Monday Metal

We had a Monday Metal idea and we've completely forgotten what it was.

Which seems apropos.

Last week we were talking with our bagel guy about Rock n Roll. We both recognize that rock is dead. We don't really know how it happened and we're not sure what killed it.

Sure rap or hip-hop 'music' is number one now, but we believe that is at least partially due to rock dying.

The last important rock music was Grunge, discussed in this space before: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden and Alice in Chains. Nirvana is the last great rock bond.

Grunge died quick though and nothing really replaced it.

At about the same time Grunge died we jumped off the rock train and got into classical, a move for which we are profoundly grateful. Here we discovered Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mendlessohn, Borodin....

Anyway rock is old and its been old for some time. We first noticed this in 2001. After 9-11 there was a big benefit gala at Madison Square Garden and everyone playing, at least all of the important acts, were middle-aged to old. The headliners were Paul McCartney and Billy Joel. They are rock royalty of course and that's a problem. Rock shouldn't have royalty. Rock is about sticking it to royalty. I fought the law, remember? You can't do that when you are the law.

Years later, in 2008 we think, there was a massive Earth Day rock and roll extravaganza and a lot of these same people came out. Roger Waters was headlining. He must have been at least 50 then. It was Mark Steyn, (we think) who pointed out that at the time of Woodstock, Dean Martin was 48.

When we go to Guitar Center it's usually a gray haired fading tattoo guy behind the counter.

Hey, we like to catch the old acts. This summer we had Bryan Adams week here. Last summer we saw AC/DC. Brian Johnson is our father's age. The Rolling Stones are still touring and they look ridiculous as they fill 60,000 seat arenas across the globe. The new acts we like, Wolf Mother, The Answer, they stay close to home and fill arenas too, 1,000 seat arenas.

How soon till they're playing 500 seat venues?

Not Metal Monday, Kurt Cobain's Sweater Edition

It's hard to disagree with this list of the 25 most influential Grunge albums:

Even though nearly every alternative act of the day, especially those from Seattle, were all lumped together as grunge bands, the truth is that they each had their own style and sound. But at their core was some mixture of ‘70s hard rock and ‘80s punk, two genres that been at odds with each other and had different legions of fans. In other words, grunge made it safe for people to like both Black Sabbath and the Replacements, who, by the way, liked Black Sabbath.Its two biggest bands, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, served the same roles in the grunge movement as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones did during the British Invasion. One made the immediate impact but burned out quickly with a member still going strong

For younger reader(s) the four most important Grunge acts in order of import were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden and Alice Chains.

Ironically this is also the reverse list of musical talent. Nirvana was basically just a punk band while Pearl Jam sounded like a metal band that changed its sound just as metal was dying off. I think Sound Garden's Chris Cornell had the best vocals and musically was the most interesting. Alice in Chains is still around and produced the most diverse music.

Now, nothing Pearl Jam did after Ten and Animal matter to Grunge, I've never bought another one of their albums except the I got id single. Listen to those tracks and tell me these guys weren't influenced by metal.

I never liked Nirvana, man, but their MTV Unplugged performance is probably the most memorable of any Unplugged performance.

I'm glad the list mentioned Smashing Pumpkins as a top Grunge act. To be honest Billy Corgan insists they were always a prog rock band and he does love him some Rush, but those early albums were heavy on the power chords. Go listen to Rocket, it just rocks. 25 years after the fact I still get chills from the song.

Courtney Love and Hole of course make this list, and not just because they needed a girl.

To my knowledge there's never been a Grunge doc made except for the Grunge segment of Metal Evolution. None of these guys would admit to metal influence and a lot of that snobbery from the early 90's was still there. Come on guys, you're grown men. Other kinds of music are good too, even if you don't like it.