During the grunge/alternative era,

which bands stayed the truest to their original sound?  We know many tried to embrace that era like Skid Row, Motley Crue, The Scorpions, Dokken, Holy Soldier, Whitecross, etc.  How many bands can you think of that really didn't do that despite the labels pushing them to do so?

Maybe Van Halen? You could argue that Balance borrowed from alternative, but there’s a lot of classic Van Hagar sound still on that album.

I don't think Skid Row caved too much, still kept their core sound.
The euro bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween stayed true.

Tesla. Bust a Nut fell right in with what they had been doing.

AC/DC, Testament, Overkill, Savatage, Cinderella....

Great White put out a couple of great records during that time.  Cinderella released Still Climbing, which I think is their best.  LA Guns pretty much kept on.  Power metal and thrash metal were still going without much outside influence.


Arttie

Pethead wrote:Maybe Van Halen? You could argue that Balance borrowed from alternative, but there’s a lot of classic Van Hagar sound still on that album.

To me, Balance (and VHIII for that matter), seemed to be a little more progressive in nature, rather than alternative.

MagnusPrime wrote:

Pethead wrote:Maybe Van Halen? You could argue that Balance borrowed from alternative, but there’s a lot of classic Van Hagar sound still on that album.

To me, Balance (and VHIII for that matter), seemed to be a little more progressive in nature, rather than alternative.

To me, Balance just kicks butt, period.  Definitely my fave of the Hagar releases, and I play it frequently.  Played it just yesterday in the gym, in fact.


Arttie

Bride




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They are the poster child of chasing trends.

arttieTHE1manparty wrote:Great White put out a couple of great records during that time.  Cinderella released Still Climbing, which I think is their best.  LA Guns pretty much kept on.  Power metal and thrash metal were still going without much outside influence.


Arttie

I agree with most of this, but didnt LA Guns go for a darker sound around this time with Vicious Circle and American Hardcore? If anything, they sure arent "party rock" albums.

I would add Mr. Big.  They went more blues based instead of going grunge/ alternative.

Most bands changed to suit the times to one degree or another.  
Some of these "experiments" were okay while some were downright awful.

Even in the prog world, the biggest band (Dream Theater) changed while most of the smaller bands like Vanden Plas, Shadow Gallery, etc. did not change at all.

Black Rider wrote:I don't think Skid Row caved too much, still kept their core sound.
The euro bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween stayed true.

I think they changed quite a bit especially on their third album and after Bas departed.  They are only now finding it again.

Yeah, after Bas they plainly sucked until this last album.

Black Rider wrote:I don't think Skid Row caved too much, still kept their core sound.
The euro bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween stayed true.

Ah so we're pretending Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon never happened?

They weren't great albums but I don't hear grunge influence.

Black Rider wrote:AC/DC, Testament, Overkill, Savatage, Cinderella....

Definitely didn't go "grunge", but Testament and Overkill released some of their darkest stuff during this period.  Testament went boderline death metal with Chuck's vocals, and Overkill just got brutally angry and HEAVY...


Arttie

Overkill just stopped writing good songs after Horrorscope, whatever you wanna call it. 

Pethead wrote:Overkill just stopped writing good songs after Horrorscope, whatever you wanna call it. 

False...


Arttie

Pethead wrote:Overkill just stopped writing good songs after Horrorscope, whatever you wanna call it. 

Ever heard the Ironbound album? Heck, even before that WFO was excellent, and aside from the terrible production (sadly, a common problem with CMC releases), Killing Kind was solid as well.

WildWorld wrote:

Pethead wrote:Overkill just stopped writing good songs after Horrorscope, whatever you wanna call it. 

Ever heard the Ironbound album? Heck, even before that WFO was excellent, and aside from the terrible production (sadly, a common problem with CMC releases), Killing Kind was solid as well.

Yep. I have Ironbound. It’s decent, but nothing special. WFO was a snooze fest.

Surprised no one has mentioned Motörhead yet.

Motörhead and AC/DC have remained consistent throughout their whole careers. Some albums are better than others… but they didn’t mess with their formula much. Especially AC/DC. 

Also, as someone else mentioned… Overkill.