Beyond Nirvana: 10 essential under-the-radar grunge records from the Seattle era

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green river

Green River
Dry As A Bone / Rehab Doll
(Sub Pop)

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June 1986 and Mark Arm shows off a voice already full-grown into the yelps and busted notes the world would come to love. It’s easy to forget he was already a Seattle music veteran by then. The compilation splits sharply between Dry as Bone, which marries punk moves learnt while in Deranged Diction or March of Crimes to rock flourishes thus birthing Mudhoney’s entire shtick — and Rehab Doll where the music is audibly steering toward an Alice in Chains vibe of respectability while at least retaining a cutting edge. The Blue Oyster Cult quotation makes sense as a subversion of rock tradition — must have been something in the 1988 air given Current 93 made the same quotation that year. The whole world seemed to be saying something had died leaving something new it was safe to resurrect.