Grunge

Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington. The style became known as a hybrid of punk and metal. Grunge was commercially successful in the early to mid-1990s due to releases such as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Alice in Chains’ Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots’ Core.

About Grunge in brief

Summary Grunge Grunge is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington. The style became known as a hybrid of punk and metal. Grunge was commercially successful in the early to mid-1990s due to releases such as Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Alice in Chains’ Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots’ Core. By the early 1990s, its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals. The word ‘grunge’ is American slang for’someone or something that is repugnant’ and also for ‘dirt’ during the grunge era. In September 1991, the Nirvana album Nevermind was released, bringing the music genre to the mainstream attention of the music industry. The term ‘grunge’ became a derogatory term for the music scene that was developing, bringing mainstream attention to the music. Some bands have not been receptive to the label, preferring instead to be referred to as ‘rock and roll and roll bands’ or ‘glamour bands’ The genre was also an influence on later genres such as nu metal such as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, grungebands broke up or became less visible. Several factors contributed to grunge’s decline in prominence.

Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, labeled by Time as ‘the John Lennon of the swinging Northwest’, appeared unusually tortured by success and struggled with an addiction to heroin before his death at the age of 27 in 1994. He loathed the word grunge and hates being associated with it. Some musicians claim to be associated with the genre, such as musician Jeff Stonon, who visited the U.S. in the late 1980s and states that he visited Seattle in the 1980s as he visited Stonetson states. He also stated that he hates the word’grunge’ and hates it when he visits other states as he does not want his name associated with Seattle and states he prefers to be known as ‘Jeff Stonet’ and ‘Soundgarden’ The term grunge has been used to describe bands since the 1960s, but this was the first association of grunge with the grinding, sludgy sound of Seattle. It is expensive and time-consuming to get a recording to sound clean, so for those northwestern bands just starting out it was cheaper for them to leave the sound dirty and just turn up their volume. This dirty sound, due to low budgets, unfamiliarity with recording, and a lack of professionalism may be the origin of the term ‘grunges’. The music of these bands, many of which had recorded with Seattle’s independent record label Sub Pop, became labeled as ‘Grunge’ by the media.