grungy

can you say weird news week? cuz i can
WEIRD NEWS WEEK
—Mu'ammar al–Qaddafi is either dead, captured, or both
—after months of angry stonewalling, carson palmer finally got traded
—legal teams from the uk and us are argued the declaration of independence's legality
—some random guy in ohio had a 50+ menagerie of wild animals on his farm
—israeli soldier gilad shalit was released after 5 years in a palestinian prison
—nicholas sarkozy is the first french president to have a child during his term
—eta has declared a ceasefire to its armed resistance campaign [!]
methinks some crazy shit is going down

i'm gonna go ahead and deviate wildly from my last blog topic
and talk about music for a tic
mostly because i don't care much about what's happening in football this week
[beyond the carson palmer trade, which just made me confused,
nothing of note has really happened]
so instead, i'm going to proffer a list and some opinions,
cuz really, why not?
if you've stuck with me and continued reading my rants,
you either enjoy my opinions or are continuously enraged by them
so i might as well keep exploiting whichever emotion keeps you coming back

as some of you may know
[and as you all will shortly be made aware if you don't]
one of my favorite musical genres is grunge
being a child of the 90s and susceptible to my parents' musical tastes
[which, by the way, are fucking AWESOME]
i grew up listening to it,
which is why it holds such a special, unwashed place in my alternative heart
though there have been a plethora of really talented grunge musicians,
the singers are what have always stood out to me
the vocal quality of grunge is unlike most,
and those who really captured it are some of my favorite singers EVAR
and so, i present you with my top five grunge singers, plus honorable mentions
[as a side note, i'm not including any post–grunge singers on this list,
no paul mccoy, ed kowalczyk, kevin matisyn, or shimon ward
because, as much as i love them, there's a reason they're called 'post–grunge'
and this list is about the originals, and not the follow–ups
so yeah, let's get to it]



honorable mention #1: ben mcmillan [gruntruck]
unfortunately for ben, gruntruck is not a band most know
and though i could easily pull out the hipster card of 'i knew of them before you did',
i shan't, because there's no place for trust–fund hipster kids in grunge
but, that doesn't diminish the quality of his singing
gruntruck, like most of my favorite grunge bands, found their influence in metal
which meant that ben had metal–style vocals
i've always been a sucker for that particular brand of grunge,
and though he's not stellar, he has a really solid quality that fit their sound
his style was also pretty influential among later singers
so it's always good to give a nod to pioneers

honorable mention #2: kurt cobain [nirvana]
i can only imagine the shit i'm gonna catch from those with nirvana boners
but i'm gonna stick by this, because fuck you
now, nirvana is considered one of the seminal grunge bands,
and arguably the first to become popular in the mainstream
[though you could make equally strong cases for soundgarden and alice in chains]
though his vocals didn't have much to do with that
yeah, he's got a great rasp to his voice
but he's not a particularly great singer when he needs to be
and he doesn't have the strength needed to carry a good tune
again, it fits his band's sound, but it's not standout
so while i acknowledge his influence [especially his fashion sense]
i can't put him in with the best

now that i've got your dander up, let's get to it


#5: carrie akre [hammerbox]
sad as i am to say it, there really aren't any good female grunge singers
courtney love [hole] was okay for about five minutes before she cracked out
donita sparks [l7]  never really had it
and i've never really been a fan of selene vigil [7 year bitch]
but, there is one gal who can stand toe–toe–toe with the guys: carrie akre
hammerbox was more on the alt–rock side of grunge,
and carrie captured that sound with her style of vocals
and unlike most of her contemporaries, she can actually sing
albeit it with a little too much edge at times
[it's a shame that hammerbox never really found popular success
cuz they're pretty good out of the studio too]
anyway, back to carrie
what i find most endearing about carrie is that, unlike most other grunge musicians,
she kept singing with different bands over the years
which means that she actually grew as a musician when lots of others just quit
you gotta respect someone who's that dedicated to their craft
she may not do much grunge these days, but i'm all right with that

#4: gavin rossdale [bush]
here's the second [or third] choice that's probly gonna get some flared tempers
i, unlike a surprising number of people i know, actually like bush
which means, unlike said number of people, i like gavin rossdale,
and i'll tell you why
like kurt, gavin has a raspy edge to his voice that fits his band perfectly
[although, not unlike eddie, went not–in–the–good–way crazy with their music]
but unlike kurt, he also has the ability to belt with emotion
and, when need be, do both in the same song
i know that bush flamed out kinda fast after they released 'sixteen stone',
but it's hard to deny the talent that gavin has
especially when you couple it with those flowing locks and broody eyes
i will acknowledge that gavin does have some rigidity in his style
notably his inability to not sing the exact same way in most of bush's songs
[not unlike brian johnson of ac/dc]
but damn it, when he's on, he's on

#3: scott weiland [stone temple pilots]
scott, along with my top 2 picks, has one of the quintessential voice of grunge
seriously, when you hear him sing, you always know exactly who it is
whether its one of their most well–known songs
that song that no one fucking remembers the name of
or the song that you always forget is actually them
there's no mistaking scott's voice
what makes scott unique among grunge singers is his versatility
their first album, core, is very much in a heavy metal/hard rock style
while their next album, purple, encorporates a more straightforward rock style
and shangri–la dee da has a more psych rock sound to it
it's rare to find that among singers in general
and scott weiland happens to one of the most successful
unfortunately for us, his absurd drug issues tend to get in the way of it
and his outing with velvet revolver was not nearly as good as stp
but what's a successful rock singer without a drug problem?
as long as he keeps truckin', i'll keep listening

#2: chris cornell [soundgarden]
you've gotta love a guy who comes up with a band name like that
it was a hard decision to put chris a spot above scott,
[and it ultimately came down to the fact that i like soundgarden more]
but i think he deserves
chris is by far the most technically gifted singer on this list
he's got a killer high range like a metal singer,
a great midrange that he doesn't use nearly enough,
a nice sultry low range that crawls under your skin,
he has a great harmonic tone that compliments whoever he sings with,
and he puts them together in a way that'll blow you away
plus, the kicker is that he's been singing that way for damn near 30 years
he's almost 50 now, and sings like a goddamn 28 year old
if i have even half that staying power at anything, i'll consider myself lucky
let me put it this way:
anyone who can sing the shit out of billie jean is pretty fucking awome

#1: layne staley [alice in chains]
anyone who has EVER heard me talk about grunge should have seen this coming
seriously, i never miss a chance to mention how much i love layne staley
even with all the great names on this list,
he stands alone at the top as the most emotionally–resonant singer of the bunch
he knows your insecurities
he speaks to your despair
he makes you feel metal as fuck
he knows why you're angry, reaches out to you, and can even be uplifting
and through it all, he has a tremenedous vocal presence
like ben, alice in chains is very rooted in the metal side of grunge,
and he takes that metal technique to the next level and makes it his own
his sound is as varied as his emotion,
going from a snarling wail to subdued anger all areas in between
even at his most cracked out and psychotic, he sounded great
couple that with the most embattled personality in the scene,
and you've got the consummate grunge singer
[as an addendum,
i have to give lots of props to jerry cantrell
besides being a fucking genius with a guitar,
he also happens have a great voice
and part of what makes layne so great is his ability to harmonize with jerry
there was no better singing tandem in rock than those two]


so that's mah list
commence the screamings