Any good grunge albums over-looked?

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Looking for any good grunge albums people might have overlooked or rock albums of that time period.

― pantycake, Monday, 22 September 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

S: Mudhoney, the originators of the term and the best practitioners. Superfuzz Bigmuff and Early Singles or whatever is awesome. But you might want to go for the 2000 Greatest Hits & Rarities, March To Fuzz.

I like Piece of Cake more than almost anybody else.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Dayglo by Love Battery
Glue by the Fluid

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Screaming Trees- Buzz Factory

I thought it was by far their best record.

Mudhoney's March to Fuzz is a great collection. The second disc of b-sides has some really good songs and the first disc is a really well put together overview.

― earlnash, Monday, 22 September 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I was just gonna say that Screaming Trees are way unfairly overlooked in all the grunge-retrospect. Buzz Factory is indeed a great record. Mark Lanegan has such a great voice (supposedly his upcoming solo album is gonna be really good...that would be nice).

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Eric's Trip - Love Tara, Forever Again and Pruple Blue!!!
Sloan - Smeared

Though I wince calling Eric's Trip grunge just cause they were on Subpop.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Jale

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

The Thrones. it's kinda post-grunge, what with the drum machines and the electronic tom foolery, but it's pretty good stuff. don't ever see him live, though. such a sad, sad man. made me sell his album.

― JasonD (JasonD), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

all of Local H's.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Sloan's Smeared too.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

And Smeared, by Sloan

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember liking the Buck Pets, but I think they were proto-grunge. And they might totally suck, but I like them when I was around 15-16.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Tad, Salt Lick/God's Balls (two records on one CD).

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

If you like your overlooked grunge, it might be worth investigating some of the records released in Australia between 1984-89 that ended up in the record collections of various Sub-Pop luminaries! I'm thinking of the likes of Grong Grong, Salamander Jim, Lubricated Goat, erm, maybe even Box of Fish and Venom P Stinger. Jim or Gaz could probably point you in the right direction better than me. Jim? Gaz?

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Tad-Inhaler
Melvins-Houdini

― Michael B, Monday, 22 September 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

boston massachusetts' GREEN MAGNET SCHOOL - BLOOD MUSIC... one of the great lost sub pop records... i would LOVE to hear this again to confirm my accolades. i saw them live once and it was that hypnotic, super fast weird guitar playing over motorik, keyboard squallor, and nervous, panicky vocals... it was like no-wave gone grunge.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 22 September 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

colin: er, all of those. and THE SCIENTISTS

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 22 September 2003 22:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, how embarassing. The Scientists were the best of the lot.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 22 September 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

didn't kim salmon INVENT grunge???????????

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 22 September 2003 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

he sure did

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 22 September 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

the count five - carburetor dung

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

definitely second Glue by the Fluid. Their version of the Troggs' "Our Love Will Still Be There" is one of the best cover tunes of any kind that I've ever heard.

also Against the Glass by Slow
and I seem to remember thinking Mercurotones by the Buck Pets was pretty cool, too, at the time.

― pauls00, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 02:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Haven't heard Glue, but I liked Purplemetalflakemusic.

Other lesser-known albums from this period/genre I remember enjoying: Screaming Trees, "Uncle Anesthesia"; Babes in Toyland, "Fontanelle"; Pond, "The Practice of Joy Before Death"; Nymphs s/t; Alice in Chains, "Facelift" (which never seems to get as much attention as the later albums).

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Are L7 too well known to qualify?

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Does Green River count?

― Girolamo Savonarola, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Blood Circus! Cat Butt! Swallow!

Hahaha!!! totally kidding. All those bands largely sucked. I was a big Sub Pop head though. I just loved the way the bands evoked my beloved heavy metal while totally fucking with the sound.

Screaming Trees though are probably my favorite band from the whole goddamn scene. Or wait maybe it's Mudhoney. I still love those guys. I saw them last year - it was great! The new album rules!! Oh man, I totally met Mark Arm after the show too! He was really cool, a nice guy. I actually was a HUGE Soundgarden fan back in the day, but they don't seem to have aged as well to my ears. I loved Cornell's voice cuz he kinda sounded like Plant or something. Louder Than Love and Ultramega OK are great, fucked-up sounding rock records. I didn't like them as much when they went pro. Badmotorfinger was slightly disappointing to me. I mean, at the point I thought those guys could do no wrong, they were totally the shit. And that album was good but not GREAT. I think it's Ben Shepard's fault. I never warmed to that guy. I was a huge Hiro fan. (Dude, LISTEN to Hiro's bass playing on those early albums .... INSANELY great). I guess Hiro is like a physicist or something now?

The Trees' Buzz Factory is a total classic that I never tire of playing. Even If and Especially When is a great record as well. I like their Sony records for the most part, although the bombastic production found them getting dangerously close to sounding like self-parodies The Cult or something...

The Fluid were great. Totally loved those guys. Never got to see them live either, dammit. The Glue ep was really good, it kicked the shit out of Roadmouth. It's funny because they were both done by Endino, but the former just sounded so much tougher.

Are the Buck Pets considered a grunge band? I guess they kind of were. I saw those guys live back in the day. I honestly don't remember much about them, but I remember kind of liking them.

Skin Yard. Great, great fucking band. Real metallic sound they had, but I loved it. They never get remembered, and that's a damn shame. Ha, it's funny that this thread was started because I actually just pulled out and listened to Skin Yard's Hollowed Ground release a couple of weeks ago. It's a great record. So I think I'll nominate that one as my "over-looked" album as per the thread. Fist Sized Chunks was pretty good too. It has a great cut that Helios Creed guests on. Jack Endino does some interesting things on guitar. You could totally tell that he understood the instrument, that he had spent a lot of time exploring it and knew just how to get the particular sound he wanted. How to make a song totally work. Ben McMillan was a good vocalist. Still, for all that, they kinda fell just a little short of the mark at times.

I guess we could talk about the AmRep bands too. They were sort of lumped in with the Sub Pop shit. Vertigo were really great. Saw those guys live once. Surgery were a lot of fun. Saw them as well. Oh well, I'll shut up now.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"good grunge" = oxymoron

― sucka (sucka), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 05:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, who're you calling a moron?

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 05:43 (twenty-two years ago)

If Posies' "Frosting On The Beater" and "Amazing Disgrace" count as grunge, then they are it.

They would have sounded better without the grunge elements though...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 09:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Willard - "Steel Mill" is the best grunge album there was. Everything by TAD was great.

― Johnny Badlees (crispssssss), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Tripmaster Monkey "Goodbye Race"

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:34 (twenty-two years ago)

don't forget green river, which spawned mudhoney and mother love bone (which in turned spawned pearl jam & love battery) -- 'swallow my pride,' which was also covered by the fastbacks & soundgarden, is one of the greatest songs ever.

also doesn't anyone else think there is too much lumping in of bands that put out records on sub pop and/or were from seattle into the admittedly amorphous grunge 'genre' in this thread -- i mean i think that the first two albums by flop are fairly classic, but in no way are they the same genre as tad, mudhoney etc., just because they shared a zip code at some point. same with the fastbacks, you know? although i'll admit that it was because of the sub pop 'brand pull' over high school me that i bought 'zucker' in the first place, a great move, really.

― maura (maura), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Mother Love Bone were never really grunge, though. They always seemed like a slightly more disheveled hair-metal band, though no less preeny.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

right i wasn't including them, though, i was saying that green river spawned both mudhoney and mother love bone.

― maura (maura), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

The Thrown Ups(feat. Mark Arm on expressive drums)

Waste Sausage, a late '80's compilation on Dr. Jim's--wretched, chromosome-damaged smeg. The back cover has a photo of two naked guys playing billiards wearing roller skates.

― Stephen Boyle (SBoyle), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I'll second Blood Music (Genius/Sub Pop) by Green Magnet School, solely because it was the first thing that popped in my mind at the title of the thread.

― VMP, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Pond's self-titled LP is sweet, poppy, a little psychedelic and pretty damn fine, esp "Young Splendour" and "Agatha."

― Ben Dot, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Waste Sausage, a late '80's compilation on Dr. Jim's

it was on Black Eye (an offshoot of Red Eye) - and it was pretty darn amazing.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

A kind of obscure Brit late grunge gem is 'Pulling Legs Off Flies' by a Bristol band called Valve (came out in 94 on Debris records, I think).

Rather sadly, Valve were one-time Cult-copyists Claytown Troupe but with a different singer and a new bandwagon. Despite this, it's a great record and should have been more successful. I think a couple of them still do shows in Bristol as The Marys.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 07:41 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

i saw claytown troupe support pearl jam in '92, they were superb, i did see valve after i'd heard they had claytown members in them, but they were boring, i realy liked the claytown vocalist, but i was a cult fan so that probably helped.

― simon penn, Monday, 2 February 2004 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

generic flipper

― dan (dan), Monday, 2 February 2004 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Bullet Lavolta - Swandive
Carnival Art -Thrumdrone

― mzui, Monday, 2 February 2004 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

OTM!

Cows, Cunning Stunts
Unwound, Fake Train
Man Is The Bastard Sum of the Men (takes major cues from the Melvins)

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 2 February 2004 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

and HAMMERHEAD Into The Vortex

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 2 February 2004 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that AmRep stuff count as grunge?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 2 February 2004 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Dickless "Saddle Tramp" single

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Failure's _Fantastic Planet_! It falls between _Superunknown_ & them there Posies albums, in terms of poppiness & sonic rockitude, maaaan. You might've heard "Stuck on You" on a CMJ CD once upon a time, or maybe you saw the video - that could possibly be the worst song on the album (& I say this as a reformed rockist, FYI). Avoid if you want the grunge to overcome the shiny-happiness. Alternative Press gave the album 5 Derek Hess-drawn fingers; I give it 46 GG Allin-drawn Dirty Sanchezes. Es. Ssss.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Halo of Flies anyone?

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The Chocolate Watchband

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex in NYC mentioned it way upthread but I heard Love Battery's DAYGLO this past weekend and thought it had aged extremely well.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

My mom's hairdresser's nephew is/was in Love Battery, thus confusing the black people/indie issue that much more.

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

if you buy no other grunge, at least buy this comp

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:26 (twenty-two years ago)

awww. what about "Grunge Lite" ?

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

haha

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:33 (twenty-two years ago)

jody's link made me remember
this compilation which I thought at the time was the best record ever put out by sub pop. I would like to hear it again.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

gygax - you and i need to have a talk! that comp looks WAY MORE LAME than the one jody mentioned; dwarves?! rev. horton heat?! hole?! mark lanegan?!

ending with Earth is a nice touch, though.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

the dwarves song is CLASSIC. That Hole song is the band at their (brief) peak. and that Mark Lanegan is great!

Listen without prejudice.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree that Hole's peak was pretty much three songs "Dicknail", "Retard Girl", and "Burn Black". If only I could find that comp CD with all of them on it.

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

haha. NO DEFENSE FOR THE REVEREND.

Make me a tape, gygax.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 2 February 2004 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, this CD disappeared many, many years ago Ian. I probably haven't heard it in 10 years.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 2 February 2004 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

also:
Duh "Blowhard"
Sandy Duncan's Eye "s/t"

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 2 February 2004 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Failure's _Fantastic Planet_! It falls between _Superunknown_ & them there Posies albums, in terms of poppiness & sonic rockitude, maaaan.

I might not go that far, but I will note that A Perfect Circle covered a song from this album on their own most recent release.

Duh "Blowhard"

The whole Duh story is a thing of wonder.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 February 2004 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Too lazy to check, but I'm about positive one of the two main Failure guys is actually in APC. The first two Failure albums are pretty good as well, and again if I'm remembering correctly considerably more grunge than Fantastic Planet (but still not there).

― andrew s (andrew s), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm about positive one of the two main Failure guys is actually in APC

Not with the current lineup -- Maynard, Billy Howerdel, Twiggy Ramirez (under his new name), James Iha and Josh Freese. One of them might well have worked on the album, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I always overestimate how lazy I am, was coming back to correct. The guy who was in Failure was Troy Van Leeuwen who wasn't either of the primary songwriters, and per AMG was a founding A Perfect Circle member but left during the sessions for the last album. The song on the last APC albums was "The Nurse Who Loved Me".

― andrew s (andrew s), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I always thought Candlebox deserved to be bigger than they were.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

my dad bought me this Best Of Grunge Rock comp from Priority when I was in middle school that had TIN MACHINE on it. The only song I remember being remotely listenable was Smashing Pumpkins' "I Am One." I think it was my earliest realization that grunge sucked.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 2 February 2004 23:41 (twenty-two years ago)

is there a stone temple pilots best-of? if/when so, THAT one. seriously.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 02:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I GOT A GIRLFRIEND. SHE GOES TO ART SCHOOL. I GOT AN ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND, YEAH.

(+12 other tracks that are NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD.)

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Unwound + focking Mudhoney!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Ruth Ruth - "Laughing Gallery"

― John Fredland (jfredland), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that have "Uninvited" on it? Great single, that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

According to All Music Guide My Vitriol's "Finelines" is a grunge album. I do not agree with that, but if it were, then it would have been one of the best grunge albums ever ;)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"Laughing Gallery" does have "Uninvited." Most everything else on there is in the same vein, and pretty solid. Other highlights include "All Readydown," "Don't Shut Me Out," and "Pervert." I know Ruth Ruth put out another album or two after "Laughing Gallery," but I haven't heard anything else from them.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

is there a stone temple pilots best-of?

Just came out, didn't it? (And you are welcome to it.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

My Vitriol's "Finelines"

the production on that thing is terrible - never has an album dated so quickly to my ears. and i thought their first handful of singles were fantastic.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 3 February 2004 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

I would have to say the frontmen of the grunge era Nirvana with there best album In Utero

― BAM, Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Any other hot tips?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I hear this rap thing has fans.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a fad, Ned.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

hahahaha

oh man that first Pond album is great

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:11 (twenty-two years ago)

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