The Grunge Era of Music

The Grunge Era of Music was a time when a new type of rock music emerged. This new style was characterized by its raw and aggressive sound.

The Grunge Era

It was the early ‘90s. Seattle was the epicenter of a musical revolution. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were leading the charge of a new sound that would change the course of music history. This was the grunge era.

The Origins of Grunge

The term “grunge” was first used in print in the Seattle Rocket, a local music paper, in On June 2, 1967, reporter Dan Sullivan used the term “grunge” to describe the music of local band The Sonics in a review. By the early 1980s, “grunge” had become a catch-all phrase to describe slovenly dressed young people with matted hair who listened to loud, distorted rock music.

In 1986 San Francisco Examiner music critic Billboards Mark Keaton wrote an article titled “Scenes From the Grunge Front” which described the nexus of the grunge scene as being centered on Seattle clubs like The Vogue and The Centrum. He described the sound of grunge as being “a cross between Metallica and Neil Young – hard and fast with feedback and distortion added”. In 1988 Green River released their album Dry as a Bone which many consider to be the first grunge record.

The Grunge Sound

The grunge era was a specific music scene that emerged from Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was characterized by a heavy, distorted guitar sound, emotional lyrics and a do-it-yourself aesthetic. Grunge bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden became some of the most successful rock bands of the 1990s.

The Grunge Scene

The Grunge era of music was a time when the music industry was taken by storm by a new type of music that had originated from the underground music scene in Seattle, Washington. Grunge music was a blend of punk rock and heavy metal that became very popular with the youth in the early 1990s. The Grunge scene was also associated with a fashion style that was characterized by flannel shirts, ripped jeans, and Doc Martens boots. The grunge fashion trend was popularized by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

The Grunge era came to an end in the mid-1990s with the deaths of several of its key figures, including Kurt Cobain and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley.

The Grunge Bands

The grunge era of music was a time when a lot of bands came out with dark and angsty lyrics. These bands often dressed in flannel and had a DIY attitude. Some of the most popular grunge bands were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.

Nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Its members were singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl. As a trio, they released one album, Bleach (1989), before signing with major label DGC Records and releasing Nevermind (1991). Bleach sold only 30,000 copies in its first year and was not highly popular outside the American Northwest. With the single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from Nevermind, Nirvana became a leading band of the 1990s grunge movement.

Nirvana’s success popularized alternative rock and ended the dominance of hair metal groups such as Poison, Skid Row, Guns N’ Roses, and Mötley Crüe. Cobain found gradual fame after NEVERMIND reached number one on record charts worldwide in early 1992. He was unhappy with the band’s newfound success; he felt it overexposed him and detracted from his songwriting. During subsequent tours, Cobain privately struggled with depression and Drug addiction; these experiences would inform his songwriting on Nirvana’s next two albums In Utero (1993) and MTV Unplugged in New York (1994).

In late March 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle from a shotgun wound to the head; police ruled his death a suicide. Nirvana’s final studio album with Novoselic and Grohl, In Utero entered the Billboard 200 chart at number one in September 1993. Two years after Cobain’s death, Nirvana was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as “the flagship band of Generation X”.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is an American rock band, formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. The band’s lineup consists of founder Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guitar), Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Matt Cameron (drums). Since 1998, the band has also included Boom Gaspar (keyboards) on their studio albums. Pearl Jam is one of the key groups in the development of the grunge music genre and its success made grunge the “biggest new force in rock and roll” of the early 1990s.

The band released its debut album, Ten, in 1991. It featured smash hits such as “Alive”, “Jeremy”, and “Even Flow”, and became one of the best-selling alternative albums of all time, selling nearly 13 million copies in the U.S. alone. The band followed up with Vs. (1993) and Vitalogy (1994). These two albums were highly successful as well, selling over nine million copies combined and earning the band two Grammy Awards. In 1996, Pearl Jam released No Code to critical acclaim but commercial disappointment; this was followed by Yield (1998) which debuted at number two on Billboard 200 chart.

After a four-year hiatus, Pearl Jam returned with Binaural (2000), which received mixed reviews but still managed to debut at number two on Billboard 200 chart upon release; this was followed by another album entitled Riot Act in 2002. In 2006, Pearl Jam released their eighth studio album entitled Pear Jams; it debuted at number two on Billboard 200 chart and featured hit singles such as “World Wide Suicide” and “Gone”. The band’s ninth studio album Backspacer was released on September 20, 2009; it wasPearl Jams’ first album since Riot Act not to be produced by long-time producer Brendan O’Brien, features hit singles such as “The Fixer” and “Got Some”. The band’s tenth studio album Lightning Bolt was released on October 15th 2013 to critical acclaim; it marks drummer Matt Cameron’s permanent return to the band after sitting out during much of the recording of Backspacer

Soundgarden

Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band’s full-time drummer in 1986, while subdivisions featuring bassist Ben Shepherd and keyboardist R. Glen Burton Jr. have also been credited to the band at certain times; current members also include guitarist Billy Corgan and drummer Tyler Stewart.

Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands of the grunge movement in the early 1990s and achieved mainstream success with albums such as Badmotorfinger (1991) and Superunknown (1994), which brought them two Grammy Awards for songs “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun”. In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction. After more than a decade of working on solo projects, Cornell reunited with Soundgarden in 2010 to record material for a new album. As of 2012, Soundgarden had sold more than 10.5 million records in the United States alone.

Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr, who was replaced in 1993 by Mike Inez. Although widely associated with grunge music, the band’s sound incorporates heavy metal influences. With five Grammy Awards and over 30 million albums sold worldwide, Alice in Chains is considered one of the most successful musical acts of the 1990s.

The band rose to international fame as part of the Seattle grunge movement of the early 1990s. The success of Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991) made grunge music mainstream and opened the door for other Seattle bands such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. The band’s debut album, Facelift (1990), was a huge success and garnered them attention from major record labels. Their second album, Dirt (1992), was critically acclaimed and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart; it has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. The album went on to become one of their best-selling releases worldwide.

The band released their fourth studio album, self-titled Alice in Chains (1995), which featured the hit single “Again”, to critical acclaim and commercial success; it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and has been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The following year they released their first live album, Unplugged (1996), which became one of their highest-selling releases; it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. In 1999 they released their fifth studio album, Music Bank (1999), a box set compilation album of previously unreleased material; it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. In 2006 they released their sixth studio album Black Gives Way to Blue (2009), which topped Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart; itcertified gold bythe RIAA . Last updated: July 10th

The Legacy of Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the early 1990s. It was defined by its dirty, distorted sound and angsty lyrics. Grunge was a rebellion against the polished, hair-metal bands of the 1980s. It became a cultural phenomenon in the Seattle area before blowing up into the mainstream. Grunge was the soundtrack of a generation of disaffected youth.

The Influence of Grunge

The Grunge era of music was influential in many ways. Grunge brought alternative music to the mainstream and gave a voice to a generation of kids who felt misunderstood. The fashion and style of grunge was also influential, helping to popularize “anti-fashion” and giving rise to trends like flannel shirts and Doc Martens.

Grunge also had a big impact on the music industry. Before grunge, many record labels were focused on polished, commercially-viable acts. But the success of grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam demonstrated that there was an audience for rawer, more authentic-sounding music. This led to a change in the way the industry operated, and today we see a much wider range of styles represented in the mainstream.

The End of Grunge

Grunge music reached its mainstream peak in the early 1990s with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, but the genre’s origins can be traced back to the 1980s. Seattle was the epicenter of grunge music, and the city’s alternative rock scene gave birth to a number of grunge bands, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Grunge music was marked by its raw, unpretentious sound and its focus on personal subject matter.

The grunge era came to an end in the mid-1990s with the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley. Cobain’s suicide in 1994 marked the end of an era for many fans of grunge music. The genre continued to exist in the form of bands like Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots, but it never regained the prominence it had in the early 1990s.