Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture which emerged during the mid-1980s in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was first founded in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Transmitters, a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag.
Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson as a power-pop/surf punk band. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a singer, and reappeared as a melodic hardcore punk band, becoming a major player in the hardcore scene developing in Los Angeles at the time. They have released eight studio albums, three live albums, three compilation albums, and four EPs. Since 1986, the band's lineup has consisted of singer Milo Aukerman, guitarist Stephen Egerton, bassist Karl Alvarez, and drummer Bill Stevenson.
Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 September 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 7 January 1971 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 on the UK charts.
Digital hardcore is a fusion genre that combines hardcore punk with electronic dance music genres such as breakbeat, techno, and drum and bass while also drawing on heavy metal and noise music. It typically features fast tempos and aggressive sound samples. The style was pioneered by Alec Empire of the German band Atari Teenage Riot during the early 1990s, and often has sociological or far-left lyrical themes.
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.
Kathleen Hanna is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and then fronted Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 2010, she has recorded as the Julie Ruin.
Emery is an American post-hardcore band formed in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 2001 by Toby Morrell, Devin Shelton, Matt Carter, Josh Head, Joel Green, and Seth Studley. The band relocated to Seattle in order to reach a more music-centered scene.
Chuck is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Sum 41. The album was released on October 12, 2004. It is the last album to feature guitarist Dave Baksh as he left Sum 41 on May 11, 2006. Baksh later rejoined the band in 2015. Chuck peaked at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart and No. 10 on the US Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album until it would be surpassed by Underclass Hero in 2007.
Isis was an American post-metal band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1997 by guitarist and vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Jeff Caxide, vocalist and electronic instrumentalist Chris Mereschuk and drummer Aaron Harris. After a demo and the EP Mosquito Control were recorded by the original lineup, Mereschuk was replaced by Jay Randall in 1999, who joined the group alongside guitarist Michael Gallagher. Jay Randall would later be replaced by guitarist and keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer after the recording of Red Sea. With roots in hardcore punk and doom metal, the band borrowed from and helped to evolve the post-metal sound pioneered by bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, characterized by lengthy songs focusing on repetition and evolution of structure. Isis disbanded in June 2010, just before the release of a split EP with the Melvins, reforming only once in 2018 as Celestial for a one-off show to pay tribute to Caleb Scofield.
The Shizit was an American digital hardcore band from Seattle, Washington, initially formed by J.P. Anderson and Brian Shrader in early 1999. The music was an intense mix of gabber, breakbeat, drum and bass, hardcore techno, hardcore and heavy metal guitars, amped up with aggressive political lyrics. The band released two CDs on mp3.com, and as it was spread quickly among underground sources, the band steadily built up their following. In 2001, they began work on their third album, Soundtrack for the Revolution; The album was finally released at E115 Records, a Canadian indie label later that year, and tracks from it were released on Alec Empire's "Don't Fuck With US" compilation. The band also joined Alec on his European tour, and the band added turntablist Jason Alberts. In 2003, the band announced they were disbanding due to personal disputes between Anderson and Shrader. A posthumous album was released on D-Trash Records, with artists remixing the Soundtrack for the Revolution album as Remixed for the Revolution.
Botch is an American mathcore band formed in 1993 in Tacoma, Washington. The band, featuring Brian Cook, Dave Knudson, Tim Latona and Dave Verellen, spent four years as a garage band and released several demos and EPs before signing to Hydra Head Records. Through the label, Botch released two studio albums: American Nervoso (1998) and We Are the Romans (1999). The group toured extensively and internationally in support of their albums with like-minded bands such as The Blood Brothers, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Ink & Dagger and Jesuit. Botch struggled to write a third studio album, and in 2002 the group broke up due to tensions among the band members and creative differences. Hydra Head posthumously released an EP of songs the group had been working on before they split titled An Anthology of Dead Ends and a live album documenting their final show titled 061502 in 2006.
Jamie Muir is a Scottish painter and former musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972–1973, appearing prominently on their fifth album Larks' Tongues In Aspic.
Jones Country is an album by American country music artist George Jones released in 1983 on the Epic Records label.
The Twilight Sad are a Scottish post-punk/indie rock band, comprising James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar), Johnny Docherty (bass), Brendan Smith (keyboards) and Grant Hutchison (drums). They have released five studio albums, as well as several EPs, live recordings and singles. Their 2007 debut album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, drew widespread acclaim from critics, who noted Graham's thick Scottish accent and MacFarlane's dense sonic walls of shoegazing guitar and wheezing accordion. The Twilight Sad's notoriously loud live performances have been described as "completely ear-splitting", and the band toured for the album across Europe and the United States throughout 2007 and 2008. Sessions inspired by stripped-down and reworked live performances yielded the 2008 mini-album, Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did.
Rabbit Junk is an American digital hardcore/industrial metal duo made up of former the Shizit frontman JP Anderson and his wife Jennifer "Sum Grrl" Bernert. The band formed in Seattle in 2004 and are currently active in southern California.
Fear Before was an American post-hardcore band formed in Aurora, Colorado. As stated on their Alternative Press podcast, their name originates from a Denver Post newspaper headline about the 2002 Hayman fire titled "The Fear Before The March of Flames." They released their debut album Odd How People Shake in 2003 with a re-release in January 2004, second album Art Damage in September 2004, third album The Always Open Mouth in September 2006, and fourth album Fear Before in October 2008. In 2010 the band announced they were going into an indefinite hiatus.
If Not Now, When? is the seventh studio album by American rock band Incubus, released on July 12, 2011 and named after the novel by Primo Levi. Preceded by the singles "Adolescents" and "Promises, Promises", the album represented the band's longest gap between studio albums at the time, and their final full-length release through long-time label Epic Records. Described by guitarist Michael Einziger as "a very straightforward, concise album," If Not Now, When? was recorded in the wake of an extended hiatus, and produced by frequent collaborator Brendan O'Brien. The album's cover features high wire artist Philippe Petit.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultural movement that combines feminism, punk music, and politics. It is often associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as having grown out of the riot grrrl movement and has recently been seen in fourth-wave feminist punk music that rose in the 2010s. The genre has also been described as coming out of indie rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a movement in which women could express anger, rage, and frustration, emotions considered socially acceptable for male songwriters but less common for women.
The Named is an industrial metal project led by Rabbit Junk frontman JP Anderson, formed in 2009.
