Album Rating: 5.0

Hey man, bringing Freddie into the discussion is unfair.

Album Rating: 5.0

just my opinion man. I just can't put bgwtb, as good as it is, alongside this, facelift, jar of flies, etc.

Album Rating: 5.0

Best grunge band eva

Album Rating: 5.0

well duh

Album Rating: 4.0

I dunno about that, Pearl Jam is pretty hard to deny, (if you define them as grunge) as well as Melvins and Neil Young and Crazy Horse, who arguably created the genre.

Album Rating: 5.0

"just my opinion man. I just can't put bgwtb, as good as it is, alongside this, facelift, jar of flies, etc."



My knock on it is it's much more conventional and workmanlike than the other AiC albums. Staley is indubitably a better and more interesting vocalist than either Cantrell or Duvall. But BGWTB is a more consistent and tightly constructed album than tripod. Even though there are brilliant moments on tripod these are overshadowed to some extent by the unfinished sounding nature of some of it. I just think that BGWTB is much more listenable even though it's not on the level of the great ones.

Album Rating: 5.0

I dunno about that, Pearl Jam is pretty hard to deny, (if you define them as grunge).



Grunge is a pretty hard thing to define because the bands sound so different. Nirvana is essentially a punk band, Pearl Jam is basically a classic rock band and Soundgarden and AiC are pretty close to being metal bands.



However, for a brilliant breakdown of why AiC is considered the best of the lot, check out BigHans' brilliant breakdown of the merits of the bands.



http://www.sputnikmusic.com/list.php?listid=90675

Album Rating: 5.0

Just classic. Alice In Chains never ceased to amaze me, and THIS is a holy masterpiece. It's fantastic.

DEM RIFFS!!

Album Rating: 5.0

Just classic. Alice In Chains never ceased to amaze me, and THIS is a holy masterpiece. It's fantastic.

DEM RIFFS!!

Album Rating: 4.0

@sitarhero thanks for the link, that was an awesome thread. I don't entirely agree with many points on there since I would rate Jeff Ament as a better bassist (not by much) and also that I don't think there is much filler at all on No Code (one of my favourite albums by PJ).



The whole comparison thing is a little indulgent, since each band is great in its own right. For my money, AiC does have the best guitar, although not the most influential guitar (would nod to mike and stone on that one as well).

Album Rating: 5.0

You're welcome!



It all depends on how you define influential. By my reckoning Cantrell and Cobain spawned the most imitators. Cantrell because his riffing is the template for nearly everything that happened in hard rock after grunge, and Cobain because his almost amateurish and minimalist approach to the instrument and the whole soft-loud dynamic invites basically everyone to try it out at some point. However, AiC and Nirvana owe a debt to Soundgarden because Soundgarden practically influenced them, thus influencing everyone else through them.



I'm intrigued by why you think Stone and Gossard are the most "classic" of the grunge guitarists. IMO they played a style of rock that has been played forever, but with their own fingerprints of course. I don't think you can really credit them with inspiring imitators. What's your take?

Album Rating: 4.5

whats up with these long ass comments?

He makes a valid point (yeah, I'll join in). Although I wouldn't say Soundgarden are more inspirational than Nirvana (although they were here first and inspired Nirvana). Simply because Kurt reached so many people with how he played, and his lyrics. Nirvana were incredibly inspirational.

MY fav. grunge guitarists (besides Neil Young) will have to be Stone and Gossard as well, but you have a good point; they're the most classic rock guitarists, and you can clearly hear a lot of influences. Their guitar-playing doesn't seem quite as innovative.

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm certainly not trying to say that JC isn't influential, you're totally right that most hard rock and even some of the nu-metal was heavily influenced by his tone and structures.



I believe that PJ's guitarists are more influential simply because they have played a wider variety of styles and effected a larger audience. They aren't really as original sounding as Jerry at times, (there are PJ songs that sound like Dinosaur Jr covers) but try to imagine today's alt/indie sound without songs like Wishlist or Given to Fly, or even the math rock implications of You Are. Jerry is the man, but PJ's influence is too great to measure.

Album Rating: 4.0

Also PJ's "classic rock sound" really only refers to Ten and some isolated songs on the following records. Ten really broke the mould from their MotherLoveBone stuff, but they went back to the drawing board over and over again after that.

Album Rating: 4.0

And I love soundgarden, but shit Melvins influenced Nirvana and AiC, BY influencing SG, as well as in their own right.



Just sayin

Album Rating: 5.0

@black: 5 it, bro

Album Rating: 5.0

Ya do it bro its classic album

Album Rating: 5.0

Ten is the most influential album in part because it's the most popular and I admittedly know very little about the modern alt/indie sound or who they were influenced by. I also don't think I've listened to any of the albums after Vs in their entirety so I'm not entirely qualified to comment on that, but that being said.



At least until Vs Pearl Jam was a very classic-rock sounding band. McCready and Gossard (I don't know why we kept saying Stone and Gossard) are primarily influenced by bands of the 60's and 70's and it shows. Vs (which is my favourite PJ album) is, to me, a classic riffy rock record. I don't think the case with PJ is so much them BEING the influence, but that many other alt bands have been influenced by the same bands as PJ. But that's just my opinion.



The Soundgarden influence comment was partly in reference to an interview I read a couple of weeks ago where Kim Thayill said he talked Cantrell into playing in Drop-D but the Melvins are influential no doubt.

Album Rating: 4.0

that makes total sense in reference to the first 2 PJ records, but ya after that they changed things up quite a lot. Here's one of my favourites off Yield.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iREBWmDsM-g