Josh-da-man

Okay, after giving this some thought and going over my CD collection, I think I've come up with a fairly representative tracklist:

1. Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick
2. Nirvana - Sliver
3. Soundgarden - Flower
4. Mother Love Bone - Bone China
5. Alice In Chains - We Die Young
6. Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike
7. Nirvana - About a Girl (unplugged)
8. Pearl Jam - Black
9. Soundgarden - Hands All Over
10. Green River - Ain't Nothin' to Do
11. Soundgarden - Spoonman
12. Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
13. Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust
14. Melvins - Honey Bucket
15. Seven Year Bitch - Crying Shame
16. TAD - Jack Pepsi
17. Babes in Toyland - Bruise Violet
18. Mother Love Bone - Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns
19. Pearl Jam - Angel
20. Temple of the Dog - Hungry for Heaven

I also put some thought into the order of the tracks, too, but I suck at placing tracks in order on mix CDs, so be aware of that.

I gave Soundgarden and Pearl Jam three tracks each, as I feel each track represents a part of their trademark sound.

Of the Pearl Jam tracks, "Black" was never released as a single or video despite being a highlight of "10," "State of Love and Trust" appeared on the soundtrack to "Singles," and does not appear on any of their studio albums. "Angel" was, as far as I know, only available as a Christmas gift single to their fan club members.

The Soundgarden cut, "Flower," is from one of their earlier albums, and as such is mostly unheard by MTV masses. "Hands All Over" is from their breakthrough album, "Louder than Love," and "Spoonman" represents a more accessible, pop sound that they later adopted. (If you wanted, "Hands All Over" could probably be replaced with "Jesus Christ Pose.")

For Nirvana, I went with "Sliver," which was part of their first single, "Sliver/Dive" and "About a Girl (unplugged)."

Since these are the big three bands of the grunge scene, I went with more obscure tracks, instead of the songs played constantly on MTV and the radio. Which is also why I used "We Die Young" as the Alice in Chains track. We've all heard "Man in the Box" about a million times.

Other than that, I tried to hit upon representative tracks from other bands like Screaming Trees, Melvins, Seven Year Bitch, Green River, and TAD.

Hollowgen

i like your list... but i feel anything from Nirvana's Unplugged might be a little iffy... to me, that album felt more like evidence that they would eventually branch out and become something more than just angstful grunge music.... maybe that's exactly what you're going for though

claweight

good choice throwing in tad's 'jack pepsi'. great song.

benedict

<small> </small>I read this recently in a CD booklet and thought it topical - albeit a bit of a stretch!

" [....] have become the primary inspiration for what is now commonly known as 'grunge rock'. Killing Yourself to Live, an embryonic version of which had been previewed on the Vol 4 tour, could quite easily have been penned by Kurt Cobain, and wouldn't have sounded out of place on Nirvana's Nevermind album. The lyrics speak for themselves.

Cusm

Not to be picky, but they were just Dinosaur during the SST years.


Go look for an old SST mix tape to get a good listing of some great alternative bands that had a good raw "grungy" feel to them.

nodeerforamonth

Not true. Only the very first album (which I can't remember if it was on SST or not). "Bug" was on SST and they were Dinosaur Jr then.

nodeerforamonth

Nirvana's first single and first release was "Love Buzz"/"Big Cheese". It was the very first single for the Sub Pop singles club.

"Flashes" is a GREAT Screaming Trees song. If you haven't heard it, find it!

Josh-da-man

Not too much of a stretch. I can hear a lot of Sabbath in Soundgarden, at least their earlier releases like "Ultramega OK." And also some Zep, or at least their later, more experimental stuff.

scroll2b

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Kurt Cobain found a big influence in The Pixies. Definitely have their stuff on there. And, if anything from Nirvana, one of my personal favs is Aneurysm or The Man Who Sold The World. And if I were you, I'd have five of these cds made to really get a sense of Grunge.

Josh-da-man

Close, and probably accurate on a sunbconscious level. I originally thought about putting the "Bleach" version of "About a Girl" on there, but thought that one of their later cuts would work out better, so I just moved the "Unplugged" version there.

Nirvana was a problematic band, as they were so high profile. We've all heard so many of the songs so many times that they've sort of lost their impact. So my first instinct was to go with "Sliver." It's a strong song, and very representative of the early Nirvana sound.

I supposed I could've used another unplugged track, like one of the Meat Puppets numbers or "The Man Who Sold the World." But I kind of liked the idea of a new version of one of their old songs on there. It sort of says something about untapped potential, and I was hesitant to include a cover from a band as influential as Nirvana. (And, as anyone has "Incesticide" can attest, they did excellent covers.)

Come to think of it, the acoustic "All Apologies" would probably be a better cut to end the compiliation on. Switch "Bruise Violet" out with "About a Girl," move the other three final tracks up, and end the thing with "All Apologies." End the comp. on a somber note.

nodeerforamonth

"grunge" and "acoustic" do NOT go together.

For Nirvana, I'd put on "Sliver" (one of the best songs ever!) or to more represent the "grunge" sound, "Blew" or "School" or "Beeswax" or "Dive" would be much better.

fender69

Wipers

They are like the Godfathers of Grunge.

funkyryno

Some more obscure Seattle-area bands that were around during the Grunge years that never made it big:
Coffin Break
The Gits
Seaweed
Sweaty Nipples