"Music" 2002-06-28 - 3:03 a.m.

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well, it's later. And here is my essay-style entry comparing the current as-of-yet unnamed music movement to the grunge movement. This will be long, be prepared. For me the parralells between the two are astounding. Let's start with the dates. Both are taking place at the beginning of their respective decades. Both are represented by really 4 main bands. Both are a change in the popular music style, both have slight build up, but one was only a change in the style, one is a change in the genre. See, when grunge came about, Hair Metal was the popular music style. But there were alternative bands like Jane's Addiction, the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., and even a pre-Nevermind Nirvana laying the groundwork for grunge. But the prevalent musical style was still rock. Today, The prevalent musical style is rap. A completely different genre. But there are bands that, even though they don't fit into one single style, are bringing rock back and were thereby laying the groundwork for the current movement. But both movements started with a single song, by a single band. Grunge started with Nirvana, with the fantastical Smells Like Teen Spirit, that became the biggest single hit EVER. The new movement started with the Strokes, with the song Last Night. It's nowhere near as big of a hit as Teen Spirit(the song, not the deodorant) was, but it got a lot of critical acclaim, and to be fair, Grunge just had to change styles of music, the new one had to change genres; it's a far more uphill battle. After the seminal band(Nirvana and the Strokes, respectively), there came the band that defined the movement more than the original. Now to be fair, everyone thinks of Nirvana when they think of grunge, and I'm not taking ANYTHING away from them, but to me Pearl Jam always defined grunge more than Nirvana. I don't know, they just seemed to fit the overall feel of the time period more. What? Don't look at me like that. This is my diary, leave me alone. Anyway, the current style, being minimalistic and retro; seems to be defined better by the White Stripes than the Strokes. They just seem to be the embodiement of the style. Next in the grunge movement is Alice In Chains, one of my all time favorite bands. A unique and important part of the style that continued it well while being a freakishly good band in it's own right. Grunge had AIC, the current movement has The Hives. Once again, probably my favorite of the style, and a unique and important support for the overall movement. Last but not least in grunge is Soundgarden. The most unique of the style who really deviated the most from the grunge archetype, but were close enough and bound by location to fit into the style as a cornerstone. This slot in the current movement is filled by The Vines. There's really no one location that binds the current style, but they fit the rest of the description. There's enough similarities to include them in the style, but they are the most different from the overall feel. The main difference between the two styles is location. Grunge was almost defined by Seattle, and that was the epicenter of the movement. But the current style is somewhat lacking in that department. I know the White Stripes are from Detroit, I don't know where the Strokes and the vines are from, but the Hives are from Sweden, so that's out. The second major difference is popularity. When grunge broke it revolutionized music, BECAME the culture. the current movement is relegated to only part of the culture, but it is revolutionizing music. As I've said, Grunge had an easier path, everyone was already listening to rock, they just had to change directions. But today, rap is the current trend, and the current movement has to do a complete 180. But for the huge job it has to do, it's doing it well. Rock has been making it's way back into the spotlight, slowly before, but after Last Night came out, the transition has become much faster. With these new bands, rock play and coverage on MTV has doubled, at least. Evan's probably gonna kick me in the nuts if he reads this, but I think if the situations had been reversed, this movement could've easily been bigger than grunge. I'm not detracting from grunge in any way, but this new movement is just as powerful. In closing I just want to say that no matter how much credit this new movement gets, it will not get as much as it deserves, and will hopefully not be marred by the tragedy that destroyed grunge. The similarities are astounding, but let's hope they don't go that far. Anyway, that was my long and boring comparison, now all I need is for Goddamn MTV to play the Hives video and I can go to sleep.

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