Beyond Nirvana, Part 2: The Grunge Era's Deepest Cuts
More bands from the grunge era that fell through the cracks.
Continued from: Beyond Nirvana, Part 1: Grunge-Era Bands That Deserved Better
As I discussed in my last post, when alternative rock found mainstream success in the early '90s, it didn't translate into rock stardom for the vast majority of bands in the underground music scene at the time. However, while the bands mentioned in that last post deserved better than they got, at least they retained some level of recognition and have been able to maintain steady cult followings to this day.
Here, we're going to dig deeper into the cracks. If Part 1's bands were overlooked by the mainstream, then the bands covered in this article are virtually invisible and don't get sufficient recognition even among music geeks and alt-rock historians, at least in the U.S. -- but they shaped the sound of '90s alternative rock just as much.
Bullet LaVolta
This Boston quintet wasn't grunge, but a distinctive combination of punk rock, hard rock and post-hardcore influenced by the likes of Fugazi, Hüsker Dü and Naked Raygun. Four of their five original members were college disk jockeys, and they got their start playing college shows in Boston. Soon afterwards, they added guitarist Ken Chambers, who was also leading his own equally fantastic alternative rock band Moving Targets. Their 1988 self-titled EP and 1989 full-length album The Gift (combined into one CD) are some of the most potent contributions to the alternative rock space in the years just before grunge broke.
Bullet LaVolta actually did get signed to a major label (RCA Records), and released their major-label debut Swandive on September 24, 1991 -- the same day as Nevermind. The timing should have been perfect. Instead, Nevermind sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and Swandive was buried in the avalanche. The band broke up in 1992, victims of the very movement they'd helped build.
The Gift (full album, Taang! Records, 1989)
Celibate Rifles
This Australian punk rock band were respected and influential cult icons at home, but in the U.S. they barely registered outside the underground scene. Fronted by the charismatic Damien Lovelock and driven by the twin-guitar attack of Kent Steedman and Dave Morris, the Celibate Rifles formed in 1979, released their debut album Sideroxylon in 1983, and over the next decade they cranked out several albums full of snarling punk energy wrapped in classic rock hooks that predated grunge's fusion of punk and hard rock by years.
Despite U.S. tours and even live recordings at CBGB’s, they never cracked college radio or secured wide distribution in the States. Back home in Australia, they built a fiercely loyal fanbase and kept going until Lovelock's death in 2019. They remain one of the great "what if" stories of the era -- a band that had the sound, the chops, and the work ethic, but never got the timing or the geography right.
"Johnny" (from Blind Ear, True Tone/EMI Records, 1989)
Thee Hypnotics
This British band was far more explicitly retro-revivalist than most alternative rock bands of the era, explicitly channeling the likes of Cream, Blue Cheer, the Stooges, the MC5 and the Pink Fairies. They caught the attention of the UK music press in 1989 with their debut single "Justice in Freedom" and their live EP Live'r Than God!, which was combined with four single sides for their first US release on Sub Pop Records. They followed it with their first full-length studio album Come Down Heavy in 1990, which turned up the volume and fuzz even higher.
Unfortunately, their career never took off for various reasons, not the least of which was a near-fatal car accident during their US tour that left their drummer hospitalized for months. And their last two albums after that -- Soul, Glitter & Sin (1991) and The Very Crystal Speed Machine (1994) -- turned up the retro stylings while not capturing the same raw edge as their previous records.
"Soul Trader" (from Live'r Than God!, Situation Two Records, 1989)
Loveslug
This Dutch four-piece went completely unnoticed in the U.S., but they would have fit seamlessly into the late-’80s Seattle grunge scene. Though the members came out of punk, hardcore, and thrash backgrounds, Loveslug blended that aggression with classic hard rock swagger, drawing on influences like Radio Birdman, The Stooges, the Ramones, Kiss, Motörhead, and MC5. They even had tangible connections to the American underground: touring with Sub Pop artists The Fluid, and recording their second album Beef Jerky (1990) with producer Jack Endino. Yet despite this crossover appeal, they appear never to have toured outside Western Europe or released material on a U.S. label. The band dissolved in 1994 due to health issues affecting one member, and guitarist/frontman Tony “Slug” Leeuwenburgh passed away in 2023.
What makes Loveslug so great in hindsight is how perfectly they nailed the raw, pre-hype grunge vibe without ever being part of the hype. Loud, filthy, and riff-driven, they were more beer-soaked rock’n’roll than polished commercial "alternative" rock, which made them stand out even next to their Seattle peers. Beef Jerky in particular feels like a lost classic from an alternate grunge timeline -- all grit, zero polish, no bullshit.
Beef Jerky (full album, Glitterhouse Records, 1990)
Olivelawn
While Seattle was getting all the attention, San Diego had its own vibrant independent rock music scene at the same time, producing such bands as Rocket from the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Inch, Three Mile Pilot, and the four-piece known as Olivelawn. They were influenced by the Stooges, the MC5 and Black Sabbath, and their second album, 1992's Sophomore Jinx!, was recorded in Seattle and produced by Jack Endino.
We can only speculate on how far Olivelawn could have gone, as they disbanded very shortly afterwards. Two of their members (guitarist "O" and bassist Jonny Donhowe) formed the band Fluf, while drummer Eddie Glass joined the band Fu Manchu (and would later form the stoner-rock power trio Nebula). "O" (Otis Barthoulameu) would later produce Blink-182's very first album, 1995's Cheshire Cat.
"Major Label Blues" (from Sophomore Jinx!, Cargo Records, 1992)
God and Texas
Formed in Athens, Ohio in 1988 and later based in Chicago, this power trio trafficked in the same incendiary style of noise rock as their contemporaries Helmet, the Jesus Lizard and the entire Amphetamine Reptile Records roster. But while Helmet went on to mainstream exposure (if not stardom) and the Jesus Lizard got a major-label deal, God and Texas stayed firmly underground, releasing all four of their albums on small independent labels before finally calling it quits in 1994.
History Volume One (full album, Rave Records, 1992)