To ask for your 90s grunge music stories!?

[Chloedancer]

Please indulge me if you're of an age to have seen the 90s grunge bands back in the day! I'm early 30s and deep into a nostalgia-fest about this time I have no memory of (because I was still in nappies...) Have been watching YouTube bootlegs of some insane looking shows including Eddie Vedder jumping all over the place, Layne Staley's insane vocals, Chris Cornell's habitual shirtlessness... it was such a great time for rock music and now they're all in their 50s and I'm sad.
Pearl jam, Soundgarden, mudhoney, nirvana, Alice in chains, sonic youth (I know it's not really grunge), hole, smashing pumpkins, etc... anyone see any of these bands in their 1991-1993 ish heyday? How was it, any gig memories, did you meet them, etc etc....

It was great wor it!

penguingorl

If you didn’t sustain some sort of disfiguring injury at a ‘90s gig, were you even there, amirite?! A black eye would be most upsetting!

My left collarbone is shorter than the right one, and has a knobbly bit in the middle.

@Chloedancer one of my friends is a massive fan of Brad and had Shawn Smith stay at his house in the UK not long before he died. Not sure how that came about...
I actually thought about you today- have you heard Layne’s side project, Mad Season? With Mike McCready and a couple of others. Gorgeous songs.

@everythingbackbutyou no I haven’t!! I’m vaguely aware of them, but I think I’m going to pull them up on Spotify today

I stayed up way too late watching YouTube videos of 1992 Chris Cornell (swoon) and am now struggling today

@Chloedancer I reckon you’ll love them. I hadn’t heard of them until I moved to Vancouver and one of the local radio stations kept playing one of their songs on their morning show.

I read somewhere that the music you listen to as a teenager is much more powerful, as your brain is still developing. Explains why my 90s playlist makes my heart beat faster and why when I.Went to the Wonderstuff with Dh I was totally unmoved, and vice versa when he came to see the Wildhearts with me.

Clothes wise, anything went. 2nd hand flares with band t shirts and docs. Although I graduated to army boots then.New rocks when.I.Went more metal..Saturday nights chez Tivoli Ballroom were nighties with fishnets and boots. Once, a black crochet number from.c and a which earned me the cliched 'you're not going out like that!'. But I did. It was down to.My knees ffs! But you could clearly see my bra and knickers. My friends w e re more combats and vests😀

I saw Nirvana play at Norwich Arts Centre just before they released Nevermind and became famous. I was 12 at the time, it was my 2nd ever gig (after Desmond Decker).

I went from the 80s metal/alt scene straight into 90s grunge, I live in a small Scottish town but we had our own Friday night club that played grunge/Britpop/alt/alt dance and we were only a train ride away from Glasgow, saw countless bands at Barrowlands/SECC/Garage etc. Basically most that have already been mentioned and Jane's Addiction, Primus, Fishbone, Soul Asylum, Lemonheads, Stone Temple Pilots and more. One of favourite bands is Live, saw them at Barrowlands, definitely in my top 5 gigs. Check out their album Throwing Copper. Screaming Trees were definitely in my "godlike" category, seeing them live was definitely one of the biggest thrills for me. Still follow Mark Lanegan and go to his gigs. I had an absolute ball in the 80s and 90s, feel very fortunate to have been able to experience that age of music.

Oh what a wonderfully uplifting thread this is!
I am forever truly that excited 90s music loving girl, no matter how creaky my moshing knees might be now.

Lovely to see Neds Atomic Dustbin get a mention. Sultans of Ping FC anyone? Though not strictly grunge, but an integral part of the British scene.
I went to see Helmet last year in a tiny venue in Leeds. 200 of us in there, and my husband I were both amused by the fact we had last seen them headlining the main stage at Reading (though we weren't together then, in fact we didn't meet until well over a decade later)

For me though one of the great things about grunge was that it created little micro-scenes locally. I was in a relationship with a local musician and we were an integral part of the scene - organising gigs etc. It was such a close knit community, and just totally vibrant and creative. I just remember working, heading straight to set up gigs, having a great time and often seeing in the dawn...catching a couple of hours sleep and then into work again. We never seemed tired, we just fed off the energy.

I really fancy a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale now.....

So happy to see people still sharing on this thread, I love it! Such envy of you who were gig-aged then...