Here’s a look at the very second alternative music took a hard left turn into the Pacific Northwest …and the industry changed forever.
OT: MTV 120 minutes Enjoy
- Thread starter ChiefJusticeMarshall
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Till this day, the moment the opening riff followed by Grohl attacking the drums...I mean it is a great song. It takes me immediately back to being in my 20's.
Had a similar experience and saw Oasis at legendary St. Andrews Hall in Detroit in early 1995 a few months after I graduated law school. never heard of them then but had a roommate that was really tuned in to the UK alt rock scene and dragged a couple of us along with him to see them. Maybe 600-700 people there in a very small venue. We were just blown away, the Gallagher Bros were on reasonably good behavior that night and just blew the roof off the place. At the time I believe it was their first US tour. About a year later they were drawing 100k-plus crowds in soccer stadiums all over the UK. One of those moments I look back on as a lucky time, lucky place for me.
Also while in high school in 1985 I went with some older kids to see a UK band nobody around here had ever heard of called The Smiths at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in suburban Detroit near where I grew up. We went into the restaurant next door for a pre-show burger. At the bar near us were a weird looking dude with a heavy UK accent with another more normal looking dude also with a heavy UK accent having a smoke and a drink, pretty much keeping to themselves. I knew the Smiths were a UK band and I wondered if these odd dudes were part of the show that night. Turns out it was Morrissey and Billy Bragg, who opened for The Smiths that night. The Smiths' second US show ever, right there in Royal Oak, Michigan, and I was there. They became one of my all time favorite bands and I tried to see them any time they were in town for years.
Lots of good stuff from my ear in the posts above. I still listen to it every day, it will always be "my music".
I'm probably not getting the story exactly correct, but I remember hearing Jani Lane from Warrant in an interview saying he had a meeting with some record company executives at Columbia in the early 90's (their label at the time) and the walls of the conference room were plastered with posters from Nirvanna and other grunge bands. He said he knew at that moment the days were numbered for Warrant & other hair metal bands from the 80's .
Love the Smiths story…but can’t stand the Oasis talk on a day that the club they are intertwined with won the league for the 4th year in a row.
that’s very interesting. It reminds me of Winger knowing their careers were over the day they saw Stuart on Beavis and Butthead wearing their shirt. Lol.
I looked up the release dates of two iconic songs of that era. Alive by Pearl Jam was released in July 1991. And the world premier of the SLTS video was September of 1991. Pearl Jam fans could argue that they started the revolution.
Personally I do remember being on the west coast for the summer of 1991, listening to Pearl Jam, Chapterhouse, Ned’s Aromic Dustbin, etc while out there, and then bringing Pearl Jam music back to my dorm in August. I don’t remember SLTS surfacing until parties later that Fall.
For me personally, hairbands fizzled out in 1989 or so and I gravitated to new jack swing type stuff (Teddy Reilly produced music)…and then my summers out west in 90,91, and 92 turned me onto alternative.
I remember it was fall of 1991 and pretty sure Nirvanna, Pearl Jam, and the Chili Peppers came to town. Didn't even play a big venue, might have been the Syria Mosque? Anyways that goes down as my biggest regret of missing a concert (the other being Prince which fell on the same night as Pitt homecoming. Needless to say I chose homecoming and regretted it ever since).
Since we are on this thread and the suspicion is many of those following it are my age, here is a question to yinz. Did you follow country music in HS or college or even now? And the follow up to this, when did this become popular? I mean Southern Rock was big in HS, but that was as "country" as people got around here. These major drunkfests, the Paisley concerts and others, they weren't a thing back then. I can remember the Springsteen show in I think 85 was the concert event of the summer. And not everyone really liked Springsteen, but it was the party event. I imagine this is similar with some of these big country acts. But I don't remember kids in the 80's really paying much attention to country music. In college especially.
I am not from Freeport. LOL. Next town towards Pittsburgh. And yes and no. Not really. I was always more of a U2/REM/Cure/Fixx/INXS guy over hair band or pop.
On September 30, 1991, my buddy went to see a band at Graffiti and asked me to go. He said they had a new album that was released the week before, so he wanted to see them. We were having a big party that night, so I declined to go with him.
After the show, he came to the party and I asked how it was. He said it was good and different from most of the music he had heard in recent years. He said only about 20 people were there. I asked what the band’s name was and he said, “Nirvana”. A few days later, we saw the “Teen Spirit” video on MTV.
I choked.
Nirvana played at Graffiti in September of ‘91.
Wasn't that one of the Lollopalooza's?? I know in 1992 Pearl Jam and the RHCP's were on the same venue. I checked, Nirvana never played 'palooza.
I think it was what zap mentioned above, a show at Graffiti that featured Nirvanna, Pearl Jam and Chili Peppers in the fall of 91. 92 you are correct about Lollopalooza.
