90's Rock: A Phenomenon of Bizarre Expansion, Part 1

From the dawn of time, man has striven to create in all manner of ways. Everything from the insane scratchings of a madman to terrifying implements of war has been the result of the human race's inner drive to make, to express, to communicate in a meaningful way, each as varied and amazing as the last. We can analyze it all we want, try to deconstruct it, break it down to its base parts and in doing so attempt to gain a greater understanding, but all in all we are left with what we always had: a raw expression of drive, desire, and emotion. And of all these things, music is one of the most mystifying, hypnotizing, provocative, and misunderstood of all; a form of creation we only barely understand, but have such an innate knowledge of that it is utilized to enhance almost every aspect of our lives.

We sing lullabies to help our young sleep, compose ballads and sonnets to woo the busts of maidens, pen symphonies in massive ego-stroking contests, use chords and melodies to masturbate all over our ears in a wonderful ecstasy. As a musician, I've internalized all these things, and I understand how they influence others. I can't work without music playing in the background, but it has to be appropriate music; if it doesn't enhance my perceptions, I cannot hear it. We all have our likes and dislikes, just another level to the phenomenon that is music. Regardless of personal taste, however, there is something to love about all genres of music, and today I'll be touching upon one of them: 90's rock, also called 'alternative rock' and 'grunge'.

"Rock" as it stands has an interesting history, a child of the Blues of old in a straight style, hard-hitting and in your face, stuff that would make your parents' parents cry out in woe. Repetitive, loud, noise for noise's sake... and yet, we can't get enough of it. Elvis. The Beatles. Led Zeppelin. The Who. Devo. Through the years the sound has evolved, but the message is the same: We're not gonna take it.

The rock music of the 90's filled a much-needed role in the musical world as we moved on from the incredibly depressing pile of a decade known as the 1980s. That was a terrible time full of terrible sounds that deserve to be dragged out behind the wood shed and shot. A lot. But suddenly, there was this brightening of the sky... a whole slew of bands who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and the Sex Pistols, shunning Madonna and Micheal Jackson and Kenny Loggins. They wanted something harder, something dirtier, something grungier... and since nobody else was providing, they took up their instruments and provided for those that would or could not.

Perhaps one of the most influential of these bands was the group Nirvana, hailing out of Aberdeen, Washington (Aberdeen's only claim to fame in recent times; though in the 1900s it was hailed as the 'grittiest town on the west coast', this side's home for saloons and whorehouses). Started by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, it provided the seemingly downtrodden teens of white Suburbia exactly what they needed: an outlet for their ennui. When surrounded by strip malls and a despairingly bleak public transportation system, 90's teens found their lives in a unique turmoil. Nirvana, then, provided a voice for these tortured embodiments of boredom and disinterest. The band's pain was the peoples' pain, crowding the airwaves with hypercharged angst the likes of which we haven't seen since. Raw and unforgiving, they told it like it was, giving birth to the entire grunge movement in one fell swoop. Cobain's death in 1994 also slammed the final nail in the band's coffin, sealing up the grunge scene as suddenly as it started. Tragic, yet fitting in its own way; his own thoughts on the band's success ran exactly counter to everything he was trying to express. From restless dissatisfaction to tragic poignancy, his life punctuated the coming-of-age story of thousands of teenagers across America, and Nirvana's influence can still be felt today. Though I must admit, I really hate what's been done with it.

Nirvana's breaking out onto the scene opened the proverbial floodgates for a slew of other bands with similar ideas on how music should be: violent and remorseless, speaking from the heart instead of from the synthesizer. Following Cobain's blistering attitude, the band Alice in Chains quickly followed in popularity. Formed in 1987 in Seattle, Washington by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley, when they broke out on the grunge scene they were a little older, a little more mature, a little wiser than those around them; a little more weathered, a pinch more jaded, a smidge more indulgent in their heroin addictions. All of this was channeled into their music, which became a powerful backbone for the unimpressed youths of the MTV generation. If Nirvana was the fire that fueled the voice of youth discontent, Alice in Chains became the awesome older brother chucking jars full of gasoline into the conflagration. The controversy surrounding their untitled, I mean self-titled... fuck it, the album with the goddamn three-legged dog on the cover from animal-rights activists only helped to add to the band's popularity. After all, that dog is pretty badass. And the album kicks some ass unto itself, a powerful peek into the unrest of the time. Unfortunately for those of us that appreciate good music, Alice in Chains sort of faded away in the mid-90s as Staley's heroin addiction grew stronger; he passed away in 2002 in true rocker fashion: the heroin overdose. We'll be seeing a lot of our Black Tar buddy in the future.