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Jumpin' The Shark With Grunge [Jumping the Shark Write-Off]Dec 06 '01 (Updated Mar 01 '02) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line All of 'em jumped the shark...and I can prove it!
The year was 1994 and the best thing on radio was Seattle style grunge music. Often depressed and dark, the genre was a perfect draw for angst-ridden teens everywhere. But the face of music was about to change. Post grunge bands began popping up on airways. No longer were greasy-headed, flannel wearing, growling beasts a draw. The mood changed and happier, better-looking, and more parent-friendly bands diluted radio stations with their alterna-pop-rock sound. As people should be well aware, grunge is a sloppy term. It refers to a sound that indeed began in Seattle but quickly spread to other areas. These bands were angry and insisted that the basis of their musical success relied more on their guitar riffs and lyrics than the length of their hair. In retrospect, that too was a joke. The genre can be traced to the mid- and late-1980’s. But, grunge didn’t become a full fledged cultural phenomenon until Nirvana signed a major label deal with Geffen in 1991 and released the now classic Nevermind. Various other ‘grunge’ acts followed, the most popular of which are probably Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Stone Temple Pilots. The grunge reign on radio continued until the mid-1990’s when a new batch of happier artists began hitting big. Acts like Bush, Everclear, Silverchair, Foo Fighters, and even Creed found an audience for their melodies. These bands have something in common with their forefathers. They too are rock and roll, but with a happier twist. But, each of these ten aforementioned bands had something in common. At times, they have all JUMPED THE SHARK. Alas, they have crossed over to the dark side for one reason or another. Their credibility in the eyes of listeners was lacking. Some sold out, others cut their hair, a few dealt with serious drug addictions, while still other artists never were good to begin with. I’ll deal with each band individually: GRUNGE Pearl Jam Usually, a band ‘sells out’ and thus is committed to death. This one seems to have done things backwards. Starting out with a bang thanks to the success of Ten, Pearl Jam is one of the few bands of the grunge era that still makes music. Videos and songs like ”Even Flow” and ”Jeremy” made sure that Pearl Jam would remain on top. Then, they decided to stop making music videos. Then there was that big ol’ brawl with Ticketmaster. The band has released tons of albums and bootlegs since they fell off the map in the early-to-mid-1990’s thanks to a few well-placed bad decisions. Jumped Shark: When no more videos were made and left Ticketmaster. Rarely do their songs or albums get any attention. Soundgarden This one is easy. Soundgarden was one of the earlier Seattle bands. They were for a brief time rock royalty thanks to two truly classic albums…1991’s Badmotorfinger and 1994’s Superunknown. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Lead singer Chris Cornell cut his hair and the band sold out by the time 1996’s Down On The Upside was released. The band broke up and Cornell’s solo career fizzled. Jumped Shark: Cornell cut his hair, Superunknown became UBER-POPULAR. Nirvana As the band that ushered in the Grunge revolution in the early 1990’s, Nirvana was on it’s way to becoming the most amazing thing since sliced bread. Nevermind, Incesticide, and In Utero were all amazing albums. My favorite is their 1994 release of MTV Unplugged in New York. Even though it’s my favorite, the 1993 recording of this album marked the beginning of the end for the band. Even if Cobain hadn’t killed himself, Nirvana was on their way out. Jumped Shark: Recording of Unplugged in New York for MTV and Cobain’s suicide. Alice in Chains Another early Seattle band, Alice in Chains had it all. Grinding guitars and Layne Staley’s gravelly vocals both lent well to the musical movement. But, Staley had major problems with drugs. Band members weren’t able to save him from the depths of drug-induced depression. The band hit rock bottom with 1995’s Alice in Chains and then briefly resurfaced a year later with a half-cocked Unplugged outing. Staley slipped out of sight leaving the band to wallow in their past successes. Jumped Shark: Staley’s increasingly bad drug addiction, Unplugged recording. Stone Temple Pilots I would like to say that they never slipped into nothingness. Yet, with Scott Weiland’s recurring drug addiction and public antics, things really did get bad before they got better. I would have to say that they bottomed out with the psychedelic Tiny Music and the inclusion of Sarah Michelle Gellar (of Buffy fame) in the video for their fourth album’s breakout hit ”Sour Girl”. Besides that, STP is the only band still making mainstream rock music. And, they’re doing it well. They remain my favorite band of all time. Jumped Shark: Momentarily when Weiland relapsed and the inclusion of Gellar in their video for "Sour Girl". POST-GRUNGE Bush or Bush X Gavin Rossdale was never cool, just good looking. With his supremently self absorbed (yet lovely) song ”Glycerine” from their debut Sixteen Stone, the world became infatuated with the love-god. So did Gwen Stefani of No Doubt fame (she had his child). Anyway, I never would’ve counted them as a great band or post-grunge band even. They were just too sparkling clean and refined. Not that it’s a bad thing necessarily. Jumped Shark: The first moment that the world saw Rossdale’s mug. Rossdale and Stefani’s baby. Everclear Initially mistaken for punk in the beginning, Everclear turned into essentially bubblegum pop by the time So Much for the Afterglow hit shelves in 1997. Their earlier albums were more intense, this and the ones that soon followed were just blah and barely could be considered rock. Lead Art Alexakis admitted to earlier drug addictions that cleared up in the 1990’s. Their sound also seemed to become more convoluted in direct proportion to his mental health. Jumped Shark: Sometime following the release of 1995’s Sparkle and Fade and the subsequent hit single ”Santa Monica”. By the late 1990’s Everclear blended into the mush of poppy rock. Foo Fighters Founded by ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters had a built in following for their self titled debut in 1995. Most of the songs were rock and roll save for a few including the hit single ”Big Me”. The video was obviously a sell out, copying the style directly from a typical Mentos commercial. This seemed the pattern of each of Grohl’s subsequent efforts (he tended to like total control). Some were good some were bad, some were pure pop-poo. Jumped Shark: The shooting of the video for ”Big Me”. Creed The mere mention of this band sends chivers (worse than shivers) down my spine. Scott Stapp always has struck me as a pud. Yeah, you heard me right a P-U-D. Anyway, he’s pretentious, and seems self-absorbed (especially when it comes to his hair). Sure Stapp can sing, but the only good thing about the band is their guitarist Mark Tremonti. The Detroit native sure can play. That aside, the lyrics are preachy and Stapp thinks he’s too darned cool. Jumped Shark: The moment somebody told Stapp he was cool, the first preachy lyric, and that Fred Durst boxing challenge. Silverchair I’d like to say that Silverchair was a decent band. The fact that they released Frogstomp when they were mere teenagers in Australia is amazing. Their sound is better than most post-grunge bands could possibly hope for. But, by the time Freak Show and Neon Ballroom were released the trio were old hat. Lead singer/guitarist Daniel Johns hit rock bottom with the admission that he was anorexic. The band later went on to record a pretentious and preachy song called ”Ana’s Song”. Ana was short for anorexia. Jumped Shark: The release of their sophomore and junior efforts. That darned Anorexia song. As you can see, artists always slip at least momentarily. They all Jump the Shark. Even my favorite band Stone Temple Pilots wasn’t immune from the shark. Entire genres often jump the shark in one fell swoop. Post-grunge fell victim to this phenomenon as did most recently boy-bands and girl-groups (or girl singers). Anyway. You see the point here. There are few artists whom have NEVER jumped. I would say that The Doors never jumped (although some would argue that Jim Morrison did it for them). I would also say that Neil Young never jumped (that parody of commercialism could be thought of as doing so). Quite honestly, it’s very difficult to come up with names of artists and bands that have never jumped the shark. From what I can tell, it’s just part of the music biz. It’s my hope that this opinion will inspire listeners to music to think about the topic more intensely. This write off has certainly helped me to think critically about rock music and the idea of “Jumping the Shark” very carefully. I even had to admit to the fact that STP isn’t perfect. Talk about a difficult task… __________________________________________________ Thanks to MagnumForce for organizing a very cool write-off. For more information about the shark, check out http://www.jumptheshark.com . Check out these other writers for some other very cool entries: MagnumForce TheUnknown285 Tigger500 Churst Three164Life Girlboxer5 DVON  |
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