Written by Zach Schapiro
This week on the show we decided to incorporate a grunge exposé. Grunge, a genre originating out of the great northwestern city of Seattle, quickly became one of the most prominent alternative rock genres in the early to mid 90's led by what many fans see as the core 4 bands of the scene: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. Rooted in the traditions of DIY Hardcore Punk, Heavy Metal, and early alternative rock, the beginnings of the Grunge scene produced a grimy and rugged sound that was an acquired taste to the uninitiated, but quickly began to sound as good as Apollo's lyre did to the Greeks to those who chose to embrace the heavily distorted sound. As time went on, the genre slowly became more accessible and easier on the ear. With the release of defining albums by all four of these groups in the years 1990 and 1991 (Nevermind, Ten, Badmotorfinger, and Facelift respectively), Grunge quickly broke into the mainstream with Nirvana being heavily featured on MTV. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains similarly achieved national success and set out on numerous world tours over the course of the following years. As dedicated fans of the genre, we saw the opportunity to explore the genre on WVBR and took it, playing everything from radio hits such as "Come as You Are" and "Yellow Ledbetter" to deeper cuts including songs like "Swallow My Pride" by Green River. If you enjoyed this weeks show and are interested in hearing more next week, tune in same day, same time, Tuesdays from 7-10PM.
Follow this link if you'd like to access the playlist from today's show:
https://open.spotify.com/user/schapiroz/playlist/3SYclWnnJH19xX9GFkyuDE