Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge

A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The definitive chronicle of Seattle’s grunge era, drawn from over 250 exclusive interviews with members of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and many more, and featuring previously untold stories and never-before-seen photographs

“A classic of monumental scale.”—Paste
“Riveting, gossipy, and impossible to put down.”—Vulture
“A drug and ego-fueled soap opera.”—The Guardian
“Superb.”—The Hollywood Reporter

In 1986, a fledgling Seattle record label released Deep Six, a compilation of local bands, including Soundgarden, the Melvins, and Green River. It sold terribly but made music history by documenting a burgeoning regional sound: the raw fusion of heavy metal and punk we now know as grunge. Five years later, tipped by Nirvana’s mega-hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” grunge became a household word and Seattle ground zero for the nineties alternative-rock explosion.

Everybody Loves Our Town captures the era in the words of the musicians, producers, managers, record executives, video directors, photographers, journalists, publicists, club owners, roadies, and hangers-on who lived through it. The book tells the whole story: from the founding of the Deep Six bands to the global success of grunge’s big four (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains); from the rise of Seattle’s indie label Sub Pop to the major-label feeding frenzy that followed; from the joy of making noise in basements and tiny rock clubs to the tragic deaths of superstars Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley.

By turns moving, funny, lurid, and insightful, Everybody Loves Our Town is the authoritative portrait of an extraordinary musical era.