Krist Novoselic "Of Grunge & Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy"
Society offers many labels for people who run against the grain. But it's the people on the so-called fringes who actually bring change. Without rebels, rabble-rousers, malcontents, or whatever label we choose to apply, the culture would remain static. ...it's people who made their own way that created the United States. Our founders refused a monarchy whose power was derived from heredity. The notion of a republic of the people, by the people, and for the people shattered the old paradigm. The new republic, the United States of America, acknowledged freedom as a basic tenet of human experience. Independence in the U.S. guarantees individuals the right to speak. But independence must also speak to us.
Subcultures are where many people who are not inclined to adhere to conformity connect with others of the same ilk. Independence is not isolation.
That fall, we toured Europe with our label-mates TAD. Europe has its differences from the U.S., but my experience proved that music is an international language--people like to rock out wherever you go. We found ourselves in Berlin the day after the wall fell. We counted a column of little Trabant cars, twenty-seven kilometers long, on the Eastern side, waiting to enter the West.
Rock music of the late '80s had been very predictable. In 1990 no rock record had even made the top ten. Nevermind was the right record at the right time. Great original rock bands like R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction had previously blazed a trail to the top of the pop charts but Nevermind really announced the arrival of new régime. The era of the big-hair bands was over. The old bands touted merely a token rebellion; their symbols of rock 'n' roll like bandanas, whiskey bottles, and motorcycles were clichés that only created an image of nonconformity. The new guard held the skeptical sensibilities of the subculture along with the inherent rebellion of it all. It was real. The new guard offered meaningful rebellion, and the seismic shift that occurred in rock revealed a public that was hungry for it. It took awhile, but no longer was punk to be despised--it had landed in the mainstream, albeit neutralized by a clever use of semantics. Seattle music was referred to as "grunge," but on a national level the new movement was pigeonholed as "alternative music." I know we came out of the alternative world, but I believe the moniker of "alt-rock" was a trap set early on to control the impact of a new breed of rock 'n' roll. This way, the new music couldn't displace the status quo--it was simply labeled an alternative to it. The term alternative as a name for a genre of music was an instant anachronism; the name cancelled itself out. By the time alternative landed in the mainstream, the old guard had run its course, and there was no real alternative except stasis.
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Cut1977 - 15. Apr, 19:38
Paul Beslinski