Welcome,

To my guide on the grunge years.  If you find it helpful or informitive. Please rate the guide.

Once upon a time we were offered the world. We turned the world down, Of course. Thats just our nature, We dont like to be burdened, Though we though at the time our motives were nobler. We thought our refusal had a sort of philosophical underpinning, A rejection of transitory mundane glory in favor of enduring verties.

In fall of 1991 , Sixteen years ago NIRVANA's famous record nevermind was released, and there's a way of looking at things that suggests that the release of nevermind was actually a signal of the end of any kind of future for what we then thought of as ALT-ROCK , which was shorthand for Alternative rock, which had no real meaning except in opposition to the prevailing musical winds ( butt rock like poision or Motley crue ). But if you happened to be in Seattle at the time, either physically or by virtue of psychic alignment, it felt like revolution. The revolution was at hand; and the revolution was so very exciting, but yet so confusing, because no one had organized or asked for the revolution. The revolution just started and happened.

" The real thing ( like all real things ) was the moment, and the moment is gone"

Overnight, the big hair-band era was over. A thousand mousse begrimed hairdressers wept in unison. A new austerity, emphasizing content over image, wary of MTV, insistent on social responsibility of the artist, was ushered in. It didnt last, of course. It  couldnt and in any event it didnt want to. Almost before we knew what was happening, KURT COBAIN shot himself, pearl jam withdrew into a deep virtual seclusion, and metallica of all bands headlined lollapalooza. "Grunge" was celerbrated in the new-york times style section, no less as a type of fashion, when it intent was to kill fashion, at least in relation to rock music. Now, granted an anti-entertainment agenda isnt the sturdiest of platforms from which to hang a youth cultural banner, but in mind that we never expected any of this. What happened in Seattle and in dozens of less celebrated sites across the country was an outgrowth of the punk rock movement 15 plus years earlier, and thus was partly infomed by punk ideals, which stood in radical opposition to the mainstream, and to mainstream notion of success.

Which isnt to say we didnt have fun, while it lasted. I hate when people say things like " You had to be there" which is why I now officially hate myself, because, really you had to be there. Pictures canprovide a sense of the energy, And the excitment , and theres ample audio documentation, but these are just shadows of the real thing, and the real thing ( Like all real things ) was a moment and the moment is gone.

In any case apres NIRVANA Le deluge , as you may know. And even as we watched in horror while monstrous fabrications like stone temple pilots and better than ezra and matchbox 20 took the stage, we could not help but tickled by the thought that former underground hereos like MUDHONEY and unrest and th' faith healers were noe, by viture of the post nirvana gold rush, considered worthy of mainstream attention. There may be better examples but names likely mean nothing to you anyway, which is the way, ive come to think, things should have stayed. Timelessness might be an outdated and romantic and inapplicable notion, or it may be the key to the whole thing, but the way of survival for any kind of art form, for any kind of love affair, for anything that you or anyone you hold dear, is to shut the hell up about it. To avoid hype at all costs and let the thing speak for the things self. Promotion, advertizing marketing these really are tools of the devil, mit turns out, even after everyone supposedly already knew this and then moved past that knowledge in hip, postmodern , ironic fashion. You cannot co-opt what you dont know about, however, and even though its increasingly difficult to do something that nobody knows about, im told , it still might be worth the effort. Hype of the alternative movement killed the alternative movement, assuming there ever such a thing.

If there ever a next time, we'd do better to keep everything to ourselves. But at the time it felt, it really did like we were being offered the world. and even though we knew, we always knew, that we would turn the world down, it was nice to be asked.

This is part one of 4 parts. I will happy add the rest of the guide. If its found to be helpful. No need to keep a guide going. If you feel its stupid and pointless.

Thank you.