A 30-year-old movie that captured a singular moment in Seattle music history

After thee decades, Cameron Crowe's "Singles" is most remembered for its soundtrack.

The movie "Singles," tells a story about early 20-somethings in Seattle, bouncing through relationships, wearing flannel and Dr. Martens boots, and figuring out who they are in the early 90s, basic romcom stuff.

And yeah, most of these 23 year olds were played by people nearly a decade older. And sure, it only rains once in the movie, about halfway in.

Suspend your disbelief because there is some real Seattle in this film, like lots of landmarks, including the Capitol Hill apartment building where the characters live.

You can even rent a studio there. Thirty years on, the ad on Craigslist declares: “Capital Hill Live in the famous SINGLES movie building where in 1991 CAMERON CROWE shot the Seattle cult/grunge movie singles. ”

You can live there for $1,495 a month.

The movie also features some quintessentially Seattle characters: aspiring architects, environmental researchers, the serious spandex biker, the self-obsessed musician, and, yes, a Northwest classic: the urbanist consumed with building a better mass transit conveyance called the Supertrain.

That character also happens to love the SuperSonics, and you can only imagine in the future, he’ll have serious beef with Howard Schultz for selling the team.

But, "Singles" is best remembered for capturing a moment in Seattle music history.

"I will go so far as to say 'Singles' is probably my sixth or seventh most favorite Cameron Crowe movie," says Charles R. Cross, who edited The Rocket, which covered PNW music, throughout the 90s. "It is not one of the best movies about Seattle."

If someone wants a movie about Seattle, Cross recommends "Cinderella Liberty" or "House of Games."

Instead, Cross says that the soundtrack is the more important legacy of the film. It brought attention to the Screaming Trees and Mudhoney.

"Singles" was filmed in 1991, during the rise of grunge. Characters are going to clubs constantly seeing shows, there were cameos from young musicians who would soon become very famous: Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains.

Cross, who has gone on to write award-winning biographies of Seattle musicians Kurt Cobain, Heart, and Jimi Hendrix, has his own connection to the movie — Eddie Vedder reads a copy of The Rocket in "Singles."

"That's my criticism of Pearl Jam saying: Write some better songs," says Cross, "which essentially is what the criticism and the fake review was. It lives on as a ghost in that movie."

Cross spoke with Soundside about the movie's soundtrack and how it showcased the lighthearted and fun side of a scene that would eventually mourn the loss of many young musicians.