Way back in 1989, I went to an all-ages show at Oz featuring Mother Love Bone and Alice N’ Chainz. Love Bone had made the leap to the majors, and had just released the EP Shine on “Stardog” records, an imprint label created especially for them by Mercury. Still, bassist Jeff Ament still insisted to me, “I’m making half as much money now as I did working at a restaurant!” (that would be the now-closed Raison d’Etre, where Dina Martina also worked).

I’m sure Jeff would’ve been comforted to know that wouldn’t be the case for too much longer. If you’d told me then that in 20 years’ time the musicians I’d seen that night would still be playing, I wouldn’t have been that surprised. Most musicians are like writers, largely unknown, but working at their craft in some fashion until the day they die. But to think that those musicians would be in bands that for a moment were the most popular in the world, well, that I would have found hard to believe.

And yet, here we are. Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, released Ten in 1991 and became “overnight” superstars. Alone among the Big Four of Seattle grunge bands (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains), they’ve managed to hang on, simply by working hard throughout their entire career, and I do admire perseverance. This year has seen them both celebrating their past (reissuing Ten in various deluxe formats) and releasing new work with their ninth album, Backspacer, which entered the Billboard chart at #1.

Meanwhile, Alice In Chains finally overcame what would seem to be the insurmountable obstacle of lead singer Layne Staley’s death in 2002, filling the slot with William DuVall, and releasing their first new album in 14 years, Black Gives Way To Blue (it hit the Billboard Top 5). Not to be outdone, Nirvana is serving up “before” and “after” shots of their career, with an anniversary reissue of Bleach (complete with a previously unreleased live show) and the DVD Live At Reading, documenting their August 30, 1992 appearance at England’s annual Reading Festival, both arriving the first week of November.

And yes, after all these years, the song(s) remain the same. Backspacer bursts out of the gates with the Who-like blast of “Gonna See My Friend” and steadily rocks its way through the next 30-some minutes. Yes, it is a bit on the short side, but what it lacks in the way of time it makes up for in energy. Not that all the songs are hard and fast stompers; there are contemplative numbers, like “Just Breathe” and “The End.” But there’s also a freshness, a more light-hearted feel than you expect to find on a Pearl Jam record; the guys actually sound relaxed for a change. And Eddie Vedder’s voice is better than ever.

Of course, Alice In Chains never sounded relaxed. All was usually doom and gloom in Alice’s world, and it’s no different on Black Gives Way To Blue. You might even think you’re listening to the Staley-era lineup, as the sound is so much like the swirling blur of noise on Dirt. It’s not that DuVall imitates Staley; far from it. But the musicians were as key to Alice’s sound as Staley was, something forgotten when the frontman becomes the main focus of the coverage (and especially after that frontman’s death). The band has the same sad, world-weary air they always did; though the lyrics, primarily by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, are less despairing than Staley’s were.

And then there’s Nirvana. Well, they were always my favorite of the Big Four, so I’m a little biased. It’s not like I need an excuse to listen to Bleach again. I first listened to this album when I reviewed it for The Rocket, and what most impressed me was the band’s disinclination to be pigeonholed. Sure, you had gnarly stuff like ominous “Paper Cuts,” but really, “School” had as pop-friendly a melody as “About A Girl” did when you get right down to it. Most of the live show (a February 9, 1990 gig in Portland) has circulated on bootleg, but it’s nice to have a clean official copy at last. It sounds great.

The same goes for Live At Reading. The year had started out on a high note with Nirvana topping the Billboard chart, but dissolved into a non-stop rumor fest about Kurt’s drug use. It was even thought they were about to split up. Instead, they stormed back with one of their best shows, also readily on bootleg, but now cleaned up nice and pretty (though it’s just wrong to cut one track from the CD release). It’s nice to think of the band finally making some money on this, though I have to admit for the first time I was sad as I watched the footage.

Nirvana was the little band that could. And did. And it still hurts that they couldn’t last.