Post-grunge, as defined by Urban Dictionary is "Basically a watered-down, radio-friendly version of grunge music." But as any music snob can tell you, the scourge of post-grunge goes far deeper. But in that case, just what does that really mean? Much like post-rock and post-metal, post-grunge typically encapsulates the worst tropes of the 90s while endeavouring to reach a much wider audience. While metallic guitars are prevalent, album production is often of an arguably much higher, cleaner quality. However with a more gentrified sound, most post-grunge bands struggle to define themselves as separate entities, often relying on similar sounds and production. Perhaps a better descriptor would be 'sad hard rock with down tuning'. But still, some people have built empires of the mope-scream-mope dynamic. Some have risen. Some have fallen. And some have neither done neither, just plodding along and slowly declining as all post-grunge is want to do. Yet many, having had a first taste of success manage to cling on longer than others. With that, here are 10 bands that didn't have the sense to pack it up years ago.
10. Alien Ant Farm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE Seeming like the antithesis to the overly-serious grump metal of Korn and Limp Bizkit, Alien Ant Farm rode to C-Grade celebrity in the early 2000's with their cover of "Smooth Criminal" and their friendship with Papa Roach. Pop enough to hit the top 10, but rock enough to make their way into Guitar World magazine, Alien Ant Farm made it seem easy. Sadly, their ride into obscurity was fierce when they alienated just about everyone by failing to cover Michael Jackson on their next album. Alien Ant Farm's decline would be a slow burn, eventually reaching their nadir when they lost founding member Terry Corso to Powerman 5000 for a brief period of time. And yes Powerman 5000 are still a band too. You would therefore be forgiven for asking whether or not Alien Ant Farm is still a band and whether or not they are still in fact recording music. Sadly, the answer to both of those statements is yes, as evidenced by their recent Pledge Music affair in which they garnered a whopping 143% of their goal. This means that we can hopefully look forward to a new Alien Ant Farm album some time in 2014. That is of course unless they ran off with the money like most people on Kickstarter do. Any bros with puka-shell necklaces are no doubt stoked. And speaking of Papa Roach...
Aaron J. Marko is a literary magnate living in Canada. He is currently working on The Great American Novel about teenage orange salesmen in California. Do not add me to Google+. You will regret it. Available for birthday parties and bar mitzvahs.
