To the city of Seattle he was never paid much attention to . With a very modest size, isolated in a corner of the United States and with a difficult climate, it was never visited by the big names in music during their tours. And the talents born here, What Jimi Hendrix They ended up going to other cities to be able to succeed.
But that was only until the '80s, when a new generation of mavericks started playing something different than everything else. They vindicated their origins, mixed metal with punk and in a short time put Seattle on the world map of rock.
We're going on a musical route through Seattle.
THE PIONEERS
"In Seattle we have never liked the term grungy , we have always called it here seattle rock or as much seattle sound . The word grunge was invented by the press and later adopted by the fashion industry to refer not only to that musical genre that was born here, but also to the scruffy aesthetics and lifestyle of the members of those bands that had begun to do something different. Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam never identified with that word." He tells us Wendy Colton , a veteran rocker who for years has carried out an innovative project of coaching based on punk rock music.
Colton, who experienced first-hand the birth and meteoric success of the first Seattle sound bands, is our Cicerone for the places that have been key in musical history from the city.
Some places have stood the test of time, like The Crocodile.
The first stop is at the Downtown , where many of those groups played for the first time before an audience that was looking for something new, something different from that heavy metal that for many was beginning to be out of fashion.
Thus, in just 3 years between 1983 and 1986 the Melvins were formed (influenced by AC/DC and Black Sabbath, they were the first to mix metal and punk), Soundgarden, Green River, Screaming Trees or Malfunkshun, joined by Alice in Chains in 1987 and later other giants would come like Mudhoney, Pearl Jam or the dazzling Nirvana.
In the center of the city they are still active Paramount Theater Y The Moore Theater —the video clip Even Flow, by Pearl Jam, was recorded in it— or Crocodiles that today continue to program concerts by new bands, but also by artists at the highest level who from time to time return to the pleasure of playing in a petit committee.
The atmosphere of the 'Seattle Sound' emerges in each of the streets of Capitol Hill.
Not far away, in the neighboring district of bell town is domiciled sub pop records , the first record company with which many of those bands that nobody else initially believed in were signed.
The business did not go badly for them: to their credit they have two platinum albums (more than a million copies sold): One for bleach (1989), from Nirvana and another for give-up (2003), from The Postal Service and still today represent more than 75 artists.
PARKS TO REMEMBER
Seattle, like Lisbon, is surrounded by seven hills that are now home to some of the most posh and alternative neighborhoods in the city. in the vibrant capitol hill a statue reminds that this was the place where jimi hendrix grew up and without leaving the district another sculpture, Black Sun, by the artist Isamu Noguchi located in Volunteer Park , inspired Soundgarden for their famous Black Hole Sun. The Grammy-winning song was considered by the VH1 network as one of the 25 best rock pieces of the 90s.
Here, views from the sculpture 'Black Sun', by artist Isamu Noguchi, located in Volunteer Park, and which inspired Soundgarden for its famous 'Black Hole Sun'.
By the way, also a work of art located in a public space, A Sound Garden by sculptor Douglas Hollis , gave name to the own band led by Chris Cornell; Since his death in 2017, this art installation has become an impromptu memorial to the artist.
One more tribute to another deceased Seattle star is found in front of what was Kurt Cobain's residence in madison park . Our guide Wendy Colton remembers (because she was there) that, after the Nirvana frontman's suicide, the garden next to her home became a place of collective mourning for weeks. Even today—just like Jim Morrison's grave in Paris— fans make a pilgrimage here to leave flowers, notes, cigarettes or necklaces on a park bench.
Wendy Colton next to the bench that pays tribute to Kurt Cobain.
AIR MUSIC AND SHATTERED GUITARS
In the most touristic center of Seattle, the uptown district —where the iconic Space Needle is located, for example— a place that was key for all those young people who revolutionized rock in the 80s to reach their audience is still in operation: the station KEXP.
"We started in the 70's as a college radio independent —says its CEO Tom Mara— and even today after 50 years we continue to maintain that independence. Here we are not linked to the big labels or the mainstream, we bet on unknown artists and at least once an hour a local band plays". KEXP is the sound soul of Seattle and its YouTube channel (recorded on site in the station's studios) is followed every week by more than one and a half million viewers all over the world.
"Kurt Cobain himself, when nobody knew him yet, came in person one day to bring us a cassette tape. We were the first to issue never mind on the air and the same thing has happened with many other groups that later became world famous", concludes Mara.
At KEXP they always bet on emerging artists.
Close to the KEXP headquarters—which has a wonderful coffee shop and vinyl shop, by the way—is the international source , another one of those spontaneous meeting places for Cobain fans. A little beyond the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) is the pinnacle for any self-respecting music fan.
Its founder Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) was the largest collector of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia in the world, with more than 6,000 pieces to his credit. Although in its beginnings the museum wanted to be a tribute to Hendrix, the acquisition of new collections ended with a monumental expansion —signed by Frank Gehry— and with an extraordinarily rich repertoire of some 80,000 objects between pieces of rock and objects used in mythical film sagas from Star Trek to The Lord of the Rings.
Among the thousands of musical cult objects that can be seen at MoPOP are the white Fender Stratocaster that Hendrix played at Woodstock in 1969 and what remains of the one he burned in Monterrey; the original mannequin used by Nirvana for their In Utero cover and the more or less mangled guitars of Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton or Muddy Waters.
The MoPOP is a paradise for music lovers and guitarists.