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....

Lurking and name changed for this thread! We have still got our tickets for the Brixton Nirvana gig that never was, back in April '94
Grunge is what brought me and Mr BigCheese together, that and slow dancing to Killing In the Name at our local rock club😀.
I don't know if it's still available anywhere (maybe YouTube?) but there was an hour long special on BBC 2 in 1992/3 called "No Nirvana" featuring the likes of the lovely Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr, RATM, Belly etc Well worth a watch especially for Billy Corgan sporting long hair. The first gig I ever went to with the Mr was Finsbury Park in 93 when Pearl Jam supported Neil Young and since then we've seen Hole, Soundgarden, RHCP, Green Day....the list is endless. And now that our 14 year old is listening to the same kind of thing, we 50 somethings get to relive our days all over again!

but there was an hour long special on BBC 2 in 1992/3 called "No Nirvana" featuring the likes of the lovely Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr, RATM, Belly etc Well worth a watch especially for Billy Corgan sporting long hair

Was that The Late Show on BBC2? I remember my best friend recording The Late Show on VHS and we watched it until the tape broke.

@Butterer yes you're right, it was Reading - she just pulled her pants down on The Word, didn't she.

I can't imagine any of the female band members of today flinging their sanitary products around, but that's probably a good thing.

Sorry, I got mixed up too! I remembered the pulling her knickers down on the word and thought it was the tampon incident too. But I think at Reading she threw it into the crowd didn't she?

Snoopey, I loved STP, almost saw Scott Weiland with Velvet Revolver (on the last UK tour they ever did) but I found out on the day of the gig that I was pregnant with DD after 3 miscarriages and I just didn't want to risk it so we sold the tickets outside the venue Wish I'd just gone now, sure it would've been fine but I was just so anxious

Butterer, I had a wardrobe full of tea dresses, always favoured German army boots (bought second hand from Birmingham rag market) over DM's though, god knows why as they weighed a tonne, sure they're responsible for my clicky, creaky knees now

Oh so many of these! Reading 92 was so, so wet and muddy, the police woke us up at 7.30 on the monday morning to move our tent so they could redirect the road! My brother queuing for the payphones so my mum could tell him his GCSE results. Bf at the time brought his weird mate who, 20 mins into Nirvana's set, decided we should go and see the Mockingbirds I think it was, headlining in the tent After I'd put up with Nick bloody Cave's interminable set to be in a good spot at the front!

Phoenix the year after, got so sunburnt my own mother didn't recognise me when I got home. And I think there might have been a riot, not sure (I was very stoned).

Reading 94, Hole were incandescent amidst half the crowd wanting to see Courtney Love fall to pieces, she was incredible that day. Not so much the following year at some venue in Nottingham I think, when they came on v late as she'd had a strop, then the gig ended with a powercut.

Mudhoney in Birmingham maybe 91? Jumping off speaker stacks, not big or
clever. Fugazi in Cambridge probably 92 or 93, stopping the gig every time someone stage dived. L7, Reading 92 and several other gigs, always awesome. Silverfish too. I'm very thankful for my grubby, egalitarian, selfie-free youth

I love Fugazi for Suggestion in particular. I saw them in the mid 90s but weirdly I don't remember much about it. Not through reasons of being out of it or anything, I just don't have a vivid memory of it.

@nothingcomestonothing sooo jealous you saw Fugazi then. Their live performances on YouTube have so much energy. also love the story about Courtney in 94. I know she has her issues but I have respect for her.

Last saw Dinosaur Jr in 2018 and will be seeing Pearl Jam in Krakow next July - still rocking in our docs and flannel shirts in this house

@nothingcomestonothing, yes I remember watching with great interest in 94 to see if Courtney Love was going to fall to pieces mixed with great admiration for her strength at being up there at all

I wasn't hugely into Grunge but my younger sisters were. They were at the Pumpkins concert in Dublin where that poor girl got injured and later died.

TBH I wasn't that into Fugazi at the time, but they were great live. It was also quite refreshing to see a gig without sweaty blokes stage diving every 3 seconds!

There were so many amazing bands gigging when I was a teenager, I went to at least one gig a week for most of 6th form I think.

Totally outing my home town, but I saw Nutmeg and Jacob's Mouse dozens of times, and they were great every single time

@hellswelshy

graffitiartist - yes I went to Phoenix festival, just the once! Can't remember the precise year, but do remember it was BOILING and I saw Leftfield, The Prodigy and Bjork..I think?

And also saw Nirvana at Reading on that muddy Sunday night, memories are very hazy though

That was 96! I was there, we spent a lot of the time taking it in turns to stick our head in a bucket! I had glandular fever boiled out of me thanks to the 35’C heat. Such an awesome line up! This thread is such a great read, I hardly ever meet people in real life who like grunge/alternative music. My favourites are Pixies and Throwing Muses, have seen both (and spin offs lots of times).

Big fan! God, I loved the 90s.

Seen Pearl Jam and Eddie solo a few times in recent years, and he still has it! Also so lucky to see Chris Cornell on Higher Truth tour a year before he died. Was hoping to see Soundgarden on Euro tour, but alas that was never to be. Hoping Nudedragons will be doing something soon

I never saw Pixies but I saw Frank Black, it was a good concert.

@AubergineMini

O have some fine memories of getting smashed with kat from babes in toyland . She's the only person I've known who can neck a glass of red wine for breakfast.

OMG, you met Kat Bjelland? What's she like? I saw them at Primavera in 2015 and I was amazed at how tiny she is and her squeaky little speaking voice. She was having technical problems with her guitar and the drummer was hilarious and kept us all entertained until Kat was sorted.

I missed out on grunge and didn't get into those bands until it was long past - Britpop was in fashion when I started high school. I'm one of the few people who prefers Hole to Nirvana. My brother was massively into Nirvana, he went through a stage where he was endlessly learning their songs on guitar, and when I bought the Celebrity Skin single he told me I should get Live Through This. I'm glad he said that because that album got me through my GCSEs. I'm not as into Soundgarden or Pearl Jam, though I like some of Soundgarden's stuff and Mark Lanegan as well. I've got a mate who's a bit older than me and she's a huge fan, she's seen him loads of times and met both him and Greg Dulli. I saw the Chilis at Reading and thought they were shite, I was really disappointed cos I like their old stuff, and Smashing Pumpkins were a disappointment. Sonic Youth, I'm not too fussed about but I've got Kim's book.

It's weird to think that bands like the Prodigy and Nirvana are 'old people music'. And I'm another person who shopped in Afflecks and occasionally Quiggins. I'm glad Afflecks is still going, though my fibro makes it a bit harder for me to get around now.

[quote Pixiemeat]@Chloedancer Yep! 😊

Also plenty of bands not quite grunge but thereabouts -Shellac, Kristin Hersh, Queen Adreena, Sebadoh, Pixies etc[/quote]
Have you read Paradoxical Undressing, Kristen Hersh's book? It's great, if a bit disturbing. It's mainly about when she was in Throwing Muses.

I saw Shellac last year. They were fun. Queen Adreena are great too. Are you into Jack Off Jill at all? They were similar. I was supposed to see them when they got back together but I was ill and missed the gig, and I'm so gutted because they're never getting back together again. Jessicka's got too many health issues.

I saw nirvana at reading 92 who I actually found disappointing , but mudhoney who played the same day were brilliant.
I saw smashing pumpkins just after Siamese dream was released at rock city and they played the album in order
Also saw dinosaur jr and sebadoh there
I have to say me and my friend from that era do look back and admit it wasn't the best age to be a teenager as unless you were brave enough to go full Courtney love a lot of us wore the grunge uniform of jeans, band t shirt and plaid shirt- not very flattering as a 16 year old!! We were once sat outside McDonald's and looked so scruffy someone tried to give us money thinking we were begging !!!Also was a bit depressing in terms of lyrics and attitude and obvs v sad when kurt cobain died.
When blur went all mod in 93 and suede came out it was actually quite refreshing to see a bit of glamour - hence one of the appeals of the britpop era

I love the tea dresses! Though Cerys Matthews was my style icon when I was a teenager.

My freshers week was 94 so I have some memories of the 90s. I remember the Electric Ballroom in Camden, loads upon of gigs there. Sweating my way through gigs in a velvet jacket to the early hours. Waiting for the first train home to my Saturday job in Hertfordshire. Managing to do learning/work pub gig/ work all before bed
I remember shopping trips to Afflecks or Camden to get ready for festivals. I remember bars in Camden. Watching Pulp, Red Hot Chillies; NiN as well as various grunge acts (though my friends were less into grunge). I remember waiting for Metallica shows; being bemused by Marilyn Manson (very much for those younger than me). I remember going to a rock festival by getting a lift then going "home" with someone else to a different city (basically winging it for a week).

I also thought nothing of getting a five hour coach journey to watch some band because someone said they were worth a look.

This is more or less my era in that I was listening to this music but was still a bit too young to go to gigs (plus we lived in the middle of nowhere, plus I was deeply shy and uncool) so I was more of a closet grunge fan - all of the girls in my school were into boy bands and I was into grunge....

What I wouldn't give to have seen Nirvana live.....and also Red Hot Chilli Peppers back in the 90s. If I had a time machine....
Never having the chance to see Nirvana live is honestly one of my lifetime regrets and I don't think I have many of those.

I'd have loved to see Nirvana. I have seen Hole, though it was when Nobody's Daughter came out and it didn't feel like Hole because Courtney was the only original member left.

What about buying a whole album (vinyl) based on a good review in melody maker or nme with no idea of what the band would actually be like? Unless you'd heard them on John peel or at a club? I got lucky with 'it's a shame about ray' by the lemonheads and sugar 'copper blue' but was not so keen on babes in toyland or Afghan wings