Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

In 1986, fledgling Seattle label C/Z Records released Deep Six, a compilation featuring a half-dozen local bands: Soundgarden, Green River, Melvins, Malfunkshun, the U-Men and Skin Yard. Though it sold miserably, the record made music history by documenting a burgeoning regional sound, the raw fusion of heavy metal and punk rock that we now know as grunge. But it wasn’t until five years later, with the seemingly overnight success of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” that grunge became a household word and Seattle ground zero for the nineties alternative-rock explosion.

Everybody Loves Our Town captures the grunge era in the words of the musicians, producers, managers, record executives, video directors, photographers, journalists, publicists, club owners, roadies, scenesters and hangers-on who lived through it. The book tells the whole story: from the founding of the Deep Six bands to the worldwide success of grunge’s big four (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains); from the rise of Seattle’s cash-poor, hype-rich indie label Sub Pop to the major-label feeding frenzy that overtook the Pacific Northwest; from the simple joys of making noise at basement parties and tiny rock clubs to the tragic, lonely deaths of superstars Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley.

Drawn from more than 250 new interviews—with members of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, Hole, Melvins, Mudhoney, Green River, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, L7, Babes in Toyland, 7 Year Bitch, TAD, the U-Men, Candlebox and many more—and featuring previously untold stories and never-before-published photographs, Everybody Loves Our Town is at once a moving, funny, lurid, and hugely insightful portrait of an extraordinary musical era.

Grunge, the raw fusion of punk rock and heavy metal also known as the “Seattle sound,” began its emergence from the Pacific Northwest in the early part of the 1980s. But it took the unexpected, seemingly overnight success of Nirvana's single "Smells Like Teen Spirit," in the fall of 1991, to make grunge a household word and turn Seattle into ground zero for the burgeoning alternative-rock movement that would be a dominant force on the American cultural landscape for the next decade.

Everybody Loves Our Town captures the grunge era in the words of the musicians, producers, managers, record executives, video directors, photographers, journalists, publicists, club owners, roadies, scenesters and hangers-on who lived through it. Everybody Loves Our Town tells the whole story: the formation of grunge originators like Soundgarden and the Melvins; the early successes of Seattle's legendary Sub Pop record label; the rise of chart powerhouses Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains; the insane media hype surrounding the grunge explosion; the shocking suicide of Kurt Cobain; and finally, the genre's mid-to-late-'90s decline.

Drawn from more than 250 new interviews—with members of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Screaming Trees, Hole, Mudhoney, the Melvins, Mother Love Bone, Mad Season, L7, Babes in Toyland, TAD, Candlebox and many more—and featuring rare and never-before-published photographs, Everybody Loves Our Town is at once a moving, funny, lurid, and hugely insightful portrait of this extraordinary musical era.