WI "Grunge" music scene never develops

Jason Sleeman

Glam Rock Evolution

By 1990 Alot of the glam metal bands were starting to go in a more blues rock direction. Poison with Flesh and Blood in 1990 and Native Tongue in 1993 Warrant with Dog Eat Dog in 1992, Cinderella with Heartbreak Station in 1990. with no grunge maybe this sound would have more success.
 

alt_historian

Archangel Michael said:
It was mostly underground.



That's how punk first became popular in the Sixties and Seventies, as an alternative to prog-rock which turned out ten-minute long songs on average.
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But, but... that's the point!:D
Kidblast said:
No Creed or Nickelback!!!!! Yah!!!

I can see more Ska and Punk stuff. Also I don't see Rap not going Gangsta. Remember, ridiculous stuff like Vanilla Ice? I think that killed Commercial Rap, when "real Rappers" came along.

I'd like to see the Glam Rock go in another direction. Those bands had alot of good songs and stayed true to what I see and Rock and Roll. (Grunge is not Rock) Perhaps a shift to a more Progressive style? (Personally I just like 10 minute Progressive anthems)
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See? I knew someone agreed...

I doubt Led Zep (for instance) would make a comeback - after all, they split because John Bonham died, and have stuck to it since. Also, Pink Floyd had split by then. But if people like Guns n Roses had moved in that sort of direction, combined with what we know as their style - well, certainly something to consider.:)
 

Rny2

But I was thinking more Johnny Cash and less Garth Brooks, as in have rock singers cross over into country, rather than pop singers OTL.
 

Ace Venom

Jason Sleeman said:
The Other Big Bands of 91 might have had more success,ie Warrant, which went in a harder direction in 92, Skid Row had a #1 with Slave to the Grind in 91 and the metal scene as a whole may go more thrash. If Axl can keep it together GNR may be even bigger w/o grunge. Metallica and Megadeth sound may become an even bigger force in metal. And more Rap-Metal Bands might emerge if Faith No More gets bigger.

Rap music might do much to fill the void, maybe getting more of the mainstream white audience as fans than in otl.
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It could be either or. Rap and metal might split the white audience pretty evenly. Some bands that never broke big as a result of the pop metal scene like Testament might get really big as a result of no grunge scene. Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction with tracks like "Foreclosure of a Dream" might become a statement of an era. Slayer would earn a lot of criticism from parents groups for being Nazis with the track "SS-3" from 1994's Divine Intervention, resurrecting the debate that started with the song "Angel of Death" from the Reign in Blood album. Testament would gain a huge audience with The Ritual in 1992 and 1994's Low. Queensrÿche would continue to push forward, becoming one of the biggest bands of the early 90's alongside Metallica and Megadeth despite being progressive metal and not thrash.

Of course, there's also room for more than just big bands of the thrash scene. Iced Earth would probably have a higher impact early on if enough underground press goes nuts about Night of the Stormrider. Grave Digger would lead the charge with its comeback album The Reaper as would Blind Guardian with Somewhere Far Beyond. Savatage would probably continue to possess a wide audience as well, possibly butterflying out Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the future. Dio would probably enjoy a pretty decent return to a solo career after leaving Black Sabbath for a second time.

Rap would probably have the impact of the alternative to the metal scene and could be instrumental in overtaking it in popularity in the late 90's as thrash metal bands get older and power and progressive metal lose their appeal. Death and black metal would continue to play underground, now joined by a slew of thrash and power metal acts that couldn't make it big in the early to mid-90's.

So here is my list of guaranteed big metal bands in this scenario:
Metallica
Megadeth
Queensrÿche
Anthrax
Slayer
Testament
Dio
Ozzy Osbourne

Possibly:
Savatage
Grave Digger
Blind Guardian
Dream Theater
Manowar
 

Jason Sleeman

List of Bands

Here's my list of the big metal acts early to mid 90's

Hair/Pop Metal Era

Warrant (Goes Blues Metal and Heavier)
Skid Row (Goes more thrash)
GNR
Def Leppard
Bon Jovi (Was pretty sucessful in OTL through the grunge era anyway)

Heavy Metal

Anthrax
Metallica
Megadeth
Pantera
Motorhead

Prog Metal

Queensryche
Dream Theatre

Goth Pop

Depeche Mode

Hard Rock
Van Halen
Aerosmith
Alice Cooper
 

Rny2

How does this affect the rise of neotraditional (with George Strait, Randy Jackson) and alternative country (with Uncle Tupelo)?
 
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Ace Venom

Rny2 said:
How does this affect the rise of neotraditional alternative country?
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If there's one thing I noticed about country music is that it will never die and seems to work independent of many trends. But I do expect that without grunge, chicken pickin will enjoy an even greater surge than in OTL. Albert Lee would probably be more popular than in OTL as he's country music's answer to Yngwie Malmsteen and Edward Van Halen. If blues rock becomes more in style with the influence of Cinderella or Warrant, you'd probably see quite a bit of crossing over in styles.
 

TFLGuitar

lol if you wanted to stop the Grunge movement, just kidnap Husker Du, the Replacements and a bunch of bands from Minnesota scene...The Seattle scene took a ton from Minnesota.
 

Metalicon

I know this thread is old but I saw it just recently and had to give my 2 cents on it.

First, are we talking about the grunge scene being bands like Nirvana Mudhoney etc... or are we talking about the entire Pacific Northwest being excluded such as Alice in Chains and Soundgarden? Well, let's assume that it would be the latter since it follows the proper question so here it goes:

I don't see death metal getting big in the early 90's if there is no grunge. The music is too extreme for most people at that time unlike nowadays.

I do however, see Metallica for instance, being a bit more popular but staying in a more traditional metal direction where the black album is what they need to make every time unless they decide to toughen up their sound and put something out that sounds a bit 80's.

The bands that are the forerunners in popularity will most likely be from the L.A. area but do not represent the tired hair bands. Sublime would most likely be this non-grunge TL's Nirvana with Bradley Nowell in place of Kurt Cobain. The Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers, Tool, and Sublime will represent the forefront of what is alternative rock in the early to mid 90's.

Overall there are some good and bad things that go along with there being no grunge:

Good: Metal is more popular but not by a significant margin. Bands like Anthrax do get to stay on their label because it is likely the great purge of '91 doesn't happen. This gives metal bands like Testament or Exodus a more legitimate chance at getting better gigs and thus better exposure.

Bad: Even without grunge, the hair bands we're still on their way out. Most likely, the next big thing comes out of L.A. and then the record companies try to find hundreds of other inferior copycat bands. Imagine a bunch of Sublime-wannabes for example. Even more, grunge represented something that was non-L.A. related. Hair bands were from West Hollywood, Most Gangsta Rap hailed out of Compton, punk and ska were coming out of Long Beach and Anaheim. People on a large scale got to experience a scene that did not come of primarily Southern California. Not meaning to put down Southern California but within exists a similar idea like the Romans as being the center of the world.
 

jakewilson

Perhaps Britpop would make it big in the US. Just imagine what US Blur copycats would be like. My personal preference would be for metal to continue unabated, but frankly it was pretty tired genre in the early nineties. I can't see rap-metal catching on in a big way.
Anywho, thanks Metalicon for resurrecting this thread. Let's see who posts.
 
flippikat

flippikat

jakewilson said:
Perhaps Britpop would make it big in the US. Just imagine what US Blur copycats would be like. My personal preference would be for metal to continue unabated, but frankly it was pretty tired genre in the early nineties. I can't see rap-metal catching on in a big way.
Anywho, thanks Metalicon for resurrecting this thread. Let's see who posts.
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Well of course you had indie-dance in the early 1990s - bands like the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Charlatans (UK), Primal Scream etc... hard to see how much of an impact they could've made in the USA and other countries outside a small circle of anglophiles.

Still, EMF & Jesus Jones had a small degree of global success in OTL.. so with Grunge out of the way, it is possible... just strike the right balance between rock and the dancefloor and you can be successful in the USA - Talking Heads being a case in point.
 

The Ubbergeek

I wonder if such a musical background change may see the rise of a political or socially engaged 'Gangsta' style - that is it, take away the crimes, hoes, guns, dopes, for agitprop and such.
 

Metalicon

jakewilson said:
Perhaps Britpop would make it big in the US. Just imagine what US Blur copycats would be like. My personal preference would be for metal to continue unabated, but frankly it was pretty tired genre in the early nineties. I can't see rap-metal catching on in a big way.
Anywho, thanks Metalicon for resurrecting this thread. Let's see who posts.
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You could be right about a potential second British invasion as I know very little about that scene in the 90's. As far as metal being tired, it depends on what kind of metal we're talking about because I don't see bands like Metallica or Megadeth losing popularity in the grungeless 90's, but I do see Poison or Warrant and the poofy hair spandex scene getting nixed.

I must respectfully disagree on your statement that rap-metal doesn't catch on huge, in fact, I see it catching on earlier in the 90's with other collaborations copying Anthrax/Public Enemy with "Bring tha Noize" in an attempt to sell rap to metal people and vice versa.

The big question is what happens to bands like Alice In Chains who were always associated with grunge simply for the fact they were from the Pacific Northwest?
 

Clibanarius

Banned
Would GNR even be able to hold on any longer than they did? They were falling apart by then and had been for some time.
 
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