Linda’s Tavern and Reflections on Seattle Music

I just got back from a trip to Seattle and had a great time reminiscing with an old friend from my days living in Hood River, OR. We spent the evening at several bars in Capitol Hill, a hipster Seattle district similar to Chicago’s Bucktown/ Wicker Park neighborhoods. We ended up stopping at a little bar called Linda’s Tavern, which was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite spots and reportedly where he was last seen in public before his tragic suicide. One look around the dark corners of the bar and you could almost picture Kurt drinking a stout beer among the tattooed, pierced locals.

After a number of Manny’s and Rainier beers and a cab ride back to my hotel, I thought about Seattle’s stamp on the music scene. Bands like Pearl Jam, Alice and Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees and Mudhoney emerged out of obscurity and achieved varying levels of success. The deaths of Lane Staley and Kurt Cobain ended Alice in Chains and Nirvana, Mudhoney fell back into obscurity, and the Screaming Trees broke up after years of boozing and fighting. Chris Cornell went solo and then fell into mainstream success with Audioslave, while Pearl Jam has remained intact, touring relentlessly and keeping their distance from the music video culture that relished “Jeremy.”

Another unsung hero of those grunge days was Mark Lanegan, the front man for the Screaming Trees. He’s put out six relatively unknown solo albums since 1990. These albums marked a departure for Lanegan from his days with the Trees and all reach back to acoustic folk and blues roots; music which compliments his dark, brooding voice marked with anguish and desperation.

I skipped over Nirvana and the other groups that were the symbols of the grunge era and listened to Lanegan’s I’ll Take Care of You on my flight leaving Seattle. Looking out of my window in awe of the Washington landscape on a dreary fall day in Seattle, it seemed like a fitting soundtrack.

Here is The Mark Lanegan Band performing the title track from I’ll Take Care of You.

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