Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music

Don't buy into the title... Grunge was a big movement because the sound and vibe coming from Seattle was real with honest lyrics you can relate too. And I honestly can't believe this book received high reviews. After reading Alice in Chains (the untold story) by David De Sola "real good read by the way" I was ready for another good Grunge story.I usually dont miss on 4 & 5 star reviews. What a disappointment Grunge is Dead turned out to be. This is neither a biography or story written about the Death of Grunge. Its all quotes from local bands and local industry people that grew up in the Seattle area. Half of the people quoting in this book I never heard of. It's really based on the local knowledge of the Seattle scene. What else is missing from this book besides a story line? The questions that quotes ussualy follow! This is nothing more than a Collage of 1 liners and quotes reprinted in a book with a dozen pictures throughout.Sence there's no story based on the title of the book, those who gave it4 & 5 stars most have enjoyed reading the quotes. Cool if thats your thing. But if you're a person that likes to read a biography or a story with and ending this book is NOT For You...David De Sola warns about poorly written books on Grunge to make a quick buck but doesnt name them for legal reasons. But I can and this is one of them IMO! 2 stars for reprinting and putting all the newspaper clippings, magazine articles and online quotes into 1 book.

If you weren't there, read this book. If you were there, read this book. If you know somebody who was changed by the "grunge movement", read this book. If you ARE somebody who was changed by the "grunge movement", read this book. What the heck, scratch all that: If you are a human, READ THIS BOOK.As a high school science teacher, I often think back to when I was the age of my students and wonder what got me to where I am today. If I were to start with "me now" and draw lines back through all of the decisions I've made that shaped the person I've become, there'd be many branches, but most of them would begin to converge around 1992 or 1993, when "grunge" finally swept through my little nook in rural Kentucky. I don't care if that sounds superficial. I was person A before, and I was person B after. Music has the power to change people, and that particular music, whatever you want to call it (and after you read this book, you'll understand why I put quotes around grunge above, and you may even understand that while it was packaged to the rest of us as "the Seattle Sound", it was really much, much more than that) changed most people for the better. All of a sudden, it didn't matter what kind of music you liked, it didn't matter what socioeconomic group you belonged to, it didn't matter what you wore, it didn't matter if you were "different"...nothing mattered. In this rural town, this music broke down those petty barriers.I still see this today, in the classroom of a semi-diverse rural high school. Maybe I live in paradise, and it would be different if I went somewhere else, but here, people don't fight over the kinds of things kids fought about when I was growing up. Things such as: you have ugly shoes, you're a geek, you dress funny, you like rap, you're a freshman, you're gay, and on and on and on. Kids still fight, but it's over things kids will always fight about: you're hitting on my girlfriend, you made my girlfriend cheat on me with you, you called me a bad name...things like that.So while Grunge is Dead, as the author says, and as those who were a part of that scene and were interviewed said, the attitudes and ideas that it spread throughout the rest of the country seem to have survived. And that's a good thing.This book is a fascinating look at how that "movement", for better or worse (which seems to depend on whether or not you were there when it all began), came to be.

I was very pleased with Goodwill, the seller's response when I had an issue.

As a late 30-something, the whole "Grunge Era" breaking into the mainstream coincided with me breaking out from high school to college, and that music became the soundtrack of my life. GRUNGE IS DEAD really brought those songs, bands, and whole era back to life. While Greg Prato covers everything from its origins to its collapse, the real meat is the late 80s-early90s heyday when the music of the Pacific North West surged out across the land and changed the landscape of Alterntive Rock forever, the golden years before before people started dying.That's kind of the story of any scene though. It's like a great party that you never want to end, but know deep down it has to at some point if it's to become one of those mythic moments in time that people will talk about for years to come, that younger generations will envy, and wish they could have been a part of it. The Grunge era is a Rock Myth, its participants, legends.Grunge Is Dead is an outstanding summation of a brief moment in time whem music did change the world.

Not only does Greg Prato give you the late 80s and 90s era of Seattle, he goes waaaayyyyy back to the roots of it all in the 50s and 60s. I was totally amazed at how much content he was able to squeeze from prior periods and recent events as well.The only thing you have to adjust to is this is a series of quotes and answers from the people that lived it without a lot of narrative from Greg to guide you. Its not the author telling you what happened its the actually artists and people involved...in short quotes or answers. Its hard to get use to at first but then you get used to it and can get through the book quickly and understand why Greg did it this way.I really enjoyed this book and pretty much anything Greg Prato writes. He did an outstanding book on Blind Melon you should read as well.

If you grew up and loved what was happening in Seattle in the late 80s to early 90s then you should love this book. All the major players and bands are included with lots of interviews. And this is how the book works, the author Greg Prato has simply woven in all of the interviews that he has conducted and made a book of it. It flows very well and is very readable. It is one of those books that you go back to and reference. For whatever reason Chris Cornell and Mark Lanegan are not here, but most are, always a plus to have Eddie Vedder in there. There will always be gaps of course since 3 main artists from that era, Andrew Wood, Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley have passed on, but the book is still very insightful. Definetly not for the passing fan though.

Interesting all the contributes from the different people of the sector, but you cannot understand the main purpose of the book.. To me it is just a list of comments, it gives you the flavour of the scene, but nothing more

If you're a fan of the Seattle music, it's a must read.

A great read

Very informative and logical, and provides a fantastic insight into the truths of the Seattle scene.