Grunge didn’t start with Nevermind in 1991. But ten years earlier. Sub Pop, the flagship independent label of the grunge scene, remind us of this with the reissue of Dry As A Bone and Rehab Girl from Green River, the ancestor of Mudhoney and Pearl Jam. Born in Seattle in 1984 and formed around Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam), Bruce Fairweather (Mother Love Bone, Love Battery) and Alex Vincent, the group produced uplifting mixes of punk, psychedelic rock and blues by using obvious distortion effects. This was all to the liking of the urgency and the grime of the North-West of America. This Deluxe edition of Rehab Girl, recorded between the Reciprocal Recording Studios in the wake of Dry As A Bone and Seattle’s Steve Lawson Studios by Bruce Calder, includes eight unreleased pieces, including a cover of Queen Bitch by David Bowie. The recording sessions continued until January 1988 but the Seattle pioneers – in constant disagreement – had already decided to separate in October, which gives Rehab Doll a certain testamentary taste. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz