Hey, welcome to the Grunge Underground Archive.
My name’s Nate Callahan. I’m 27 years old, born and raised in Queens, New York, but I’ve been living in Seattle since ’92, chasing that sound that changed everything for me.
By day I sling records at a shop downtown. At night you’ll find me behind the bar at the Central Saloon, pouring beers for the same faces that were probably up on stage an hour earlier.
This site is my personal archive — nothing fancy, just the bands and voices that meant the world to me between 1990 and 1996. Some of them got called “grunge,” others never did, but they all belonged to the Northwest scene that I fell in love with. I’m adding stuff little by little whenever I get the chance.
Looking back now, I still can’t believe how lucky I was. I got to see a lot of these bands live, in tiny clubs, sweaty little rooms, and sometimes even at wild house parties when the real underground stuff was still happening. Those nights still hit different.
This whole thing is dedicated to Mia Zapata (1965–1993). Rest in peace.
The band that changed everything. From Aberdeen to the whole world faster than anyone expected.
Posted: March 5, 2002They were always different. Chris Cornell has a voice that sounds like it comes from the bottom of the ocean.
Posted: March 7, 2002They got massive but always tried to do things their own way. For a lot of us, the conscience of the scene.
Posted: March 9, 2002The darkest of the bunch and soaked in a melancholy that stuck to your skin. Layne’s voice hit you really deep.
Posted: March 11, 2002Chaos and attitude, with Courtney Love right in the middle of it all.
Posted: March 12, 2002The godfathers of the Seattle sound. One of the bands that really started all this. Always stayed true to themselves.
Posted: March 13, 2002The guys from Ellensburg. Mark Lanegan had one of those voices you don’t forget.
Posted: March 14, 2002One of the most solid bands from the early days. Always underrated, always crushing it.
Posted: March 15, 2002One of my favorite live bands. Pure energy, fun, no posing.
Posted: March 16, 2002Portland legends that felt like they belonged to all of us. Fred and Toody always kept it real.
Posted: March 17, 2002Always doing their own thing, weird and unique. Super influential and never tried to fit in.
Posted: March 18, 2002Punk-grunge with a lot of heart. Mia Zapata was a force of nature and the voice of Seattle for many of us.
Posted: March 19, 2002The glamorous, tragic kings right before everything exploded. Andy Wood had that real star quality.
Posted: March 20, 2002One of the real foundation bands of the Seattle scene. Jack Endino and the guys were there right from the beginning.
Posted: March 21, 2002Ben McMillan’s band after Skin Yard. Solid club band that a lot of us saw all the time back then.
Posted: March 22, 2002A solid second-wave band. Carrie Akre had a strong, clear voice. They always put on a good show.
Posted: March 23, 2002One of those solid second-wave Seattle bands that were always around. Fast, loud, and a lot of fun live.
Posted: March 24, 2002They got huge really fast in ’93. A lot of the old-school Seattle crowd never warmed up to them, but I always liked their songs.
Posted: March 25, 2002The one-time tribute project the guys put together after Andy Wood died. Chris Cornell, Stone, Jeff, Matt Cameron and the rest made one beautiful record as a goodbye.
Posted: March 26, 2002They had a more atmospheric and dreamy sound than most of the Seattle bands. Robert Roth, Hiro Yamamoto and Mark Pickerel carved out their own little corner of the scene.
Posted: March 26, 2002The wild, crazy pre-grunge band with Andy Wood. They were the fun, over-the-top side of the early Seattle scene before everything got serious.
Posted: March 26, 2002Riot grrrl band with Kathleen Hanna out front. They yelled “Girls to the front!” at every show and made a lot of us feel like we could actually say what we thought.
Posted: March 26, 2002All-girls band from L.A. that kicked ass and fit right in with the Seattle scene. Funny as hell and they didn’t take shit from anybody.
Posted: March 26, 2002All-girls band with real attitude. They were tight with The Gits.
Posted: March 27, 2002That incredibly talented girl from New York who got deep into the Seattle scene. She showed up, burned bright, and then just disappeared. Still looking for her.
Posted: March 27, 2002They had a cooler, dreamier sound than most of the Seattle bands. One of those groups a lot of us really liked even if they never got huge.
Posted: March 27, 2002They got massive really fast in ’93. A lot of the old-school Seattle crowd never fully accepted them and called them posers, but I always liked their songs.
Posted: March 27, 2002They weren’t from Seattle but they got absolutely massive in the mid-nineties. Billy Corgan’s voice and those huge songs were everywhere back then.
Posted: March 27, 2002Dave Grohl’s band after Nirvana. Started as him playing almost everything himself and turned into one of the biggest rock bands of the nineties.
Posted: March 27, 2002