In
commemoration of grunge trailblazer Tina Bell’s birthday (Feb 5.), Bam
Bam is releasing their 1984 12” vinyl, “Villains (Also Wear White)”
featuring three tracks from their original 7”, as well as three
previously unreleased demos.
The purchase of each vinyl also receives unlimited streaming of the record through the free Bandcamp app!
Bam Bam
Influenced: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green River
As many critics have pointed out lately, Seattle band Bam Bam predated
bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney in the same music scene, only to fade
into a criminal state of obscurity.
Bam Bam is considered by these thinkpieces to be one of the first grunge
bands for this reason, but “grunge” is a stupid label insofar as its
use in the context of the Seattle punk scene essentially denotes “bands
who shared a scene with Kurt Cobain.” (Metal Church was in that scene
and inspired Dale Crover, who was a fill-in drummer for Nirvana, so they
must have been a grunge band!)
Anyhow, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam was a drummer for Bam Bam before he
moved on to more commercially successful pastures, and legend has it
that Cobain occasionally roadied for Bam Bam back when the Melvins were
playing shows with them.
People have also been quick to point out that Bam Bam’s vocalist, the
late Tina Bell, went through the common Black experience of pioneering
something in music only for white artists to experiment with it to far
more success.
Instead of expounding on that assertion, we’ll instead refer you to a well-written feature on Bam Bam that by Bandcamp Daily back in November, and you can judge for yourself.
Bam Bam
Influenced: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green River
As many critics have pointed out lately, Seattle band Bam Bam predated
bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney in the same music scene, only to fade
into a criminal state of obscurity.
Bam Bam is considered by these thinkpieces to be one of the first grunge
bands for this reason, but “grunge” is a stupid label insofar as its
use in the context of the Seattle punk scene essentially denotes “bands
who shared a scene with Kurt Cobain.” (Metal Church was in that scene
and inspired Dale Crover, who was a fill-in drummer for Nirvana, so they
must have been a grunge band!)
Anyhow, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam was a drummer for Bam Bam before he
moved on to more commercially successful pastures, and legend has it
that Cobain occasionally roadied for Bam Bam back when the Melvins were
playing shows with them.
People have also been quick to point out that Bam Bam’s vocalist, the
late Tina Bell, went through the common Black experience of pioneering
something in music only for white artists to experiment with it to far
more success.
Instead of expounding on that assertion, we’ll instead refer you to a well-written feature on Bam Bam that by Bandcamp Daily back in November, and you can judge for yourself.
Thanks for sharing. I think we can put to rest (after over 30 years) that we can’t call this music grunge. Even Matt Cameron who was in this band for a brief stint said in an interview on YouTube this year he likes the term.
In essence, grunge is any no more stupid of a label than punk, proto-punk, alternative, Emo-punk, skate-punk, pop-punk, hardcore, post-hardcore, EDM, house music, industrial, nu-metal, post-rock, on and on and on.
Bam Bam
Influenced: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green River
As many critics have pointed out lately, Seattle band Bam Bam predated
bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney in the same music scene, only to fade
into a criminal state of obscurity.
Bam Bam is considered by these thinkpieces to be one of the first grunge
bands for this reason, but “grunge” is a stupid label insofar as its
use in the context of the Seattle punk scene essentially denotes “bands
who shared a scene with Kurt Cobain.” (Metal Church was in that scene
and inspired Dale Crover, who was a fill-in drummer for Nirvana, so they
must have been a grunge band!)
Anyhow, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam was a drummer for Bam Bam before he
moved on to more commercially successful pastures, and legend has it
that Cobain occasionally roadied for Bam Bam back when the Melvins were
playing shows with them.
People have also been quick to point out that Bam Bam’s vocalist, the
late Tina Bell, went through the common Black experience of pioneering
something in music only for white artists to experiment with it to far
more success.
Instead of expounding on that assertion, we’ll instead refer you to a well-written feature on Bam Bam that by Bandcamp Daily back in November, and you can judge for yourself.
Comments
The purchase of each vinyl also receives unlimited streaming of the record through the free Bandcamp app!
Influenced: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Green River
As many critics have pointed out lately, Seattle band Bam Bam predated bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney in the same music scene, only to fade into a criminal state of obscurity.
Bam Bam is considered by these thinkpieces to be one of the first grunge bands for this reason, but “grunge” is a stupid label insofar as its use in the context of the Seattle punk scene essentially denotes “bands who shared a scene with Kurt Cobain.” (Metal Church was in that scene and inspired Dale Crover, who was a fill-in drummer for Nirvana, so they must have been a grunge band!)
Anyhow, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam was a drummer for Bam Bam before he moved on to more commercially successful pastures, and legend has it that Cobain occasionally roadied for Bam Bam back when the Melvins were playing shows with them.
People have also been quick to point out that Bam Bam’s vocalist, the late Tina Bell, went through the common Black experience of pioneering something in music only for white artists to experiment with it to far more success.
Thanks!