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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.
''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==
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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 ===
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== 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 ===
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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.
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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" />
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====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>
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