For those of you who are unfamiliar with the genre, grunge exploded in the Pacific Northwest of this nation (late 80's), creating new directions for alternative music as we see it today. However, most of grunge music began specifically in Seattle, which had previously been a hotbed for metal acts before the explosion of sludge rock. When metal was popular, bands like Metal Church, Queensryche, etc. contributed as the main pull of the scene and these bands were predominantly white males. Females were barely included in the metal scene, and men of different racial makeup were hardly regarded as real musicians in the very racist, very white-dominant, metal society. This is why when Soundgarden first started creating music in Seattle in 1988, where the metal scene was still prominent - white power and all, audiences sort of freaked out in a way. Not only because Soundgarden ended up sounding so similar to Led Zeppelin without trying (none of the guys in the band even liked OR listened to Led Zeppelin!) and people began to associate them as posers, but more so because the racial makeup was very interesting. Soundgarden proved that regardless of race in a scene with dominant orientalist attitudes against both Asians and people of the Middle East, they could still rock out and gain appreciation - even from the metal guys that only accepted white musicians. The racial makeup for the original band members of Soundgarden include Kim Thayil (Indian American), Hiro Yamamato (Japanese American), and Chris Cornell (Eastern European-American) and Matt Cameron (Irish American).
If anyone's interested in hearing more about Soundgarden or the Seattle Sound, you guys can check out my radio show and website @ http://rockethype.net
Cool post! On a completely related note you should also check out Ian MacKaye. He was the front man for Minor Threat and Fugazi and had some pretty counter-hegemonic songs; granted, he still has some messed up ones ("Guilty of Being White" for real Ian? You should have known better)(this is in D.C. btw). Also, if you haven't read much about Riot grrl, that is also a really interesting movement that politicized music and addressed sexism in the alternative/ punk scene.
ReplyDeleteThanks dude! I'm familiar with both Ian McKaye and riot grrrl, I'm glad other people (such as yourself) know about this stuff too. I think it's a music scene that people look over a lot of the time, seeing that other music has been released since the 90's and a lot of music listeners don't really look back on what's not being released right now...but especially in the case of riot grrrl, i think thats something that every woman (especially, but I think men should definitely look into it too) should know about. Revolution Grrrl Style NOW!
ReplyDeleteHey there! Mike here to clear some things up in this post and somewhat curiosity.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that there was some sort of racism going on the Seattle community before the Grunge explosion, but i'm not sure that's true. If you look solely at the metal scene that was around before Grunge sure most of them were white males, however there were bands like Imij who were an all black punk/metal band in the mid-late 80s. DC Beggars who were apart of the Rathouse and began recording in the early 90's.How can anyone forget the Quincy Punx!!
The only thing I've noticed in my time researching the Northwest Scene would be in the punk rock scene where some racism did exist, most notabily in the Lake Union Pub. There were reports of skinheads getting involved during a Statics/Makers show in the early 90's causing a riot. But that's sorta punk rock for you, a lot of that exists in some sectors.
I don't think the scene as a whole was racist because like I said you had all black bands playing and creating some great music, Rusty Willoughby who is of asian descent played in Eddie & The Back Nine in the 80's, later with Flop and Pure Joy. It was a scene where people came together and played music that everyone enjoyed. Regardless of color of the skin or creed, there was still a strong outlet for music to be shared. Everyone supported one another. It was Kurt cobain who even said "if you are homophobic or racist we don't want you to buy our records" and I think that sentiment echoes through the whole Northwest scene as a whole....Hell Jimi Hendrix was from Seattle!
Was there racism to some degree? Sure, that's punk rock, there are going to be those people around, but they were in the minority. Grunge and the Northwest Scene was safe to exchange musical ideas. Seattle has a large asian population and some asians find their way in bands, like african americans.Check out Imij, DC Beggars, Eddie & The Back Nine, Quincy Punx, Boom Boom GI, Big Tube Squeezer, and Mass Hypnosis....If you want some pre-grunge metal bands MUST HAVES are: Bible Stud, Black Is Black, Kil D'Kor, Nasti Habitz, Ruff Toiz, J Church and Metal Church