Shunned? Says who! I disagree with this thread premise.... Always wanted a Keyboard player in my band and did have for a couple short runs.. Only problem I had with Keyboard players is their tendency not to have a stage amp and wanting to play through the PA system.. Most people who got called grunge hated the label finding it confining.....Most did embrace the label for 5 minutes, but still
More and more I'm realizing some of the bands did use keyboards but they were sneaky about it - just listening to Sean Kinney playing piano on Facelift - I never knew. Soundgarden and Pearl Jam also used them a few times. I'm not sure about 80s grunge bands but Screaming Trees did use organ on their earliest records.
All due respect to "The Killer(September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022) of course.. as well as Ian McLagan, Gary Brooker, Johnnie Johnson, Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, Fats Domino and a few hundred OTHER names I should mention here. I was just giving the justification for the antisocial joys of the electric guitar unscrupulously amplified but truth be told.. you just don't HAVE rock and roll without the influence of the piano and EVERY major organ and keyboard product has its own history in this music when it is well played. The piano is big, unwieldy and often is forced to fight with a rush of other sounds and can get lost until all you CAN hear is the "plink plink plink" of some high keys through the chaos! But in the hands of great players like Jools who give a lot of thought and have some control over how the music is presented we get a chance to restore the ivories to their rightful place.
That's such a general statement but I think I get your point if you remove the word "shunned keyboards ". Grunge or the Metal genre that encompasses "GRUNGE" is about guitars and drums. How many metal bands use keyboards and that is were "GRUNGE" came from. How do you think "TOOL" would sound with keyboards, and I am aware tool is not GRUNGE but GRUNGE is rooted in guitar rock plain and simple.
This reminds me of Lou Reed's quote: “One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.”
