Nirvana at 25: Overlooked bands in grunge

Last Saturday was the 25th anniversary of the release of Nirvana's Nevermind, an album that was so revolutionary, it changed the face of music and of radio in general.

I was just on the end of my first stint in campus radio, from 1989-1991, when Nirvana started coming into the public consciousness. I had heard some rumblings from the Seattle scene, hearing Soundgarden's first album and the first few songs from Green River. No one was really prepared what what was going to follow though. Nevermind was a total left-field phenomenon. No one saw this album coming and no one put any faith in Nirvana of all bands, cracking into the public's collective eardrums. But happen it did.

Looking back, it's easy to forget just how tame radio looked in 1991. Check out the top singles of 1991. Brian Adams, Paula Abdul. Color Me Badd? Top 40 radio in 1991 was pure pablum. Easily digestible mush. Nirvana's arrival was like punk's arrival in 1977-1979. Punk came at the time of soaring soft-rock anthems and masturbatory prog rockers. While punk didn't make much of a dent into Top 40 radio, Nirvana sure did. And many bands followed them into the mainstream.

We know much about the Seattle bands of the time, like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and others, plus the knockoff bands looking for a slice of the pie that Nirvana brought to the picnic. Bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox, Gruntruck and Veruca Salt.

So many other bands plied this style and had little to show for it commercially, but plenty in critical acclaim and solid music legacies. Let's take a look at a few bands from that era that may have escaped your memory.

Tad - I've blogged about Tad before, and he bears talking about again. Tad Doyle's take on grunge was unique, a sloppy, beer-fueled, almost redneck style of guitar playing, heavy and precise. His lyrics took from the absurdity of rural life in the Pacific Northwest, captured well in the early track "Jack Pepsi". Tad was scooped up by Giant Records during the grunge feeding frenzy, and released a couple of solid albums on the major label, but it led to little commercial success. Their albums Inhaler and Infrared Riding Hood are great late-era grunge.

The Fluid - Denver's The Fluid had a psychedelic/garage style to their grunge. A bit too dayglo for most grunge fans, they nevertheless put out some great albums in the grunge era. A dalliance into major labels produced 1993's Purplemetalflakemusic, their best known album.

Treepeople - Treepeople were an oddly loud and arty band from Boise, Idaho. They got their big break on C/Z Records, that other grunge label in Seattle that wasn't Sub Pop Records. Their output as a band was small but had a big cult following. Frontman Doug Martsch went on to form the venerated 90s alt-rock act Built to Spill.

Love Battery - A more melodic take on grunge, Love Battery are a Seattle area band that had more in common with Soul Asylum than anything. Equally heavy, slugdy and upbeat, they had a style that would have fit right in on college radio at the time, had they not got lost in the shuffle and overlooked. They put out three albums for Sub Pop and one for C/Z. This band is still going too, after a lot of line up changes.

Green River - Green River had a short lived career and are mostly known as the band that spawned Mudhoney. Their style is much like Mudhoney's, but shorter and sloppier. In some ways, they're better than Mudhoney due to their raw, punk-based style. They're only album, 1988's Rehab Doll is a must own for any grunge fan.

Seaweed - Tacoma's Seaweed had a sound unique to the Seattle bands, much more rooted in melodic hardcore than grunge. They were more along the lines of Black Flag or Pegboy: tight, loud punk hooks that hit like a punch in the nose. This band is still together and recording, having reformed in 2007.

The Melvins - One of the longest running grunge bands of all time, Aberdeen, Washington's Melvins are also one of the strangest. Starting in 1983, their discography is full of oddly artistic sludge-metal. The Melvins are known for punishing, sloppy and loud guitars, long, slow guitar solos and completely insane, nonsensical lyrics. Notably, Kurt Cobain got his musical start as a roadie for this band. Thanks to Cobain's love of the band, they ended up on a major label too. 1993's Houdini and 1994's Stoner Witch came out on Atlantic Records. They became a favourite of Mike Patton, who signed them to his Ipecac Records label, and has recorded several albums with the band.

DNTTA Playlist for September 16, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

METZ - Wasted* - METZ (Sub Pop)
Snake River - Dear Franklin Gabriel McCrebee* - Sun Will Rise (Independent)
The Pixies - What Goes Boom - Indie Cindy (Independent)
Advertisement - Covert* - Advertisement (Independent)
The Veils - King of Crime - Total Depravity (Nettwerk)
Step Rockets - Phantom Flower - Future Nature (Harbour)
Puff - Psychological Survival - Living in the Partyzone (Puff)
The Fours - Shadows - Weekly Elbows (World of Birds)
Dead Messenger - We Will Live Again* - The Owl in Daylight (Skull Central)
JPNSGRLS - Holding Back* - Divorce (Light Organ)
Sailboats Are White - The Sex Drive Thieves* - Turbo! (Let's Just Have Some Fun)
Traitrs - Youth Cults* - Rites and Ritual (Pleasence)

Weird World of Old Records #3: Janet Greene

Lately, I've been digging through the Oddity Archive, er... archives, a great Youtube channel about obsolete media and other weird things, like oddball music. I was reviewing the bits about the Max Headroom Incident, which still fascinates me, then saw the link for something I had totally forgotten he had recorded: a show about right wing folk music.

Yes, right wing folk. We tend to think of folk music as the genre of the left wing singer, people like Pete Seeger or Billy Bragg, singing about the union and the rights of workers. But, yes, the right wing establishment did try to make folk music to lure the people listening to folk away from the commies on the left. And it's equally hilariously inept and infuriatingly ignorant.

With Trump monopolizing the right wing dunce demographic right now, it's easy to dismiss him as a simple moron. With some of these songs, recorded back in the 60s, you can hear that Trump's ideas, or the ideas of the Tea Party and Free Republic, aren't that new.

With Janet Greene's "Fascist Threat", we see her framing the argument that fascism isn't a right wing idea, but a communist idea. Because Benito Mussolini, that guy was a total socialist and bleeding heart, right? The same shifting of the goal posts like the Tea Party claiming the KKK was created by the Democrats and that they are the real racists, save that the Democrats that gave rise to the KKK were people like Strom Thurmond.

The music is horrid in its craftsmanship, and completely inept in it's political framing. But it's a very strange and interesting listening. These are the records that I truly cringe and grin at, and the one's I really want in my collection, because they're so weird, not in their musical styles, but in their place in history. The type of records you say, "Really? Someone recorded this? I need to hear that!"

Forgotten Music #22: Those French Girls - "Close Up" (1982)

I came across Those French Girls thanks to a sampler I bought at a used record store about a year back. Kelly's Records used to have these in-house samplers they'd play in their stores, and most of them covered a lot of Canadian new wave. Finding one of these samplers in the wild is unusual, since they weren't meant to be sold. I love me some Canadian new wave, and I also love me some obscure records, so I had to have it.

On Rocktober 82, in between tracks from Spoons, The Extras, Blue Peter and (oddly) Anvil, Santers and Steppenwolf were two non-Canadian bands, English metal band Tank and Scottish new wave band Those French Girls.

Scottish new wave has a long and varied pedigree, and a unique sound in the world of new wave music. Scottish new wave had a jangly and melodic tone missing in English new wave, and many bands had an almost folky sound. The biggest names to come out of the Scottish scene were Simple Minds, Big Country, Lloyd Cole and Aztec Camera. The scene also spawned the Waterboys, who had a distinct Celtic folk feel, the punk feel of the Rezillos, and the affected pop of Altered Images. Then there were less successful but no less interesting bands like the manic Orange Juice and the noise-punk of the Fire Engines.

Those French Girls were one of the more obscure bands from the Scottish scene. They released just one album, 1982's Those French Girls, and two EPs, then disappeared. This album appeared on the UK label Safari Records, which was then released on the Canadian label Attic, which explains why they're appearing on this Canadian record store sampler.

DNTTA Playlist for September 9. 2016

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

Beast - Mr. Hurricane* - Beast (Pheromone)
MoonMuseum - Edge City* - Eternal Return (Independent)
MoonMuseum - Expressions* - Eternal Return (Independent)
MoonMuseum - Manta Ray* - Eternal Return (Independent)
MoonMuseum - Sow* - Eternal Return (Independent)
Kenna Burima - God's Little Soldier* - Hymn (Independent)
No Aloha - Season of Light* - Deluxe (Independent)
Lie - Big Enough* - Truth or Consequences (Monofonus Press)

I ran an interview with Edmonton's MoonMuseum in this show. Listen to it here.

DNTTA Playlist for September 2, 2015

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

White Lung - Demented* - Paradise (Domino)
Woolworm - Evil Until I Die* - Everything Seems Obvious (Hockey Dad)
T.O.Y.S. - Soul Remains - Sicks (Independent)
Moulettes - Underwaterpainter - Preternatural (Pipe and Hat)
TJ Webb - Country Girl* - Logic and Guns (Independent)
Braids - Trophies for Paradox* - Companion EP (Flemish Eye)
Ominar - The Lake* - Leaving (Independent)
As Waters - Dame Atlantis* - As Waters (Independent)
Forbidden Dimension - The Lucifer Brain* - Every
Heaven for Real - No One Knows Her* - Kill Your Memory (Mint)
Fountain - Landline* - Fountain 2 (Independent)
Rose Windows - Come Get Us Again - Rose Windows (Sub Pop)
The Vagrants - Respect - Nuggets 40th Anniversary (Elektra)

Someone Knows Something: The J. Jonah Jamesons - "Parker Get in Here"

For years, I've been hunting for a white whale. I only vaguely remember the song, but I know for sure I ran into it during my time at CKUL/CKXU in Lethbridge. It was a punk band, I think from Calgary, called the J. Jonah Jamesons, doing a song called "Parker Get in Here".

Searching for this song and band is futile. Someone knows something about this song. If you do, please comment on this post!

DNTTA Playlist for August 26, 2016 - All Covers Show

Artist - Song - Album (Label)  * indicates Canadian Content 

Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca 

--

Reid Jamieson - Suzanne (Leonard Cohen)* - Dear Leonard (Independent)
The Soup Dragons - I'm Free (The Rolling Stones) - Lovegod (Big Life)
The Bird and the Bee - Kiss on My List (Hall and Oates) - Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1 (Blue Note)
Skullfinger - Walk Right In (Rooftop Singers/Gus Cannon)* - Turn Down the Quiet (Ulusulu)
Hellsongs - We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister) - Songs in the Key of 666 (Aporia)
Grant Lee Buffalo - We've Only Just Begun (The Carpenters) - If I Were a Carpenter (A&M)
Frank Black - Hang On to Your Ego (Beach Boys) - Frank Black (4AD)
Orchestra Baobab - Clementine Jam (Grateful Dead) - Day of the Dead (4AD)
Von Zippers - Truck Stop Nun (De Slyme)* - Oh Canaduh! 2 (Lance Rock)
Quiet Riot - Mama Weer All Crazee Now (Slade) - Condition Critical (Pasha)
Marilyn Manson - I Put a Spell on You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) - Lost Highway OST (Nothing)
Weird Al Yankovic - Another One Rides the Bus (Queen) - Weird Al Yankovic (Scotti Bros)

Video Playlist #8: Really Really Red

Kind of a last minute playlist for the first Thursday of September. I've been busy writing and working, but I think I got a good thematic playlist together. Bands all named after the colour red.

Those of you interested in these playlist and who are on reddit, check out r/musicthemetime. I've been posting there regularly since I found it!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0QOmyo1JgZffVDvkpq78HWL2i04NTZz4

1) Really Red - Teaching You the Fear
2) Red Red Meat - Smoke Mountain Double Dip
3) Redambergreen* - Storms and Rain
4) Red Mass* - Sharp
5) King Crimson - Cage
6) Red Rider* - Lunatic Fringe
7) Red Handed Denial* - Manipulator
8) Red Ants* - Dirty Space Alchemy
9) Redd Kross - Annie's Gone
10) Red Elvises - Surfin' in Siberia
11) Green on Red - Sea of Cortez
12) Vox Vermillion* - Underground
13) Leon Redbone - Seduced
14) Red Arms* - Chorus of Life