How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band

Deviate with Rolf Potts

“Look at any photo from a moment of supposed zeitgeist in American history, and it will be clear that not everyone in that moment represented the cutting-edge of culture.” –Rolf Potts

In this essay episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about why he enjoys listening to Rob Harvilla’s podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s at double-speed, but that he’s disappointed Rob has never alluded to Rolf’s own 1990s grunge band, Swizzlefish (1:45); Rolf describes his move from Kansas to the Pacific Northwest in the year 1990, at a very specific moment in America’s cultural zeitgeist (10:30); the origins of Swizzlefish, and how its formation with Rolf’s friends Ryan and Steve was compromised by the fact that Rolf and Steve were in no way musical virtuosos (18:30); the circumstances of the first Swizzlefish live show, and how it caused an immediate controversy on Rolf’s small Christian college campus (30:00); what Portland’s indie-rock scene was like in early 1993, and what kinds of bands Rolf and his friends saw there (35:00); how the second Swizzlefish concert resulted in the band getting banned from playing on its own college campus (42:00); Swizzlefish’s spring 1993 performance at Portland’s X-Ray Cafe, and how the middle-class normalcy of its fans evoked something true about grunge music (49:00); Rolf’s eventual move to Seattle to work as a landscaper, his experiences at a 1993 Nirvana show there, and the curiously enduring legacy of Swizzlefish more than 30 years later (57:30); and Rolf talks to music journalist Rob Harvilla about Rolf’s brief appearance in the 1992 horror movie Dr. Giggles, their respective experiences with 1990s music, and whether or not Kurt Cobain would have liked them (1:06:25).

The 1993 Swizzlefish album Big Time Loser is available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.

Rob Harvilla (@harvilla) is the creator of 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s, a book and a podcast that explore the pop culture of the decade through music.

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Bands, musicians, and songs mentioned:

• “Love Buzz” (Shocking Blue song covered on Nirvana’s Bleach)
• Elliott Smith (singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon)
• Heatmiser (Portland indie rock band)
• “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Nirvana song)
• Jane’s Addiction (alternative rock band from LA)
• Mother Love Bone (Seattle rock band)
• Kurt Cobain (lead-singer of Nirvana)
• Jackyl (American hair-metal band)
• “Princess in a Cobweb” (song by Drunk at Abi’s)
• Sprinkler (Portland indie-rock band)
• “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (song by The Clash)
• Carrie Brownstein (musician and comedian)
• Bikini Kill (pioneering “riot grrrl” punk band)
• Big Daddy Meat Straw (Portland indie-rock band)
• “Smells Like Nirvana” (parody song by Weird Al Yankovic)
• “Holiday of Sparks” (song by Dimbulb)
• “Rock Collection” (song by Pond)
• Everclear (Portland rock band)
• Mia Zapata (Seattle punk singer murdered in 1993)
• “Scentless Apprentice” (1993 Nirvana song)
• Kim Deal (Ohio-born musician for The Pixies and The Breeders)
• Dookie (1994 Green Day album)
• 924 Gilman Street (all-ages punk-rock club in Berkeley)
• Rancid (Berkeley punk band)
• Avail (melodic hardcore punk band from Virginia)

Other links:

• Malcolm McLaren (promoter and manager of the Sex Pistols)
• Hype! (1996 music documentary directed by Doug Pray)
• Twin Peaks (TV drama created by David Lynch)
• Grunge (alternative rock genre known as “Seattle sound”)
• George Fox College (pre-1996 name of George Fox University)
• Jumping freight trains in the Pacific NW (Deviate episode)
• Van Life before #VanLife (Deviate episode)
• Brian Epstein (manager of The Beatles from 1962-1967)
• Sub Pop (Seattle-based indie-rock record label)
• X-Ray Cafe (1990s all-ages venue in Portland)
• Rap rock (hybrid music genre)
• Hardcore (punk rock subgenre)
• Portlandia (sketch-comedy TV show from the 2010s)
• This Present Darkness (Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti)
• Satanic ritual abuse (conspiracy theory and moral panic)
• Newberg (small Oregon college town)
• 1993 TIME Magazine grunge issue (featuring Eddie Vedder)
• Dr. Giggles (1992 horror movie)
• Singles (1992 Cameron Crowe movie)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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