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S. A. Webb

A great and entertaining read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2021

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I was in my twenties as I hit the 90s and when the Seattle Sound (Grunge) came on the scene I was in love with it and the live performances of the bands that I was lucky enough to see from there.
However I dont think you have to necessarily be a fan of that sound to be entertained by the book. So well done... short stories and quotes by all who lived or passed thru Seattle at its peak... people in the industry and of course the epic bands. Reading it I cracked up laughing a lot and found out quite a bit I didn't know about my favourites. Very entertaining read indeed.

2 people found this helpful

Syriat

The Birth and Death of a Scene in Their Words

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2022

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Once you get used to the way this is put together this is a real treasure trove of nuggets from the Seattle scene. Its all written directly by the key players in their words and compiled together, chronologically, to show the early bands and how the likes of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and all made their way onto the scene and exited it. At times its a little gossipy and there are a lot of people with axes to grind. However, its about as close to the truth as you will ever get and is essential reading for all lovers of grunge.

J. Willis

A Journey Through My Past....

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2013

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I wouldn't call 'Everybody Loves Our Town' a well written book, rather a superbly edited one, as Mark Yarm tells the story of Grunge through the voices of those who were there. Being a teenager at the time of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', I will always have a soft spot for grunge as it was the first genre that I could call my own. Very quickly I realized that I wasn't going to be able to put this book down, and so I finished it off in a couple of days. I also found myself riding the waves of emotions that I felt many moons ago. Firstly the exhilaration of seeing this gang of outsiders and misfits not only breaking into the mainstream, but actually coming to define a generation. Then the sadness and anger, as just as soon as it exploded, it started to fade, amid the usual cliches of rock and roll. Excess and greed, oh so predictable really! Hindsight, as it is, will tell us that as soon as the major labels got their claws into Seattle they were always going to bleed it dry, and they did. Though the lack of decent Seattle bands to follow in the wake of Nirvana, Pearl Jam etc. meant it was never going to last. All in all, it's a great book, though sadly one without a happy ending.

13 people found this helpful

gommine

The next best thing for us who were not there

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2012

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If you are (or were) a fan of `grunge', the chances are that you will recognise the title of this book from the Mudhoney song `Overblown'. `Everyboy loves us' - it begins - `Everybody loves our town/...it's so overblown' sang Mark Arm, aptly describing the media circus surrounding Seattle and the `grunge' phenomenon. Everybody looked at Seattle as the next Mecca of rock, but how did it actually happen? What was it like from the inside?

That is exactly what former music journalist Mark Yarm set out to do with with this project: to make sense of grunge by asking the bands, the roadies, the soundmen, the girlfriends and the hangers on: what happened? He did so by compiling an oral history, entirely told by `witness accounts' rather than by his own authorial voice. The result is a compelling read, which will captivate you right from the first chapter - on how The U-Men once set fire to the stage - right until the end, when the grunge supernova implodes, leaving a string of casualties along the way.

This collection of interviews, loosely grouped by band but expertly interwoven in chronological order, offers an almost seamless narrative which has the page-turning quality of the best fiction. Yarm pieced ELOT together from both existing and new material; by doing so, he succeeded in creating an incredibly comprehensive `bible' of grunge, with cross referencing questions and answers and whose protagonists often give their own version of events only described a few paragraphs before. The result is often very amusing, with discordant opinions on what really happened and all people in question offering their own contradicting version. Predictably, anecdotes involving Courtney Love seem to invariably be cause for disagreement.

There are a lot of books about `grunge' out there but ELOT stands out because it lets its protagonists do the talking, instead of attempting to draw the kind of pseudo-sociological conclusions so beloved by popular culture writers. If you never had the chance to experience the early 1990s Seattle scene in person, this book is going to be the next best thing.

7 people found this helpful

not a kook

Curl up in your fave cardigan

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2021

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I love that you can just dip into this. Anecdotes and stories by those who were there at the time. Some stuff it’s great remembering, others it’s been great to learn.

Especially poignant was the death of Andrew Wood

One person found this helpful

Linda

Disappointed with this book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2021

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This book are interviews cut in pieces and mixed up, so you read few lines from Cobain, few lines from other musicians. I found it quite hard to read. Also, I was not interested in everyone's memories and opinions but at it was all mixed up, could not picked my favorites.

MR. PHILIP ALAN HARDING

Authoritative history of the scene

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2020

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Really insightful history of the Seattle scene of the late 80's and early 90's. I was initially put off by the format, which is all interview quotes instead of prose, but the book is well structured and keeps the story going. The focus is definitely on the characters and their adventures rather than an in depth analysis of the music. Includes lesser-known bands as well as the usual suspects.

One person found this helpful

Leenate

GRUNGE HISTORY INSIGHT

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 June 2019

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Really interesting read about all the famous characters from Seattle grunge scene and the not so famous. I like the way it's presented as memories from people involved at that time and their perspective of how it all happened. Really recommend to any Seattle era music fans.

One person found this helpful

S. Davies

Funny , insightful and sad

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 November 2018

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Really enjoyed time travelling back to the early 90s and the Seattle music explosion that was popularly known as grunge , been great to compliment this with the music from the era over the past month and to get a better insight into some of the artists I know and love.

One person found this helpful

Mr. Joel S. Greenhalgh

The Best and most informative Book you can buy on Grunge music!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2013

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This makes for a fantastic read on Grunge, the last great era in rock music, the 90's which bought some of the great rock bands like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains and more, this book is made up of chapters about how each rock band became popular in their own right and the whole music scene in seattle, this is easily the best book you can buy on grunge!!!

One person found this helpful

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