Screwed By Grunge!

This playlist is the necessary product of two conversations I recently had with a couple of devoted music fans who are at least ten years younger than myself. For them, Nirvana (and Kurt Cobain in particular) represents the absolute best music of the 90s and possibly all time. History is written by the winners. I get it. But, man, oh, man, did I ever hate that whole grunge thing! My main gripe was that, in addition to much of the Seattle sound being comparatively dull, despondent and poorly produced, there was a steady stream of cool music coming out of England at the very same time. The British bands were employing a lot of the same tricks (the wall of sound, for example), but there was a cleverness and an arrogant sense of optimism in the way they blasted it into your ears. Maybe that's why it's not given much thought today: the stuff coming out of England wasn't angry or cranky enough. Regardless, it depressed me that the people I was speaking with had never heard of The Stone Roses. That self-titled first album is to me what Abbey Road was to many people of the previous generation. So, my point is this: there is plenty of room in the music library for everyone, but pitted against one another on a level playing field of marketing dollars, the British kids on this playlist knock Seattle's dick in the dirt. Related: The Golden Age Of 4AD