This Friday's Playlist dives into the stoner rock scene of the nineties that gave rise to bands like Kyuss and a wide network of offshoots, shaping several generations of musicians in its wake.
Drawing from the heavy churn of Black Sabbath and infusing it with the urgency of hardcore punk and a looser, more psychedelic approach, these bands created a distinctly American variation on doom metal that was also influenced by the Detroit proto punk scene (like The Stooges of course) and the hypnotic experimentations of krautrock like the free-form jams of Amon Düül II.
Although I've refrained from using notable European groups like Electric Wizard or Cathedral and even early American doom bands like Pentagram or Saint Vitus (although I did include Trouble), I have expanded the playlist to adjacent acts like Monster Magnet or Earth because they fit right in there sonically and some of them definitely inspired the scene. I've also included some of the main American sludge acts like Corrosion of Conformity and Crowbar, who deliberately took an even more metallic approach, and a couple of contemporary grunge acts to establish context.
It must be noted, as the genre name implies, that many of these records were conceived in chemically altered states. and while we don't condone or endorse their use, it is part of the mythology surrounding the sound and we've heard that they can also enhance the listening experience. Interpret that as you see fit!
Enjoy, comment and share!
Check out these related articles from the Electric Eye archives:
