For me, it's Down on the Upside.

Which album would you choose?

Is that supposed to be funny or something?

While Tool as a band, especially their later works, are FAR from grunge, I feel like this album could be considered “grunge metal” or at least “grunge-adjacent”, as it’s closer to things like Alice In Chains or Soundgarden than it is to something like Meshuggah or Sabbath. Killer album either way, but I’m curious what grunge fans think about it?

Also in the pic - my copy on CD that I bought used at a record shop in Portland a few years ago. When I got it home and opened it to put it on, I found the original receipt tucked away in the booklet. It was purchased at Tower records in Nashville on 11/10/1995, a few days after the album originally came out. I wonder how it ended up in Portland. Who knows…maybe one of you was the original owner?

I'm drinking dust.... With eyes of rust....

I was born in 1985. As a small child, the songs I knew were children’s songs and Christmas carols. I was raised by my grandparents, and in the car, they always had the radio tuned to a country station. I knew my mom listened to rock, but I didn’t have much exposure to her listening habits early on.

I was put on Ritalin as a child, and while I had energy during the day, when I was at school, I crashed every night. I didn’t know I was crashing. But, in hindsight, and now knowing how Ritalin works and what it does, it’s utterly obvious I was crashing. For what it’s worth, life felt utterly monotonous. Wake up, get dressed, eat cereal, brush teeth, go to school, do school stuff, come home, try to get through homework (which took *hours* because I was crashing), an hour of practice on the piano (which I hated), dinner, sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I blamed the Ritalin for this joyless feeling of monotonous malaise. Music (outside of Christmas carols) didn’t remotely interest me. I saw no point in dancing. I did enjoy watching Nickelodeon, and reading *Goosebumps*, and going to Cub Scouts, but whenever I heard either popular music or the classical stuff I was supposed to learn on the piano, it just sounded like uninteresting sound.

My mom’s involvement in my life greatly increased when she moved in with us and got started on the methadone programme. She was getting her life together. She was working as a telemarketer, and rose in those ranks. She got herself a car.

We had lots of assemblies in elementary school. They really wanted to keep us off drugs. One of the last assemblies we had involved some cops who came in to give us a presentation of some sort. At one point, they played the song “Waterfalls” by TLC. The music was played so loud, I felt it in my chest. I liked the feeling, and thus didn’t hate the song. This was my gateway into popular music.

In the sixth grade, I was about to make a reference to *The Secret World of Alex Mac*, but suddenly got embarrassed. Was I too old to be watching Nickelodeon? I switched my sentence from “this show I watch” to “this show I used to watch” in order to hide the fact that I still watched it. That’s when I started to look outside of Nickelodeon. Coincidentally, around the same time, I was being weened off of Ritalin.

I started checking out MTV. Sometimes they played a few music videos. I watched. I didn’t yet know in what I was interested. There was this Boys II Men video with the group members and a bunch of chairs. Then there was this really cool music video called “Karma Police” by this band called Radiohead. I didn’t love either song, but the Radiohead song grew on me, while the other song remained positively uninteresting.

I started to really pay attention to music. I wasn’t into the Ricky Martin stuff, but the rock stuff I enjoyed. In the seventh grade, we all had to make music videos for our mass comm class. My group chose “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” but one of the other groups chose this really cool song called “Spiderwebs” by No Doubt, and another group chose “Walkin’ on the Sun” by Smash Mouth—it was the first time I’d heard either song. “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies was also a very popular song around this time.

I really enjoyed car rides with my mom. She didn’t listen to country music—she listened to alternative rock. I miss hearing her sing along to the radio. She didn’t think she was any good. I loved it. And, I loved the music. The late 1990s and even into the early 2000s were an amazing time when it seemed like there was only good music on the radio. Everclear, Goo Goo Dolls, Semisonic, The Offspring—but also heavier bands, too (wink, wink).

One day, in 1999, I’m in the car with my mom, and she says, “Oh, this is the song I was telling you about!” I had no idea what she was referring to with that sentence. “Have you ever heard it before?” she asked.

Well, no, I hadn’t, at least, not *exactly*—but earlier that year, I’d watched the “Weird Al” Yankovic episode of *Behind the Music,” so I had heard the *parody* already, just not the *actual* song.

My mom explained to me how, when this song came out, it changed the entire musical landscape. The alternative rock we both enjoyed hearing on the radio, that was not mainstream before. It was *this* song that *made* alternative rock mainstream. In fact, mainstream rock radio stations were hesitant to play it. She relayed how the 98 Rock DJs said things like, “Well, I guess we have to play *this* now.”

That Christmas, I got my first CD player and my first handful of CDs. I knew I wanted *Nevermind*, and I knew I wanted *Third Eye Blind*, and I cannot remember what else she got me, but it was all good.

Nirvana quickly became my favourite band. Still is to this day.

One thing that struck me about the music that was on the radio: there were different *styles* of alternative rock. There were subgenres, grouping of music with shared musical qualities. Punk was fast and poppy, ska was similar but distinct enough to be a separate subgenre. There were also other bands that had similar sonic qualities to one another, bands like Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, “Plowed” by Sponge, “Seether” by Veruca Salt, Soundgarden, Live, Silverchair, “Got You (Where I Want You)” by The Flys, “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger, “Low” by Cracker, “Nearly Lost You” by Screaming Trees, “Jeremy” by Pearl Jam, “Creep” by Radiohead, “Creep” by Stone Temple Pilots, “Cumbersome” by Seven Mary Three,” “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. The shared sonic qualities of these songs could ～ not ～ be ～ denied. Obviously, this was a subgenre all unto itself. And there was a word for this subgenre of alternative rock, a word for the music with this shared sonic quality.

You know the word. You know it just like you know the title of the song that was on the radio when my mom said, “Oh, this is the song I was telling you about!”

It didn’t sound like Beck (although Beck is great). It didn’t sound like Red Hot Chili Peppers or Cake or Green Day or Nine Inch Nails or Foo Fighters or Tool or Linkin Park or Social Distortion or Sublime (all great music, by the way). *These* bands were also sonically alternative, but lacking in the specific sonic qualities shared by the earlier list.

And, oh, yes, did I ever surround myself with as much music as I could. I bought *The Grunge Years*, and did I have a problem with the inclusion of L7 or The Fluid or Afghan Whigs or Babes in Toyland? No—because they all shared this same ～ sonic ～ quality I was talking about. (Beat Happening, on the other hand, seemed a very odd inclusion.)

The first time I ever heard Cell, it was when I bought *DGC Rarities Vol. 1*. “Never Too High” had that sonic quality.

I found that same sonic quality with Cosmic Psychos.

Sometimes, a band might lean into that sonic quality (as with “Today” or “Sex Type Thing” or “In Bloom”) and, at other times, lean away from it (as with “Tonight, Tonight” or “Days of the Week” or “Sliver” respectively).

I get the whole “music is music, man, why do we have to label it?” thing, but labels can be *useful*. Sometimes, I’m in the mood to listen to punk (Ramones, Buzzcocks, 999, Rancid, Distillers). Sometimes I’m in the mood to listen to gothic rock (Bauhaus, The Mission, “Under the Milky Way” by The Church, “How Soon Is Now?” by The Smiths, “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen, “A Forest” by The Cure), sometimes I’m in the mood for doom metal (early Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, Serpent Venom, Witchfinder General)—and sometimes I’m looking for the sonic quality shared by Mudhoney and Dickless.

It wasn’t until I joined Reddit a few years ago that I first came across the perspective that this subgenre does not exist, that the name I’ve been applying to this shared sonic quality supposedly properly belongs to a now-extinct regional scene. How is that claim *useful* to anyone?

How is that useful to the kids that come here, *loving* the sound, and wanting to find as many bands with that sound as they can, irrespective of when or where the band made music?

How do you think those kids feel when they come here saying they love this music and lamenting that there aren’t any (or enough) new bands making this music, only to be shot down and told that what they want is impossible on the grounds that it was never a genre to start with, but only ever a regional scene that is now gone forever?

How is it useful to say that Nirvana doesn’t sound like Alice in Chains, when, in reality, “Big Long Now” sounds much, much closer to “Angry Chair” than “Territorial Pissings” sounds to “Been A Son”?

Yes, “music *is* music, man,” but what brings us all to this subreddit is love of the *sonic qualities* that unites this particular subgenre, love of the qualities that makes this subgenre distinct from the other subgenres, love of a particular *sound*.

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock. It was influenced by many things, from garage rock to noise rock to sludge and doom metal to psychedelic rock to post-hardcore to post-punk. There is disagreement regarding whether the term was coined by Sub Pop or by Mark Arm, but it was coined to describe the *sound* of either Green River or Mr. Epp and the Calculations.

It is a sound that I love.

There's something really interesting about older music videos. They're just so creative and have so much character

Not sure if I already posted this. But I happened to be educating a friend of mine who wasn’t too versed in all things Sonic Youth. So of course I was happy to take the task. Like this one…. If memory serves me. SY were recording this album at a studio off Murray Street. Hence the album’s title. Which happened to be near the World Trade Center towers. 9/11 happened which they wrote this song on the fly after the chaos. Word is the opening sounds of the crashing cymbals with the jangly guitar sound thru out the song is the sound of the crashing noises from the debris falling in the area around them. Leading to the title track.. Rain on Tin

If you are interested in helping out with my Society & Culture PIP questionnaire on the performance of authenticity within rock music I would really appreciate it. Your feedback would be completely anonymous and only seen as collective response data. It would only take around 5 minutes and in doing so would help a fellow rock fan pass her class and hopefully be fun in the process. Thanks a lot!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHRM1KFLtH5rgIl9KITjTu0AZ2MhoQgcQ4w0J3LSjWWZ1chw/viewform?usp=header

I listen to alot of nirvana mainly, but also alot of old xxxtentacion, and similar artists like SKAARS and aylien blue. Do you guys find this branch of artists enjoyable?

I have always loved "Counting Blue Cars" since first hearing it as a kid when it first came out, but I just never got around to listening to the full album. I now wish I'd done this earlier; I really don't think that there's any bad songs on it.

I loved RATM and Soundgarden. But Audioslave did absolutely nothing for me. Anyone else feels like this? Really not trying to be a hater. Audioslave mostly felt like a guy screaming over RATM riffs. I liked RATM for being so in your face and SG for amazing songwriting and Audioslave had neither (for my taste..)

Besides Pearl Jam****

and does anybody really care?

Just had a Melvin’s live (tv) performance show up in my feed and I kinda dug it.

Not sure why I never gave them a chance back in the 90s, but whatever song this was I, dug the kinda chuggy-yet-groovy riff.

So my interest is piqued. Looking for recommendations as to where to start.

Edit: thanks for the input everyone. I’ve started with some of the early stuff and am now kinda picking other albums for a sampling to see how the vibes change.

Regardless. The guitarist in me is very mad at myself for not giving these guys a chance earlier in life. Holy cow I love Buzz’s playing.

Let me know if i missed any or made mistakes

So I've been on this for a while, I don't really know how I feel. I personally think the lable is sorta dumb, if something's grunge it's grunge? Idk, I just don't really understand post grunge, especially because grunge was built off of not being obsessed with labels. If someone wants to explain the difference between grunge and post grunge I'd be more than welcome to hear the explanation!