As I attempt to post more, I will focus on six weekly records to feature here, and maybe I will get around to posting on Instagram. I despise social media at the present.
April 5th marks the anniversary of both Kurt Cobain and Layne Stayle’s deaths. Kurt died when I was single digits old and first starting to develop music tastes outside of what my parents introduced me to. Layne died when I was in high school. It would be several years before Chris Cornell passed, but that day I felt like a good chunk of my childhood music was missing.
As a metalhead, I have had criticism over the years related to grunge and the depressive music I thoroughly enjoy. I’m thankful I’ve met more metalheads over the years who share my affinity for grunge. It’s still heavy in my rotation and I especially like to revisit certain albums this week.
I remember listening to a Mike Hill (Tombs) podcast and him talking about the word grunge failing to adequately describe a genre. He’s not wrong; Nirvana sounds wildly different from Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, respectively. However, we all know what bands we are talking about when we use that descriptor. Some of my most played/the albums I want to draw the most attention to for this week are below.
Nirvana – Bleach
“Sliver” was one of the first songs I gravitated toward as a kid. I mean, lyrically, at the age of 6, it was accessible—ha! I always wanted to go to my grandma’s, though. It was catchy and got stuck in my head. I think Kurt was an incredible songwriter for that, even though pick at him for his simplicity. It probably helped that I was infatuated with The Beatles too. I kinda understand how Kurt went from writing this album into Nevermind. To this day, I appreciate how In Utero was released after Nevermind. Releasing something more traditionally pop-sounding and then coming back to write that. I never viewed Kurt as a sellout, but I know plenty have said so. His writing came across as genuine to me.
I think Nirvana planted seeds for my liking for heavier music. On Bleach, songs like “Negative Creep” or “Anyeurism” still go hard.
Nirvana – Incesticide
My favorite Nirvana song is probably “Big Long Now” and I have a tendency to bust the comp out regularly, but especially on April 5. Musically, I could go on and on. But there is another part of it, especially the linear notes that stood out: “If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us: leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.”
Kurt was so ahead of his time. He was bullied in childhood and seemed sensitive and empathetic to the plight of others. He did a great interview with The Advocate while promoting Incesticide.
Alice in Chains – SAP and Jar of Flies
I go back and forth between SAP and Jar of Flies as favorite AIC, but that’s ok. Good thing my vinyl has both. I mean, I definitely have my Dirt moments too. Really, AIC does no wrong with Layne. While I’m told the new AIC is great, after all, Cantrell does most of the writing anyway; it still feels weird to me. Jerry Cantrell is one of my biggest influences on acoustics, especially. I love how he picks out notes and the whaling guitars he puts with beautiful picking, such as those found with “Whale and Wasp.”
I kinda dig that both the EPs have a track that doesn’t really fit, especially “Love Song” on SAP. AIC with blast beats on one of their more acoustic/slower albums like Jar of Flies. Did you know Layne played the drums on that one? Everyone switched instruments for it.
Neil Young – Sleeps with Angels
The song “Sleeps with Angels” was written about Kurt Cobain and insinuated heavily that Courtney Love played a role in Kurt Coabin’s death. I was born and raised on Neil Young and I think something about the grunge scene that was cool is the overlap it had with the music I was raised on. Neil Young is well-respected and highly influenced a lot of that music, especially the guitar tones. He did stuff with Pearl Jam and I thought that was cool, and my dad thought it was cool, so this area of music was stuff we could enjoy together.
The entire Sleeps with Angels album is great, in fact, if you sleep on 90’s era Neil, you’re missing a lot.
Soundgarden – Down on the Upside
I think this album gets overshadowed by Superunknown frequently, but it’s such a great record. A lot of people know the hits, but there are some really great tracks outside that. While I’d still probably clock, Superunknown as my favorite, this is close.