by 4 people |
Influential Seattle Rock music
In the winter of 1991-1992, the Seattle rock-music scene suddenly became the darling of the global music industry. It was an overnight success, 15 years in the making.
Rock music as played in Seattle (exluding shows by touring bands) had three distinct eras before the late 1970s:
1958-1966: The "Northwest Rock" years of roller-rink shows and bands like Tacoma's Wailers and Sonics;
1967-1970: The flower-power years of outdoor rock festivals and touring shows but few prominent local bands;
1971-1976: The bar-rock era of heavy-metal cover bands, white blues, and the early Heart.
By 1976, the bar-rock circuit had gotten awfully predictable. Most bands were cover bands, and most stuck to rigidly defined genres -- hard rock, soft rock, white blues. And for those under 21, there wasn't much except heavy-metal cover bands at school dances.
1970's-1990's: Huge influential bands emerged from the Seattle(Pacific Northwest) area such as Nirvana, Heart, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and of course Jimi Hendrix and his music were already long established. Also, big local bands such as the Heats(ers) & the Cowboys emerged.
Through-out this period, there ended up being some truly influential rock bands that emerged from the Seattle area!! In my humble opinion, & from first hand experience being born & raised in the Seattle area, I will highlight some bands that I think were most influential in the Seattle/Pacific Northwest music world. I hope you enjoy this lens as I will add facts, info., videos & links and more on these great rock n roll bands!!
Rock music as played in Seattle (exluding shows by touring bands) had three distinct eras before the late 1970s:
1958-1966: The "Northwest Rock" years of roller-rink shows and bands like Tacoma's Wailers and Sonics;
1967-1970: The flower-power years of outdoor rock festivals and touring shows but few prominent local bands;
1971-1976: The bar-rock era of heavy-metal cover bands, white blues, and the early Heart.
By 1976, the bar-rock circuit had gotten awfully predictable. Most bands were cover bands, and most stuck to rigidly defined genres -- hard rock, soft rock, white blues. And for those under 21, there wasn't much except heavy-metal cover bands at school dances.
1970's-1990's: Huge influential bands emerged from the Seattle(Pacific Northwest) area such as Nirvana, Heart, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and of course Jimi Hendrix and his music were already long established. Also, big local bands such as the Heats(ers) & the Cowboys emerged.
Through-out this period, there ended up being some truly influential rock bands that emerged from the Seattle area!! In my humble opinion, & from first hand experience being born & raised in the Seattle area, I will highlight some bands that I think were most influential in the Seattle/Pacific Northwest music world. I hope you enjoy this lens as I will add facts, info., videos & links and more on these great rock n roll bands!!
Nirvana
portions from Wikipedia
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, just outside of Seattle. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the group's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).
Nirvana's brief run ended with Cobain's death in April 1994, but the band's popularity continued in the years that followed. In 2002, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over fifty million albums worldwide. Nirvana are often credited with being one of the most popular and important rock bands of recent years
Nirvana YouTube video
Nirvana MP3's
Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.
Great Nirvana stuff on Amazon
Pearl Jam
portions from Wikipedia
Pearl Jam is an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), and Mike McCready (lead guitar). The band's current drummer is Matt Cameron, formerly of Soundgarden, who has been with the band since 1998.Formed after the demise of Ament and Gossard's previous band Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with its debut album Ten. One of the key bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s, Pearl Jam was criticized early on-most notably by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain-as being a corporate cash-in on the alternative rock explosion. However, over the course of the band's career its members became noted for their refusal to adhere to traditional music industry practices; including refusing to make music videos and engaging in a much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster. In 2006, Rolling Stone described the band as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame".
Since its inception, the band has sold 30 million records in the U.S., and an estimated 60 million albums worldwide. Pearl Jam has outlasted many of its contemporaries from the alternative rock breakthrough of the early 1990s, and is considered one of the most influential bands of the decade, and "the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s".
Pearl Jam YouTube video
Pearl Jam stuff!
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Heart
portions from Wikipedia
Heart is a rock band formed in Bellevue, Washington (a suburb of Seattle) and Vancouver, British Columbia. Going through several lineup changes, the only constant members of the group are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music. After diminishing in popularity by the mid-80's, the band created a major comeback in 1985 experiencing further success with their power ballads throughout the rest of the decade. By the mid-1990s, Heart left their 80's sound and went back to their hard rock roots which they continue to play today. Band members Howard Leese and Ann Wilson also produced music for local Seattle band The Heats in the 80's. Heart has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.Heart continues to tour to this day!
Heart was ranked #57 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
Heart YouTube video
Heart MP3's
Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.
great music from "Heart" on Amazon
Soundgarden
portions from Wikipedia
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by lead singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band's permanent drummer in 1986 while bassist Ben Shepherd became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990.Soundgarden was one of the key bands in the creation of grunge, a style of alternative rock that developed in Seattle and was based around the band's record label Sub Pop. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label however the band did not achieve commercial success until Seattle contemporaries Nirvana and Pearl Jam popularized grunge in the early 1990s.
Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman". In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction. Soundgarden has sold 8 million records in the U.S., and an estimated 20 million albums worldwide.
Soundgarden YouTube video
The best of "Soundgarden" from Amazon
Jimi Hendrix
James "Jimi" Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix and known as Jimi Hendrix) (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter whose guitar playing was a considerable influence on rock music. Hendrix was born in Seattle, Washington, USA, while his father was stationed at an Army base in Oklahoma. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival.Hendrix helped develop the technique of guitar feedback with overdriven amplifiers. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz.
Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix's music may have been influenced by his Native American heritage. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.
Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage "Blue plaque" was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the best guitarist on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.
Jimi Hendrix YouTube video
Jimi Hendrix MP3's
Check out my favorite songs! I've handpicked these MP3s from Amazon. Take a listen. If you like, you can click to buy them on Amazon.
let "Jimi" take over!!
Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
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Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/06/2009) 
Jimi Hendrix memorabilia!
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Portions from (Patrick McDonald) THE SEATTLE TIMES, OCT.1,1998
Ask anyone who was around Seattle in the late '70's-early '80's... The HEATS were THE hottest, funnest, catchy-friggin'-song-writinest' band in the West. A guaranteed party everywhere they played, a genuine drop of rock-n-roll magic. I'm grinning like mad thinking of the crazy show The HEATS tore up with at Olympia's Evergreen State College. There music captured some of The northwest's very best very of the local scene: Their 10,000-selling single "I Don't Like Your Face", of course; The entire "Have An Idea" LP; and some killer tunes heard here for the first time... "Let's All Smoke" could well become THE tobacco-lovers' national anthem!Back in the pre-grunge early '80's, The Heaters, later The Heats, led a power-pop revolution in local rock, a reaction to the disco and corporate rock of the times in local clubs and on radio play lists. The Cowboys soon joined in with a rougher-edged sound, and the 2 bands' good-natured rivalry enlivened the local scene and spurred a boom in the nightclub business. Both played original songs when only Top 40 cover bands could get work in most clubs. But The Heaters built up such a strong following playing out-of-the-way dives that the big clubs started booking them. The band even got good airplay on local stations, and scored a local hit with "I Don't Like Your Face". Also in the Spring of '82 the bands local hit song "In Your Town" was featured on MTV.
The music of The Heats (who had to change their name because a California band owned the name Heaters) stands up well after nearly 20 years, because of the quality of the song writing. Don Short and Steve Pearson had a knack for writing strong pop songs bristling with swagger and humor. Their recordings were well produced, by Howard Leese and Ann Wilson of Heart. (Patrick McDonald)
THE SEATTLE TIMES, OCT.1,1998
Founding members Don Short & Steve Pearson continue to play in the Northwest to this day. Short, a founding member and singer/songwriter for The Heats has formed Random Manor which has recently opened up for the Doobie Brothers and Tom Petty. Random Manor is Don Short, lead vocal and guitars, Mark Mosholder, bass and backing vocals, and Rick Bourgoin, drums.
Together they perform songs written by Short and arranged by the band. Check out the Random Manor Myspace and band websites. Great music that's keeping the Northwest spirit alive!!
Heats YouTube video
The Heats on Amazon
Have an Idea
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Seattle music stuff for sale!
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Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music
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HUNG LIKE SASQUTCH BIGFOOT SEATTLE WOODS FOREST BLACK T SHIRT (adult xl)
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Seattle music "Link List"
Check out some great links to Seattle's influential rock bands!
- The Internet Nirvana Fan Club
- One of the largest Nirvana websites on the net. Features hundreds of pictures, sound clips, exclusive interviews, rare articles, Nirvana Quiz, ...
- Pearl Jam - pearljam.com - the official website of Pearl Jam and ...
- The band's official site which contains current news, fan club membership information, merchandise, links to causes the band supports, a discography and a ...
- HEART
- The band intends to perform tomorrow night in Nobleville, IN. ... Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart have informed the McCain/Palin Campaign that Universal Music ...
- Jimi Hendrix / The Official Jimi Hendrix Website
- The official Jimi Hendrix website featuring detailed biography, streaming music & videos, extensive diary of lifetime events, extensive artist discography, ...
- Unofficial SG Homepage: Soundgarden News
- Rage Against the Machine and ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell will re-enter the studio next week to continue making the "groundbreaking" music that they ...
- The Heats/Heaters myspace page
- This is the official Heats myspace page. Great site with loads of info on this influential Seattle power pop band of the 80's. Check it out!!
- MySpace.com - Random Manor - SEATTLE, Washington - Rock ...
- "Buy our new CD here or at RandomManor.com!" SEATTLE, Washington ... Band Website, randommanor.com. Band Members, Don Short - Guitar, Lead Vocals ...
Seattle music news & blog posts from Google
- Local photographer, West Seattle spot team up for photo show
- Work by local rock photographer Jenny Jimenez is hanging at the Skylark Café in West Seattle, which also offers live music and a mean tuna melt. ...
- Seattle band members mix and mingle to form new groups and side projects
- Musical promiscuity is not endemic to Seattle. Any music city, from Austin to LA to New York, probably boasts a similarly leafy family tree. ...
- Organizers hope Rock 'n' Roll, Las Vegas and marathon combine for jackpot
- This year, organizers are adding music and promotional muscle to a race that will send competitors up Las Vegas Boulevard at dawn on Sunday. ...
- Emigre Compilation Revisits 'Punk' Era of Graphic Design
- ?Did it change music? Not really. Glam rock is still being made. But punk added something to the mix. It expanded our idea of what music was, ...
Seattle Music memories, feedback & guestbook
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- therekkening therekkening Aug 13, 2009 @ 1:13 am
- Cool Lens!!!!! Check us out http:://www.myspace.com/therekkening
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- kayteebug kayteebug Sep 19, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
- Great lens!! Lots of great music came out of the Pacific Northwest! Heart was my favorite. 5 stars....
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- Nick_S Nick_S Sep 12, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
- Fantastic lens! I love The Heats! They would have been really cool to see! 5 Stars!!!
by mike23
As a Music fan, a Sports fanatic, & an Auto and Aviation enthusiast, I have created these lenses which I hope you find informative and entertaining! A... (more)
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