Who's The Band? Soundgarden vs. Smashing Pumpkins?

[homer]

Quote:

---

But some Nirvana-purists take the attitude of: without Nirvana all other Seattle rock of that era would be forgotten/irrelevant. And that's a stance I take issue with...

---

 

Fair enough. In any case, I think we can agree that there was a whole lot of ass kickin' music from Seattle back in the day.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

uecker9, what bands did you play with?

[uecker9]

I was in Y-US?, Too Kool For Karl, Tongue-N-Groove(there's a band now with that name)Foolish Pleasure, Binge, and Glass Hammer.

 

Usually we played with other Madison bands, The Other Kids, The VWs, Jagermonster and some I can't remember, but got to play with The Sidewinders once, and The Gear Daddies to a crowd of 7! Yah for the summer crowds. Drinkin' beer coffee- wow flashbacks.

[MessiahRp]

I love both bands and actually the whole Seattle scene was pretty awesome in the early 90s w/ Nirvana, Pearl Jam, STP, Mudhoney, et al.

 

As a whole I personally liked Soundgarden better. I liked Smashing Pumpkins early stuff better than their later stuff whereas it was the opposite with Soundgarden.

 

To me the deciding factor is this:

 

What band's CDs do I put in and play more often?

 

For that I have to say Soundgarden ranks higher and of all the Seattle bands of the era they rank just below Nirvana in my personal play list.

 

Rp

[BraunsBoyfriend]

I believe STP was from southern California, not Seattle.

[valpocrewsader]

Quote:

---

Glass Hammer

---

 

There's only one Glass Hammer!!

 

The best band to come out of Seattle in the "grunge" era was Candlebox ... they achieved more on their debut album than the rest did in their entire careers.

 

I'll go with Soundgarden, just 'cos Smashing Pumpkins is so incredibly wimpy/girly/wussie. Gish is still a great album though.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

LOL, Candlebox. Yeah, I agree, they were easily the most accomplished, important and influential band to come from Seattle.

 

Man, I'm not sure how they got on the gravy train. Talk about right place right time.

 

And just how did Mudhoney not make it big but they did? Oh yeah, Mudhoney was too drunk to realize it was time to cash in. Long live Mudhoney.

 

Oh, and Candlebox too. hahaha.

[lukevan]

I'll take Soundgarden.

 

I like both bands, but Soundgarden has more songs that I really listen to a lot. "Fell on Black Days" and "Burden in my Hand" are two of my favorite songs.

 

I also like Soundgarden's instrumentation/tones more than the whole "Wall of Sound" thing with the Smashing Pumpkins, but then I take more of my influence from punk/grunge than alternative.

[iluvlamp]

Quote:

---

just 'cos Smashing Pumpkins is so incredibly wimpy/girly/wussie

---

 

And to think I had beers with youhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif AND, I almost fought over a jukebox, that's not wussie, that's hardcore!

 

I see how many people can think that the pumpkins wrote "wussie" songs, but the fact is Billy wrote a lot of dark, hard songs. Some people hear "Today" and that's it. Kinda sad really because the catalog is there to be had.

[brettac1]

Come on, no one who is an enraged rat in a cage is a wussy.

 

And Mudhoney made it big. They were in that Chris Farley movie.

[homer]

Quote:

---

The best band to come out of Seattle in the "grunge" era was Candlebox ... they achieved more on their debut album than the rest did in their entire careers.

---

 

Should this have been in blue?

 

If not, I suppose the next topic of discussion will be that Puddle of Mudd is Generation Y's answer to the Rolling Stones.

[Roscoe Chill]

I like them both, but I'll have to go with Soundgarden.

[danzig6767]

Overall body of work,i go with the Pumpkins,but the best stuff Soundgarden put out i prefered over the best of the Pumpkins.

[unsanitary999]

Without Nirvana there is no Pearl Jam, without Pearl Jam there is no Soundgarden.

 

Not true.

 

There was a grunge band back in the day called Mother Love Bone. They were awesome, and they were changing the shape of rock and roll. They contained Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, now of Pearl Jam.

 

The lead singer, Andy Wood, died of a cocaine overdose (how surprising, eh?). Everybody was really sad, so Chris Cornell (Andy Wood's roommate at the time) joined with the rest of Mother Love Bone (and Eddie Vedder, to a point --he made an appearance or two) to create a tribute album -- Temple of the Dog. You've probably heard the song "Hunger Strike" before; that was their biggest hit.

 

Anyways, "Black Hole Sun" is one of the top 5 songs ever recorded, and Superunknown is one of the top 10 albums ever recorded.

 

Soundgarden's complexity wins. And Chris Cornell has an AWESOME voice, as opposed to Billy Corgan's annoying whimper.

[homer]

Yeah, I know all about Mother Love Bone and I own the Temple of the Dog CD. My opinion is that had Nirvana not made it big it would have been much tougher for the likes of PJ and Soundgarden to make it big. I didn't mean that if Nirvana never existed that those other bands would never have gotten together. The movie Singles probably helped as well (and for those of you that don't own it, get the soundtrack. One of the best movie soundtracks ever - Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Jimi Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney,etc.)

 

I didn't mean to imply that if Nirvana never existed that those other bands would never have gotten together.

[thevaccinator27]

SP hands down.

 

That's mostly because Chris Cornell's voice bothers me like nails on a chalkboard.

[qrk10000]

Soundgarden without a doubt. I never could stand Billy Corgan's whiny voice but he made it work for a few albums. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was pretty good, especially when he played piano. Chris Cornell's vocal talents alone make this a no-brainer. He has always had one of the strongest voices in the business.

 

Brettac, you seriously would listen to Zwan over Audioslave? I thought the Zwan albums was one of the worst things I have ever heard, and I listended to David Lee Roth open for a Bad Company reuinion 5 or 6 years ago. That was horrid!

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

Deja Vu, huh Homer?

[brettac1]

Brettac, you seriously would listen to Zwan over Audioslave?

 

Yeah, Audioslave was a joke. I love Rage, but when you hook up Tom Morello with the garbage "alternative" rock lyrics that Chris Cornell writes, it's horrible.

 

Like I said, Zwan had Matt Sweeney, and he collaborated with one of my favorite artists (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy) on an album that I love ("Superwolf").

 

Honestly, though, I probably would never listen to either of them ever again. But anything was better than the boring dreck that was Audioslave.

[PKBadger]

Quote:

---

Brettac, you seriously would listen to Zwan over Audioslave? I thought the Zwan albums was one of the worst things I have ever heard, and I listended to David Lee Roth open for a Bad Company reuinion 5 or 6 years ago. That was horrid!

---

 

 

To each his own....."Mary Star of the Sea" still gets a lot of play in my car CD player. Underappreciated album.

 

The most fun I had listening to Audioslave was when I was playing Guitar Hero, because I was too distracted by the game to pay attention to what I was hearing.

[MessiahRp]

Quote:

---

I believe STP was from southern California, not Seattle.

---

 

You are correct. My bad. I think my memory always lumps Weiland together with Vedder for some silly reason.

 

Rp

[homer]

Quote:

---

I think my memory always lumps Weiland together with Vedder for some silly reason.

---

 

When Plush first started getting radio play I thought it was Pearl Jam so I can see why you confuse the two.

[Chio151]

Better solo album: Chris Cornell or Billy Corgan?

 

 

I gotta go with Cornell on this one, even if it was strangely sappy.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

A lot of people thought they were Pearl Jam or some band from Seattle. Of course, this is one reason critics hated this band. I was a budding teenager at this time and really getting into rock music and I remember reading hate after hate for that band. But the people liked them and bought their albums.

 

Core and Purple were pretty decent albums. "Dead and Bloated" was a great song. I know why the critics hated them (and Krist Novaselic called them "Stone Gossard Pirates"...I still laugh at this one!) as they sounded like a rip off band. Probably the first real Seattle rip off band. But they weren't too bad initially.

 

The first time I saw them they opened for "Butthole Surfers" on their "Independent Worm Saloon" tour. BTW, that's an amazing album and it's highly recommended. It was a good show with the "Flaming Lips" opening for STP and STP for the Surfers. This was of course very early on for STP as Plush just hit. Withen a year they were selling out arenas. This was a smaller show. The BBQ Barmitzvah I believe it was called.

[Fatter than Joey]

I liked the Pumpkins better.