King's X - Inventors of Grunge?

I was recently reading an article on King's X and came across a comment made by Green River/Mother Love Bone/Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament who declared King's X invented Grunge. It was quite an interesting comment but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. While not inventing grunge King's X were definately one of the main influences on the genre. I guess the main point is that King's X guitarist Ty Tabor was the first to popularize Drop D tuning on guitar, pretty much after the first couple of King's X albums bands such as Soundgarden and Alice In Chains started adopting the fuller almost darker sounds of the Drop D tunings on guitar. This was in my opinion one of the characteristics of the sound of Grunge and Alternative Rock. So file King's X with Redd Kross and Radio Birdman as one of the unsung influences of the brilliant late 80's early 90's Seattle rock scene.

they invented teh suck

mc666 wrote:

they invented teh suck

I'ne never understood the appeal of King's X. Not a big fan at all

Huge fan of Kings X!!! Have all their albums! I just love the vibe and feel and emotion of their music. It's different and unusual.

KX is one of the truly GREAT bands of our time. But the intimate
connection thier fans feel towards the band has alot to do with how
genuine they have been with us for 25 years. As far as inventors
of grunge? ehhhh....

I'm not saying they invented grunge that was something Jeff Ament said, i just think they had a huge influence on the Seattle Scene that seems to be overlooked when people discuss the roots of Grunge.

I like their first few records alot.

King's X took the D-tuning (tuning the top string down to D) to the mainstream. In 1987, amidst Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Poison, etc...they tuned down and combined heavy grooves with Beatles-esque harmonies...a lot of mags called them "Sabbath meets The Beatles"...NOBODY in the late '80s sounded like King's X...by the early '90s, EVERYONE was doing D-tuning and crediting King's X as a favorite. TONS of people from Gene Simmons, to Jeff Ament, to Nikki Sixx, to Layne Stayley, to Chris Cornell in raved about King's X in the '90s, yet mainstream "big" success eluded them.

Ament's original comment was "Heavy Music didn't come from Seattle, it came from Katy, TX.", referring to King's X. He even wore a King's X shirt on Pearl Jam's first SNL appearance. He's championed them the whole time...even getting them on some Pearl Jam bills. Jeff also played a 12-string bass (ala Pinnick) on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy"...

I'm no musician, so I can't comment on the D-tuning comparison, but in my opinion, King's X inventing grunge seems like a pretty big stretch. I've always thought of King's X doing their own thing in light of what was popular at the time, but I 've never thought of them as grunge.

Of cause you can't pigeon hole King's X as grunge they were one of the biggest influences on the scene, its like you can't call the Pixies grunge they were just a big influence on it.

SAXON1500 wrote:

KX is one of the truly GREAT bands of our time. But the intimate
connection thier fans feel towards the band has alot to do with how
genuine they have been with us for 25 years. As far as inventors
of grunge? ehhhh....

Clearly one of the most original sounding bands ever... I often thought
The Beatles/Metallica/rush/pink floyd. all thrown in a blender... three part harmonies and guitar tone that sounded like no one else, live they were as tight as shrink wrap on a new cd you're trying to remove without a knife..(all I could come up with)... doug's bass tone... wow....

they had just as much in common with 70's music as the 80/90/new millen. Lyrically very spiritual, but in a very earthy human way... we all live on this ball of mess... help me figure it all out....


yea I'm a fan....

couldn't tell ya bout grunge... :cyclops:

rattpoison wrote:

Of cause you can't pigeon hole King's X as grunge they were one of the biggest influences on the scene, its like you can't call the Pixies grunge they were just a big influence on it.

Exactly...Grunge took the groove & tuning from KX....which they kinda got from Black Sabbath...

Definately Shawn of Fire, and any way Black Sabbath is pretty much the root band of all original grunge. All those bands the Melvins, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, Nirvana had a huge Sabbath influence running through their music.

rattpoison wrote:

Definately Shawn of Fire, and any way Black Sabbath is pretty much the root band of all original grunge. All those bands the Melvins, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, Nirvana had a huge Sabbath influence running through their music.

A few of those (AIC, Soundgarden, Melvins) have a strong Metal influence as well...AIC is a Metal band to me...Melvins are practically worshipped by the Stoner Metal crowd...

Definately AIC is a metal band, if they did'nt come from Seattle they would have been called a metal band but then if they did'nt they probably would'nt have been as popular. Metal is overlooked when talking about grunge's roots everyone goes on about indie rock (Pixies, Dinosaur Jr) and Punk (Stooges, Black Flag) but Metal had an equally important role in Grunge, I mean Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of Celtic Frost. As much as Grunge was said to hate Metal they were fixing it and making it dangerous again.

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As much as Grunge was said to hate Metal they were fixing it and making it dangerous again.

What they hated was Warrant & Poison type "Metal"...they hated the commerciaity of what was considered "Metal" at the time.

Green River = inventors of grunge.
Period. Most "music elitsits/obsessionists" I know consider that final.

Green River are one of my favourite bands of all time Rehab Doll is such an amazing album. Anyway the title of this 'King's X - Inventors of Grunge?' was referring to a comment made by Jeff Ament who was a member of Green River, i didn't believe it as true i said that King's X were a bigger influence on Grunge than most people think. As for Green River as inventors of grunge it's something you can't say that is final, I mean can you say Black Sabbath are inventors of Metal or the Stooges and/or New York Dolls inventors of Punk, definately not because so many other bands helped to invent those genres. Same with Grunge, Green River along with other bands such as (but not limited to) Skin Yard, The Melvins, Soundgarden, U-Men, Malfunkshun etc helped pioneer the seattle sound in the mid 80's. Plus people believe Green Rivers as the first grunge band just because of a stupid throw away line GR singer Mark Arm used when describing his band saying it was "Pure Grunge, Pure smurf poo". People shouldn't be so stupid to think this qualifies Green River as the lone inventor of grunge.

Yeah, spread the BLAME around!

I am a fan of King's X as well. I have all their albums up to Tape Head. I really need to get their newer albums. I can see where the guitar tone might have influenced grunge. King's X was unique with their own sound. I do see some similarities to the King's X sound with Galatic Cowboys and Atomic Opera (with the Beetlesque vocal harmonies).

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I do see some similarities to the King's X sound with Galatic Cowboys and Atomic Opera (with the Beetlesque vocal harmonies).

They all had the same producer on thier first few albums...

outside of one album I am not a fan, and to think they invented grunge makes me ill

Wether its true or not.....