You nailed it, it was very noticeable. In Eastern Washington it seemed like there was a station or two that tried to resist but after a while, it was nothing but the bands you list. I just switched to talk radio and sports radio. I only liked two bands from the grunge movement (Nirvana and Alice in Chains) so it was easy to pull out of radio for a while. I would just grab NME and Q to find out what was happening in Britain. Luckily, Oasis came on the scene and U2 was at the top of their game so there were alternatives.
There was no "grunge" look until the press said there was a "grunge" look. Flannel does tend to come in plaid. Flannel is a useful type of shirt in the Northwest, because of the weather. I also saw plenty of the bands deemed "grunge", not wearing plaid and /or flannel, when they came through Detroit/ Ann Arbor. "Grunge" as a term, had sort of a"black hole" effect in that dragged bands that nothing in common other than geography, a guitar sound or what kind of shirt they wore, into what was supposed to be a movement. As someone who was working in music retail at the time I can offer one observation about some of our customers. Many of the ones that showed up for the in-stores we did with Warrant and Faster Pussycat, became equally avid Garth Brooks fans.
Good grief, all I said was that I noticed a lot of plaid during the period, I didn't dog it or criticize it, I just noticed it. I didn't coin the phrase "grunge", it's just what it was. It's a convenient term that covers the musical scene that dominated things for a while, that's the only reason I use it. At no point did I criticize it so you really don't need to defend it. I just noted that at the time, there was a LOT of plaid walking around. I left Washington in 94 when my wing dropped the BUFFs so I wasn't around to see if the style changed when the music did but I don't think I'm pushing it when I say that plaid was a pretty big constant of the grunge scene.
Queensryche was from Seattle, wasn't a grunge band, and were rarely seen wearing plaid. Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Soundgarden/AIC? plenty of pics with members of these big 4 bands wearing plaid.
Fair enough, also I had not dealt with the term "BUFF" since I'd had some drinks at a bar near Selfridge A.N.G.B. a while back and heard several mechanics and "techs" talk about working on B-52's, and a couple of the tankers based at Selfridge. Thank you for your service.
[quote="ian christopher, post: 10354974, member: 46571"} Its as if, one day in early-mid 1992, American record companies collectively decided to flood the alternative/college rock stations with payola to get their bands on the air. The British artists couldn't compete. And radio's decline began.[/quote] The college rock station I was DJ-ing at in 1996 suddenly got flooded with calls from a bunch of people wanting to hear Dishwalla. I'm sure that was totally organic...
So, what was it we were discussing? How flannel plaid killed off neon spandex? I've lost the point of all this...
I think you would have to go to the designers who made up the "grunge look" and ask them what they intended to incorporate. I don't remember if my ACME Grunge Rocker Kit came with a baseball hat, or if it gave instructions on how to wear one.
A Absolutely, my official start of spring is the day I can put my flannel at the back of the closet. Hasn't happened yet this year...maybe by July.
As radio stations were consolidated, formats that could turn the highest profit elbowed out formats that were considered more marginal. I remember reading and hearing of hard rock/metal formats disappering many of the bigger markets in the early 90's.
In Columbus, we had a AOR station QFM, that had been around since the 70s, Z-Rock, which appeared around 1989 or 90, and then in 1992, our local classic rock station went to a heavy metal/hard rock format. I want to say that at least 75% of the material on these stations was the same, except that the AOR station did play some classic rock still (it was aaround 50% classic tock and 50% then current hard rock).
Pantera's success with "Far Beyond Driven" may have been the organic success story from an album with almost zero radio airplay. Too bad that King's X excellent "Dogman" got lost in the shuffle, and that Dream Theater's Awake (in many ways superior to Images and Words) was unable to continue the momentum of I&W.
That album had a pretty big single with their cover of "Planet Caravan" being played on MTV and the remaining active rock stations. Also, it's worth remembering that Headbanger's Ball was still on at that time..to be cancelled the following year. The changeover in styles and the death of mass airplay for new metal releases was more gradual than some of the over-dramatic "Nirvana Killed..." accounts would lead you to believe. However the transition was complete by 1996, when SPIN had a cover story on formerly huge metal bands touring in vans like punk bands--Pantera included.
Living in Britain, I never really noticed the grunge scene as a big thing. There were maybe three big names that hit the charts and there was certainly a few sheep wandering around college in converses and plaid shirts, but it largely passed unnoticed, to be taken over by Britpop within the blink of an eye. I don't think any bands were really killed by it. Guns N Roses were self destructing on their own at the time anyway.
I would never have thought that Pantera was a victim of Grunge music, most people I knew liked both. I think by 1996, rock music had collapsed in general, to be replaced by the macarena, Sheryl Crow, Joan Osborne, Alanis Morrisette nad the spice girls. By 1995, I had stopped paying attention to any new music, so I am not aware of what happened with Pantera.
i can take differences of opinion but not revisionism of my post. i postED on "stage". i didn't say you said "on stage". You think people that follow band's fashion follow what they tend too wear off stage?!?! Get real. The 'Banshees' had moved on from "Goth" fashion; their "Goth" fans remained dressed in the past stage fashion statements; not my fault & doesn't prove your "INXS" dressed in "Grunge" right after "Nevermind" either. "Baseball Caps" were BIG B4 "Grunge" & "Baseball Caps" were BIG 'after' "Grunge"; you prove NOTHING!!! BackWardBaseBallCaps was indeED startED primarily on the West Coast BIG BUTT not in Seattle & BIGGER BUTT not by "Grunge"; so pour me some suds dweeb. "INXS" changED their "sound" B4 "Grunge" & changED their "sound" since "Grunge". You point too 92's "Welcome to Wherever You Are" which doesn't 'sound' grungy too me at all tho it does too you & that's you not me. "Welcome to Wherever You Are"?!?! No way. "Baby Don't Cry"?!?! No way. "Suicide Blonde" 'sounds' more hard/rock/grungy too me & that's from '90: it's just silly too say "INXS" got harder than this cause of "Grunge". Havoc you are sooooo funny: & You keep on posting how "Grunge" made "INXS" a Aussie band lOOk/sound "Grunge". Too Funny, Too Funny!! i did NOT compare "Silverchair" too "INXS"; you posted no Aussie band could/would be "Grunge" & THAT'S why i postED that!!
KNAC died around 1996 too (not that it would ever come in on my home stereo or card deck anyway - notoriously weak signal).
Pearl Jam's fight against Tickemaster (and the subsequent meteoric drop in sales from Vitalogy's highs to No Code's non platinum sales) led the way for the tattooed, angry, and corn rowed legions of Korn and Limp Bizkit to overtake alternative radio in the late 1990's.
I suppose that Dream Theater was too "slick" to instantly appeal to fans of heavier grunge/Pantera. Which is a shame because there are some very heavy riffs during sections of Awake.
Actually, I'd say that it's too bad how the first four King's X albums got lost in the shuffle. Dogman did not sound natural at all - like they were trying to somehow fit in with what had been going on for the last few years. Ty Tabor even changed his equipment from top to bottom!
