The Saga of Grunge Part 2 (1988) episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 25, 2026 · 1H 3M

The Saga of Grunge Part 2 (1988)

from The Curmudgeon Rock Report · host The Curmudgeons

In which The Curmudgeons set the dial back to 1988, when grunge started to become a real thing with real buzz and found itself no longer contained to just Seattle. Mudhoney kicked ass and triumphed in the U.K. with the gargantuan single "Touch Me I'm Sick" and their awesomely heavy debut EP Superfuzz Bigmuff. Soundgarden released its full-length debut album, which, while badly produced, found the band slashing and burning through a number of supremely intense rockers. And Screaming Trees served up a super-loud but super-cool take on 1960s psychedelic garage rock. Meanwhile, non-Seattle bands like Sonic Youth, Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. released classic hard rock albums that would influence a certain talented little guy from Aberdeen, Wa., a few years later.    Enjoy the awe-inspiring sounds of 1988 proto-grunge and grunge adjacency (with some bonus 1996 stuff from Screaming Trees) by accessing our special Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6lVn38eOrw3CraMeLejnTx?si=8de496ad2eb7414b   Here's a handy a navigation companion to this episode.   (00:52-03:13) - Arturo Andrade sets the parameters for our discussion of grunge from 1988   (04:13-14:40) - Parallel Universe, featuring reviews of new albums from Sault and Buck Meek   (15:39 - 41:12) - We tell the origin story of the mighty Sub Pop Records and cover releases from Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Scream Trees   (42:15 - 01:01:49) - We analyze tremendous "grunge-adjacent" albums from l7, Sonic Youth, The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.   Join our Curmudgeonly Community today! facebook.com/groups/curmudgeonrock   Edited with an assist from Descript! web.descript.com     Hosted on Podbean! curmudgeonrock.podbean.com   Subscribe to our show on these platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-curmudgeon-rock-report/id1551808911   https://open.spotify.com/show/4q7bHKIROH98o0vJbXLamB?si=5ffbdc04d6d44ecb   Co-written and co-produced by Arturo Andrade and Christopher O'Connor - The Curmudgeons  

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