Greatest Grunge Band of the 90s

It’s hard to argue with people who claim that Nirvana was the greatest and most successful band of the grunge era. The history of the 90’s – as written by MTV and VH1’s “Behind the Music” commercial sell jobs would certainly lead one to think so. For the last two decades the mainstream music press has eagerly grabbed the easy dollar by explaining to us how Nirvana is almost solely responsible for every grunge album sold and how their demise effectively ended an entire musical revolution. But this is revisionist history.Sit down children, and listen to a tale from someone who actually witnessed the birth, life and death of a musical genre. You see, I was there. I was a music fan who lived through the 90’s. I was a fan of Nirvana, for sure. They were a neat little band who wrote insanely catchy earworms, who although you had no idea what was being sang, you just knew somehow it had to be angsty and against, you know, society, or whatever. They were, according to many of the punk magazines I subscribed to at the time... a pop-punk band. Not even grunge. Nirvana didn’t invent grunge. Far from it. Grunge evolved out of a merger between the late 80’s west coast punk scene and the underground metal bands of the times. The Melvins were a major part of that scene, playing up and down the entire west coast. The Melvins(1) were a punk band, regardless of how MTV would like to reclassify them. Green River/Mudhoney also populated the scene, and Soundgarden(2) (one of the original Sub Pop bands) even had a major label release before the 90’s had even begun, and were at the time thought of as “the next big thing” – at time when Nirvana were still struggling and playing smaller venues.Nirvana remains the band that everyone remembers from that time though, because of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. A song MTV latched onto and spun in vomit-inducing levels on heavy rotation. (So much so that on the tour supporting their follow-up album “In Utero” even Kurt Cobain was loathe to play it) Nevermind indeed sold a bunch of records. In Utero was not so much a smash hit though. In those pre-Cobain blowing his brains out days, Pearl Jam’s 2nd album “Vs” was easily outselling and outperforming In Utero. Nirvana’s 15-minutes of fame was entering it’s 14:30 mark, and then Kurt pulls the trigger. Blammy…So that’s supposed to make Nirvana greater and more successful?I give you Pearl Jam. A band formed out of the remnants of Mother Love Bone (a definite grunge rock precursor band) and with members who participated in the Temple of the Dog project (unquestionably a grunge rock classic), along with Eddie Vedder, a singer whose style has now been imitated and aped by countless artists, from arena rock bands of today to country and western artists. Who sounds like Kurt Cobain? Pretty much nobody. Pearl Jam were undeniably a more influential band than Nirvana. Oh sure, there were a couple of bands that tried to capitalize on the sound (example: Bush) but they weren’t really influenced by Nirvana so much as they just wanted to sound like Nirvana so they would be thought of as cool. (they weren’t)Pearl Jam eclipses Nirvana in almost every way in the quality and quantity categories. Take a look at the lyrics, for one thing.Nirvana- All ApologiesWhat else should I be? All apologies What else should I say? Everyone is gay What else should I write? I don't have the right What else should I be? All apologies Ooooh, so deep. Sounds like they were written by an 8th grader. Compared to Pearl Jam I swear I recognize your breath Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising Me, you wouldn't recall, for I'm not my former It's hard when, you're stuck upon the shelfSorry, the Pearl Jam lyrics just took more thought. More care. Lyrics that are meant to last a lot longer.In my opinion there isn’t any doubt. The Nirvana that is presented today, is not the Nirvana of the 90’s. They are a media-driven money making concoction. (Hey, Kourtney Love has to make a living somehow - she certainly isn't going to off the music she writes) They weren't that highly regarded in the day. For as playable as Nevermind was, In Utero was utterly unlistenable. They were fading.. - and Cobain knew it? Maybe. Maybe that's why he did the ultimate rock star thing, the thing he always professed to be against, but instead what he always was... someone who wanted and craved fame. Hardly the counter-culture figure most make him out to be today. But of course, that's just my speculation.Nirvana was a bright star, that's a definite fact. But they were a star that burned bright, then faded away quickly. If not for Kurt's suicide and the subsequent martyrdom that MTV bestowed upon his corpse, Pearl Jam were far and away the more popular grunge band of the day. Their songs dominated the airwaves, through multiple albums, a band built to survive for the ages. Even though they abandoned the "mainstream" after a dispute with Ticketmaster, they continue to roll on, even to this day. That is success. Success Nirvana can't match. And if Kurt doesn't kill himself? Do you think Nirvana is a band that like Pearl Jam, is still around touring and making music in 2016? I don't see any way that would have been possible. Nirvana was a band meant to implode. They weren't built to last. From Kurt's neuroses, to Dave Grohl's underlying artistic expression waiting to come out, Nirvana would not be a viable band today. It would be Kurt Cobain solo and something similar to Foo Fighters. Pearl Jam, however, would obviously be what they are - Pearl Jam. That makes Pearl Jam the more successful band. That makes Pearl Jam the greatest grunge band of the 90's. 1 https://nirvana-legacy.com...2 http://www.allmusic.com...