Protest Music: Grunge Pt. I
The connection between Grunge, Positive Force, Scream, SST, Alternative Tentacles and 70s punk in New York and England.
The importance of the hardcore punk for grunge and it`s activist approach is important to note. Punk bands such as Blag Flag worked with the punk activist collective Positive Force who were established in 1985. The punk authorities addressed police harassment, communal housing, inequality, and justice. Later, Dave Grohl from Nirvana and Foo Fighters and a former member of the Positive Force, became a member of the board of We Are Family DC, created by the co-founder of Positive Force, Mark Anderson. The punk band Scream which Dave Grohl was a member of before joining Nirvana, worked with Positive Force actively. Scream released their song ‘’Feel Like That’’ (1986) on the Viva Umkhonto! (1987) benefit album and ‘’Ameri-Dub’’ for Mark Anderson`s State of the Union: D.C. Benefit Compilation (1989). They supported:
‘’the military wing of the African National Congress[…] the Community for Creative Non-Violence and the American Civil Liberties Union. Such efforts formed a modus operandi that seemingly inspired a contemporary generation-like Bluebrain, Protect-U, and Painted Face- to omit to Positive Force outreach, too, by playing gigs for organisations like the D.C. branch of the Brain Injury Association. Others like Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, donated $15,000 to We Are Family senior outreach networks, started by Positive Force ‘’ (Ensminger, 2016,p.97).
Scream ‘’spoke for those suffering at the bottom of the economic ladder, for those lost in the penal system, and for marginalised voices deserving recognition, which led them to play gigs benefiting the Martin Luther King Centre of Arlington’’ (Ensminger, 2016,p.96). Likewise, grunge took on activism when Nirvana organised a Bosnian Rape Victim Benefit in Daly City, California in 1993. Krist Novoselic co-founded JAMPAC (Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee) in 1995, aiming to promote freedom of speech in music, as well as advocating for electoral reforms that focused on equal representation.
D.C. hardcore band Scream (Peterson, 2018)
Pearl Jam protested against President George W. Bush and his policies regarding the War on Terror. In their Lollapalooza performance in 2007, Pearl Jam protested against the oil company BP Amoco and sang ‘’George Bush, leave this world alone! George Bush, find yourself another home’’ (Kaufman, 2007). To make their message clearer, the band brought up a disabled Iraq War veteran on stage. Yet, the telecommunications company- AT & T broadcasting the show edited this segment out. Whilst AT&T explained that this was not a censorship issue but an error, Pearl Jam claimed that ‘’what happened to us this weekend was a wake-up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band" (Kaufman, 2007). The support of the left only increased after the 1980s hardcore scene in the United States. This becomes apparent when considering the left leaning politics of the grunge movement and how they reflect values present in hardcore punk bands. Notably, grunge agitates for similar ideas as the hardcore mentality, such as anti-consumerism, environmental preservation, and anti-corporatism. When Pearl Jam were inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, bassist Jeff Ament wore a t-shirt featuring artists that have not been inducted and have been major influences on the band's music. Also, mentioning Dead Kennedys and Black Flag in his acceptance speech.
Notably, Bad Religion's controversial album Recipe for Hate (1993) features Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam on ‘’American Jesus’’(1993) and ‘’Watch It Die’’(1993). Vedder is a big fan of Bad Religion. Guitarist Brian Baker (who was the founding member of Minor Threat) clarified that for ‘’the last 30 years or so what I`ve been doing is explaining to people that there is no god, in fact the idea of God is the source of every single human problem […] I`m not a fan of the church’’ (Baker, 2022). Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell expressed similar beliefs:
‘’So many bad things–as well as good things–have happened based on people blindly following religion, that I kind of feel like I want to stay away from any type of specific denomination or any religion period, for no other reason than just that.’’ (THE STANDARD Chris Cornell #2, 2008)
Grunge, like hardcore punk, exudes anti-religious beliefs. Over time, the explosion of grunge and the political left’s alignment with such artists, helped foster an ideology. Since Jello Biafra`s label Alternative Tentacles signed T.S.O.L., Butthole Surfers, Melvins, Hüsker Dü, Subhumans (Canadian band), The No WTO Combo (consisting of Jello Biafra, Kim Thayl from Soundgarden, Krist Novoselic of Nirvana and Gina Mainwal from Sweet 75) and The Fartz (first popular Seattle hardcore band). Ian MacKaye owns Discord Records and has released records from Fugazi, Minor Threat, Scream, The Nation of Ulysses and The Teen Idles. Gregg Gin owned the independent record label SST which signed punk bands extending from New York to Minneapolis, such as Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Descendants, Bad Brains, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth.
All of these bands would be credited as influences by Seattle artists, such as Kurt Cobain approved New Yorkers Sonic Youth, who revealed that SST ‘’was the first record company we were on that we really would have given anything to be on’’ (Azerrad, 2001, p.261). This was something Cobain could relate to as he wanted to leave Sub Pop records for SST. This shows the influence that the SST hardcore California punk scene had on grunge. The fact Cobain wanted to leave Sub Pop and other grunge bands such as Soundgarden were signed under SST suggests that some of the origins of grunge branch from this influence. However, among the bands signed on SST, Alternative Tentacles and Discord Records, there is a preference and trend towards politically left leaning acts, such as Bad Brains or Hüsker Dü.
But SST records did sign the Seattle bands Screaming Trees and Soundgarden who were not as radical in their political display when compared to Dead Kennedys. Nirvana, however, was out of the question. Kurt Cobain even asked frontman Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees to ‘’get Greg Ginn to sign Nirvana to SST because they were a cool label with lots of bands he liked’’(Lanegan, 2020,p.40). Ginn was ‘’not interested at all in having Nirvana make records for SST […] he simply and stubbornly just didn't get it, period’’(Lanegan, 2020,p.41).The fact that hardcore punk bands did not understand Nirvana indicated a limitation when it comes to punk identity. Grunge in such a form captured the punk ideology and political stance yet changed the aesthetic and musical identity. This resulted in the Seattle scene being categorised and labelled as grunge and not punk. Likewise, Courtney Love from Hole clarified that:
‘’I'm not punk-not California hardcore anyway. I always loved melody, glamour, romance. I love rage too. But Black Flag/SST/atonal angry boy music didn’t do it for me; I could never relate at these shows’’(Love, 2021).
Grunge has elements of punk music, for example, distorted, fast paced and off beat vocals and drums. It also involves lyrical protest regarding politics and society and promotes the ideology of punk freedom and inclusivity. However, California hardcore punks contradicted what punk is about by creating a set of expectations and uniformity which, if not followed, excluded artists from using the term punk. Love's commentary showcases this as does SST not musically understanding Nirvana. As such, the 1980s hardcore punk scene is unlike the 1970s New York punk scene in that it appears to be more conservative in its identity. Focusing more on internal struggles, 1970s New York punks embodied the scene through poetics and romanticism.
Celebrating the lifestyle and work of William S. Burroughs, figures such as Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine had become ''curious of heroin'' (Hell,2013, p.129). Something that 1980s hardcore bands like Minor Threat did not agree with as they advertised their straightedge lifestyle. Grunge, as already discussed, had become associated with heroin culture. Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine would set the characteristics associated with the New York punk scene of the 1970s with their band Television. Dropping out of Delaware Boarding school in pursuit of his dream of becoming a poet, Richard Meyers and his friend Tom Miller not long after transformed into Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine. Their band Television would become one of the most influential bands of the 70s New York punk scene. Hell quickly became a fashion icon of punk, having his hair spiked up and wearing and popularizing the use of safety pins to hold his clothes together and for aesthetical purposes.
The New York scene consisted of poets, writers, and musicians, including New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Dictators, Talking Heads and Johnny Thunders. Influencing not only the next generation of punks in Minneapolis and California, but the Pacific Northwest and beyond the United States. ‘’ I completely intended to rearrange things as much as I possibly could, rejecting the hippie and beat era for the way I saw the world” (Johnson, 2000), Hell recalls. And as a result the song ‘’Blank Generation’’(1975)- a parody of Bob Mcfadden & Dor`s ‘’Beat Generation’’(1959) became one of the most prominent songs of punk and rejected the mainstream society. The New York scene was modest in their display of support for the left (when compared to the California punks), however over the years, some artists have become more vocal. Such as Johnny Ramone from the Ramones who has been a brisk supporter of the republican party, voicing ‘’God bless President Bush” (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2020) at their Rock Hall of Fame (2002) induction. However, the 70s punk scene in England, especially London strengthened the importance of embodying the radical lefts ideology in their music.
Notably, this can be observed across artists such as The Clash, Sex pistols, Angelic Upstarts and The Damned. However, this approach was not only exclusive to the London scene, as bands such as Stiff Little Fingers from Belfast, Northern Ireland emphasized the importance of politics in punk with their debut album ‘’Inflammable Material’’ (1979). Richard Hell notes that "the Sex Pistols were the cream of the crop. They came in and topped everybody, for sure. They took all the existing strands and made a perfect package out of them’’ (Sebra, 2013), and rivalry was present between groups such as the Sex Pistols and Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers (which Hell was a member of). Sex pistols dedicating their song ‘’New York’’ (1977) to them, whilst Johnny Thunders retaliated with ‘’London Boys’’ (1978) on his solo debut album ‘’So Alone’’ (1978).
Whilst Sex Pistols mimicked the aesthetic vision of Richard Hell, they also took a politicized approach to their music which New York punks did not do. Sex Pistols debut album ‘’Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols’’ (1977) with their songs ‘’God Save The Queen’’(1977) and ‘’Anarchy In The UK’’(1977) made punk take a radical turn in favour of the left which would be absorbed by the American punk bands such as Dead Kennedys, Fugazi and Black Flag. Also, influencing one of the most famous German punk bands Die Toten Hosen, who not only have covered Sex Pistols and other English punk bands such as The Adverts and Sham 69, but have referenced the Sex Pistols album art and tittle in ‘’Never Mind the Hosen Here's Die Roten Rosen’’ (1987). In return, the 80s American bands Bad Religion and Faith No More strengthened their punk ideology by collaborating and touring with Die Toten Hosen. Bad Religion releasing ‘’Raise Your Voice!’’ (1998) with Die Toten Hosen`s frontman Campino (Andreas Frege). Faith no More have covered their song ‘’Hofgarten’’(1983) and showed support by having their bassists Billy Gould wear a Die Toten Hosen shirt in their album cover for ‘’Midlife Crisis: The Very Best of Faith No More’’ (2010). Notably, Bad Religion`s controversial album ‘’Recipe for Hate’’ (1993) features Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam on ‘’American Jesus’’(1993) and ‘’Watch It Die’’(1993). Providing a subtext of the political messages conveyed by the Seattle band Pearl Jam, which offered a mainstream friendly disguised version of punk.
