Mark Yarm > Quotes

“Chris Cornell: I think Pearl Jam was the band that set the perfect example. Their big video, "Jeremy," propelled them into becoming TV stars and one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, so they stopped making videos, which was proof positive that that wasn't where they wanted to be. And that made a lot of sense to me.

Nirvana doing an Unplugged at the same time that they did it and making a video for "Heart-Shaped Box," that didn't make a lot of sense to me, because it seemed clear to me that Kurt was pretty disillusioned by the situation that he was being put in. It felt like, If he's so unhappy, he shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Amy Finnerty: At the end of it [MTV Unplugged taping], we went back to the hotel, and Kurt said to me, "I didn't do very good." I said, "What are you talking about? That was a historical moment, that was a really incredible performance. Why do you feel like you didn't do very good?"

He said, "Because everybody was so quiet, nobody really clapped that loud and they just kind of sat there." I said something to the effect of, "People felt like they were seeing Jesus Christ for the first time. It was intense for people. They were trying to be respectful by being quiet and just letting you do your thing." And then he kind of got a little smirk on his face and said, "Thank you.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“So grunge, whatever it may be, is not dead.”
― Mark Yarm

“Mark Arm: [On discussing not being on drugs] Kurt was just fuckin' loaded on pills, and I said something like, "You just gotta want to do it bad enough." What I regret not saying is, "You need to dump your junkie wife, because you're not going to be able to do this while you're in a partnership with someone who's also an enthusiast.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Anton Brookes: I think I was within my right to accuse him of selling out a little bit, if you think about what Nirvana was supposed to be about and what they stood for; they did antirape benefits for Bosnia and stuff like that. Nirvana were supposedly right-on, weren't they? They were the voice of a generation, the conscience of a generation. And for all intents and purposes, Kurt mutated into everything he was against. He became your attitudinal rock star, with the tantrums and the plush hotels and everything. And then, for all intents and purposes, Kurt was sucking corporation cock.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Steve Isaacs (MTV VJ): When I was hired at MTV, in August of '91, I was "musician guy." I had long hair, and I was a singer-songwriter. And then the next month, Nevermind hit. It was the most perfect time to have an experience like this. I became the silly MTV grunge poster boy. I was wearing flannel a lot. I loved Nirvana, I loved Pearl Jam, I loved Alice in Chains, I loved Soundgarden, I loved Screaming Trees. when I talked about Whitney Houston on-air you could see me die in my eyes a little bit.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Buzz Osborne: I could believe it, but I couldn't believe it. Whenever you're dealing with people in your life that are junkies, their death never surprises you -- you're always pretty much preparing for it. It fucking blows, you know? We had a show that night, and we played it anyway. I wasn't about to stop my life as a result of that stuff. The best thing I can do is be a living example of how that stuff doesn't work.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Jeff Gilbert: With Nirvana's success, all of the sudden, heavy-metal chicks who'd been dressing in spandex and fishnets and stiletto boots, now they started showing up to shows and they had washed all the Aqua Net out of their hair and they started to look as ratty as some of the guys. I thought, Oh, no, the beginning of the end.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Jeff Ament: The minute we started rehearsing and Ed started singing -- which was within an hour of him landing in Seattle -- was the first time I was like, "Wow, this is a band that I'd play at home on my stereo." What he was writing about was the space Stone and I were in. We'd just lost one of our friends to a dark and evil addiction, and he was putting that feeling to words. I saw him as a brother. That's what pulled me back in [to making music]. It's like when you read a book and there's something describing something you've felt all your life.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Bainbridge was a weird place because there were quite a few kids like this, in that they didn’t take a half a hit of acid or a hit of acid—they took eight hits of acid. It’s wasn’t like, “Let’s smoke a joint and sit on the beach,” it was, “Let’s make it so we literally don’t remember our own names.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“ALICE WHEELER (photographer) There’s always been this sort of hovering darkness over the Northwest, and a lot of it was about the Green River Killer, ’cause that was going on when I first moved to town. One of my best friends, who has since passed away, his cousin was victim number 14. There’s always been this element of danger for women in the Northwest, and I think part of what influences grunge is that element and a sort of depressed somberness.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“BRUCE FAIRWEATHER (Green River/Mother Love Bone/Deranged Diction guitarist; Love Battery bassist) I was born in Hawaii and lived there until I was 18. I was interested in going to forestry school, and the University of Montana had a good forestry program. And the catalog they sent me had this area in the quad that looked totally skateable. So I decided, I’m going there!”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“Grunge isn’t a music style. It’s complaining set to a drop D tuning.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“That’s the biggest myth, right there: Kurt Cobain, the tortured artist. People don’t realize that guy was a funny motherfucker.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“JEFF GILBERT (journalist; KZOK DJ; concert organizer) Seattle isn’t a glamorous town at all. It was pretty pathetic. Very depressing. That’s where this music came out of. I’ve made this comment before: Grunge isn’t a music style. It’s complaining set to a drop D tuning.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

“A lot of touring bands totally skipped Portland and Seattle because it was 14 hours north of San Francisco and 32 hours west of Minneapolis. People in the Northwest had to make up their own entertainment.”
― Mark Yarm, Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge