i94bar1200x80

mac mccaughan

  • superchunk mac3Matt Allison photo

    Superchunk
    + Smudge
    The Sydney Crowbar, Leichhardt
    Friday, December 13, 2024

    1991 has gone down in folklore as “The Year That Punk Broke” and in many ways it’s true. A wave of underground music swept across music channels - in particular in the USA.

    It’s also that there was a surge in guitars being bought and we can attribute this mostly to Nirvana.Scratch under the surface, and a crop of new bands had been springing up like green shoots across America for years. Releasing records on labels like Matador, SST and SubPop,they’d been criss-crossing America in broken vans, living on pills, booze, junk food and small shows  

    All the action was being documented in fanzines and the underground bible Alternative Press. For me, it was even cooler than the British wave of punk as it was more street-level and organic. Names like Afghan Wigs, Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland, Laughing Hyenas, Mudhoney, TAD, Pixies and Lemonheadswere the staple diet in the period prior to Nirvana releasing “Nevermind”.