This page is Point of Interest page 5 of the Alternative Rock, Grunge and Seattle Tour,

click here to access the main tour page and introduction.

The Crocodile

The opening show at the Crocodile Café on April 12th, 1991, featured performances by neo-psychedelic band Love Battery and Power Pop group The Posies. The Crocodile became one of the main venues in Seattle devoted to live rock 'n roll for local and touring bands, and so it quickly became a leading venue during the grunge explosion in the early to mid 1990s.

For 16 years, the Croc presented thousands of shows – often featuring three bands a night - for a reasonable admission fee of between $5 and $20. The Croc hosted up-and-coming bands, current stars, and legends from the past, along with many special events like local art exhibitions and political fundraisers.

But there have been a couple of particularly memorable shows that took place at the Croc. One was a $3 Mudhoney show on October 4th, 1992. Attendees expected to see a band billed as "Pen Cap Chew" – but most were surprised to see that it was actually Nirvana - the most famous band in the world at the time – onstage and performing. Peter Buck, the lead guitarist of REM, was at the show that night, and recalls how enjoyable it was. He said "Everyone seemed really clearheaded, and it was really loose and fun. It was the last great experience I had of that era. Everything after that seemed kind of dark. It seemed like everyone stayed home, except for the people who'd just moved to town".

By 1992, Seattle started receiving a lot of international attention due to the commercial viability of "grunge". As Peter Buck stated, once commercial interests got involved, the music community really began to change from what it once was. However, despite the changes that were bemoaned by many in the original grunge community, grunge continued to attract a large and loyal worldwide following of fans.

Another memorable surprise at the Croc was on October 10th 1998, when Pearl Jam made an unannounced appearance to open for Cheap Trick.

A compilation album of live music called Bite Back: Live at the Crocodile Café was released in February, 1996, by Seattle's Popllama Records. It featured live tracks recorded specifically at the Crocodile Café from its opening until the mid-1990s. The record featured a wide range of alternative rock sounds being made locally during this time period. The compilation includes live recordings from bands like Tad, Mudhoney and Madseason, as well as other popular bands such as the Young Fresh Fellows, the Walkabouts, Girl Trouble, and Gas Huffer.

When you are ready to leave the Crocodile, walk northwest along 2nd Avenue past the south end of the Crocodile towards Bell Street. You will continue on 2nd Avenue for about 100 metres, or about a minute and a half..

The next stop on the tour is the Blacksmith shop, called Black Dog Forge, where Pearl Jam and Soundgarden had a rehearsal space in the basement. But on the way, we'll explore the realities of gender politics in grunge music. Often, "grunge" is remembered as a 'masculine' rock form, but woman played an important role within the music. Author Caroline Strong wrote about how - over time - grunge has been reclaimed as a predominantly masculine space - but woman were in fact an integral part of the music.

Blecha, P. (2008). Crocodile Cafe: Seattle's Icon of the Grunge Rock Era. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved from http://www.historylink.org/File/8448

Bite Back: Live at the Crocodile café. (1996). All Music. Retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/album/bite-back-live-at-the-crocodile-cafe-mw0000182782

The Crocodile. (2017). Since 1991, music fans far and wide have recognized the Crocodile as Seattle's best live music venue. Our History. Retrieved from http://www.thecrocodile.com/our-history/

Strong, C., (2011). Grunge, Riot Grrrl, and the Forgetting of Woman in Popular Culture. The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol.44, 398-416. Retrieved from: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.brocku.ca...

Yarm, M. (2011). Everybody loves our town. Crown Publishing: New York, USA

This work was created by Kyle Huisman

Contact: seattlerock@outlook.com