Grunge is a subgenre of Alternative Rock that born on the streets of Seattle, Washington that quickly gained its popularity in the early 1990’s after bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana emerged from the streets of downtown Seattle in the early 1990’s. After Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album was released, its popularity expanded beyond the limits of Seattle and the northwest region, with acts popping up all over the world and the grunge take-over was well on its way to the top. Ironically enough, the phenomenon that was the hottest sound in the world began to fall following the tragic suicide of Nirvana’s front man, Kurt Cobain in 1994
In the mid-late 1980’s, a new form alternative rock was born and many local bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were first introduced to the media in the northwest region of the U. S. particularly in Seattle, Washington and the surrounding lower class suburbs. Prior to the grunge movement, mainstream rock bands usually wouldn’t include the Seattle in there tour do to its geographic isolation, skipping over the city completely. By the early 1990’s, the scene had caught the media’s eyes and ears with their long hair and sloppy attire.
The term Grunge is not only used to describe specific movement but used to describe the fashion that went along side it. Wearing button-down flannel shirts, over-sized jeans with a chain wallet and black Doc Martin shit-kickers. There sound of distorted guitars playing loud and hard with “growling” vocals and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics fusing the heavy metal sound of the 1970’s with the on-stage chaos of punk rock of the 80’s which would soon become the most popular form of hard rock of the 90’s and is often referred to as the Seattle Sound
In 1991 the Seattle Sound quickly gained its popularity following the release of Nirvana’s major label debut album, Nevermind” in September. Their first single “Smells like Teen Spirit” which turned out to be Nirvana’s claim to fame, climbing to the number one spot that year, passing Michel Jackson’s pop hit “Black or White”! Still to this day the single remains one of their most popular songs and has been labeled as the “first anthem of 1990’s Rock”! (Hilburn, 1998) This once isolated scene, began to grow vigorously far beyond the walls of Seattle and continued to spread throughout the nation like the plague!
By 1992 Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten, Alice in Chains’-Dirt and Soundgarden’s all helped spark the grunge revolution and the scene spread like the plague making it was far as the United Kingdom where it inspired the genre Britpop during the climax of this revolution in the mid-90s this phenomenon was short lived following the tragic suicide of Nirvana’s front man Kurt Cobain in 1994. Saddened by this tragedy, Nirvana broke up and that same year Pearl Jam cancelled its summer tour in protest of what it regarded as ticket vendor Ticketmaster’s unfair business practices. , Kurt Cobain has been referred to as the “John Lennon
