Sounding off
by Jon Worley

One of the bigger "news" events of the week was the announcement of Soundgarden's breakup. My wife thought this was so important she called me all the way from Pennsylvania, even though she knew my response would be, "So what? I haven't bought one of their albums since Louder than Love". Of course, when I first heard an unidentified body had been at Kurt Cobain's house I said, "Oh, I guess they found Darryl Strawberry" (he was also missing at the time). The only recent musician's death that really bugged me was Frank Zappa's, even though I had been expecting that announcement for some time.

The thing that truly bothers me is the great number of misstatements in the fairly short stories that lamented Soundgarden's demise. These grandiose untruths are usually spewed forth by "noted Seattle writer" so-and-so, which means they got a review published in Rolling Stone or Spin, hardly a coup. These hacks didn't bother to do their homework, and as I know a little bit about the subject, I feel duty- and honor-bound to clean up their mess.

Myth #1: Soundgarden invented grunge.

I've seen this printed in three places, and I can't believe the ignorance. Soundgarden didn't even start out as a grunge band, and they formed during the heyday of grunge in Seattle. While bands like Green River, the Melvins and Skin Yard were plowing through miles of sludge and debris, Soundgarden was making the world safe for the inevitable Led Zeppelin revival. Hardly grunge by any account. In fact, Soundgarden covered Green River's "Swallow My Pride" in 1988. Listen to 1987's Screaming Life and tell me the music you hear is grunge. I dare ya.

As for Seattle, the local "hip" kids gave up on grunge about the time it hit big nationally. Pearl Jam never played a gig before singing its deal, and Nirvana was considered an amusing curiosity before "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Sure, plenty of suburban Seattle kids bought into the whole grunge phenomenon (and paid $75 for flannel shirts) like the rest of the country, but the "scene" consists of those in the know, and they were never terribly excited about grunge after 1989.

Myth #2: The Seattle music scene was non-existent before the "grunge revolution." Akin to this one is the notion that the Seattle scene has spawned only grunge bands in the past 10 years.

Remember a guy named Hendrix? A band called Heart? These folks not only started out in Seattle, but flourished there. Sure, Hendrix was never completely identified with the Pacific Northwest, but Heart has always been known as a "Seattle band." In the early and mid 1980s, artists such as Sir Mix a Lot, Metal Church and Queensryche gained a great deal of notoriety. Mother Love Bone was on the verge of major success when Andrew Wood died. Years later when two of its members were better known as members of Pearl Jam, a CD that combined the Mother Love Bone EP and LP sold a few million copies. In fact, the first real mainstream success for "grunge" was an tribute album to Andrew Wood, which featured the remaining members of Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden and a guy named Eddie Vedder.

Grunge is just the tip of the iceberg in Seattle. The Young Fresh Fellows have been a mainstay of the scene for 15 years, and its this pop sense that really has pervaded Seattle. Even as bands like Alice in Chains and Nirvana sold millions, the local kids were buying records by local pop bands like Gnome, Heatmiser, Treepeople (the last of which was actually a Boise transplant). Indeed, it is this pop legacy that is driving the success of such bands as the Presidents of the United States of America and the Foo Fighters.

Myth #3: This announcement heralds the end of Seattle as a major music Mecca.

First, I think Pearl Jam is still around, and I'm sure Geffen can wring out a few more Nirvana posthumous releases, even if they never match the Sex Pistols record in that regard. Mudhoney is still plodding about (I think, though I've never considered it a grunge band), and the Melvins still crank out an album a year. But there is a thriving scene of less-established acts as well, from pop to grunge to industrial bands, with a few rappers thrown in to spice things up. The diversity of the scene is its strength, and that's why Seattle will still be the home of many big new acts in the coming years. Just look at the Presidents. And the Foo Fighters. And...

These myths are absurd, sweeping statements that make the concept of "music journalism" seem so silly to so many. I'm not even that committed to the idea of traditional journalism, but getting basic facts straight is a good idea. I understand if the average writer can't differentiate between grunge and heavy metal thunder (the distinction can be fine, and it's always a matter of opinion), but the rest of the stuff is the result of being unobservant and lazy. There's no excuse for that.

Jon Worley has never lived in Seattle. In fact, he's never even visited the place. He almost moved to Portland earlier this year, but that's not the same thing at all.

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