good bands, although it's been a while since I last listened to either.  No vote I guess about Pearl Jam, its spessial case, in many ways they are grunge band in such a way its quite wrongly to suggest otherways, why!. Just by whixh bands that preseves PJ, grunge history would have no meat haddent it been because of the three bands which Pearl Jam consists of two of them are on Deep Six, Green River, Malfunksion and Mother Love Bone out of the ashes of MLB came Pearl Jam as a reaction on the death of Andrew Wood, grungefirst reality check, spawn the band Temple of the Dog, Chris Cornell was Andy Woods room-mate, Pearl Kam is historicly the grunge neuronsystem. Im not saying this to sound likrme a smartass but i have studdied grunge on a nigh- antropological level

Don't worry Agi, I agree - from a historical pov Pearl Jam is probably the quintessential grunge band ( i have the Temple of the Dog album too and know the history quite well) I was merely talking about their sound.

^ I've never really been able to appreciate the difference between the two, notwithstanding the local flavours inherent in any scene, I mean as others have pointed out, isn't indie rock from Seattle, London, Brisbane, Buenos Aries, CapeTown, Neptune etc, no matter how 'edgy' still just erm..indie rock? I also think the assertion that grunge was predominantly nihilistic/pessimistic compared with the perceived optimism of Brit Pop as overly simplistic. I didn't vote because I'm a sad old man who smells of pee.


Edited by ExittheLemming - April 09 2014 at 06:58

Sub pop was an indie label

Strange - any American guitar led band which came out of that particular area got labelled grunge & any UK guitar led band got labelled brit-pop (reminds me when Elvis Costello & Ian Dury emerged in the late 70s, they were initially labelled punk )

Blur, Suede, Manics, Oasis & Pulp definitely spoke more to me as a listener in the early 90s than did the new American bands emerging at the time (although Pearl Jam & Soundgarden impressed me from the first).

Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Definitely a big Mansun fan, good Dr, and easily their first album, and probably the third have plenty of Brit-pop moments throughout! Actually, there's plenty of bits on `Six' like that as well, stuff like `Being A Girl', etc. Terrific band - great singer, sh*t-hot guitar player too.

Now you're talking - one of the great bands nobody ever heard of at the time (no! Not Marilyn Manson, you head!); saw them many times & they never disappointed ('Television' even a tad proggy...? )

Toaster Mantis wrote: For the most time "indie" just meant anything on an independent label, I don't think it really started referring to a specific musical style until the 21st century or at least the mid/late-1990s. I'm also pretty sure all the big names in grunge and most of the Britpop acts were on major labels.

Point taken but I think that a literal interpretation is meaningless from the point of view that 'indie' for me denotes an attitude and maybe guitar oriented texture regardless of the status of the record label.

ExittheLemming wrote: Jim Garten wrote: Strange - any American guitar led band which came out of that particular area got labelled grunge & any UK guitar led band got labelled brit-pop (reminds me when Elvis Costello & Ian Dury emerged in the late 70s, they were initially labelled punk ) Blur, Suede, Manics, Oasis & Pulp definitely spoke more to me as a listener in the early 90s than did the new American bands emerging at the time (although Pearl Jam & Soundgarden impressed me from the first). Aussie-Byrd-Brother wrote: Definitely a big Mansun fan, good Dr, and easily their first album, and probably the third have plenty of Brit-pop moments throughout! Actually, there's plenty of bits on `Six' like that as well, stuff like `Being A Girl', etc. Terrific band - great singer, sh*t-hot guitar player too. Now you're talking - one of the great bands nobody ever heard of at the time (no! Not Marilyn Manson, you head!); saw them many times & they never disappointed ('Television' even a tad proggy...? ) I'm a tad confused, what do you mean by Television even a tad proggy? (If you mean the late 70's NYC Tom Verlaine fronted band then they were neither proggy or punk)

No, Jim! Try this:



Give the whole track a chance, and dig that ultra-proggy album cover!

Actually, this may be ever better:

Dig the instrumental stretch that starts at about 1:45, and the searing electric guitar at about 5:40.

Grunge (excl. Nirvana) by far... although maybe not the best term to describe the likes of AIC and Soundgarden

Grunge, probably.

^ Well said Rihanna, I adore the mancunian critters also but they seem to attract a lot of flak round these prog parts y'all?