Everybody loves our town - a history of gunge by Mark Yarm

I was hit by the wave of Seattle grunge when I was a teenager.  Nirvana were a big band for me.  So were Mudhoney.  Sub Pop was an iconic record label.  I had less interest in Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.  I listened more to hardcore punk like Black Flag, Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys or alternative rock like Sonic Youth, Big Black and the Butthole Surfers.  I guess I thought that Pearl Jam, etc just weren't authentic.  Now I realise that is a bit of a daft notion but I was full of daft notions when I was younger.

Everybody loves our town is an oral history of the Seattle music scene.  It's made up of interviews of people involved in that scene in the '80s and '90s.  It's a sad story.  Lots of people die and lots of people ruin  their lives with drugs.  It sounds like it was a grim existence and that people had a lot less fun than they should have.

It's difficult to know what went wrong in Seattle but I guess the drugs must  have been a big bit of it.  Alcohol clearly had a role too.  This book is interesting but it's also depressing.  I guess part of the value of this book is the way in which divergent opinions and memories are presented side by side.  We don't know who is telling the truth (if anyone is actually telling the truth) but we do get a more rounded picture.

Good for fans like me but read it on a sunny day.