- Mar 31, 2018
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I found the grunge bands, pretentious, and self righteous. They were always trying, to prove how, pure their motives were in making music. In the end it was just an act, all artists want to sell records and make money. MTV got bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and simply kicked all hair metal off. There was no competition. MTV forced the music on us. By mid 1993 MTV only played grunge and rap and there was no real voice of people who listened to music so naturally the rest of the world got on board and listened to what they were told was current. Now today, MTV is not even a real music channel. ANY band from the hair metal band days could play ANY song ever produced by a grunge band. However, it'd be rare for a grunge band to have the musical skills to play songs by the "hair" bands. To be in a "hair" band, you had to be very skilled. Most of them knew jazz, blues, country... and quite a few had been classically trained. Yes, the hair was a marketing issue. Underneath the hair was a very good musician. They teach grunge songs to beginners in music school... They teach hair metal songs to the advanced class.
And that ... is the basic facts. Hair Metal never tried to fool you. It was over the top and a parity of itself, but everything was right out on the table. The worst kind of a follower is one who won't admit that they are one! Grunge is dead because all of your heroes either killed themselves or are in a psych ward.
I don't remember the exact quote, but I remember Vince Neil saying something like the following: Most of our lives did suck at first, but music was a place to escape to and dream. Not complain!
If there is one analogy that goes worth grunge music, I would have to say it would be whiner music. My mommy doesn't love me enough boo hoo, someone give me some black fingernails and cry with with me. I'd like to see one grunge guitarist play the solo to Freight train by Nitro. That's the benchmark!!! They'd piss in their pants and run to gloria steinem and cry in her lap!!! To hell with all the grunge and emo bullshit. You can say what you want about hair metal, but some of the best guitarist came from this genre of music. Showing the sleepy sad face does not make and musician better...
Let's imagine, if there were to be a contest of who could sing better, who could play better original guitar riffs, who could smash the drums better, the grunge guys would not even be able to compete with the guitarists of hair metal bands... they were musicians and singers, not just angry people trying to sing and play. The "Pop-Metal" bands of the 80's were a hell of a lot of fun. I can't think of a single "Grunge" or Alternative band out of the 90's that was genuinely fun.
Most of the "Hair Metal" (revisionist history term not used back in the day) bands had top notch musicians who were trying to earn their money by giving their fans a big show as a distraction from their daily problems. "Grunge" bands did not (for the most part) feature musicians as technically accomplished as the "Pop Metal" bands did. "Grunge" bands didn't offer their fans an escape from their daily problems - they reminded them of just how bad their lives were.
