I didn't mind grunge in the 1990s. I never really liked the arena rock 80s hair metal show ponies anyway. It was just Van Halen's California sunset beach party music taken to the extreme with extra cocaine and lipstick.
There was a fresh wave (there, that term "wave") of even harder & aggressive metal in the mid-1990s, particularly with Pantera bringing out The Great Southern Trendkill in 1996. Tool was part of that too. But it was more underground than in the early 1990s, which I actually quite liked.
Another thing about the early 1990s, was that underneath the rise of grunge was the underground rise of death metal. But when I listen to that stuff now, I do feel like it was just the kids doing super extreme versions of their older brothers spooky early 80s Venom and black metal records, or were from the 80s underground death metal scene and finally erupted from their fiery volcano, setting churches alight in the process. There's just this whole "teenagey" aspect to the whole thing.
What I never liked was the rise of nu-metal in the mid to late 1990s and especially around the early 2000s, like Korn & Limp Biscuit. I could not and still cannot stand it at all. To me that was just the 80s emo sooky kids in baggy jeans with 7-string guitars and Dual Rectifiers, but almost 30 and still living at home with their parents, splurging as much burping muddy noise as possible. Horrible.
It's not the same as "rap metal'- rap metal is really cool and done well by bands like Ice Tea (not cube!) in the early and mid 1990s, and even earlier by Anthrax in the mid-late 1980s. Heck, rap bands were doing it in the mid 1980s. Yes that includes the Beastie Boys, who were taking the piss out of the glam hair metal of the time ,that apparently got killed off by grunge. Hmm, we've come full circle!
Alright, enough of the music history rant. I don't really bother much with what's on the radio now. I check out new bands here and there, but am not too fussed. I come across older songs and bands almost like they are brand new to me, or sometimes are brand new to me. I enjoy the discovery.
