The big difference between grunge bands, according to Soundgarden guitarist

Bands from the so-called grunge movement promoted a true revolution in rock during the early 1990s. The heavy and melancholic sound of groups like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains It is Pearl Jamjust to mention the main examples, served as a counterpoint to the aesthetics that were in vogue in the 1980s.

In the opinion of Kim Thayil, success was not by chance. The guitarist of Soundgarden reflected on the subject in an interview with Pete Thorn (via Killer Guitar Rigs) and pointed out what he considers to be the great difference between the groups that were part of the so-called grunge — although he himself refutes this label.

Initially, Thayil highlighted a compilation called Deep Six, recorded in 1985 and released the following year. The material featured songs from six Seattle bands: Melvins, Green River, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard It is U-Menin addition to the Soundgarden. There, according Kimit was already possible to notice a “particular stylistic identity” that he defines as follows:

It became clear that there were a number of bands that emerged from the underground indie punk movement that used slower or standard tempos as opposed to hardcore models.

According to the guitarist, it took some time for the band to become aware of the aforementioned difference — using slower, more drawn-out rhythms compared to other bands.

When we started, we played fast and in more standard tempos. We didn’t even know we were doing it, we just tried to play a little fast while accommodating the vocals. Chris [Cornell] I wasn’t prone to yelling and screaming too quickly behind the drums with some strange time signature. Our interest in the kinds of things we were writing, the way we played, kind of moved away from hardcore.

Thayil highlighted that hardcore did have an influence on the grunge scene. However, the movement was a little more diverse.

There were some other more hardcore bands on the scene, like Melvins It is Malfunkshun. But the Malfunkshun had this kind of inclination towards metal bands, like Venom It is Mercyful Fate. You Melvins they were really artistic, but they were definitely a punk rock or hardcore band. Then, overnight, they started playing slow and doing really heavy, mind-blowing and strange things. And this was also happening with the Green River. When the Green River was formed, the conversations that Mark [Arm, vocalista do Green River e posteriormente Mudhoney] and I had before the formation of Green River or the Soundgarden were about our interests and influences from bands like Stooges.

Grunge and marketing aside

Still in his report, Kim Thayil acknowledged having understood, since the beginning, that there was something different happening in Seattle bands. It wasn’t coordinated, but all those musicians formed something bigger, in a way.

However, the guitarist of Soundgarden states that no one inside tried to label this movement. For him, the name “grunge” was more of a marketing thing than anything else.

People were very true to the spirit of punk rock and Seattle was doing something different. We were very aware of it, but we didn’t think it was grunge — it became a marketing thing.