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90s Grunge Stars: Where Are they Now?
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| 90s Grunge Stars: Where Are they Now? |
| 03.13.05 (9:03 pm) [edit] |
Here is a copy of the complete article I wrote for Al's site ENJOY!
Mark Lanegan
You may not have been a grunge fan, but I guarantee you have heard of a least a few of these names: Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and The Screaming Trees. These are the "power five" of grunge in my opinion. Now I know you probably know all about their careers but whatever happened to them after the mid 90s? Most mark Kurt Cobain of Nirvana’s death as the death of all grunge but was it? It definitely wasn’t the death of big grunge Icon’s. My CD collection still boasts numerous solo Albums and I am going to tell you about it! Now I don’t claim to be an expert or know all about the icons of grunge but here is what I do know!
Chris Cornell
Soundgarden: Now mainly I’m going to focus on Chris Cornell because you know all the others don’t even matter. God he had one hell of a voice. After leaving Soundgarden he attempted a solo career with one CD in 1999 entitled Euphoric Morning. I own the CD and it’s actually quite good if you are in a lazy mood. DEFINITELY not like Soundgarden. After this he formed a second band, Audioslave, with the remaining victims of Zach de la Rocha’s former band Rage Against the Machine. Their first album was released in November of 2002. Has anyone else noticed Cornell’s weird obsession with compound words? (PS If you like Chris Cornell you should check out Dave Navarro’s solo CD).
Nirvana: This band although I hate to admit it was probably the most famous and most influential members of the grunge era. They definitely aren’t my favourite but they deserve props. After Kurt Cobain’s death there were basically two surviving members of Nirvana. Krist Novoselic and David Grohl. Novoselic’s music career after Nirvana probably hasn’t been as successful as he’d hoped. I remember hearing last year on the radio that he had formed a band called Eyes Adrift. I immediately went home and downloaded their music and let me tell you they definitely weren’t on the forefront of music. Most of the tracks were scratchy but they lacked a certain something. Novoselic however has blossomed in other areas. I saw him on a documentary about how certain combinations of sound make up "the perfect song" (it’s a new scientific method they are trying to create only musical hits). He also has a few political ties. David Grohl on the other hand has enjoyed EMENSE musical success and is probably more recognizable as a name than he ever was with Nirvana. After the death of Kurt he immediately formed a band called Foo Fighters in 1995. Grohl has also been seen playing drums for other bands such as Queens of the Stone Age.
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam: Well there really isn’t much you need to mention about this band. Yes they are still around and they are still fantastic. I’d say around the mid 90s they suffered a decline in popularity but many true fans did not lose interest. Then in 1999 they broke out with a cover of Last Kiss. This brought the band back to enjoying their former popularity and I’d say that on the radio they often play many old songs. Certainly their popularity and "still together" status hasn’t stopped numerous members of the band from dipping into other areas in music such as Mike McCready playing guitar for the band Mad Season (Layne Staley of Alice In Chains was Vocals). Why this band survived all the way into the 21st century I don’t know but Pearl Jams still alive, oh and are they supposed to be, is that the question and if so who answers?
Alice In Chains
Alice in Chains: So what is up with this band? Well I admit I really don’t know much of anything about them. I know however that they do no longer exist. In April of 2002 Staley the lead singer died of a cocaine and heroine overdose. Jerry Cantrell did produce his own solo album in 1998 and he released two more in 2002 at least one after the death of Staley however nothing new has been seen from him lately.
Screaming Trees
Screaming Trees: Well I’m just going to focus on one musician from this band Mark Lanegan who was credited to writing most of the music and who contributed lead vocals. The last album put out by Screaming Trees was Sweet Oblivian in 1996, but Lanegan had dabbled in a solo career track before this. Strained relationships made it impossible for Screaming Trees to continue and Lanegan moved forward with his solo career. To this day he has released 7 solo CDs his most recent one being Bubblegum release in 2004 (I own it and trust me it is amazing as is all of Screaming Trees and Lanegan’s work). This album boasted a great number of amazing song writers and talented musicians. Lanegan has also worked with NUMEROUS other bands. In 1990 Lanegan and the drummer for Screaming Trees were supposed to do a blues album with Nirvana. This did not work out but Nirvana used the track "Where did you sleep last night" on MTV. Lanegan did quite extensively work with Queens of the Stone Age and even went on tour with them for a short while. He sang lead vocals on a few tracks for their Songs for The Deaf album. Here is just a brief list of names that he has either done work on their albums of they have done work on his: Nirvana (excluding Grohl), Queens of The Stone Age, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Mad Season.
Soundgarden
So what can we make up this? Well I think grunge is still alive today in spirit. Grunge artists are still infiltrating our eardrums on a daily basis. Turn on any radio station and you will surely hear if not an old song then something new of theirs or someone they’ve helped or inspired. Should we pay attention to these relics of the 90s? Well I think it’s worth our time to at least give it a shot and I’d like to take this second to pimp all of these bands. Maybe grunge isn’t your thing or maybe you’ve only heard of some but I’d like you to check out ALL of these artists and who knows maybe you’ll find something that blows your mind.
- Cherry Bomb :twisted:
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