American Roots Music: Grunge

     Grunge is a form of American alternative rock popularized in the 1980's and 90's, characterized by heavily distorted and if you will, "crunchy" guitar along with lazily moving vocals set to a slower tempo. However, grunge can also be defined by the area and time that the bands performing it come from. In particular, the genre as a whole originated in Seattle and was an large part of Seattle's identity throughout the lifespan of grunge. 

    Now, this genre of music was not just popular in the Seattle area, no. It ended up spreading and actually becoming a very popular genre of music with the release of Nirvanas "Smells like Teen Spirit" in 1991. The song was a huge hit, topping charts all over the world and becoming a historical monument of music. Even in the present day, many critics and grunge enthusiasts still consider it one of the best grunge songs to be written. 

    Now, grunge did NOT start with Nirvana. Far from it. Even if Nirvana was also located near the Seattle area, they were absolutely not the first to pioneer the grunge genre. So why don't we take a step back, and figure out where exactly grunge came from. Along with the origin of grunge itself, we'll be learning about who helped Nirvana by laying the groundwork of the genre.

     So first, we'll tackle the name of the genre itself. The label of grunge actually started with a review of Green River from Bruce Pavitt, which was talking about the music of the band, referring to it as "ultra-loose grunge that destroyed the morals of a generation.". While this was what sparked the genre as a whole to be referred to as grunge, the first documented usage of grunge to describe grunge-like music comes from a letter by Mark Arm, as recounted in the book Loser by Clark Humphrey. He refers to his own band (which was not actually officially a band yet!) as "Pure grunge! Pure noise! Pure shit!" Grunge was often used to refer to dirt and grime before the genre took it as it's name. 

     Well now that we know the origin of the genres name, let's go even further back. The roots of grunge have been very well documented thankfully, as opposed to other genres. It all started within the Northeast of the United States, particularly around the Seattle area. The first pioneers of the genre have always been considered to be the Melvin's. They laid the ground work for the kind of music grunge performers would be making, with influences from KISS, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC. 

    Taking the alt rock genre and introducing heavily distorted, chunky guitars, unique vocalizations and other influences from punk and metal, the Melvin's unique musical style was quickly picked up by other bands within Washington state. Most notably, it was picked up by Soundgarden and Green River in 1984, with the Screaming Trees coming a year later in 1985. All of these bands and a few others came together in the following year to record Deep Six, a collaboration album under the C/Z record label, combining many Seattle-based bands into one album filled with grunge and other branches of rock. 

    After Deep Six, many grunge bands started to change drastically. The formerly mentioned Green River split into two groups due to personal interests changing. The members seeking fame and fortune in the music industry became Mother Love Bone, while those trying to stay local and underground became Mudhoney. After a short stint with fame as Mother Love Bone, the lead singer passed due to a heroin overdose. Eventually, Eddie Vedder would be chosen as a replacement vocalist and the band would be renamed to the now iconic Pearl Jam.

    By as soon as the early 90's, grunge was changing more and more until the late nineties, where it eventually lost many things that gave it it's signature sound. Many groups formerly associated with the unique sound of grunge were choosing to either become more experimental or lean more into a pop-based sound. The rapidly changing focus of the music industry can be observed with Nirvana's breakthrough commercial success, Nevermind. While the album features notable grunge songs such as the hit single Smells like Teen Spirit, it overall features a slightly tighter focus on a pop/alt rock sound throughout the rest of the album. 

    As grunge faded out of the mainstream and punk rock became the "new hotness", it's influence would still be felt throughout the decade. The history of grunge is rather short, but it's catalogue of great bands and music is vast. In particular, my personal favorite song that falls under the grunge label would have to be Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. I have NO idea what the music video is even remotely about, but the riff and the vocals are intoxicating. There's something I love about the grunge sound in it's entirety, even if the songs under the label tend to be conceptually very simple.

 

    I actually hadn't listened to much grunge, only dipped my toes into it before writing this post. I enjoyed my time exploring the genre, and Soundgarden in particular has a ton of music that I love! They were the first band I went out of my way to listen to, as I had heard a cover of one of their songs by a personal favorite artist of mine Dan Avidan. I think I actually prefer the original to Dan's cover, despite usually preferring the gentleness of an acoustic guitar compared to the loud and rough sound of a distorted guitar.

Sources

Britannica. 2019. “Grunge | Music & Bands.” In Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/art/grunge-music

‌Northwest Passage. 2015. “The Origin of ‘Grunge’ | Northwest Passage.”                       http://www.revolutioncomeandgone.com/articles/1/the-origin-of-grunge.php

‌Grambush, Jacklyn. 2017. “A Brief History of Grunge: The Seattle Sound.” Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/washington/articles/a-brief-history-of-grunge-the-seattle-sound

(Unofficial source, but helpful for those wanting to learn more about grunge in detail!)

“History of Grunge.” 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6-nJukmzCQ.

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