• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
  • The Politics forum has been nuked. Please do not bring political discussion to the rest of the site, or you will be removed. Thanks.

Four of the five major grunge band lead singers are now gone

K

Kimawolf

Member
Sep 15, 2012
6,164
7
765
Missouri
Anyone around in 1989-1992 saw something pretty epic happen in music, the transition, almost overnight of rock music. While thrash remained in its corner, chugging along, the super popular hair metal bands (Van Halen, Europe, GnR, Rat, Montley Krue, etc) all took a huge popularity hit as Seattle pumped out a new sound, Grunge.

Nirvana, SoundGarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam. These five bands were huge and mega popular with their sound which was totally different than what was popular just a few years earlier.

Kurt Cobain- lead singer of Nirvana is gone

Layne Staley- Lead singer of Alice in Chains, gone

Scott Weiland- Lead singer of STP, gone

And now Chris Cornell, leader singer of Soundgarden, gone.

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is the last man left of those “founding” mega groups of grunge music. It really feels like it’s the end of an era and possibly of a genre.

We're you into grunge/Seattle sound in the 90s? Did you or do you enjoy the music?

Have you found a band that is possibly carrying the torch?
 
F

Fercho

Member
Jan 27, 2017
529
0
195
I've never been a fan of these groups or grunge for that matter. I only like one Nirvana song, a couple of STP and none of Alice in Chains.

I don't like Soundgarden at all either, but i love AudioSlave and i also think that Cornell has the best Bond song. He had the best voice too.

I love Pearl Jam though , i have like 3 records from them and saw them live in LA many years ago. Awesome group with an awesome singer. They lightened up in their latest records and that helped them a lot. Eddie Vedder also seems to be a quite happy dude.

So tragic how the lead singers of most of these groups ended.
 
C

CHC

Member
Aug 24, 2012
12,188
5
0
Honest to god can't think of another scene, let alone one on the scale of grunge, that was so fatal. Like, hell, even most gangsta rap artists and punk icons are still around.
 
C

collige

Banned
Nov 12, 2012
4,892
0
445
Click to expand...
.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
It's definitely sad for me as I grew up with those bands and they still account for a ton of my music listening time as nothing has surpassed that sound for me.
 
K

kswiston

Member
Mar 25, 2005
35,134
2
0
Canada
I am 35, so I caught the tail end of grunge in middle school when I really started taking an interest in music. It was around the same time as Cobain's suicide.

Cornell dying as early as he did was surprising. Weiland not so much.
 
S

SafeinSound

Member
Feb 5, 2010
2,841
1
0
South Jersey
I'm 29, but the legacy these bands have left behind is untouchable. Grunge still lives on, you just gotta look for it.


Ten remains my favorite album of all time. I got it when I was 8 or 9 and it changed my perspective on music forever. My fathers love for music is something I cherish dearly about him.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
Oct 15, 2012
11,721
7
630
Switzerland
I thought I hated music as a child, 80s pop was the worst. Grunge changed my life, especially Nirvana and Soundgarden. Music in the charts has never been that good again.
 
W

wordballoons

Member
Aug 26, 2016
131
0
0
Grunge is pretty awful, but it's always a bummer to see so many people pass away. Are they all heroin related deaths?
 
P

PillarEN

Member
Feb 23, 2015
10,866
1
0
That Seattle scene is my scene. Not literally. I didn't live in Seattle. That style of music though from the early 90s that came from that region I feel is "mine". I always get a little bit of a gasp when I find some artist I'm into from the modern day that is from that region too.
 
J

jstripes

Banned
Dec 9, 2012
13,478
1
0
It's quite something to think about.

I "listened" to grunge in that it was on the radio and on Much, and I liked it, but I wasn't an enthusiast, my tastes were all over the map. I still go back and listen to it sometimes, but I've mostly left it in the past, like most mainstream '90s music.

GavinUK86 said:
Grunge has been dead for years mate.

I used to listen to it in my teens like a lot of people. Not so much now.
Click to expand...

Yup, grunge sadly died twenty years ago, after a relatively short life, and left its bastard child "butt rock" to flourish.
 
S

see5harp

Member
May 12, 2009
20,070
1
0
Sacramento, CA
The thing about Pearl Jam is that they very quickly changed their sound. By Yield it was like an entirely different (probably better) band. I'm not sure I would have wanted to hear many of those bands even if they were still around.
 
O

Octavianus

Banned
Nov 23, 2014
4,961
0
0
Moff said:
I thought I hated music as a child, 80s pop was the worst. Grunge changed my life, especially Nirvana and Soundgarden. Music in the charts has never been that good again.
Click to expand...

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
 
F

Fercho

Member
Jan 27, 2017
529
0
195
wordballoons said:
Grunge is pretty awful, but it's always a bummer to see so many people pass away. Are they all heroin related deaths?
Click to expand...

No, i believe only Scott Weiland and Layne Staley were drug related.

Chris Cornell and Cobain kill themselves.
 
S

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Dec 10, 2012
21,085
0
370
Probably controversial, but I have no idea why Nirvana get lumped in with those other bands. Outside of Bleach, they don't really have much of a musical connection, at least to my ears.

Maxim726X said:
Fuck you, Billy Corgan.
Click to expand...

Piggy Corgan, more like (at least in that picture)
 
S

see5harp

Member
May 12, 2009
20,070
1
0
Sacramento, CA
Seriously go back to music in that era. It's all of the same shit. The same chords. Toadies, Stone Temple Pilots. I really don't know why people look at that era as some sort of radio renaissance. A few short years later they were playing shit off Ok Computer on the radio.
 
A

admiraltaftbar

Member
May 31, 2015
610
0
0
Fercho said:
No, i believe only Scott Weiland and Layne Staley were drug related.

Chris Cornell and Cobain kill themselves.
Click to expand...


Well Cobain's suicide was probably influenced by his heroin addiction and depression from it. Cornell's family just said that they think his suicide might have been related to the high dosage of Ativan he was taking. So while their deaths weren't ODs drugs being a part of their death isn't completely out of the question.
 
D

Dishwalla

Banned
Dec 2, 2010
14,531
4
0
Hampton Roads, Virginia
see5harp said:
Seriously go back to music in that era. It's all of the same shit. The same chords. Toadies, Stone Temple Pilots. I really don't know why people look at that era as some sort of radio renaissance. A few short years later they were playing shit off Ok Computer on the radio.
Click to expand...

Yeah but they were only playing shit off of OK Computer on the radio because of those bands, they paved the way.
 
L

LakeEarth

Member
Jun 7, 2004
29,981
1
0
Ontario
Fercho said:
No, i believe only Scott Weiland and Layne Staley were drug related.

Chris Cornell and Cobain kill themselves.
Click to expand...

Separating Cobain's suicide and his heroin use is kinda disingenuous. They're definitely connected, at least partially.

Cornell had drug problems in his younger days, but as far as we know, he's been clean for decades now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Underappreciated grunge band Gruntruck finally releaes 'lost' album
Replies
3
Views
2K
started LakeEarth
LakeEarth
Eight unreleased Layne Staley songs may be released soon
Replies
25
Views
2K
started Einhander
Zombine
Today's the anniversary of Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley's deaths
Replies
33
Views
7K
started Data West
To Far Away Times
Guitar Hero Live |OT| Not a Band Game
Replies
2K
Views
182K
started Cheat Code
Leonidas
38 39 40 41 42
New Soundgarden album, King Animal, releasing on November 13
Replies
161
Views
9K
started Einhander
chogidogs
2 3 4
Top Bottom