Is Grunge Dead?

HERE COMES THE ROOSTER

The end of the first decade of the 21st century has left us with a small surprise.  Just when it looked like the end of bands from the nineties, there has been a huge resurgence from almost every major one.  Why would this be?  The grunge age left us with its successors, bands like; Stained, Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Godsmack, and many others.  Is there still room for grunge or seattle sound?  Has there once again developed a demand for this ageless music?  

A two-seasoned series entitled Rockstar featured its first season with INXS looking for a new led singer.  Journey found a new lead singer from online auditions, and Alice in Chains recently found a replacement singer.  With the advent of Guitar Hero and Rockband these popular games have brought back some classic grunge songs that had been sourly missed.  The nostalgia of once again hearing these all time favorites like; Black Hole Sun, Alive, Man in the Box, Cherub Rock, etc, caused people to do a 2 minute google search, or itunes search, and rediscover the timeless bands all over again.  Because of the ease of technology many people are downloading or re-buying some of these forgotten albums, I know I have purchased a good amount of music in the last 2 years from grunge bands and continue to do so.

For whatever reason the original grunge pioneers have lived on and survived.  Bands like Sound Garden, and Nirvana evolved into Audio Slave, and Foo Fighters.  It seems Eddie Vedder can release a smash hit at will.  Just when you think he is gone for good he releases a hit song that reaches #1 on the billboards like he did with the hit single Last Kiss. 

 In the mid 2000's Smashing Pumpkins released a killer album, Zeitgeist, and Silverchair also released an album, Metallica released Death Magnetic in 2008, and Guitar Hero dedicated an entire game to Metallica.  Chris Cornell featured the led song in James Bond: Casino Royale, entitled You Know My Name.  Scott Weiland (STP) and Slash (GR) got along fine for a few years with their group Velvet Revolver.  

Guns n' Roses debuted their brand new album Chinese Democracy on Rock Band with one of their new songs available to play on Rockband 2.  Now, if that were not enough, we have more bands releasing albums.  Alice in Chains just released Black Gives Way to Blue, Pearl Jam released Backspacer, and Nirvana is celebrating its 15th anniversary by releasing a DVD called Live at Reading from 1992.  Old bands like Aerosmith and Red Hot Chili Peppers have not only survived, but thrived throughout the last 2 decades.

These new albums are meeting a starved audience for the classic sound of grunge.  The reviews from the music industry have been positive with many of the albums compared to some of their best work.  2010 is scheduled to release another classic group, STP, and Silverchair will be releasing another album rumored to have much of its "old sound back."  

Its not quite the exact same grunge sound, it has polish, experience, and age to it now- Grunge 2.0 (Except no imitations).  Grunge dead, swallowed whole by alternative music?  I don't think so.  Looks like the bands of the early 90's have finally found their place in the archives of music and in the hearts of their loyal listeners.  Grudge is here to stay