Friday's Playlist: Goatees & Flannel Shirts - 90's Alternative & Grunge

This Friday's Playlist theme is a little morbid since it was prompted by the anniversary of the deaths of two of the defining artists of their generation: Kurt Cobain, who killed hiself 25 years ago today and Layne Staley, who was found dead of a drug overdose 17 years ago today.

Lots of territory to cover so the playlist is pretty long. Lots of good stuff in there, too. And, it should go without saying, it needs to be played loud.

I was never of the opinion that "grunge killed hair metal" or that "the alternative wave washed over rock and roll dinosaurs". To me that's musical revisionism. Back then it was perfectly acceptable to enjoy Alice In Chain, Guns N' Roses and Metallica. In fact most rock fans did. Like the narrative that Punk Rock came to destroy everything that Led Zeppelin stood for, this was an agenda mostly pushed by the rock press.

Kids didn't care about record contracts, backstage politics or album sales. Kids just wanted to rock. They still do.