Seattle: the soundtrack
When you think of Seattle, what springs to mind?
For me it’s always been about the music - Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and the rise of grunge in the 90s.
It was a hotbed of new artists being signed, making music out of their garages and changing the face of the music world as we knew it. So, you know me, I needed to explore that.
As I was sitting by the International Fountain at the Seattle Centre, watching water shoot into the air to the sound of Smells Like Teen Spirit, I couldn’t help but wonder what Kurt would have made of all this. He was so averse to ‘selling out’, and now one of the major drawcards of Seattle (at least for me) is touring the places that his band played their early shows and cut their teeth in the big city.
There’s a lot to see, so I made a shortcut straight to the expert and headed on Charity’s Stalking Seattle tour. One of my highlights, and also one of the saddest parts of the trip, was heading to the basement where Eddie Vedder rehearsed with Pearl Jam for the very first time. It’s down in the depths of a blacksmiths shop, which these days is called Black Dog Forge, and it wasn’t just Pearl Jam who spent time there - Soundgarden also used it as their local rehearsal space, and to this day it is being used consistently by bands across Seattle. So, where’s the sadness? Progress, my friend. And losing history to create high-rise monotony. The building has just been sold, and it looks likely that this piece of music history will be demolished. I was one of the last to walk through those doors, and let me tell you it had a pretty special vibe.
It’s dingy, dark, with low ceilings and concrete walls, and the perfect environment for a band to make a hell of a lot of noise. To stand in the same room where Eddie Vedder smashed out lyrics to early Pearl Jam songs, and to know that the recently departed Chris Cornell from Soundgarden spent his formative years in that space… well, it was pretty magical. If you’re headed to Seattle anytime soon, definitely check it out before its gone - you can find it in the alleyway of 2nd Avenue. And, if you’re quick, you can grab some souvenirs. The blacksmiths are still there, and they’ve created some pretty special ‘Black Hole Sun’ necklaces and paraphernalia. They are not just cashing in though - a lot of their work was actually used on tour and in video clips for Pearl Jam over the years.
As someone who has always been a huge fan of ‘Nirvana in Pyjamas’ (sorry silverchair!), checking out some Kurt Cobain history was always going to be high on my list of Seattle must-do events. I know, I know, Nirvana are from Aberdeen, not Seattle. But they did make their break in the big city, and it was Kurt’s last residence before he passed. We visited The Central, aka the first place in Seattle that Nirvana ever played. It’s still there, complete with a memorial to all of Seattle’s lost musicians, and you can still grab a beer and some pub food if you’ve got a hankering. It’s not a huge venue, but for Nirvana’s debut Seattle show it didn’t need to be. They played two whole songs before they gave up, packed up, and went home. The crowd didn’t seem to mind though, as the only people in the room (other than the band) was the bar guy and the sound guy. Oops.
From beginnings to endings, we also went to the last place Kurt was seen before his death in 1994. Linda’s, the cafe he ate his last meal at, was closed as we pulled up alongside it, but even sitting in the same place where the cab driver picked him up for his last drive home was chilling. And then the house. After Kurt’s death, and before she moved out in 1997, Courtney Love did some serious remodelling of their home, raising the top level to get those desired water views and demolishing the garage where Kurt’s body was found. But still, standing in the park next to that home was surreal.
Strangely, the house now sits in Seattle’s wealthiest area. I can’t imagine Kurt feeling at home there these days. I imagine the new owners of his house couldn’t name a Nirvana song if you asked them. And, amongst thisbastion of wealth and privilege sits a park bench, in the space next door to the old Cobain/Love house, that is covered in graffiti, sketches, beer bottles, and tributes to a musician gone too soon. Fans make their pilgrimage to the closest thing they have to an official memorial for Kurt, leaving messages and love notes in their wake. I can’t help wondering how often Kurt sat on that bench in the weeks before his death.
If you’re a fan of the 90s Seattle music scene, I definitely recommend the Stalking Seattle tour. We saw so much more in the three hours that I don’t have time to detail here - the Black Sun statue that inspired Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun, Bad Animals recording studio where Alice in Chains were currently working, the places that Andy Wood lived and rehearsed with Mother Love Bone and the story of how that shaped Pearl Jam. Well worth a visit.
If you’re a lover of music and culture, the Museum of Popular Culture is an absolute treat too! Full disclosure: I’m not a huge fan of museums. So I popped in, expecting to wiz around in an hour and be back out into the sunshinen (yes, sunshine in Seattle! Crazy!). Four hours later I emerged, not really ready to leave. The Fantasy exhibit excited my book-loving self, as I peered at early drafts of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicles and turned myself into a magic card. The Fool, no less!
They also had a bonus Jim Henson exhibition, where my inner seven year old squealed over meeting Red Fraggle, The Count and Fozzie Bear. I honestly couldn’t stop smiling as I walked through the puppets, sketches and photos from the early Jim Henson days. It was also so inspiring to see concepts and characters that had stood the test of time so well. The room was filled with people enamoured with Henson’s work, from small children screaming ‘rubber ducky!’ as they saw it in Ernie’s hands to people my age reliving their childhood fantasies and fears as they looked at the Dark Crystal puppets. Shudder. So many nightmares.
But let’s face it, music was the real reason I was there. As I walked into the Jimi Hendrix exhibition I felt my heart physically contract, and then expand. That feeling that I first got from live music? It’s still there, and hits me at moments that I don’t always expect. To see a room of tributes and history from Hendrix, from his original passport to band posters to the mixing desk from Electric Lady Studios… it was nothing short of magical. I was at once hit with the love for this great musician and the loss of his talent from this world. Another, gone too soon.
One of my favourite things about the Museum of Popular Culture is that it is so interactive. I played Mario Cart in the gaming exhibit, I became a Borg in the Star Trek exhibit, and in the music space I actually learnt how to play some new instruments! They have a series of booths, each with an instrument and interactive instructions - I played around with the guitar, bass, drums and vocals. And then I hopped on the decks for some DJing and a cool remix program where you use arm movements to add various instruments to the mix. Fair to say, I had a lot of fun.
The music and culture in Seattle is definitely still prevalent, and hopefully they preserve it all a little better than Black Dog Forge. It’s a city that has grown exponentially in recent decades, with most of the high-rises popping up very recently. The amount of construction in the area is insane, and with companies like Amazon moving their headquarters there it is set to grow even more. Fingers crossed ‘progress’ doesn’t take over from common sense.
Bonus Seattle fact: The city is known for being the home of Starbucks, with the first ever store beginning in Pike Place Market. Starbucks is king in Seattle, and within a 5 mile radius of the water there are 96 (yes, ninety six!) Starbucks stores. Even crazier? Half of that 5 miles is the water. And Starbucks isn’t even that great. Hah!
