Kids,

I remember the alternative revolution of the early 90s. For the record I didn’t like Nirvana all that well until I heard “Come As You Are.” In fact, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” sounded like mush to me. Yes, I was a poser, I guess. The whole scene was pretty damn great, but not really as awe inspiring as a lot of people make it out to be. Jane’s Addiction was a high profile “alternative” band that was a lot weirder (and better) than Nirvana, but most people forget that. Not to mention two obscure bands called U2 and R.E.M.

In retrospect few bands have aged well. Pearl Jam’s Ten sounds horribly dated to my ears, and sounded overproduced (at least compared to their live stuff) back in ’92.

But one band that still sounds great is Urge Overkill.

While a lot of bands were happy to ape Black Sabbath and Black Flag, Urge was influenced by the likes of Cheap Trick, KISS and AC/DC. This didn’t win them many fans in the underground (who didn’t seem to mind when they sounded that way on Touch and Go Records…), but the indie kids never understand. Sometimes you want gloomy “alternative” rock, but other times you want some good ol’ rock’n’roll. Urge Overkill provided that better than anybody at that time, and are still better than most bands today.