Seattle Christmas Past: How the Grunge Stole Christmas

I wondered if my dad even knew what RCKNDY was. The small TV in my parents’ kitchen was ever-present and ever-on…and frequently on Almost Live when it aired. The TV show had gone from talk-show format with a few comedy bits to a full sketch-comedy show that, usually hilariously, poked fun at Seattle neighborhoods and suburbs from Ballard drivers to the “Lynnwood Look.” It was where Bill Nye’s science guy got his start, but did you know he was also “SpeedWalker” before that?

Suddenly, a holiday jingle came on the tube (those days it was the regular tube that didn’t care about “You,”) and John Keister’s voice launched in with “all the rockers in the RKNDY bar liked Christmas a lot but the grunge…” and everyone paused to watch.

And, suddenly, a Christmas miracle happened.

When it got to the part where the members of the Seattle heavy metal community launched into the “fahoo fores dahoo dores,” from the 1966 Grinch TV special, my father bust out laughing. Approaching 70, I’m not sure he knew much about Grunge, or about RCKNDY, but he did know the Grinch and, perhaps, for just a moment, he agreed with the Grunge’s realization that “maybe Christmas was more. Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from the liquor store.”