VA - This is True Grunge (1985–1994) (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs) + Bonus

TRUE GRUNGE

VA - This is True Grunge (1985–1994) (A Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs) + Bonus

Grunge was never a fashion, a marketing slogan, or a global sound. It was a regional uprising, born in the damp rehearsal rooms, basements, and small clubs of the Pacific Northwest between 1986 and 1994. What defined the movement was not simply distortion or attitude, but a tightly woven ecosystem of musicians from Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Bellingham, all operating within the same physical and cultural space. They shared labels, studios, producers, and stages, forming a closed circuit that shaped a raw, unvarnished sound which would eventually reverberate far beyond its point of origin.

True grunge existed within a specific infrastructure. Independent labels such as Sub Pop, C/Z Records, Amphetamine Reptile, and a small network of local imprints provided the framework. Studios like Reciprocal Recording, AVAST!, and Egg Studios captured the music as it was played, while producers including Jack Endino, Stuart Hallerman, Steve Fisk, and John Goodmanson acted not as polishers, but as documentarians. Together, they forged a volatile fusion of sludge-punk abrasion, noise-rock dissonance, metal weight, and hardcore urgency, recorded with an honesty that rejected refinement and embraced imperfection.

The artists who belonged to this movement were not chasing trends or radio play. They functioned as part of a local, DIY community, sharing stages at venues such as the Crocodile, the Off Ramp, the Central Tavern, and the Vogue. Their music carried the physical and emotional grit of the region itself: heavy, blown-out guitars, drop-tuned riffs, unfiltered vocals, and a persistent sense of tension born from geographic isolation and cultural intensity.

To be TRUE GRUNGE, a band had to be part of this world, geographically, culturally, and materially. Grunge was not a style that could be exported intact, it was the product of environment, proximity, and circumstance. Outside the Pacific Northwest, the sound could be echoed, adapted, and amplified, but the movement itself did not exist. After 1994, the original scene fractured under exposure and commercial pressure, leaving behind a legacy that would be widely imitated, but never authentically recreated.

This box set honours that original movement, the artists who lived it, the recordings that defined it, and the brief, incandescent moment when a small, stubborn community reshaped rock music from the ground up.

Bonus Disc – Classic Grunge

Included in this set is a Bonus Disc of Classic Grunge, presented as a companion rather than a contradiction to the core collection. Where the main discs document grunge as a specific regional movement rooted in the Pacific Northwest’s underground infrastructure, this disc traces how that sound expanded outward as it reached a wider audience. These recordings place greater emphasis on melody, atmosphere, and songcraft, while still retaining the weight, tension, and emotional directness that defined the original movement.

Some of the artists featured here emerged directly from the Pacific Northwest scene; others absorbed its musical language and reshaped it beyond its geographic boundaries. In doing so, they carried forward the sensibility of grunge, introspective, heavy, and unguarded, even as the original ecosystem that produced it began to fracture. This disc does not attempt to redefine or dilute the meaning of true grunge. Instead, it documents the resonance of the movement: the songs that translated its emotional core into a broader rock consciousness while the original scene faded from view.

This set preserves grunge not as a genre or a trend, but as a lived movement, defined by geography, community, and recordings that could only have been made where and when they were. TRUE GRUNGE burned briefly, loudly, and without compromise. These recordings capture the moment before it scattered, when a small Northwest community changed rock music by refusing to play by its rules. (B)

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Track lists

CD1 The Roots 

01 Green River - Come on Down 3:20 1985

02 Soundgarden - Hunted Down 2:41 1987

03 Melvins - At a Crawl 2:46 1989

04 Malfunkshun - With Yo’ Heart (Not Yo’ Hands) 3:54 1989

05 Skin Yard - Burn A Hole 4:55 1986

06 Tad - Ritual Device 2:52 1989

07 Mudhoney - Touch Me I'm Sick 2:32 1988

08 Screaming Trees - Transfiguration 3:55 1986

09 U-Men - Gila 2:16 1985

10 Mother Love Bone - Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns 8:21 1989

11 L7 - Shove 3:03 1990

12 Babes in Toyland - Dust Cake Boy 3:45 1990

13 Fluid - Twisted & Pissed 3:36 1989

14 Love Battery - Between The Eyes 4:28 1990

15 Alice in Chains - Man in the Box 4:46 1990

16 Treepeople - Big Mouth Strikes Again 3:20 1990

17 Cat Butt - 64 Funny Cars 4:23 1989

18 Swallow - Zoo 3:10 1989

19 Bundle of Hiss - Wench 4:29 1987

20 Blood Circus - Two Way Street 2:53 1989

21 Derelicts - Misery Maker 1:57 1990

22 Girl Trouble - My Hometown 3:32 1990

23 Green River - Swallow My Pride 3:02 1987

24 Nirvana - Spank Thru (Bonus Track) 3:22 1988

CD2 The Rise

01 Nirvana - Negative Creep 2:55 1989

02 Soundgarden - Loud Love 4:57 1989

03 Alice in Chains - We Die Young 2:31 1990

04 Pearl Jam - Once 3:52 1991

05 Mudhoney - Here Comes Sickness 3:41 1989

06 Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You 4:07 1992

07 TAD - Jack Pepsi 3:10 1991

08 Temple of The Dog - Hunger Strike 4:06 1991

09 Mother Love Bone - Stardog Champion 4:57 1990

10 Melvins - Oven 1:28 1989

11 The Gits - Social Love I 2:39 1992

12 Seaweed - Recall 2:47 1992

13 Love Battery - Out of Focus 5:22 1992

14 Gas Huffer - Hotcakes! 2:34 1991

15 7 Year Bitch - The Scratch 1:59 1992

16 Gruntruck - Tribe 4:21 1991

17 Coffin Break - Kill the President 2:34 1991

18 Skin Yard - Psychoriflepowerhypnotized 2:59 1991

19 The Walkabouts - Break it Down Gently 3:07 1991

20 Calamity Jane - Miss Hell 3:02 1990

21 Girl Trouble - Gonna Find A Cave 2:53 1990

22 My Sister’s Machine - I Hate You 3:39 1992

23 Hammerbox - When 3 is 2 4:27 1991

CD3    The Edge

01 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit 5:01 1991

02 Pearl Jam - Alive 5:38 1991

03 Soundgarden - Outshined 5:12 1991

04 Mudhoney - Suck You Dry 2:32 1992

05 Screaming Trees - Shadows of the Season 4:34 1992

06 Helltrout - Precious Hyde 2:35 1992

07 Starfish - This Town 2:13 1992

08 My Name - Why I fight 3:54 1992

09 Fitz of Depression - Lie 1:59 1993

10 Coffin Break - Stupid Love Song 2:40 1991

11 Hitting Birth - Same 18 4:37 1992

12 Alcohol Funnycar - Aggravation 3:35 1993

13 Calamity Jane - My Spit 3:23 1991

14 Skin Yard - Start at The Top 3:06 1991

15 The Mono Men - Watch Outside 2:20 1992

16 Flop - Hello 2:07 1992

17 Crackerbash - The World According to Nouns 2:49 1992

18 Sprinkler - Marble 3:21 1992

19 Thrillhammer - Alice's Place 3:29 1991

20 Love Battery - Foot 3:48 1991

21 Daddy Hate Box - Pretend You Know Me 2:21 1991

22 Hammerbox - Simple Passing 2:00 1993

23 Nirvana - Big Long Now 5:03 1992

CD4 The Impact

01 Tad - Grease Box 3:53 1993

02 Soundgarden - Rusty Cage 4:27 1991

03 Alice in Chains - Them Bones 2:30 1992

04 Melvins - Honey Bucket 2:44 1993

05 Gruntruck - Slow Scorch 4:59 1992

06 7 Year Bitch - M.I.A. 3:54 1994

07 Truly - (Intro)/Blue Flame Ford 6:18 1991

08 Mudhoney - Into the Drink 2:08 1991

09 Seaweed - Start With 4:02 1993

10 Skin Yard - Slow Runner 3:41 1991

11 Coffin Break - For Beth 3:20 1991

12 Screaming Trees - Dollar Bill 4:34 1992

13 Love Battery - Fuzz Factory 3:32 1993

14 Wool - Medication 3:48 1992

15 Crackerbash - Jasper 3:43 1992

16 My Sister's Machine - I Hate You 3:39 1991

17 Hater - Downpour at Mt. Angel 2:23 1993

18 Willard - Fifteen 4:50 1992

19 Gits - Cut My Skin it Makes Me Human 2:16 1992

20 Mother Love Bone - Bone China 3:45 1992

21 Pond - Agatha 4:43 1992

22 Satchel - Suffering 5:16 1994

23 Attica - The System 3:18 1992

BONUS  Classic Grunge

01 Nirvana - About a Girl 2:49 1989

02 Skin Yard - 1000 Smiling Knuckles 3:24 1989

03 Tad - Stumblin' Man 3:36 1991

04 Mudhoney - Good Enough 3:25 1988

06 Pearl Jam - Black 5:43 1991

07 Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun 5:20 1994

08 Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock 4:59 1993

09 Hole - Doll Parts 3:31 1994

10 Bush - Glycerine 4:26 1994

11 Melvins - Honey Bucket 2:54 1993

12 Helmet - Unsung 3:57 1992

13 Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song 3:15 1994

14 Paw - Jessie 3:16 1993

15 Toadies - Possum Kingdom 5:09 1994

16 Rusty - Misogyny 5:36 1995

16 L7 - Pretend We're Dead 3:54 1992

17 Barkmarket - Easy Chair 3:11 1993

18 Veruca Salt - Seether 3:17 1994

19 Blind Melon - Tones of Home 4:27 1992

20 Silverchair - Tomorrow 4:26 1995

21 Tumbleweed - Sundial 2:44 1992

22 Failure - Stuck on You 4:29 1996

23 Mad Season - River of Deceit 5:04 1995

24 Mark of Cain - First Time 4:07 1989

25 Alice in Chains - Would 3:27 1992

26 Afghan Whigs - I'm Her Slave (Bonus) 2:59 1992

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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