WI "Grunge" music scene never develops

[Jason Sleeman]

WI if bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, STP, Alice in Chains and the like never break big.

It's Autumn 1991- can 80's style metal survive, if not what's the next "new thing" in rock? , Ideas?

Jason Sleeman

 

[CalBear]

Hmmm...

No Grunge = No Seattle Scene

No Seattle Scene = No Coffee House rebirth

So....

No Grunge = No STARBUCKS, No Peete's Coffee, no $5.00 Cup of coffee

Just think of all the extra disposable income available to buy industrial output. GM might have never stopped making a profit. The dotCom bubble might never have burst!

The trade deficient (pumped up by all those fancy bean imports) would be far lower, resulting in lower interest rates and a stronger dollar.

There would be no 2001/02 recession.

The Dow would be at 20,000!

It would be One USD = Three Euros.

Oil would be $12.50 a barrel!

My God, no Grunge Music would alter the economy of the Planet!



Well, that, or flannel shirts aren't as popular.

 

[Jason Sleeman]

No Grunge

Yeah I'll admit not an earth shattering pod but yeah cheaper coffee prices I'm all for

Maybe no grunge would lead to later evolution or non existance of "emo" music


CalBear-

"No Grunge = No Seattle Scene

No Seattle Scene = No Coffee House rebirth

So....

No Grunge = No STARBUCKS, No Peete's Coffee, no $5.00 Cup of coffee

Just think of all the extra disposable income available to buy industrial output. GM might have never stopped making a profit. The dotCom bubble might never have burst!

The trade deficient (pumped up by all those fancy bean imports) would be far lower, resulting in lower interest rates and a stronger dollar.

There would be no 2001/02 recession.

The Dow would be at 20,000!

It would be One USD = Three Euros.

Oil would be $12.50 a barrel!

My God, no Grunge Music would alter the economy of the Planet!



Well, that, or flannel shirts aren't as popular."

 

[AirshipArmada]

...

No Grunge = No STARBUCKS, No Peete's Coffee, no $5.00 Cup of coffee

... The dotCom bubble might never have burst!

No Starbucks = no dotCom bubble in the first place because coders can't stay awake.

----

Would rap and hip-hop be bigger sooner? Would goth or industrial be bigger?

 

[Redem]

Well if there is no grunge music Converse won't do a come back!

 

[Jason Sleeman]

Other Types of Music

The thing was by 1991 the first and second waves of "hair metal" bands were falling apart. So I don't think that genre had much more life unless it evolved into something else.

Ratt- Disbanded in 1991

Poison- C.C Deville leaves the band

Cinderella- Tom Keifer develops throat problems

Motley Crue- Fired Vince Neil

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.

any other thoughts?

 

[Archangel Michael]

Would emo become popular earlier?

 

[Jason Sleeman]

Emo

Emo could evolve from the power ballad sound just as easily as it could from post-grunge. it would probably come about in the mid to late 90's as the "80's metal" sound burnt itself out.

 

[Archangel Michael]

Emo could evolve from the power ballad sound just as easily as it could from post-grunge. it would probably come about in the mid to late 90's as the "80's metal" sound burnt itself out.

Emo was already around in OTL when the Eighties metal scene died out. According to the Wiki article on Emo music, it began in the D.C. area in the mid-Eighties.

 

[Jason Sleeman]

Emo roots

Funny, I grew up in the D.C area and I didn't know there was an emo scene back then. you learn something new everyday.

 

[Brennus]

I remember when I first moved to the US as a kid around 1994 ska was sort of on an upswing of sorts. Could ska or punk sort of fill the void?

 

[Jason Sleeman]

Ska/Punk

Yeah Ska/Punk good be alot bigger and hit sooner, maybe as backlash again overly decadent rock and over commercialization.

 

[Archangel Michael]

Funny, I grew up in the D.C area and I didn't know there was an emo scene back then. you learn something new everyday.

It was mostly underground.

Yeah Ska/Punk good be alot bigger and hit sooner, maybe as backlash again overly decadent rock and over commercialization.

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.

 

[Mason]

I hate to say it, but perhaps Goth, Industrial, Black Metal, etc. gets popular. Grunge came at a time, when people were really upset and pissed off, could be the other outlet of those feelings.

 

[Midgard]

Another possibility is death metal. 1991 or so is when some death metal bands started getting mainstream attention - bands like Death, Cancer, Obituary, Carcass were all starting to be looked at by the major labels. Death metal is not intristically the easiest style of music to sell to the masses, but then, who would have thought that grunge would get as far as it has?

Funk-metal movement was a non-starter around the time - a short lived craze that failed to generate much more than early hype. At the same time, bands like Korn are starting to get popular by mid-90s, and since Ministry, Pitchshifter, and Depeche Mode already have made their mark, industrial/industrial metal can still be popular.

In reality, grunge scene only had about 5 years of life in it - by 1996 it was overtaken by rap metal and nu-metal crowds on one side, and goth/industrial rock on the other. In other words, in 1996 more new bands tried to be the next Korn, Limp Bizkit, or Marylin Manson than the next Nirvana. Honestly, I see some of the same trends in music as in OTL in the US, except that we might be spared the horrible, horrible bands like Creed, Godsmack, and those that sound like them.

 

[Aozhouhuaren]

If there was was no grunge rock scene, I would forsee Bhangra taking over.

CHAK DE!!!!

Emo Bhangra Now there's a thought, how would that sound? Or even Satanic Bhangra

 

[larpsidekick]

As the all-wise tenacious D say 'Grunge tried to kill the metal, but the metal ruled'

The path from the start (Deep Purple / Black Sabbath), through NWOBHM (Maiden, Priest) hit thrash as a reaction to the hair bands. There were also a whole bunch of eighties metal (often German - Helloween etc) that were more along the lines of NWOBHM, but to the max (much more widdly). Fusion of thrash and these bands has led to power metal - like Iced Earth, Dragonforce - possibly these fast but technical bands could rise instead of grunge?

While not replacing nu-metal / rap-metal (Anthrax & Public Enemy anyone?) it would probably result in a more technical bent to it - higher quality lead / rythem guitar interweaving with the skill of the frontman instead of supporting him - which could be interesting.

Or, concept albums could rise, with rock / metal becoming all about the story - flowing from the massive success of Operation:Mindcrime (including MTV play) and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, more bands construct albums along a strong storyline, making rock even more niche perhaps, but linked to theatre / cinema as producers nick ideas

 

[Goldstein]

Without an early 90's grunge scene, I see more popularity in thrash metal, industrial rock and an earlier-stronger nu-metal scene, thougth one of the three would be clearly predominant.

Though it may be plausible, I don't see power metal becoming a predominant trend among the youth of the 90's... I mean, the idea of an X-Gen and its implications was in the air, and I can't see that generation as a whole, in that moment, identifying itself with mythological and sword-and-sorcery lyrics... unless power metal had evolved differently, expressing urban anxiety themes, but I see thrash metal more fitting with that.

This thread remembers me a short story I wanted to write, in which grunge became less popular and mild industrial rock became far more popular. The story itself were two Rolling Stone magazine articles, one interviewing a 37 years old Kurt Cobain, the other around the legend of Trent Reznor, who was killed in 1994 during his self destruct tour.

 

[Tyr]

Indie/ 'britpop' was the big thing during the 90s and its origins are completely seperate from grunge- a few bands did have grunge influence but most were just continuing standard 80s indie.
I'd think this would still emerge even without the year or two grunge blip.
Hip hop was the other big thing around 1990 wasn't it? I suppose that could be more succesful...which could only bode well- decent hip hop being more succesful could stop that gangster rap rubbish ever showing itself.

 

[Kidblast]

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)