Of the big 4, Soundgarden is the one that managed to be the least "radio friendly" of the bunch, even though they managed to get played on the radio anyway, so I give them props for that.
In all fairness, I probably never gave latter day Soundgarden a fair shake, so I should remedy that.
But as far as Nevermind goes, Kurt himself was just lightning in a bottle. He was in the right place at the right time. He completely encapsulated the disillusionment we were all feeling at the time. That was what kindof made him special. I have a very deep respect for his work and everything he was shooting for. I also like In Utero more than Nevermind (and yes, I know that goes against what I just said about Nevermind being the "peak" as well as "the end") because it truly did piss off those who wanted Nevermind 2 at that time. I knew one guy in particular who claimed that they had done such a great job with the singles from Nevermind, and it just seemed like career suicide to him to do something as noisy and "avant guarde", and surreal as Heart Shaped Box seemed by comparison.
J-Dude, I appreciate your comments on this subject, especially given your geography.
I have a few thoughts. We are probably very close to the same age. Were you really feeling disillusionment during this time period? Honestly I'm surprised to hear that. You seem pretty put together, and I assumed you would be even at that age.
Personally, I was never into Nirvana. I did jam (on drums) with some guys in a Nirvana tribute band so I had to learn their songs, and I came to appreciate a lot of it. I ended up buying their albums. I actually didn't find Heart Shaped Box avant garde, but after buying In Utero, I literally couldn't listen to it with all of the screaming. THAT album is angry!!
And not directing this to J Dude, but would I be wrong in not classifying Pearl Jam as grunge? I mean they came from Seattle and wore flannel, but if Nirvana is grunge, then there's no way that Pearl Jam is. Musically, Pearl Jam is in another league. Never got into Soundgarden or have heard much, but saw them open for GnR twice in late '91, and they were grungy.
I would like to say that Nirvana's Unplugged In NY is probably my favorite non metal album of the 90's.
I also never found Facelift to be grunge. I likened it a lot closer to Armored Saint than I did to Nirvana.
I remember AiC opening the Clash of the Titans tour (Slayer/Anthrax/Megadeth).
You just gave me a great excuse to post this picture I took on 7/6/91 in Mansfield, MA!