Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

Music writer and former Blender editor Yarm has compiled a sprawling oral history of the Seattle music scene and the grunge phenomenon of the early 1990s. Yarm conducted over 250 interviews with celebrities from Courtney Love to Eddie Vedder, as well as with the lesser-known musicians, producers, roadies, photographers, and fans who took part in the rise of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Melvins, and many, many others. He chronicles the way in which the 1970s punk sensibility filtered through the gloom of the Pacific Northwest to create a unique sound%E2%80%94and put flannel shirts in the closets of millions of teenagers. Yarm is careful not to focus only on the bands that came to define grunge in the mainstream world. The stories of small clubs, teenage desperation, and bad behavior will resonate with anyone who came of age in a rock and roll milieu. Yarm has cleverly edited the interviews so that at times it feels like we're listening to a conversation or an argument. While the enormous cast of characters can be hard to follow and after a few hundred pages the stories of jealousy, drunken brawls, and overdoses start to blur together, hardcore fans of grunge will treasure this. (Sept.)