November 3, 2025 • 17 mins
It's my favorite era of music and it was a lot of fun to talk about 90s alt-rock with Greg Prato!
Greg just put out his new book 'Alternative For The Masses: The 90s Alt-Rock Revolution An Oral History' and it's full of great interviews and stories from the people who were there from the bands to the DJs and music writers and everyone else!
We talked about what makes 90s alt-rock so special, how Lollapalooza was the best festival because of the divesity of the bands that people saw, how so many groups helped to set the stage for Nirvana to lead the charge, singers each had their own unique style, movie soundtracks and so much more!
I hope you enjoy my interview with Greg Prato and definitely check out his book Alternative For The Masses: The 90s Alt-Rock Revolution An Oral History'. It's a great read for all of us fans of 90s alt-rock.
Thank you, Greg!
Greg just put out his new book 'Alternative For The Masses: The 90s Alt-Rock Revolution An Oral History' and it's full of great interviews and stories from the people who were there from the bands to the DJs and music writers and everyone else!
We talked about what makes 90s alt-rock so special, how Lollapalooza was the best festival because of the divesity of the bands that people saw, how so many groups helped to set the stage for Nirvana to lead the charge, singers each had their own unique style, movie soundtracks and so much more!
I hope you enjoy my interview with Greg Prato and definitely check out his book Alternative For The Masses: The 90s Alt-Rock Revolution An Oral History'. It's a great read for all of us fans of 90s alt-rock.
Thank you, Greg!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Mike Jones. We're going back to the nineties with
my guest Greg Prato. Greg. Good morning, Hey Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
How you doing over there?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Doing great? Greg? Congratulations on the new book Alternative for
the Masses the Nineties Alt Rock Revolution and Oral History.
It is out now. You got a great subject here.
This music means so much to me and so many
of us. Man who doesn't love the nineties?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I agree? And you know, doing this book really was
like a time machine back to some great music. And also,
you know, by doing this book, I would also find
myself watching movies from the early nineties, maybe uh, dressing
a little bit like the early nineties. I suddenly found
myself wearing a lot of like flannel again.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It just happens all of a sudden, You're listening to
Pearl Jam and you're like, oh, I better find my
long sleeve blue and black flannel shirt here.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
My doc Martin's yes, exactly, exactly, Well said, well.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
How did you decide then, Greg, You've written a bunch
of music books and sports books and stuff. How did
you decide that this was the time to do this
nineties book.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, the thing is, I want to preface what I'm
about to say by saying I absolutely love Nirvana, I
love Kurt Cobain's music and everything, But it seems like
the easy way that people go about summing up nineties
alternative rock is just, yeah, Nirvana came along and everything
changed and then Kirk Cobain died and an alternative rock
was over, or you know like that, like that's kind
of the easy way to take out. Also the fact
(01:23):
that when we walk into Target nowadays, were assaulted by
Nirvana shirts being sold and not so many shirted to
Think shirts or breeder shirts being sold. So pretty much
what I wanted to do with this book is I
wanted to shine the spotlight on some of the other bands,
because there were so many other alternative rock bands besides
Nirvana that I absolutely loved, and their music still stands
(01:46):
up great and is totally timeless. So I wanted to
share the spotlight a little bit. So just pretty much
to revisit a lot of the one hundred and twenty
minutes playlists, a lot of those bands, and I was
able to get in contact with a lot of those artists,
and yeah, I think I told the definitive story about
hill Ara with this book, and.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I want everyone to know. Greg that with the new
book out now, Alternative for the Masses, the Nineties Alt
Rock Revolution and Oral History, focus on the oral history
there because it's a book full of great interviews where
you talked to Frank Black and Les Claypool, I saw
Gavin Rossdale in there. You mentioned one hundred and twenty
Minutes with Matt Pinfield, So you got to really go
(02:26):
around and talk to these people that were in the
bands that were giving us the music that were really
pivotal to the nineties alternative rock scene in the early
half of the decade.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yes, absolutely, Yeah. For people that may not be familiar
with what the oral history format is, it's pretty much
a it's a collection of quotes. So I did all
these interviews and then I categorize it excuse me, and
they can, and then I categorize the book by section.
So for instance, we'll talk about producers and what like
(02:57):
the alternative rock producers brought to the table, or we'll
talk about MTV's influence and also one hundred and twenty
minutes TV program, and I'll just offer an opening paragraph
explaining what the paragraph is about. But then I just
totally turned it off to the people I interviewed, so
it'll be quotes just from the people that were there
at the time, So you're getting the story straight from
(03:19):
the horse's mouth. It's not me diluting what someone else
has to say. You're getting the story from people that
were there living it in real time.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
One thousand percent. How long did you spend interviewing everyone, Greg,
I'm guessing it was like I had half an hour
with one person, maybe an hour depending on time and everything.
But it probably took a while to do all these interviews.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, it took that over a year. And then of
course you have to transcribe them, edit them, and it's
like a big kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. Afterwards,
you got to fit it according to categories. You got
to make sure that you're not using a quote from
someone else that's pretty much saying the same exact thing,
because then it gets a bit too redundant. So it
is a little bit challenging. But this is I've been
like a bunch of books. This is like my forty
(04:00):
something book. If forty forty something books, wow, believe that.
So yeah, so I kind of have it down to
like I know what to do and also like what
not to do, so I kind of have it down
to a science at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Probably easier too, because transcribing when I do an interview
or something, it does take a while to transcribe, even
if you have the computer do it for you now,
which is nice, but still you got to go through
and edit all that stuff. So the fact that you
could do it and know, you know, I do this, this,
this and this, it probably made it a lot easier
after your forty something book at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, Just like anything else in life, the
more you do something, the better you get at it.
So yeah, just I was lucky to have done a
bunch of books. I've also done a lot of oral
histories in the past, Like I did a book about
fifteen years ago called Grudges Dead, The Oral History of
Seattle Rock Music, that was an oral history. I did
a book called The Yacht Rock Book, which was also
(04:49):
a oral history. So yeah, I tend to enjoy the
oral history because again I always enjoyed just hearing the
story straight from people that were actually there.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I like Greg you talked about different sections of the book.
I liked how everyone had these great memories of Lallapalooza,
talking about how you know the tour was made up
of so many different bands from the start, with Jane's
Addiction leading it and going into Nine Inch Nails and
the Red Hot Chili Peppers and on all these bands
that did it. But it was cool to hear that
it was like a family once it got going.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I like that. It was. Yeah, Ala of Balouza back
in the nineties was totally unlike what it is now.
Now it's just a set location in uh Chicago, whereas
back in the nineties it was traveling all around North America.
And uh yeah, if you think about it, if you're
on the road with the same bands for a month
or two, you're going to become friends and there's gonna
(05:43):
be all kind of cross pollinating and stuff like that
between different factions of band. So yeah, it was a
pretty cool time. I mean, I went to two law
baloozas back in the nineties and yeah, it was great.
Although one thing I did not miss is crowdsurfing and
stage diving and people kicking me in the back of
the head with their big at one boots.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
No, and it was like, hey, guy, you're a little
too big for this. All right, I'll take like a
smaller guy, a smaller girl. But once you get like,
you know, my size at this point, I'm over two
bills at this point, Greg, why don't you get to
my size? You shouldn't be stayed diving at all. You
should just keep it on the ground.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yes, you know. I remember a funny story which which
I remember a funny story that I didn't put in
the book, which I should have put in the book,
that in the late nineties, ever Clear was playing a
show in New England and a bunch of the Patriot
football players went to the show, and I remember there
was a big thing in the news the next day
because a bunch of these drunk football players start the
stage dive. And if you think about the typical alternative
(06:41):
rock crowd at the time, we're all a bunch of skinny,
little like whimpy people. So these big three hundred pound
jocks landing on these little like one hundred pound little
like you know, we weakling people is not a very
good mix. I mean, I'm sure there were a lot
of hospital visits after that show.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Everyone like us back in the day are the heaviest
thing on us was the bottom of our Doc Martins
otherwise were like pounds soaking lat What do you think
it was, greg like Lollapalou's. I guess it was just
the fact that it was that first big traveling alternative festival,
because it had that mystique back in the day, and
it still does even though it's in set locations around
(07:20):
the world. But I guess it was just like right place,
right time for that festival.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yes, absolutely, And it was also it was a very
convenient festival, meaning that you show up at what they
came to you to your town and you got to
see like ten bands, which you know, was really a
great value for the money. And then also at the
time it just happened to be that were all interesting bands.
I mean the first few lollaple loses. That was really
before you get all these like shameless Nirvana Rickwoff bands
(07:48):
or these bands that had like Alison Chain's type music
with the Eddie Vedder type singer and all these ill
advised conglomerations and things like that. So yeah, it was
it was great to see like Tool on the side stage.
They weren't even on like the main stage when I
saw them back in nineteen ninety three, and then on
the main stage you had like Dinosaur Junior and Fishbone
(08:08):
and Primus and and also Arrested Development. So it was
great to be exposed to all these different styles of
music and bands.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Absolutely, why do you think now, I mean, I guess
do you think it's a money thing that we don't
have that specific traveling festival anymore?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It probably has to do with that. Yeah, I think
the reason why Lalapalos has stopped the whole traveling road
show type thing, I believe it was starting to lose
money and it's just more profitable just to have it
at one central, solid location. I think, to the best
of my knowledge, I can't think of too many other
traveling tours that go around. Maybe in Europe there still are,
(08:45):
but not to the best of my knowledge. I mean, really,
like if you think about the nineties, then after Wallet Balouza,
we had the Hord Tour, we had a litlith Fair,
so there were It definitely influenced other traveling type shows
after that.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, just we see, like with festivals now, a lot
of the same lineups at places. I'm like, why don't
they just travel around? But okay, you know what, it's
a money it's a regional thing. It is what it is. Uh. Also,
you had talked about Nirvana a little bit ago, Greg, Well,
let's get into it too, because that is, you know,
Nirvana is a huge part of the nineties alternative history
and everything with Kurt Cobain's writing and their shows, with
(09:22):
Dave Grohl coming into the band sounding like, you know,
he was bringing thunder every time he hit the drums,
smells like teen Spirit on MTV. For Nirvana, it really was,
like I said, with Lollapalooza, right place, right time, everything happened,
and they were the band to take that and lead
the charge.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
They were absolutely But something that I do talk about
in the band, which I actually stress, excuse me, one
of the things they say in the book and actually
stress in the book is there were several bands that
definitely set the stage for Nirvana, meaning that Nirvana just
didn't all of a sudden come out of nowhere like
there were other bands such as we talked about Jean's Addiction.
There were also the Pixies. There was also Ram and
(09:58):
there were also bands for people such as me that
in the late eighties I was listening primarily to just
heavy metal, but then there were bands that were definitely
had elements of metal, but then were also alternative elements
too mixed in bands like Soundgarden and Living Color and Primus.
So you have bands like that that are definitely connecting
the dots. And then in nineteen ninety one you also
(10:19):
had Smashing Pumpkins that was a great mixture of metal
and also alt rock as well. So certain bands definitely
set the stage. And also, like we just mentioned Lolla Balloons,
that really showed that something unique and great was on
the horizon, and then Nirvana and Nevermind just really drove
it home.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
We're talking to Greg Prado about his brand new book,
Alternative for the Masses, the nineties Alt Rock Revolution and
Oral History, And you know, there's so many things to
read about in your book here, Greg, I love that
you focused on some singers, on guitar players, producers, drums
and bass, record labels, music videos. I mean, every bit
of it all came together in that nineties alternative music scene,
(10:59):
and everybody wanted to know a bit about everything too,
And that's another thing that made it so special. It
was like this music it felt like you had to
work for it a little bit, but it really connected
everyone together.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, Yes, absolutely, I agree it was. It's totally different
than now. It was definitely not as simple as just
going on Spotify and having albums and songs and bands
suddenly just like you know, recommended for you. You had
to stay up late, you had to watch one hundred
and twenty minutes every Sunday night, You had to go
to shows, you had to arrival early check out the
you know, opening band that was going on. You know,
(11:32):
it did require some work. But yeah, you just mentioned
the singers. That's one thing that I have to stress
about alternative rock music in the nineties. The large amount
of great singers that it gave us is really second
to none. If you think about Chris Cornell, Mike Patton, York,
Tori Amos, Corey Glover, Jeff Buckley, Wing Staley, Shannon Huone,
(11:52):
Mark Lanigan, Dolores O'Riordan. Of course, of course, Adie Vetter,
Kurt Cobain. I can't really think of any other movement
that gave us as many great singers that also you
hear just a little bit of their singing and you
know exactly who it is just by a little snippet,
you know.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And it felt like all those people that you mentioned too,
greg like every one of those men and women had
that magic about them too that you know a lot
of There are a lot of great bands nowadays, but
it wasn't like back then. Man, everyone had something special
going on.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, that's the thing that I love so much about
nineties alternative rock, and for me, it was almost a
throwback to the late sixties and also early seventies when
you had bands like Slim the Family, Stone in Santana
or even say like you know, Zeppelin would do like
a wide variety of styles on their albums. There were bands,
specifically alternative rock bands that were hard to pin down
to a single style, such as the band Faith No More,
(12:44):
who I Absolutely love. They put out an album called
Angel Dust in nineteen ninety two, which has a wide
variety of styles on an album. And then, Yeah, the
thing it was almost like you you had to have
your own unique thing in the early nineties. You couldn't
just be a shame was rip off of a band.
You had to put your own unique stamp on stuff.
And that's what was happening with not only alternative rock,
(13:06):
but also heavy metal in the early nineties. Also suddenly
gets very original, Like you have bands like Sepultura and
bands like Typo Negative that sounds totally different than say
like Iron Maiden and Mike you know, Priest.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You know absolutely there was in chapter seventeen other ways
of spreading the word because there was radio and MTV
pushing the alternative rock music. But also in this chapter
you talked about shows and bands playing on TV and
movie soundtracks, and I feel like you could have done
a whole, big, big movie soundtrack chapter because there were
(13:39):
so many great ones back in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
There was. Yes, I think probably the top for many
people is probably the singles soundtrack because the Pearl Jam
tracks are great. On that Chris Cornell solo track, the
one of the best best Smashing Pumpkin song, The song
called drownd Round is a great I'm surprised. I was
surprised that was never issued as a single or video.
I thought that would have probably been a big hit song.
And then of course it had Screaming Trees nearly a lost,
(14:03):
which was a pretty big MTV hit as well at
the time.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, it seems like, you know, that's another forgotten thing
from the nineties. Now movie soundtracks where singles, pulp fiction,
reality bites, the crow cruel intentions, like there were so
many great ones back then.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
There were. Yeah, it was you know, it seemed like
back then too, mixtapes were very very popular. I guess
now with Spotify it's like playlists, but back then with mixtapes,
I guess you could look at those soundtracks you just mentioned,
is kind of like very good, interesting mixtapes. That's what
made those so good.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think, yeah, there was a sound for everyone on there.
We have another minute here with Greg Prato about his
new book one thing that uh, well, I was happy
to see him in there, Greg, because there's just memories
all through the new book. But it made me sad too.
You have your concert tickets from Primus and Ben Folds,
Meat Puppets and everyone for twenty bucks or less for
a show, and I was like, why can't we have
(14:55):
that again?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I agree, Yeah, well you honestly, if you go to
smaller shows, it seems like the prices are much more reasonable.
But you might as well forget if you're going to
go to a stadium show or if you're gonna I mean,
although I love Rush, I don't think I have enough
money to go see Rush on this upcoming tour that
they're gon'd be doing next year.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, I looked at it. I'm like, man, I saw
Rush a bunch of times between the nineties and when
Neil passed away, and I'm like, I don't know if
I can afford to see him now. We'll see what happens. Well, Greg,
you got a great book for all of us fans
of nineties alternative rock. This one is a must read
alternative for the masses, the nineties alt rock revolution and
oral history. Congratulations on it, my friend. My last question
(15:36):
for you, what's going to be the next subject? Have
you thought about what book? Forty what forty eight now
is gonna be?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yes? I actually do have my next book lined up.
What happened recently, The passing of Kiss great Ace Freely
made me very sad because I've been a long time
fan of the band, but particularly the seventies. That's really
the only era or the main era of Kiss that
I really listened to and really like the meth the most,
and to me, Ace was the heart and soul of
that seventies Kiss era. So after he passed, I realized
(16:08):
I was lucky to have interviewed him close to ten
ten times over the years, and we covered a wide
variety of topics during during our interviews. So I realized,
why not pay tribute to Ace by compiling all the
interviews we did over the years. And then also what
I've done over the past week or so is I
reached out to musicians that were big at big fans
of ass guitar playing and music. So I'm putting out
(16:30):
a book called Talk to Me Conversations with Conversations with
Ace Freely, and that's going to come out in the
next few weeks. And that's going to include all new
interviews with Kim Thile from Soundgarden, Joe Bonamasa, Don Jamison
from That Metal Show, and a bunch of other people,
as well as a lot of rarely seeing vintage photos
of Ace back in his days with Kiss in the seventies.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Oh wow, that's great. That's fast too, like before the
year's over.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yes, it's going to be out right in time for
the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay, Well, I'm a big Kiss guy myself, and I
will definitely look out for that. And right now, everyone
check out Greg's new book. It's a lot of fun
to read, so many great stories and revelations in their
alternative for the masses, the nineties alt rock revolution, and
oral history Greg, this is a really cool interview man.
Thanks for the time and congratulations on the new book,
my man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Thank you, and long with nineties alternative.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, sir, I love that
It's Mike Jones. We're going back to the nineties with
my guest Greg Prato. Greg. Good morning, Hey Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
How you doing over there?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Doing great? Greg? Congratulations on the new book Alternative for
the Masses the Nineties Alt Rock Revolution and Oral History.
It is out now. You got a great subject here.
This music means so much to me and so many
of us. Man who doesn't love the nineties?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I agree? And you know, doing this book really was
like a time machine back to some great music. And also,
you know, by doing this book, I would also find
myself watching movies from the early nineties, maybe uh, dressing
a little bit like the early nineties. I suddenly found
myself wearing a lot of like flannel again.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
It just happens all of a sudden, You're listening to
Pearl Jam and you're like, oh, I better find my
long sleeve blue and black flannel shirt here.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
My doc Martin's yes, exactly, exactly, Well said, well.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
How did you decide then, Greg, You've written a bunch
of music books and sports books and stuff. How did
you decide that this was the time to do this
nineties book.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, the thing is, I want to preface what I'm
about to say by saying I absolutely love Nirvana, I
love Kurt Cobain's music and everything, But it seems like
the easy way that people go about summing up nineties
alternative rock is just, yeah, Nirvana came along and everything
changed and then Kirk Cobain died and an alternative rock
was over, or you know like that, like that's kind
of the easy way to take out. Also the fact
(01:23):
that when we walk into Target nowadays, were assaulted by
Nirvana shirts being sold and not so many shirted to
Think shirts or breeder shirts being sold. So pretty much
what I wanted to do with this book is I
wanted to shine the spotlight on some of the other bands,
because there were so many other alternative rock bands besides
Nirvana that I absolutely loved, and their music still stands
(01:46):
up great and is totally timeless. So I wanted to
share the spotlight a little bit. So just pretty much
to revisit a lot of the one hundred and twenty
minutes playlists, a lot of those bands, and I was
able to get in contact with a lot of those artists,
and yeah, I think I told the definitive story about
hill Ara with this book, and.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I want everyone to know. Greg that with the new
book out now, Alternative for the Masses, the Nineties Alt
Rock Revolution and Oral History, focus on the oral history
there because it's a book full of great interviews where
you talked to Frank Black and Les Claypool, I saw
Gavin Rossdale in there. You mentioned one hundred and twenty
Minutes with Matt Pinfield, So you got to really go
(02:26):
around and talk to these people that were in the
bands that were giving us the music that were really
pivotal to the nineties alternative rock scene in the early
half of the decade.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yes, absolutely, Yeah. For people that may not be familiar
with what the oral history format is, it's pretty much
a it's a collection of quotes. So I did all
these interviews and then I categorize it excuse me, and
they can, and then I categorize the book by section.
So for instance, we'll talk about producers and what like
(02:57):
the alternative rock producers brought to the table, or we'll
talk about MTV's influence and also one hundred and twenty
minutes TV program, and I'll just offer an opening paragraph
explaining what the paragraph is about. But then I just
totally turned it off to the people I interviewed, so
it'll be quotes just from the people that were there
at the time, So you're getting the story straight from
(03:19):
the horse's mouth. It's not me diluting what someone else
has to say. You're getting the story from people that
were there living it in real time.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
One thousand percent. How long did you spend interviewing everyone, Greg,
I'm guessing it was like I had half an hour
with one person, maybe an hour depending on time and everything.
But it probably took a while to do all these interviews.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, it took that over a year. And then of
course you have to transcribe them, edit them, and it's
like a big kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. Afterwards,
you got to fit it according to categories. You got
to make sure that you're not using a quote from
someone else that's pretty much saying the same exact thing,
because then it gets a bit too redundant. So it
is a little bit challenging. But this is I've been
like a bunch of books. This is like my forty
(04:00):
something book. If forty forty something books, wow, believe that.
So yeah, so I kind of have it down to
like I know what to do and also like what
not to do, so I kind of have it down
to a science at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Probably easier too, because transcribing when I do an interview
or something, it does take a while to transcribe, even
if you have the computer do it for you now,
which is nice, but still you got to go through
and edit all that stuff. So the fact that you
could do it and know, you know, I do this, this,
this and this, it probably made it a lot easier
after your forty something book at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, Just like anything else in life, the
more you do something, the better you get at it.
So yeah, just I was lucky to have done a
bunch of books. I've also done a lot of oral
histories in the past, Like I did a book about
fifteen years ago called Grudges Dead, The Oral History of
Seattle Rock Music, that was an oral history. I did
a book called The Yacht Rock Book, which was also
(04:49):
a oral history. So yeah, I tend to enjoy the
oral history because again I always enjoyed just hearing the
story straight from people that were actually there.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I like Greg you talked about different sections of the book.
I liked how everyone had these great memories of Lallapalooza,
talking about how you know the tour was made up
of so many different bands from the start, with Jane's
Addiction leading it and going into Nine Inch Nails and
the Red Hot Chili Peppers and on all these bands
that did it. But it was cool to hear that
it was like a family once it got going.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I like that. It was. Yeah, Ala of Balouza back
in the nineties was totally unlike what it is now.
Now it's just a set location in uh Chicago, whereas
back in the nineties it was traveling all around North America.
And uh yeah, if you think about it, if you're
on the road with the same bands for a month
or two, you're going to become friends and there's gonna
(05:43):
be all kind of cross pollinating and stuff like that
between different factions of band. So yeah, it was a
pretty cool time. I mean, I went to two law
baloozas back in the nineties and yeah, it was great.
Although one thing I did not miss is crowdsurfing and
stage diving and people kicking me in the back of
the head with their big at one boots.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
No, and it was like, hey, guy, you're a little
too big for this. All right, I'll take like a
smaller guy, a smaller girl. But once you get like,
you know, my size at this point, I'm over two
bills at this point, Greg, why don't you get to
my size? You shouldn't be stayed diving at all. You
should just keep it on the ground.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yes, you know. I remember a funny story which which
I remember a funny story that I didn't put in
the book, which I should have put in the book,
that in the late nineties, ever Clear was playing a
show in New England and a bunch of the Patriot
football players went to the show, and I remember there
was a big thing in the news the next day
because a bunch of these drunk football players start the
stage dive. And if you think about the typical alternative
(06:41):
rock crowd at the time, we're all a bunch of skinny,
little like whimpy people. So these big three hundred pound
jocks landing on these little like one hundred pound little
like you know, we weakling people is not a very
good mix. I mean, I'm sure there were a lot
of hospital visits after that show.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Everyone like us back in the day are the heaviest
thing on us was the bottom of our Doc Martins
otherwise were like pounds soaking lat What do you think
it was, greg like Lollapalou's. I guess it was just
the fact that it was that first big traveling alternative festival,
because it had that mystique back in the day, and
it still does even though it's in set locations around
(07:20):
the world. But I guess it was just like right place,
right time for that festival.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yes, absolutely, And it was also it was a very
convenient festival, meaning that you show up at what they
came to you to your town and you got to
see like ten bands, which you know, was really a
great value for the money. And then also at the
time it just happened to be that were all interesting bands.
I mean the first few lollaple loses. That was really
before you get all these like shameless Nirvana Rickwoff bands
(07:48):
or these bands that had like Alison Chain's type music
with the Eddie Vedder type singer and all these ill
advised conglomerations and things like that. So yeah, it was
it was great to see like Tool on the side stage.
They weren't even on like the main stage when I
saw them back in nineteen ninety three, and then on
the main stage you had like Dinosaur Junior and Fishbone
(08:08):
and Primus and and also Arrested Development. So it was
great to be exposed to all these different styles of
music and bands.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Absolutely, why do you think now, I mean, I guess
do you think it's a money thing that we don't
have that specific traveling festival anymore?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It probably has to do with that. Yeah, I think
the reason why Lalapalos has stopped the whole traveling road
show type thing, I believe it was starting to lose
money and it's just more profitable just to have it
at one central, solid location. I think, to the best
of my knowledge, I can't think of too many other
traveling tours that go around. Maybe in Europe there still are,
(08:45):
but not to the best of my knowledge. I mean, really,
like if you think about the nineties, then after Wallet Balouza,
we had the Hord Tour, we had a litlith Fair,
so there were It definitely influenced other traveling type shows
after that.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, just we see, like with festivals now, a lot
of the same lineups at places. I'm like, why don't
they just travel around? But okay, you know what, it's
a money it's a regional thing. It is what it is. Uh. Also,
you had talked about Nirvana a little bit ago, Greg, Well,
let's get into it too, because that is, you know,
Nirvana is a huge part of the nineties alternative history
and everything with Kurt Cobain's writing and their shows, with
(09:22):
Dave Grohl coming into the band sounding like, you know,
he was bringing thunder every time he hit the drums,
smells like teen Spirit on MTV. For Nirvana, it really was,
like I said, with Lollapalooza, right place, right time, everything happened,
and they were the band to take that and lead
the charge.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
They were absolutely But something that I do talk about
in the band, which I actually stress, excuse me, one
of the things they say in the book and actually
stress in the book is there were several bands that
definitely set the stage for Nirvana, meaning that Nirvana just
didn't all of a sudden come out of nowhere like
there were other bands such as we talked about Jean's Addiction.
There were also the Pixies. There was also Ram and
(09:58):
there were also bands for people such as me that
in the late eighties I was listening primarily to just
heavy metal, but then there were bands that were definitely
had elements of metal, but then were also alternative elements
too mixed in bands like Soundgarden and Living Color and Primus.
So you have bands like that that are definitely connecting
the dots. And then in nineteen ninety one you also
(10:19):
had Smashing Pumpkins that was a great mixture of metal
and also alt rock as well. So certain bands definitely
set the stage. And also, like we just mentioned Lolla Balloons,
that really showed that something unique and great was on
the horizon, and then Nirvana and Nevermind just really drove
it home.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
We're talking to Greg Prado about his brand new book,
Alternative for the Masses, the nineties Alt Rock Revolution and
Oral History, And you know, there's so many things to
read about in your book here, Greg, I love that
you focused on some singers, on guitar players, producers, drums
and bass, record labels, music videos. I mean, every bit
of it all came together in that nineties alternative music scene,
(10:59):
and everybody wanted to know a bit about everything too,
And that's another thing that made it so special. It
was like this music it felt like you had to
work for it a little bit, but it really connected
everyone together.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, Yes, absolutely, I agree it was. It's totally different
than now. It was definitely not as simple as just
going on Spotify and having albums and songs and bands
suddenly just like you know, recommended for you. You had
to stay up late, you had to watch one hundred
and twenty minutes every Sunday night, You had to go
to shows, you had to arrival early check out the
you know, opening band that was going on. You know,
(11:32):
it did require some work. But yeah, you just mentioned
the singers. That's one thing that I have to stress
about alternative rock music in the nineties. The large amount
of great singers that it gave us is really second
to none. If you think about Chris Cornell, Mike Patton, York,
Tori Amos, Corey Glover, Jeff Buckley, Wing Staley, Shannon Huone,
(11:52):
Mark Lanigan, Dolores O'Riordan. Of course, of course, Adie Vetter,
Kurt Cobain. I can't really think of any other movement
that gave us as many great singers that also you
hear just a little bit of their singing and you
know exactly who it is just by a little snippet,
you know.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And it felt like all those people that you mentioned too,
greg like every one of those men and women had
that magic about them too that you know a lot
of There are a lot of great bands nowadays, but
it wasn't like back then. Man, everyone had something special
going on.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah, that's the thing that I love so much about
nineties alternative rock, and for me, it was almost a
throwback to the late sixties and also early seventies when
you had bands like Slim the Family, Stone in Santana
or even say like you know, Zeppelin would do like
a wide variety of styles on their albums. There were bands,
specifically alternative rock bands that were hard to pin down
to a single style, such as the band Faith No More,
(12:44):
who I Absolutely love. They put out an album called
Angel Dust in nineteen ninety two, which has a wide
variety of styles on an album. And then, Yeah, the
thing it was almost like you you had to have
your own unique thing in the early nineties. You couldn't
just be a shame was rip off of a band.
You had to put your own unique stamp on stuff.
And that's what was happening with not only alternative rock,
(13:06):
but also heavy metal in the early nineties. Also suddenly
gets very original, Like you have bands like Sepultura and
bands like Typo Negative that sounds totally different than say
like Iron Maiden and Mike you know, Priest.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You know absolutely there was in chapter seventeen other ways
of spreading the word because there was radio and MTV
pushing the alternative rock music. But also in this chapter
you talked about shows and bands playing on TV and
movie soundtracks, and I feel like you could have done
a whole, big, big movie soundtrack chapter because there were
(13:39):
so many great ones back in the nineties.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
There was. Yes, I think probably the top for many
people is probably the singles soundtrack because the Pearl Jam
tracks are great. On that Chris Cornell solo track, the
one of the best best Smashing Pumpkin song, The song
called drownd Round is a great I'm surprised. I was
surprised that was never issued as a single or video.
I thought that would have probably been a big hit song.
And then of course it had Screaming Trees nearly a lost,
(14:03):
which was a pretty big MTV hit as well at
the time.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, it seems like, you know, that's another forgotten thing
from the nineties. Now movie soundtracks where singles, pulp fiction,
reality bites, the crow cruel intentions, like there were so
many great ones back then.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
There were. Yeah, it was you know, it seemed like
back then too, mixtapes were very very popular. I guess
now with Spotify it's like playlists, but back then with mixtapes,
I guess you could look at those soundtracks you just mentioned,
is kind of like very good, interesting mixtapes. That's what
made those so good.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I think, yeah, there was a sound for everyone on there.
We have another minute here with Greg Prato about his
new book one thing that uh, well, I was happy
to see him in there, Greg, because there's just memories
all through the new book. But it made me sad too.
You have your concert tickets from Primus and Ben Folds,
Meat Puppets and everyone for twenty bucks or less for
a show, and I was like, why can't we have
(14:55):
that again?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I agree, Yeah, well you honestly, if you go to
smaller shows, it seems like the prices are much more reasonable.
But you might as well forget if you're going to
go to a stadium show or if you're gonna I mean,
although I love Rush, I don't think I have enough
money to go see Rush on this upcoming tour that
they're gon'd be doing next year.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, I looked at it. I'm like, man, I saw
Rush a bunch of times between the nineties and when
Neil passed away, and I'm like, I don't know if
I can afford to see him now. We'll see what happens. Well, Greg,
you got a great book for all of us fans
of nineties alternative rock. This one is a must read
alternative for the masses, the nineties alt rock revolution and
oral history. Congratulations on it, my friend. My last question
(15:36):
for you, what's going to be the next subject? Have
you thought about what book? Forty what forty eight now
is gonna be?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yes? I actually do have my next book lined up.
What happened recently, The passing of Kiss great Ace Freely
made me very sad because I've been a long time
fan of the band, but particularly the seventies. That's really
the only era or the main era of Kiss that
I really listened to and really like the meth the most,
and to me, Ace was the heart and soul of
that seventies Kiss era. So after he passed, I realized
(16:08):
I was lucky to have interviewed him close to ten
ten times over the years, and we covered a wide
variety of topics during during our interviews. So I realized,
why not pay tribute to Ace by compiling all the
interviews we did over the years. And then also what
I've done over the past week or so is I
reached out to musicians that were big at big fans
of ass guitar playing and music. So I'm putting out
(16:30):
a book called Talk to Me Conversations with Conversations with
Ace Freely, and that's going to come out in the
next few weeks. And that's going to include all new
interviews with Kim Thile from Soundgarden, Joe Bonamasa, Don Jamison
from That Metal Show, and a bunch of other people,
as well as a lot of rarely seeing vintage photos
of Ace back in his days with Kiss in the seventies.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Oh wow, that's great. That's fast too, like before the
year's over.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yes, it's going to be out right in time for
the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Okay, Well, I'm a big Kiss guy myself, and I
will definitely look out for that. And right now, everyone
check out Greg's new book. It's a lot of fun
to read, so many great stories and revelations in their
alternative for the masses, the nineties alt rock revolution, and
oral history Greg, this is a really cool interview man.
Thanks for the time and congratulations on the new book,
my man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Thank you, and long with nineties alternative.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Yes, sir, I love that
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