Content deleted Content added
fixed typo Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
revert to last by Red dwarf |
||
| (32 intermediate revisions by 22 users not shown) | |||
Line 20:
| other_topics = * [[Generation X]]
}}
'''Grunge''' (sometimes referred to as the '''Seattle sound''') is an [[alternative rock]] [[Music genre|genre]] and [[subculture]] which emerged during the {{nowrap|mid-1980s}} in the U.S. state of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], particularly in [[Seattle]] and nearby towns
The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label [[Sub Pop]] and the region's [[underground music]] scene. The owners of Sub Pop marketed the style shrewdly, encouraging the media to describe it as "grunge"; the style became known as a hybrid of [[punk (subculture)|punk]] and [[metal (music)|metal]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Goldberg|first1=Danny|author-link=Danny Goldberg|title=Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2019|edition=1|chapter=Ch.4-Nevermind|pages=76|isbn=978-0062861504|chapter-url={{Google books|plainurl=yes|id=64lLuQEACAAJ|page=76}}}}</ref> 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. Grunge was commercially successful in the early-to-mid-1990s due to releases such as [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s ''[[Nevermind]]'', [[Pearl Jam]]'s ''[[Ten (Pearl Jam album)|Ten]]'', [[Soundgarden]]'s ''[[
Several factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. During the {{nowrap|mid-to-late 1990s}}, many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. Nirvana's [[Kurt Cobain]], labeled by ''Time'' as "the [[John Lennon]] of the swinging Northwest", struggled with an addiction to heroin before [[Suicide of Kurt Cobain|his suicide]] in 1994. Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, they influenced [[modern rock]] music, as their lyrics brought socially conscious issues into [[pop culture]]<ref name="Danaher">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-grunge-songs.html?a=1 |title=The 50 Best Grunge Songs |last=Danaher |first=Michael |date=August 4, 2014 |magazine=Paste |access-date=February 8, 2017 |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080330/https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/08/the-50-best-grunge-songs.html?a=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and added introspection and an exploration of what it means to [[Authenticity (philosophy)|be true to oneself]].<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 134">Felix-Jager, Steven. ''With God on Our Side: Towards a Transformational Theology of Rock and Roll''. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017. p. 134</ref> Grunge was also an influence on later genres such as [[post-grunge]].
Line 31:
The word "grunge" is American slang for "someone or something that is repugnant" and also for "dirt".<ref name=willis2011/><ref name=marin>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/style/grunge-a-success-story.html|title=Grunge: A Success Story|first=Rick|last=Martin| date=November 15, 1992|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The word was first recorded as being applied to Seattle musicians in July 1987 when [[Bruce Pavitt]] described [[Green River (band)|Green River]]'s ''[[Dry as a Bone]]'' EP in a [[Sub Pop]] record company catalogue as "gritty vocals, roaring Marshall amps, ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/aug/24/grunge-myths-nirvana-kurt-cobain|title=Ten myths about grunge, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain|first=Everett|last=True|work=theguardian.com|date=August 24, 2011}}</ref> Although the word "grunge" has been used to describe bands since the 1960s, this was the first association of grunge with the grinding, sludgy sound of Seattle.<ref name=anderson2007C2/><ref name=azerrad2001p365/> 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.<ref name=anderson2007C2/> This dirty sound, due to low budgets, unfamiliarity with recording, and a lack of professionalism may be the origin of the term "grunge".<ref name="Strong, Catherine 2016. p.18"/>
The "Seattle scene" refers to a regional Pacific Northwest [[alternative rock|alternative music]] movement that was linked to the [[University of Washington]] in Seattle, and [[Evergreen State College|the Evergreen State College]] in Olympia. Evergreen is a progressive college which does not use a conventional grading system and has its own radio station, [[KAOS (FM)|KAOS]]. Seattle's remoteness from Los Angeles led to a perceived purity {{Clarify|reason= "Purity" in what sense?|date=December 2024}} of its music. The music of these bands, many of which had recorded with Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop, became labeled as "grunge".<ref name="Shuker, Roy 2013. p. 182">Shuker, Roy. ''Understanding Popular Music Culture'', 4th Edition. Routledge, 2013. p. 182</ref> Nirvana's frontman [[Kurt Cobain]], in one of his final interviews, credited [[Jonathan Poneman]], cofounder of Sub Pop, with coining the term "grunge" to describe the music.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CTsGievjMU| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/3CTsGievjMU| archive-date=2021-10-29|title=One of Kurt Cobain's Final Interviews – Incl. Extremely Rare Footage| date=20 February 2017|via=youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
The term "Seattle sound" became a marketing ploy for the music industry.<ref name="Shuker, Roy 2013. p. 182" /> In September 1991, the [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] album ''[[Nevermind]]'' was released, bringing mainstream attention to the music of Seattle. Cobain loathed the word "grunge"<ref name=anderson2007C1/> and despised the new scene that was developing, feeling that record companies were signing old "[[Cock rock|cock-rock]]" bands who were pretending to be grunge and claiming to be from Seattle.<ref name=wall2016/>
Some bands associated with the genre, such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, have not been receptive to the label, preferring instead to be referred to as "[[rock and roll]]" bands.<ref>{{cite
''Rolling Stone'' noted the genre's lack of a clear definition.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/readers-poll-the-best-grunge-albums-of-all-time-20121114 |title=Readers' Poll: The Best Grunge Albums of All Time Your picks include 'Bleach,' 'Ten' and 'Temple of the Dog' |date=November 24, 2012 |magazine= Rolling Stone|access-date=February 17, 2017 }}</ref> Robert Loss acknowledges the challenges of defining "grunge";
==Musical style==
[[File:Seattle Music Scene Exhibit 3, EMP Museum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A museum exhibition of items associated with the 1990s Seattle music scene, including two Nirvana record album sleeves, a Soundgarden record sleeve, and instruments.|A museum exhibition about the Seattle music scene, with record sleeves of ''[[Nevermind]]'' and ''[[In Utero (album)|In Utero]]'' by [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]],
In 1984, the punk rock band [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]] toured small towns across the US to bring punk to the more remote parts of the country. By this time, their music had become slow and sludgy, less like the [[Sex Pistols]] and more like [[Black Sabbath]]. [[Krist Novoselic]], later the [[bassist]] with [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], recalled going with the [[Melvins]] to see one of these shows, after which Melvins frontman [[Buzz Osborne]] began writing "slow and heavy riffs" to form a [[dirge]]-like music that was the beginning of northwest grunge.<ref name=novoselic2004/> The Melvins were the most influential of the early grunge bands.<ref name=anderson2007C1/> Sub Pop producer Jack Endino described grunge as "seventies-influenced, slowed-down punk music".<ref name=kallen2012/><ref name=azerrad1992/>
Leighton Beezer, who played with [[Mark Arm]] and [[Steve Turner (guitarist)|Steve Turner]] in the Thrown Ups, state that when he heard [[Green River (band)|Green River]] play ''Come On Down'', he realized that they were playing punk rock backwards. He noted that the [[diminished fifth]] note was used by Black Sabbath to produce an ominous feeling but it is not used in punk rock. In the 1996 grunge film documentary ''[[Hype!]]'', Beezer demonstrated on guitar the difference between punk and grunge. First he played the riff from "Rockaway Beach" by [[the Ramones]] that ascends the neck of the guitar, then "Come On Down" by Green River that descends the neck. The two pieces are only a few notes apart but sound unalike.<ref name=cameron2014/><ref name=true2006/> He took the same rhythm with the same chord, however descending the neck made it sound darker, and therefore grunge.<ref name=unterberger1999/> Early grunge bands would also copy a riff from metal and slow it down, play it backwards, distort it and bury it in feedback, then shout lyrics with little melody over the top of it.<ref name=anderson2007C2/>
Grunge fuses elements of [[punk rock]] (specifically American [[hardcore punk]] such as Black Flag) and [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] (especially traditional, earlier heavy metal groups such as Black Sabbath), although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other.<ref name="
Grunge music has what has been called an "ugly" aesthetic, both in the roar of the distorted electric guitars and in the darker lyrical topics. This approach was chosen both to counter the "slick" elegant sound of the then-predominant mainstream rock and because grunge artists wanted to mirror the "ugliness" they saw around them and shine a light on unseen "depths and depravity" of the real world.<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 136">{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Felix-Jager|title= With God on Our Side: Towards a Transformational Theology of Rock and Roll|publisher= Wipf and Stock Publishers|year= 2017|page= 136}}</ref> Some key individuals in the development of the grunge sound, including [[Sub Pop]] producer [[Jack Endino]] and the [[Melvins]], described grunge's incorporation of heavy rock influences such as [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] as "musical provocation". Grunge artists considered these bands "cheesy" but nonetheless enjoyed them; Buzz Osborne of the Melvins described it as an attempt to see what ridiculous things bands could do and get away with.<ref name="Hype">Pray, D., Helvey-Pray Productions (1996). ''[[Hype!]]'' Republic Pictures.</ref> In the early-1990s, Nirvana's signature "stop-start" song format and alternating between soft and loud sections became a genre convention.<ref name="
In the book ''Accidental Revolution: The Story of Grunge'', Kyle Anderson wrote:
Line 71:
In Will Byers' article "Grunge committed a crime against music—it killed the guitar solo" in ''The Guardian'', he states that while the guitar solo managed to survive through the punk rock era, it was weakened by grunge.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://theguardian.com/music|title= Grunge committed a crime against music—it killed the guitar solo|last=Byers |first=Will |date=July 30, 2008 |newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=February 16, 2017}}</ref> He also states that when Kurt Cobain played guitar solos that were a restatement of the main vocal melody, fans realized that they did not need to be a [[Jimi Hendrix]]-level virtuoso to play the instrument; he then says this approach helped to make music feel accessible by fans in a way not seen since the 1960s folk music movement.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://andphilosophy.com/2014/12/01/grunge-and-philosophy/ |title=Grunge and Philosophy Grunge and Philosophy: What Nirvana Can Teach Us about the Philosophy of History |last=Tillman|first=Micah |date=December 2014 |publisher=Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series |access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref> The producer of Nirvana's ''Nevermind'', [[Butch Vig]], stated that this album and Nirvana "killed the guitar solo".<ref name="Gonzalez">{{cite web |url=http://newnoisemagazine.com/genre-benders-the-shabby-dirty-grunge/# |title= Genre Benders: The Shabby, Dirty Grunge|last=Gonzalez |first=Sean |date=November 20, 2015 |work=New Noise Magazine |access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref> [[Soundgarden]] guitarist [[Kim Thayil]] stated he feels in part to be responsible for the "death of the guitar solo"; he said that his [[punk rock]]er aspects made him feel that he did not want to solo, so in the 1980s, he preferred to make noise and do [[Audio feedback|feedback]] during the guitar solo.<ref name="Leslie">{{cite web |url=http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/kim-thayil/13759 |title=Kim Thayil |last=Leslie |first=Jimmy |date=July 7, 2011 |work=Guitar Player |access-date=February 25, 2017 |archive-date=June 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170605211625/http://www.guitarplayer.com/miscellaneous/1139/kim-thayil/13759 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Baeble Music calls the grunge guitar solos of the 1990s "raw", "sloppy", and "basic".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baeblemusic.com/musicblog/10-7-2015/the-top-5-guitar-solos-of-2015-so-far.html |title=The Top 5 Guitar Solos of 2015 So Far |last=Stalker-Wilde |first=Max |date=October 7, 2015 |website=baeblemusic.com |publisher=Baeble Music |access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref>
Not all sources support the "grunge killed the guitar solo" argument. Sean Gonzalez states that [[Pearl Jam]] has plentiful examples of guitar solos.<ref name="Gonzalez" /> [[Michael Azerrad]] praises the guitar playing of Mudhoney's [[Steve Turner (guitarist)|Steve Turner]], calling him the "[[Eric Clapton]] of grunge", a reference to the British blues guitarist<ref name="Azerrad">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grunge-city-the-seattle-scene-19920416 |title=Grunge City: The Seattle Scene |last=Azerrad |first=Michael |date=April 16, 1992 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref> who ''Time'' magazine has named as number five in their list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players".<ref name="Tyrangiel-Time2009-08-14">{{cite magazine |last=Tyrangiel |first=Josh |title=The 10 Greatest Electric Guitar Players |date=August 14, 2009 |magazine=Time |url=
=== Bass guitar ===
Line 85:
=== Other instruments ===
Although other instruments are generally not included in grunge, Seattle band Gorilla created controversy by breaking the "guitars only" approach and using a 1960s-style [[Vox (musical equipment)|Vox organ]] in their group.<ref>{{cite news| url=
In 2002, [[Pearl Jam]] added a keyboard player, [[Boom Gaspar|Kenneth "Boom" Gaspar]], who played [[piano]], [[Hammond organ]], and other keyboards; the addition of a keyboardist to the band would have been "inconceivable" in the band's "grungy" early years, but it shows how a group's sound can change over time.<ref>Corbett, Bernard M. and Harkins, Thomas Edward. ''Pearl Jam FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Seattle's Most Enduring Band''. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2016</ref>
Line 95:
Grunge lyrics are typically dark, [[nihilism|nihilistic]],<ref name="DiBlasi, Alex 2013. p. 520" /> wretched, [[angst]]-filled and anguished, often addressing themes such as [[social alienation]], [[doubt|self-doubt]], [[abuse]], assault, [[neglect]], [[betrayal]], [[social isolation]]/[[emotional isolation]], [[psychological trauma]], and a desire for [[Liberty|freedom]].<ref name=4volumes /><ref name=AlanisMorissette />
[[File:Jerry Cantrell 2.jpg|thumb|304x304px|[[Jerry Cantrell]] has been the lead guitarist and chief songwriter of [[Alice in Chains]] since 1987.|left]]
An article by [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] states that grunge "lyrics [were] obsessed with disenfranchisement" and described a mood of "resigned despair".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://metal.mit.edu/brief-history-metal |title=A Brief History of Metal |last=Pearlin |first=Jeffrey |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=January 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201235433/https://metal.mit.edu/brief-history-metal |url-status=dead}}</ref> Catherine Strong, in her book
A number of factors influenced the focus on such subject matter. Many grunge musicians displayed a general disenchantment with the state of society, as well as a discomfort with [[social prejudice]]s. Grunge lyrics contained "explicit political messages and ... questioning about ... society and how it might be changed."<ref>Strong, Catherine. ''Grunge: Music and Memory''. Routledge, 2016. p.5</ref> While grunge lyrics were less overtly political than punk songs, grunge songs still indicated a concern for social issues, particularly those affecting young people.<ref name="Strong, Catherine 2016. p.19" /> The main themes in grunge were "tolerance of difference", "support of women", "mistrust of authority" and "cynicism towards big corporations."<ref name="Strong, Catherine 2016. p.19" /> Grunge song themes bear similarities to those addressed by punk rock musicians.<ref name="
Grunge lyrics developed as part of "[[Generation X]] malaise", reflecting that demographic's feelings of "disillusionment and uselessness".<ref name="United States 2005. p. 359">''Music Cultures in the United States: An Introduction''. Ed. Ellen Koskoff. Routledge, 2005. p. 359</ref> Grunge songs about love were usually about "failed, boring, doomed or destructive relationships" (e.g., "[[Black (Pearl Jam song)|Black]]" by Pearl Jam).<ref name="Strong, Catherine 2016. p.19" /> The [[Alice in Chains]] songs "Sickman", "Junkhead", "God Smack", and "[[Hate to Feel]]" have references to [[heroin]].<ref>Liner notes, [[Music Bank (album)|Music Bank box set]]. [[Columbia Records|Columbia]]. 1999.</ref><ref name=lyrics>{{cite web|url=http://users.stargate.net/~holliday/INT1.HTM |title=Alice In Chains – Digging Dirt |via=Users.stargate.net |work=RIP Magazine |date=February 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031014101619/http://users.stargate.net/~holliday/INT1.HTM|archive-date=October 14, 2003|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> Grunge lyrics tended to be more introspective and aimed to enable the listener to see into "hidden" personal issues and examine the "depravity" of the world.<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 136" /> This approach can be seen in [[Mudhoney]]'s song "[[Touch Me I'm Sick]]", which includes lyrics with "deranged imagery" which depict a "broken world and a fragmented self-image"; the song includes the lines "I feel bad, and I've felt worse" and "I won't live long and I'm full of rot".<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 135" /> Nirvana's song "[[Lithium (Nirvana song)|Lithium]]", from their 1991 album ''[[Nevermind]]'', is about a "man who finds faith after his girlfriend's suicide"; it depicts "irony and ugliness" as a way of dealing with these "dark issues".<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 136" />
== Recording production ==
Like punk, grunge's sound came from a [[Lo-fi music|lo fi]] (low fidelity) recording and production approach.<ref name="Felix-Jager, Steven 2017. p. 135" /> Before the arrival of major labels, early grunge albums were recorded using low-budget analogue studios: "Nirvana's first album ''[[Bleach (Nirvana album)|Bleach]]'', was recorded for $606.17 in 1989."<ref name="Marin">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/style/grunge-a-success-story.html?pagewanted=all|title=Grunge: A Success Story |last=Marin |first=Rick |date=November 15, 1992 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=January 29, 2017 }}</ref> [[Sub Pop]] recorded most of their music at a "low-rent studio named [[Reciprocal Recording|Reciprocal]]", where producer [[Jack Endino]] created the grunge genre's aesthetic, a "raw and unpolished sound with [[distortion (music)|distortion]], but usually without any added [[effects unit|studio effects]]".<ref>Clapp, Edward P. ''Participatory Creativity: Introducing Access and Equity to the Creative Classroom''. Routledge, 2016.</ref> Endino is known for his stripped-down recording practices and his dislike of 'over-producing' music with [[effects units|effects]] and [[audio mastering|remastering]]. His work on Soundgarden's ''[[Screaming Life]]'' and Nirvana's ''Bleach'' as well as for the bands [[Green River (band)|Green River]], [[Screaming Trees]], [[L7 (band)|L7]], [[the Gits]], [[Hole (band)|Hole]], [[7 Year Bitch]], and [[Tad (band)|
[[Steve Albini]] was another important influence on the grunge sound. Albini
Nirvana's ''[[In Utero (album)|In Utero]]'' is a typical example of Albini's recording approach. He preferred to have the entire band play live in the studio, rather than use mainstream rock's approach of recording each instrument on a separate track at different times, and then mixing them using [[multi-track recording]].{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} While multitracking results in a more polished product, it does not capture the "live" sound of the band playing together. Albini used a range of different microphones for the vocals and instruments. Like most metal and punk recording engineers, he mics the guitar amp speakers and bass amp speakers to capture each performer's unique tone.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}
Line 131:
====Adoption by mainstream====
Grunge music hit the mainstream in the early 1990s with bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana being signed to major record labels. Grunge fashion began to break into mainstream fashion in mid-1992 for both sexes and peaked in late 1993 and early 1994.<ref name="1990sTrends" /><ref name="1994InReview">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171387/Fashion-and-Dress-Year-In-Review-1994 |title=Fashion and Dress: Year In Review 1994 |access-date=March 17, 2015}}</ref><ref name="HitsNMisses94">{{cite web|url=
In the same year, ''Vogue'' did a spread called "Grunge & Glory" with fashion photographer [[Steven Meisel]] who shot supermodels [[Kristen McMenamy]], [[Naomi Campbell]], and [[Nadja Auermann]] in a savanna landscape wearing grunge-styled clothing.<ref>{{cite web |title=Marc Jacobs – Voguepedia |url=http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Marc_Jacobs |website=Vogue.com |access-date=10 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719161512/http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Marc_Jacobs |archive-date=19 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brecher |first1=Media |title=Lily McMenamy On Following Her Model Mom's Lead |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/lily-mcmenamy?slide=1 |access-date=10 December 2021 |work=Teen Vogue |date=5 February 2013}}</ref> This shoot made McMenamy the face for grunge, as she had her eyebrows shaved and her hair cropped short. Designers like [[Christian Lacroix]], [[Donna Karen]] and [[Karl Lagerfeld]] incorporated the grunge influence into their looks.<ref name="Worsley" /> In 1993, James Truman, editor of ''[[Details (magazine)|Details]]'', said: "to me the thing about grunge is it's not anti-fashion, it's unfashion. Punk was anti-fashion. It made a statement. Grunge is about not making a statement, which is why it's crazy for it to become a fashion statement."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/style/grunge-a-success-story.html?pagewanted=all|title=Grunge: A Success Story.|last=Marin|first=Rick|work=The New York Times |date=November 15, 1992}}</ref> The unkempt fashion sense defined the look of the "slacker generation", who "skipped school, smoked pot ... [and] cigarettes and listened to music" hoping to become a [[Celebrity|rock star]] one day.<ref name="Rise" />
=== 2000s–2010s ===
Even though
==Alcohol and drugs==
Line 142:
Many music subcultures are associated with particular drugs, such as the [[hippie]] [[counterculture]] and [[reggae]], both of which are associated with [[marijuana]] and psychedelics. In the 1990s, the media focused on the use of heroin by musicians in the Seattle grunge scene, with a 1992 ''New York Times'' article listing the city's "three principal drugs" as "[[espresso]], beer and heroin"<ref name="Marin" /> and a 1996 article calling Seattle's grunge scene the "... subculture that has most strongly embraced heroin".<ref name="heroin">{{cite web |url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/heroin.html |title='Rock 'n' Horse: Rock's Heroin Connection |last=Dasein |first=Deena |date=December 1996 |publisher=Perfect Sound Forever |access-date=January 29, 2017 }}</ref> [[Tim Jonze]] from ''The Guardian'' states that "... heroin had blighted the [grunge] scene ever since its inception in the mid-80s" and he argues that the "... involvement of heroin mirrors the self-hating, [[Nihilism|nihilistic]] aspect to the music"; in addition to the heroin deaths, Jonze points out that [[Stone Temple Pilots]]' [[Scott Weiland]], as well as [[Courtney Love]], [[Mark Lanegan]], [[Jimmy Chamberlin]] and [[Evan Dando]] "... all had their run-ins with the drug, but lived to tell the tale."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/mar/10/deadliest-music-genre-grunge-mike-starr |title=Mike Starr and the deadliest musical genre Another grunge star has died young. Tim Jonze asks: is it the most lethal genre?|last=Jonze|first=Tim|date=March 10, 2011 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=February 6, 2017 }}</ref> A 2014 book stated that whereas in the 1980s, people used the "stimulant" [[cocaine]] to socialize and "... celebrate good times", in the 1990s grunge scene, the "depressant" heroin was used to "retreat" into a "cocoon" and be "... sheltered from a harsh and unforgiving world which offered ... few prospects for ... change or hope."<ref name="Marion p. 888">Marion, Nancy E and Oliver, Willard M. ''Drugs in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture. and the Law''. ABC-CLIO, 2014 . p. 888.</ref> Justin Henderson states that all of the "downer" opiates, including "heroin, [[morphine]], [[etorphine]], [[codeine]], [[opium]], [and] [[hydrocodone]] ... seemed to be the habit of choice for many a grunger".<ref name="auto">Henderson, Justin. ''Grunge: Seattle''. Roaring Forties Press, 2016. Ch. 5 "the really big time", section: "here come the tabloids!"</ref>
The title of Nirvana's debut album ''[[Bleach (Nirvana album)|Bleach]]'' was inspired by a [[harm reduction]] poster aimed at heroin injection users, which stated "Bleach your works [e.g., [[syringe]] and [[Hypodermic needle|needle]]] before you get stoned". The poster was released by the U.S. State Health Department which was trying to reduce [[AIDS]] transmission caused through sharing used needles. Alice in Chains' song "God Smack" includes the line "stick your arm for some real fun", a reference to injecting heroin.<ref name=heroin /> Seattle musicians known to use heroin included Cobain, who was using "heroin when he shot himself in the head"; "[[Andrew Wood (singer)|Andrew Wood]] of [[Mother Love Bone]] [who] overdosed on heroin in 1990"; "[[Stefanie Sargent]] of [[7 Year Bitch]] [who] died of an overdose of the same opiate in 1992 ... [and] [[Layne Staley]] of Alice in Chains [who] publicly detailed his battles with heroin ...".<ref name=seattletimes>{{cite news |url=
However, [[Daniel House (musician)|Daniel House]], who owned [[C/Z Records]], disputed these perceptions in 1994. House stated that there was "... no more (heroin) here [in Seattle] than anyplace else"; he stated that the "heroin is not a big part of the [Seattle music] culture", and that "marijuana and alcohol ... are far more prevalent". Jeff Gilbert, one of the editors of ''Guitar World'' magazine, stated in 1994 that the media association of the Seattle grunge scene with heroin was "really overblown"; instead, he says that Seattle musicians were "... all a bunch of potheads."<ref name=seattletimes /> Gil Troy's history of America in the 1990s states that in the Seattle grunge scene, the "... drug of choice switched from upscale cocaine [of the 1980s] to blue-collar marijuana."<ref>Troy, Gil. ''The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s''.Macmillan, 2015. p. 105</ref> ''Rolling Stone'' magazine reported that members of Seattle's grunge scene were "coffee-crazed" by day on espresso and "... by night, they quaff[ed] oceans of beer – jolted by Java and looped with liquor, no wonder the [grunge] music sounds like it does."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/grunge-city-the-seattle-scene-19920416 |title=Grunge City: The Seattle Scene |author=Azzerad, Michael |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=April 16, 1992 }}</ref> "Some [Seattle] scene veterans maintain that [[3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine|MDA]]", a drug related to [[MDMA|Ecstasy]], "was a vital contributor to grunge", because it gave users a "body high" (in contrast to marijuana's "head high") that made them appreciate "bass-heavy [[Groove (music)|grooves]]".<ref>SPIN. Apr 2004 – Page 65. Vol. 20, No. 4</ref> Pat Long's '' History of the NME'' states that scene members involved with the Sub Pop label would have multi-day MDMA parties in the woods, which shows that what Long calls Ecstasy's "warm glow" had an impact even in the wet, grey and isolated Pacific Northwest region.<ref>Long, Pat. ''The History of the NME: High times and low lives at the world's most famous music magazine''. Pavilion Books, 2012.</ref>
Line 155:
== Literature ==
=== Zines ===
Following the tradition in the 1980s US punk subculture of amateur, fan-produced [[zine]]s, members of the grunge scene also produced [[DIY]] publications which were "distributed at gigs or by mail order". The zines were typically photocopied and contained handwritten, "hand-colored pages", "typing errors and grammatical mistakes, misspellings and jumbled pagination", all proof of their amateur nature.<ref name="Leonard, Marion 2007. p. 140">Leonard, Marion. ''Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse and Girl Power''. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. p. 140</ref> ''Backlash'' was a zine that was published from 1987 to 1991 by Dawn Anderson, covering the "dirtier, heavier, more underground and rock side of Seattle's music scene", including "punk, metal, underground rock, grunge before it was called grunge and even some local hip-hop."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://10thingszine.blogspot.ca/2009/02/dawn-andersons-backlash-fanzine.html|title=Backlash fanzine!|website=10thingszine.blogspot.ca|access-date=January 18, 2018|date=2009-02-19}}</ref> ''Grunge Gerl #1'' was one early 1990s grunge zine
=== Local newspapers ===
Line 170:
Riot Grrrl pioneer and [[Bikini Kill]] frontwoman [[Kathleen Hanna]] was the source for the name of Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough single, "[[Smells Like Teen Spirit]]", a reference to a [[Teen Spirit (deodorant)|deodorant]] marketed specifically to young women.<ref>Azerrad, Michael. ''Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana''. Doubleday, 1994. {{ISBN|0-385-47199-8}}, pp. 211–212</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWO4JnP2T40 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/xWO4JnP2T40| archive-date=2021-10-29|title=A performance at Joes Pub in NYC, where Hanna tells the story of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" |publisher=Youtube.com |date=December 15, 2010 |access-date=June 27, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Notable women instrumentalists include the bassists [[D'arcy Wretzky]] and [[Melissa Auf der Maur]] from [[the Smashing Pumpkins]], and drummers [[Patty Schemel]] of [[Hole (band)|Hole]] and [[Lori Barbero]] of [[Babes in Toyland (band)|Babes in Toyland]].<ref name="90srock.about.com">{{cite web|url=http://90srock.about.com/od/top-picks/tp/The-Greatest-Drummers-of-the-90s.htm|title=The 10 Greatest Drummers of the '90s|access-date=January 18, 2018|archive-date=February 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031618/http://90srock.about.com/od/top-picks/tp/The-Greatest-Drummers-of-the-90s.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The inclusion of women instrumentalists in grunge is notable, because professional [[Women in music#Popular music|women instrumentalists]] are uncommon in most rock genres.<ref>Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in ''IASPM Journal''. Vol.4, no.1 (2014) p. 101-102</ref>
[[Bam Bam (Seattle band)|Bam Bam]],<ref name="bam bam">{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Jade Yamazaki |date=July 8, 2021 |title=Before Nirvana or Pearl Jam, there was Tina Bell, the godmother of grunge. Musicians pay tribute in upcoming concert |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/before-nirvana-or-pearl-jam-there-was-tina-bell-the-black-godmother-of-grunge-musicians-pay-tribute-in-upcoming-concert/ |website=The Seattle Times}}</ref> formed in Seattle in 1983, was fronted by an African American woman named [[Tina Bell]], breaking the norm of what was predominantly a White dominated scene.<ref name="AS">{{Cite web |last=Uitti |first=Jacob |date=September 8, 2021 |title=Did Tina Bell Help Invent Grunge? |url=https://americansongwriter.com/did-tina-bell-help-invent-grunge/ |website=American Songwriter}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pleasekillme.com/bam-bam-tina-bell/|title=Tina Bell's Hidden Legacy: The Black Woman Who Created the Sound of Grunge|date=September 3, 2020}}</ref><ref name="cbs news">{{Cite web |date=September 7, 2021 |title=African American woman who led a grunge forerunner gets her moment of long-overdue recognition |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/video/african-american-woman-who-led-a-grunge-forerunner-gets-her-moment-of-long-overdue-recognition/ |website=CBS News}}</ref> Bam Bam also included future [[Soundgarden]] and [[Pearl Jam]] drummer [[Matt Cameron]].<ref name="bam bam"/> [[Kurt Cobain]] was a roadie for Bam Bam before he was famous;
Women also played active non-musician roles in the underground grunge scene, such as riot grrrls who produced [[zines]] about grunge bands and indie record labels (e.g., ''Grunge Gerl #1'') and writer Dawn Anderson of the Seattle fanzine ''Backlash'' which supported many local bands before they achieved greater fame.<ref name="Hype" /> Tina Casale was the co-founder of [[C/Z Records]] in the 1980s (along with Chris Hanzsek), a Seattle indie label that released the seminal grunge compilation ''[[Deep Six (album)|Deep Six]]'' in 1986.
[[Susan Silver]] was the first female manager of the Seattle music scene. She started her career in 1983 and managed several bands such as [[the U-Men]], [[Soundgarden]], [[Alice in Chains]] and [[Screaming Trees]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/ssilver.shtml |title=Susan Silver |work=Stargate |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602235157/http://web.stargate.net/soundgarden/misc/ssilver.shtml |archive-date=June 2, 2017 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 1991, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' called Silver "the most powerful figure in local rock management".<ref>{{cite web |url=
==History==
Line 183:
Grunge's sound partly resulted from [[Seattle music scene|Seattle's isolation]] from other music scenes. As Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman noted, "Seattle was a perfect example of a secondary city with an active music scene that was completely ignored by an American media fixated on Los Angeles and New York [City]."<ref>Aston, Martin. "Freak Scene". ''Q: Nirvana and the Story of Grunge''. December 2005. p. 12.</ref> Mark Arm claimed that the isolation meant, "this one corner of the map was being really inbred and ripping off each other's ideas".<ref>[[Mick Wall|Wall, Mick]]. "Northwest Passage". ''Q: Nirvana and the Story of Grunge''. December 2005. p. 9.</ref> Seattle "was a remote and provincial city" in the 1980s; Bruce Pavitt states that the city was "very working class", a place of deprivation, and so the scene's "whole aesthetic – work clothes, thriftstore truckers' hats, pawnshop guitars" was not just a style, it was done because Seattle "was very poor."<ref name="Hunter-Tilney">{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/32fd8cf0-b42c-11e3-a102-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/32fd8cf0-b42c-11e3-a102-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=What Kurt Cobain teaches us about the American way of failure |last=Hunter-Tilney |first=Ludovic |date=March 28, 2014 |newspaper=Financial Times|access-date=February 12, 2017}}</ref> Indeed, when "''[[Nevermind]]'' reached number one in the U.S. charts, Cobain was living in a car."<ref name="Hunter-Tilney" />
Bands began to mix metal and punk in the Seattle music scene around 1984, with much of the credit for this fusion going to [[the U-Men]].<ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 418.</ref> However, some critics have noted that in spite of the U-Men's canonical place as original grunge progenitors, that their sound was less indebted to heavy metal and much more akin to {{nowrap|post-punk.}} However the idiosyncrasy of the band may have been the bigger inspiration, more than the aesthetics themselves.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/u-men-mw0003104006 |title=U-Men – U-Men
Outside the Pacific Northwest, a number of artists and music scenes influenced grunge. Alternative rock bands from the Northeastern United States, including [[Sonic Youth]], [[Pixies (band)|Pixies]], and [[Dinosaur Jr.]], are important influences on the genre. Through their patronage of Seattle bands, Sonic Youth "inadvertently nurtured" the grunge scene, and reinforced the fiercely independent attitudes of its musicians.<ref>Everley, Dave. "Daydream Nation". ''Q: Nirvana and the Story of Grunge''. December 2005. p. 39.</ref> Nirvana introduced into the Seattle scene the noise-inflected influences of [[Scratch Acid]] and the [[Butthole Surfers]].<ref name="Gina Misiroglu 2015. p. 343" /><ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 439.</ref>
Line 201:
===1985–1991: Early development and rise in popularity===
[[File:Green River (1980s Sub Pop promo photo).jpg|thumb|left|Seattle grunge pioneers [[Green River (band)|Green River]]]]
In 1985, the band [[Green River (band)|Green River]] released their debut EP ''[[Come on Down (EP)|Come on Down]]'', which is cited by many as being the first grunge record.<ref
Early grunge concerts were sparsely attended (many by fewer than a dozen people) but Sub Pop photographer [[Charles Peterson (photographer)|Charles Peterson]]'s pictures helped create the impression that such concerts were major events.<ref>Azerrad (2001), pp. 421–22.</ref> Mudhoney, which was formed by former members of Green River, served as the flagship band of Sub Pop during their entire time with the label and spearheaded the Seattle grunge movement.<ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 411.</ref> Other record labels in the Pacific Northwest that helped promote grunge included C/Z Records, [[Estrus Records]], EMpTy Records and [[PopLlama Records]].<ref name="Hype" />
Line 228:
Nirvana's follow-up album ''[[In Utero (album)|In Utero]]'' (1993) featured an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist [[Krist Novoselic]] described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record".<ref>DeRogatis, Jim. ''Milk It!: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the 90's''. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2003. {{ISBN|0-306-81271-1}}, p. 18.</ref> Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993, ''In Utero'' topped the ''Billboard'' charts.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=October 8, 1993 |title=In Numero Uno |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,308282,00.html |access-date=September 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004211114/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C308282%2C00.html |archive-date=October 4, 2007 }}</ref> In 1996, ''In Utero'' was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=In Utero|artist=Nirvana}} Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, ''[[Vs. (Pearl Jam album)|Vs.]]'' (1993). The album sold a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release, topped the ''Billboard'' charts, and outperformed all other entries in the top ten that week combined.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://ew.com/article/1993/11/19/pearls-jam/ | title=Pearl's Jam | magazine=Entertainment Weekly | date=November 19, 1993 | access-date=August 29, 2007 | first=Nisid | last=Hajari | archive-date=October 14, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014195855/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,308749,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1993, the grunge band [[Candlebox]] released their [[Candlebox (album)|self-titled album]], which was certified {{nowrap|4× platinum}} by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=Candlebox|artist=Candlebox}} In February 1994, Alice in Chains' EP, ''[[Jar of Flies]]'' peaked at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart.<ref name="AliceinChainsBillboard200">[https://www.billboard.com/artist/278597/alice-chains/chart?f=305 Alice in Chains – Billboard 200 chart history] billboard.com. Retrieved August 1, 2016.</ref> Soundgarden's album ''[[Superunknown]]'', which was also released in 1994, peaked at number 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart,<ref>[https://www.billboard.com/artist/279997/soundgarden/chart?f=305 Soundgarden – Billboard 200 chart history] billboard.com. Retrieved August 1, 2016.</ref> and was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=Superunknown|artist=Soundgarden}} In 1995, Alice in Chains' [[Alice in Chains (album)|self-titled album]] became their second number 1 album on the ''Billboard'' 200,<ref name="AliceinChainsBillboard200" /> and was certified 2× platinum.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=Alice in Chains|artist=Alice in Chains}}
At the height of grunge's commercial success in the early 1990s, the commercial success of grunge put record labels on a nationwide search for undiscovered talent to promote. This included [[San Diego]], [[California]]–based [[Stone Temple Pilots]],<ref name="Loudwire STP">{{cite magazine |url=http://loudwire.com/best-grunge-bands/ |title=10 Best Grunge Bands of All Time |last=Childers |first=Chad |magazine=[[Loudwire]] |access-date=July 22, 2016 |quote=Could grunge grow outside of Seattle? That was the question in 1992, when San Diego-based rockers Stone Temple Pilots arrived with their 'Core' album, leading the second wave of grunge.}}</ref> Texas-based [[Tripping Daisy]]<ref name="
During this period, grunge bands that were not from Seattle were often panned by critics, who accused them of being bandwagon-jumpers; [[Stone Temple Pilots]] and [[Bush (British band)|Bush]] in particular fell victim to this. In a January 1994 ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' poll, [[Stone Temple Pilots]] was simultaneously voted "Best New Band" by ''Rolling Stone''{{'s}} readers and "Worst New Band" by the magazine's music critics, highlighting the disparity between critics and fans.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/04/scott-weiland-stone-temple-pilots-2008 |title=Rebuilding the Temple: Inside Stone Temple Pilots' 2008 Comeback |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |last=Greenblatt |first=Leah |date=December 4, 2015}}</ref> Stone Temple Pilots became very popular; their album ''[[Core (Stone Temple Pilots album)|Core]]'' was certified 8× platinum by RIAA{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=Core|artist=Stone Temple Pilots}} and their album ''[[Purple (Stone Temple Pilots album)|Purple]]'' was certified 6× platinum by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|region=United States|type=album|title=Purple|artist=Stone Temple Pilots}} The British post-grunge band [[Bush (British band)|Bush]] released their debut album ''Sixteen Stone'' in 1994.<ref name=SixteenStoneAllMusic>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/sixteen-stone-mw0000125267 |title=Sixteen Stone – Bush |author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas |author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> In a review of their second album ''[[Razorblade Suitcase]]'', ''Rolling Stone'' criticized the album and called Bush "the most successful and shameless mimics of Nirvana's music".<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Matt |last=Diehl |title=Bush – Razorblade Suitcase |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bush/albums/album/242869/review/5944129/razorblade_suitcase |date=November 13, 1996 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216075712/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bush/albums/album/242869/review/5944129/razorblade_suitcase |archive-date=February 16, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the book ''Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota'', [[Chuck Klosterman]] wrote, "Bush was a good band who just happened to signal the beginning of the end; ultimately, they would become the grunge [[Warrant (American band)|Warrant]]".{{sfn|Klosterman|2007|p=240}}
Line 237:
In Jason Heller's 2013 article "Did grunge really matter?", in ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', he stated that Nirvana's ''[[In Utero (album)|In Utero]]'' (September 1993) was "grunge's death knell. As soon as Cobain grumbled, 'Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I'm bored and old,' it was all over."<ref name=avclub>{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/article/did-grunge-really-matter-105354 |title=Did grunge really matter? |last=Heller |first=Jason |date=November 11, 2013 |work=The A.V. Club |access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> Heller states that after Cobain's death in 1994, the "hypocrisy" in the grunge of the time "became ... glaring" and "idealism became embarrassing", with the result being that "grunge became the new [mainstream] [[Aerosmith]]".<ref name=avclub /> Heller states that "grunge became an evolutionary dead end", because "it stood for nothing and was built on nothing, and that ethos of negation was all it was about."<ref name=avclub />
During the mid-1990s, many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound; Nirvana summarily disbanded. After Cobain's death, Bruce Hardy wrote in ''Time'' magazine that he was "the [[John Lennon]] of the swinging Northwest", that he had struggled with a heroin addiction, and claimed that during the last weeks of his life there had been rumors in the music industry that Cobain had suffered a drug overdose and that Nirvana was breaking up.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Handy, Bruce |date=April 18, 1994 |title=Never mind |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980562,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050120134611/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980562,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 20, 2005 |access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref> Cobain's suicide "served as a catalyst for grunge's ... demise", because it "deflated the energy from grunge and provided the opening for saccharine and corporate-formulated music to regain" its lost footing."<ref name="Batchelor">{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/feature/148553-smells-like-mtv-music-video-and-the-rise-of-grunge/ |title=Smells Like MTV: Music Video and the Rise of Grunge |last=Batchelor |first=Bob |date=September 26, 2011 |website=popmatters.com |publisher=PopMatters |access-date=March 11, 2017}}</ref>
That same year Pearl Jam canceled its summer tour in protest of ticket vendor [[Ticketmaster]]'s unfair business practices.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Gordinier, Jeff |date=October 28, 1994 |title=The Brawls in Their Courts |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://ew.com/article/1994/10/28/brawls-their-courts/ |access-date=September 8, 2007 |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129040704/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,304203,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Pearl Jam then began a boycott of the company; however, Pearl Jam's initiative to play only at non-Ticketmaster venues effectively, with a few exceptions, prevented the band from playing shows in the United States for the next three years.<ref>DeRogatis, p. 65.</ref> In 1996, Alice in Chains gave their final performances with their ailing and estranged lead singer, [[Layne Staley]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.casinoballroom.com/event-detail.php?event=94 |title=Alice in Chains – Sold Out |publisher=[[Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130054834/http://www.casinoballroom.com/event-detail.php?event=94 |archive-date= November 30, 2007}}</ref> who subsequently died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1470138/late-alice-in-chains-singer-layne-staleys-last-interview-revealed-in-new-book/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140428102355/http://www.mtv.com/news/1470138/late-alice-in-chains-singer-layne-staleys-last-interview-revealed-in-new-book/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 28, 2014 |title=Late Alice In Chains Singer Layne Staley's Last Interview Revealed In New Book |publisher=MTV |last=Wiederhorn |first=Jon |date=February 25, 2003}}</ref> In 1996, Soundgarden and Screaming Trees released their final studio albums of the 1990s, ''[[Down on the Upside]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/down-on-the-upside-mw0000647977 |title=Down on the Upside – Soundgarden |publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> and ''[[Dust (Screaming Trees album)|Dust]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dust-mw0000184238 |title=Dust – Screaming Trees |publisher=AllMusic}}</ref> respectively. Strong states that Roy Shuker and Stout have written that the "end of grunge" can be seen as being "as late as the breakup of Soundgarden in 1997".<ref name="Strong, Catherine 2016. p.55" />
Line 246:
{{Main|Post-grunge}}
During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by [[post-grunge]], which remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century. Post-grunge "... transformed the thick guitar sounds and candid lyrical themes of the Seattle bands into an accessible, often uplifting mainstream aesthetic".<ref name=liveabout>{{cite web |url=https://www.liveabout.com/post-grunge-defined-2898292 |title=The History of Post-Grunge Rock |last=Grierson |first=Tim |publisher=Live About}}</ref> These artists were seen as lacking the underground roots of grunge and were largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely "a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock". {{nowrap|Post-grunge}} was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production.<ref name="aboutpostgrunge" />{{better source needed|reason=[[WP:ALLMUSIC]] dubious for anything other than entertainment reviews with attribution|date=April 2021}}<ref name="
In 1995, ''SPIN'' writer Charles Aaron stated that with grunge "spent", [[pop punk]] in a slump, [[Britpop]] a "giddy memory" and album-oriented rock over, the music industry turned to "Corporate[-produced] Alternative", which he calls "soundalike fake grunge" or "scrunge".<ref name="Charles, Aaron 1995. p. 131">Charles, Aaron. "Singles". SPIN. November 1995. p. 131</ref> Bands Aaron lists as "scrunge" groups include: [[Better Than Ezra]]; Bush; [[Collective Soul]]; [[Garbage (band)|Garbage]]; [[Hootie & the Blowfish]]; [[Hum (band)|Hum]]; [[Silverchair]]; [[Sponge (band)|Sponge]]; [[Tripping Daisy]]; [[Jennifer Trynin]] and [[Weezer]]; Aaron includes the [[Foo Fighters]] in his list, but states that [[Dave Grohl]] avoided becoming a "scrunge fall gu[y]" by combining 1980s [[hardcore punk]] with 1970s arena trash music in his post-Nirvana group.<ref name="Charles, Aaron 1995. p. 131" /> Bands described as grunge like Bush<ref name=Newsobserver>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article11312237.html |title=Gavin Rossdale brings '90s grunge band Bush to Raleigh |newspaper=[[The News & Observer]] |last=Condran |first=Ed |date=February 26, 2015}}</ref><ref name=USClubGigs>{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/514554/bush-to-play-us-club-gigs/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331084027/http://www.mtv.com/news/514554/bush-to-play-us-club-gigs/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 31, 2016 |title=Bush To Play U.S. Club Gigs |publisher=MTV |last=Kaufman |first=Gil |date=June 2, 1999}}</ref><ref name="Graff 1996">{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]] |last=Graff |first=Gary |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-7876-1037-1 |quote=Probably the most well-known grunge band to come out of England, Bush exploded onto the American music scene in 1994 with Sixteen Stone. |url=https://archive.org/details/musichoundrockes0000unse }}</ref> and Candlebox<ref
====Reaction by Britpop====
{{Main|Britpop}}
[[File:Oasis-band-concert-Montreal-Canada-Aug2002.jpg|thumb|left|235px|alt=A rock band, Oasis, performing onstage in front of a large projection screen with images on it. Four members are wearing guitars strapped to them.|Britpop band Oasis performing in Canada in 2002]]
Conversely, another [[rock music|rock]] genre, [[Britpop]], emerged in part as a reaction against the dominance of grunge in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the dourness of grunge, Britpop was defined by "youthful exuberance and desire for recognition".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/britpop-ma0000002480 |title=Britpop |work=
Britpop artists were vocal about their disdain for grunge. In a 1993 ''[[NME]]'' interview, [[Damon Albarn]] of Britpop band [[Blur (band)|Blur]] agreed with interviewer [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]]' assertion that Blur was an "anti-grunge band", and said, "Well, that's good. If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge" (ironically Kurt Cobain once cited Blur as his favorite band).<ref>[[John Harris (critic)|Harris, John]]. "A shite sports car and a punk reincarnation". ''[[NME]]''. April 10, 1993.</ref> [[Noel Gallagher]] of [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], while a fan of Nirvana, wrote music that refuted the pessimistic nature of grunge. Gallagher noted in 2006 that the 1994 Oasis single "[[Live Forever (Oasis song)|Live Forever]]" "was written in the middle of grunge and all that, and I remember Nirvana had a tune called 'I Hate Myself and I Want to Die,' and I was like ... 'Well, I'm not fucking having that.' As much as I fucking like him [Cobain] and all that shit, I'm not having that. I can't have people like that coming over here, on [[heroin|smack]] [heroin], fucking saying that they hate themselves and they wanna die. That's fucking rubbish."<ref>"Lock the Door". ''Stop the Clocks'' [bonus DVD]. Columbia, 2006.</ref> In an interview during [[Pinkpop Festival|Pinkpop Festival 2000]], Oasis' [[Liam Gallagher]] attacked [[Pearl Jam]], who were also performing, criticizing their depressing lyrical content and writing them off as "rubbish".<ref>{{Citation|title=Liam Gallagher interview @ Pinkpop 2000 (2)| date=31 October 2007 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBiqYlV5nDg| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/ZBiqYlV5nDg| archive-date=2021-10-29|language=en|access-date=2021-04-02}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
Line 264:
====Grunge revivals====
Many major grunge bands continued recording and touring with success in the 2000s and 2010s. Perhaps the most notable grunge act of the 21st century has been [[Pearl Jam]]. In 2006, ''Rolling Stone'' writer Brian Hiatt described Pearl Jam as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame", he noted the band developed a loyal concert following akin to that of the [[Grateful Dead]].<ref name="secondcoming">{{cite magazine |author=Hiatt, Brian |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/pearl_jam_the_second_coming |title=The Second Coming of Pearl Jam |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=June 16, 2006 |access-date=June 22, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823234208/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/pearl_jam_the_second_coming |archive-date=August 23, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> They saw a return to wide commercial success with 2006's [[Pearl Jam (album)|''Pearl Jam'']], 2009's ''[[Backspacer]]'' and 2013's ''[[Lightning Bolt (Pearl Jam album)|Lightning Bolt]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/328459/pearl-jam/chart|title=Pearl Jam – Chart history |magazine=Billboard|access-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref> Alice In Chains reformed for a handful of reunion dates in 2005 with several different vocalists replacing Layne Staley. Eventually settling on [[William DuVall]] as Staley's replacement, in 2009 they released ''[[Black Gives Way to Blue]],'' their first record in 14 years. The band's 2013 release, ''[[The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here]]'', reached number 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200.<ref>{{cite magazine |url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=Alice In Chains|chart=Billboard 200}} |title=Alice In Chains – Chart history: ''Billboard'' 200 |magazine=Billboard |publisher=Prometheus Global Media |access-date=October 1, 2013}}</ref> Soundgarden reformed in 2010 and released their album ''[[King Animal]]'' two years later which reached the top five of the national albums charts in Denmark, New Zealand, and the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://acharts.us/album/74435 |title=King Animal by Soundgarden – Music Charts |website=Acharts.us |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd joined [[Alain Johannes]] (Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven), Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and [[Dimitri Coats]] (Off!) to form side project Ten Commandos in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tencommandos.net/ |title=Ten Commandos |publisher=Ten Commandos |access-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116090535/http://www.tencommandos.net/ |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Despite Kurt Cobain's death, the remaining members of Nirvana have continued to be successful posthumously. Due to the high sales for Kurt Cobain's ''[[Journals (Cobain)|Journals]]'' and the band's best-of compilation ''[[Nirvana (Nirvana album)|Nirvana]]'' upon their releases in 2002, ''The New York Times'' argued Nirvana "are having more success now than at any point since Mr. Cobain's suicide in 1994."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C03E6DE1431F930A25752C0A9659C8B63|title=Nine Years After Cobain's Death, Big Sales for All Things Nirvana|author=Nelson, Chris|date=January 13, 2003|access-date=August 29, 2007|newspaper=nytimes.com}}</ref> This trend has continued through the century's second decade, with the reissuing of the band's discography and release of the authorized documentary ''[[Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Morgen|first=Brett|title=Cobain: Montage of Heck|date=May 4, 2015|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4229236/|access-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref> In 2012, the surviving members of Nirvana re-united, with [[Paul McCartney]] in place of Cobain, to record a track for the soundtrack Dave Grohl's documentary ''[[Sound City (film)|Sound City]]'' titled "Cut Me Some Slack".<ref>{{Citation|last=nevadch|title=Nirvana & Paul McCartney – Cut Me Some Slack [Live] [HD 720p]|date=December 14, 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a8j_LEryAs| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/7a8j_LEryAs| archive-date=2021-10-29|access-date=December 5, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
Line 271:
[[File:Courtney Barnett at Rough Trade.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A female singer and guitarist performing onstage. She is singing into a microphone while playing electric guitar.|Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist [[Courtney Barnett]] in 2015]]
In the early 2000s, grunge would make multiple regionally based resurgences, albeit minor ones. In 2005, ''[[The Seattle Times]]'' made note of {{nowrap|grunge-influenced}} groups returning in the Seattle scene.<ref>{{cite news |author=Scanlon, Tom |url=
The 2010s have birthed a number of bands influenced by grunge. Unlike their forebears, some of these acts ascribe the label to themselves willingly. Many acts have been noted for affiliating and/or collaborating with prominent figures from the original alternative rock era. [[Steve Albini]] has produced for or worked with members of bands such as [[Bully (band)|Bully]],<ref>{{cite web|first=Bryn |last=Lovitt |url=http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/new-music/bully-i-remember |title=Bully, "I Remember" | New Music |work=Impose Magazine |date=March 17, 2015 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://indieunderground.ca/indie-music/new-music-bully-trying-grunge-rock-alternative.html |title=New Music: BULLY – "Trying" (Grunge / Rock / Alternative) | Indie Underground |website=Indieunderground.ca |date=May 26, 2015 |access-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720165723/http://indieunderground.ca/indie-music/new-music-bully-trying-grunge-rock-alternative.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Vomitface,<ref>{{cite news |last=Laban |first=Linda |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/vomitface-are-literally-dissatisfied-with-everything-but-jesus-teen-mom-and-music-7711741 |title=Vomitface Are 'Literally Dissatisfied With Everything' but Jesus, 'Teen Mom' & Music |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=September 29, 2015 |access-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-date=November 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101231626/http://www.villagevoice.com/music/vomitface-are-literally-dissatisfied-with-everything-but-jesus-teen-mom-and-music-7711741 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="first-avenue.com">{{cite web|url=http://first-avenue.com/performer/vomitface |title=Vomitface |publisher=First Avenue |date=July 5, 2015 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> and [[Shannon Wright]],<ref>{{cite web
Media outlets also began referring to a revival of the grunge sound around the mid-2010s, with the label being given to bands such as [[Title Fight]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/the-90s-grunge-revival-is-alive-and-well-in-this-new-title-fight-video|title=The '90s Grunge Revival Is Alive And Well In This New Title Fight Video – News – Rock Sound Magazine|website=Rock Sound Magazine|access-date=January 18, 2018|archive-date=July 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720165639/https://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/the-90s-grunge-revival-is-alive-and-well-in-this-new-title-fight-video|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Culture creature">{{cite web|url=https://www.culturecreature.com/grunge-emo-revival/|title=Enough With the 'Grunge Revival.' Rock Bands of 2017 Should Look Ahead – Culture Creature|date=March 29, 2017|access-date=January 18, 2018}}</ref> [[InCrest]],
==Legacy==
| |||