X2
I will give mikmaq a bit of credit, as digital production techniques made getting sounds that were previously reserved for elaborate studios more accessible to everyone.
But to say THAT'S THE REASON alternative and grunge hit big, is just ridiculous. he is completely discounting the art and inspiration that goes into making music, songwriting skills and the culture in general. Big movements like the Seattle scene are a perfect storm of a lot of different factors. not a studio advancement. i can't believe he actually believes that.
Lets be clear, here I never from the start said grunge, I said alternative, and mentioned metallica, and Red hot chille peppers from the start, I even mentioned Gun N roses as being part of it as well. It's not the only factor and even I said that, but it seems to be the main reason that alternative music took over, and even the reason that genre exists. CD's came out they changed the way people listened to albums, if you look at the top 20 rock albums of the 90's pretty much all of them were atleast in part products of their technology.
Blood sugar Sex magic(91), made the chilles, and it was a product of there time in the studio with rick rubin he got them to stop the slap pop and move on to more melodic album based music(shit anthony can't sing)
Metallica had the black album(91) again another u turn where the band slowed the tempo's, built an album from the ground up in studio, and changed there singing habbits.
Nirvana made nevermind(91), basically a sell out by indie terms, using loads of dubs, and etc, to give it a smooth but rough sound. So much so when they made the next album, kurt got in a major legal battle as he wanted to make an album that was cut down not so poppy , eventually the label forced a remix of the album but it shows a theme.
Far as I know these were the biggest trend setters of the 90's, and production was at the heart of everything they did as it was the true introduction of cd's.