i gotta say as time goes by and stuff, comparing Soundgarden to AiC or Nirvana is kind of foolish. same as calling them 'grunge'.

ultimately grunge was just a new word being thrown around to describe new heavy / hard / rock-ish music being made by a new batch of musicians who weren't just poofy hairdos in spandex. those fans needed a way to distinguish things, they chose to try picking on the physical, the fact that the clothes weren't as fancy or new, maybe a little worn out even, perhaps even torn or stained through overuse, in effect grimy and grungy. basically it was hair metal and its fans calling their younger siblings and their musicians of choice 'dirty'.

to me what made Soundgarden really special was the music; the unorthodox rhythms and juxtaposed roles of guitar and bass that permeated the majority of their catalog really distinguished them from their peers. trying to compare SG to something like AiC is like trying to compare Led Zeppelin to The Kinks, sure they were around at the same time and from the same area but come on...

Grunge
 

I always thought the term grunge (Seattle Sound) during the early 90s with bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots(from california), Pearl Jam, Soungarden and so on, fit the venue/label as a sub-genre to Alternative Rock quite well, considering you also would wear clothes from 'Goodwill' or something to that sort in order to fit better into the grunge scene, alot of flannel shirts, etc.
I always liked that green wool sweater Kurt Cobain wore on his MTV unplugged, although its not something I would want to wear personally.
And all the different styles of rock music from the 80s was now a 'thing of the past', with the release of Nirvana's-Nevermind, during the first part of the 90s the grunge (Seattle sound) was established, the rest is all music history from a bygone era itself, (Grunge).

Despite being different, these groups still fit the grunge moniker as do the the groups that comprised Brit-Pop. They all had different influences in their sound: At one end AIC and Soundgarden with their metal and hard rock influences, whilst at the other end Nirvana and Mudhoney with their indie and punk influences. I know that is a basic assessment but a good place to start. The unifying factors were the distorted guitars, Seattle, heroin abuse, scruffy image etc.

Grunge is often thought of as a slow moving beast and Soundgarden best typified this slow moving sound, whereas Nirvana and Mudhoney were full of energy (not in a positive life affirming way of course)

Groups like Pearl Jam and STP initially put out more commercial stuff before dabbling more in experimental stuff.

And I agree with the diversity concerning the musical differences between styles, labels and talent of the bands mentioned.
The bands 'Live' and the 'Smashing Pumpkins' are other bands from the 90s that I have always admired also, with the recognition that I am not suggesting they are grunge in anyway.

Mentioning both Smashing Pumpkins and Live together!!! Whilst I like and admire the Pumpkins, I can`t say the same for Live. Live for me are kind of a derivative cross between Pearl Jam and R.E.M and inferior to both those bands in every aspect. Also when I think of Live I think post-grunge as in its time to puuuuuuuuke.:eek:

Whether you like Live or not (and I can certainly see why someone wouldn't) they were around way too early to be considered post-grunge IMO. And as far as being derivative of Pearl Jam goes, Live is actually the older of the two bands and released their debut the same year PJ released theirs. I have to say I was actually a fan of their first album when it was new, though it hasn't aged well at all, and I never associated it with grunge in any way shape or form.

Live seem so...wholesome...

I dunno some of their stuff was ok but they were/are a fairly forgettable band for me.

'Throwing Copper' by Live had two or three singles I liked off of the album, I saw them perform on the Dave Letterman show once, and they (Live) were all jamed together in a small soundbooth, and they absolutly nailed it! evidence as to why they are called 'Live'.
As to get back to the original subject at hand, here are links to a couple of my favorites by Soungarden. :)

YouTube - Soundgarden - Outshined

YouTube - Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days (Video Version)

YouTube - Soundgarden - Spoonman (Music Video)

YouTube - Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

I by and large agree. I was just making the point that they don't really fit in grunge continuum anywhere.

I`ll take back the reference to Pearl Jam, as I didn`t realize Live were quite that old. Post-Grunge and Alternative Rock were popular labels especially at that time, I`ve even seen Live referred to as Neo-Grunge.