Grunge, sometimes known as the Seattle sound,6 is a subgenre of alternative rock1 influenced by punk rock, hardcore punk, noise rock, alternative metal and with structures close to classic pop rock.213 It emerged in the late 1980s, with groups coming mainly from the US state of Washington, in particular, the Seattle area. The first company that promoted and made the genre known was the Sub Pop record company, supporting bands that would be fundamental in the development of the nascent genre, such as Nirvana, Green River, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. The distinctive characteristics of the grunge sound were its strongly distorted and energetic guitars, vocal melodies, often catchy and repetitive, as well as predominant drums; while his lyrics were characterized by reflecting apathy and disenchantment. The earliest and most aggressive songs of the genre were influenced by sludge metal.
Grunge expanded globally during the first half of the 1990s, driven primarily by the commercial success of the albums Nevermind by Nirvana and Ten by Pearl Jam. This success catapulted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular rock genre of that time.1 Despite this, many groups were always uncomfortable with their superstar status and the appearance, due to the influence of the media, of a grunge movement, which in some cases caused internal conflicts that led them from the separation to the death of some of its members.
As a musical genre, it is characterized by distorted guitars, repetitive melodies, and heavy drums of punk and heavy metal heritage, being more complex than punk in its melodies but without the heaviness of metal. Several independent music labels were the ones that allowed this style of music to be brought to the public in its beginnings. Many of the most successful bands of the era were associated with Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop; However, other independent labels from that city also gained recognition, including Kill Rock Stars and K Records. Executive David Geffen also played an important role in the commercialization of grunge.
The grunge scene also had strong influences from the musical culture of the northwest of the United States and local youth culture. The similarity to other bands of the same origin, such as The Fabulous Wailers and, more particularly, The Sonics, is notable.
Grunge lyrics stand out for their disenchantment and apathy and for dealing with themes such as alienation, the search for freedom or social marginalization. Through these songs, the musicians of the genre showed their disagreement with society and its various prejudices, which brought them closer to both punk and generation X. However, not all grunge songs had this type of themes: a clear example is the song "In Bloom" by Nirvana, with a humorous theme, as well as "Touch Me I'm Sick" by Mudhoney. One of the targets of the criticism of some lyrics was the hair metal bands and other rock genres that achieved commercial success during the eighties, something palpable in the song "Big Dumb Sex" by Soundgarden, a song in which satirizes said bands.14
The concerts of these bands also marked a difference with respect to other musical scenes, standing out for their energy and temperament, as well as for the sobriety of their staging, due to the rejection of high budgets and the opulence that had characterized until that moment. the performances of many commercially successful groups.
The compilation album Deep Six, released in 1986 by the record company C/Z Records, later renamed A&M, is one of the first albums of the genre. The recording included several songs by six groups: Green River, Soundgarden, The Melvins, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard and The U-Men; For several of them it was their first appearance on an album. On this album, the artists had an "aggressive" sound, mainly heavy that mixed the slow tempos of heavy metal with the intensity of hardcore. As Jack Endino commented: "People were just like, 'Well, what kind of music is this? It's not metal, it's not punk, what is it? [...] people would be like 'Eureka!', these bands They have something in common."24
Later in the same year, Bruce Pavitt released the compilation album Sub Pop 100 on his Sub Pop label, which contained other songs by early grunge groups, as well as Green River's first EP, Dry As a Bone. An early Sub Pop catalog described the Green River EP as "ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation." Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, also of Sub Pop, inspired by other regional scenes that had appeared in music history, they worked to ensure that their label projected a "Seattle sound", reinforcing a similar style in production and album artwork. They also tried to have advertising work in place, with a view to spreading the popularity of the scene. An example of this is the images of the first grunge concerts, which despite their small audience (some with attendance of less than a few dozen people) created the impression that they were massive events thanks to the work of Charles Peterson, the Sub Pop photographer.34 Other record labels in the Pacific Northwest joined Sub Pop to help promote grunge, such as the aforementioned C/Z Records, Estrus Records, EMpTy Records and PopLlama Records.17
It was around this time that the separation of Green River occurred. Each of its members took different directions that in the long run would be decisive in the subsequent development of the scene. Steve Turner and Mark Arm formed Mudhoney, while in 1988 Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament joined singer Andrew Wood, former lead singer of the group Malfunkshun, to form a new group called Mother Love Bone. The styles of both bands distanced themselves, since while Mudhoney partly followed the line drawn by Green River, Mother Love Bone was characterized by a style that mixed glam rock with punk.35 Mudhoney, from this moment on, served as the flag of the Sub Pop record company during the time they remained in it and became the spearhead of the grunge movement in Seattle.36
Meanwhile, music writer Michael Azerrad commented that early grunge bands, such as the aforementioned Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Tad, although they had very different musical styles, "to an objective observer, there were some marked similarities between them. ".37
Grunge would attract the attention of the UK media after Pavitt and Poneman asked journalist Everett True of the British magazine Melody Maker if he could write an article in the publication about the local music scene. This exposure helped make grunge known outside the Seattle area during the late 1980s and led to more audiences attending their concerts.17 The appearance of grunge within the music press was like "the promise back to a more regional and author's vision of American rock".38 The growing popularity of grunge within the underground music scene caused several bands to begin moving towards Seattle to approximate the style and sound of the original grunge bands. Steve Turner commented: "It was really bad. Posing as bands that came out here, with things that don't come from where we come from."39 In response, many grunge bands diversified their style: for example, Nirvana and Tad in In particular, they created a much more melodic style in their songs.40 Heather Dawn of Seattle's Backlash magazine noted that in 1990 many locals were tired of the hype created around the Seattle scene and hoped that media exposure would begin to fade. 17
Grunge groups would begin to enter the mainstream music market during the late 1980s. Soundgarden became the first grunge band to sign with a major record company, joining the A&M Records catalog in 1989. This band , along with other groups recently signed by major record companies, such as Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees, had a good debut with their first record releases in these companies, according to what Jack Endino comments.17 In 1989, Mother Love Bone managed to be hired by the PolyGram record company, immediately beginning the recording of what would be his first album, Apple, but the project was frustrated by the death of singer Andrew Wood from a heroin overdose.35 Towards the mid-1990s Chris Cornell, singer of Soundgarden, started a project in tribute to his friend Wood, for which he invited Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, former members of Mother Love Bone, to collaborate. While working on this project they went on the hunt for members to form a new group. Taking advantage of the recording sessions for the project (which would take the name Temple of the Dog), they recorded a series of demos that they distributed among various acquaintances. Through these recordings is how singer Eddie Vedder joined the group, which would later take the name Pearl Jam. Meanwhile, the newly emerging Seattle scene began to be permeated by drugs, especially heroin,41 to which many emerging musicians confessed to being addicted.41
Nirvana, a group originally from Aberdeen (Washington state), began to be courted by major labels, until signing with Geffen Records in 1990. In September 1991, the group released its first album for Geffen and second of its career, Nevermind. Initially, Geffen expected minor success compared to what Sonic Youth achieved with their album Goo, released by the same label a year earlier.42 It was the release of the album's first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that "signaled the instigation of the grunge music phenomenon. Thanks to the constant airing of the song's video on MTV, Nevermind sold 400,000 copies in a single week, in December 1991.43 In January 1992, Nevermind replaced pop superstar Michael Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard album chart.44
The success of Nevermind took the music industry by surprise. The album would not only popularize grunge, but would also establish the "cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general." Michael Azerrad stated that Nevermind symbolized "a radical change in rock music" in which glam metal, which had dominated rock until then, was replaced in favor of a much more authentic and culturally relevant music.46
Other grunge groups immediately began to replicate Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten, although released a month before Nevermind, began to accelerate its sales in 1992. By the second half of that year, Ten became grunge's second biggest hit, being certified as a gold record in the United States and reached number two on the Billboard charts.47 The wave reached the albums Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden and Dirt by Alice in Chains, which entered the list of the 100 best-selling albums of 1992. The record company A&M Records took advantage of the commercial success of grunge and re-released the project's album Temple of the Dog, which a year earlier had barely reached 70,000 copies sold.48 The label took advantage of the fact that the album was in fact a collaboration between Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to catapult its sales to such a degree that it reached one million copies sold and platinum certification by the RIAA.49
Another factor that boosted the popularity of grunge was thanks to the film Singles, directed by Cameron Crowe and filmed in early 1991. The plot of Singles revolves precisely around the Seattle music scene and in it you can see several of the groups of the movement, such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains, performing in small parts. The film was not released after it was completed as Warner Bros. did not know what to do with it. When the commercial phenomenon of grunge began to take place, the film was released in September 1992. The soundtrack became a sampler of the main bands of the Seattle scene, including songs by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone or Mudhoney, although songs by Jimi Hendrix and The Smashing Pumpkins were also included. The Singles soundtrack also helped the grunge movement stop being a local phenomenon and spread throughout the United States, in addition to crystallizing the idea of a Seattle scene among the majority public.50
The impact of grunge began to reach unsuspected dimensions. Rolling Stone magazine named Seattle "the new Liverpool."51 Major record companies focused more heavily on the city and began signing the remaining Seattle bands, while a second wave of bands began migrating to the city. city with the hope of achieving success.52
Around 1993, a violent reaction against grunge began to occur in Seattle; Bruce Pavitt commented that in the city "all things grunge were treated with the utmost cynicism and with fun [...] Because most of that stuff was a manufactured movement and always has been."51 Many artists of the grunge movement began to feel uncomfortable with the success and attention that came with it. Kurt Cobain, in an interview with Michael Azerrad, stated: "Being famous is the last thing I wanted to be."53 Pearl Jam also began to feel the weight of success, especially Eddie Vedder, on whom most of the blame fell. attention.54 Nirvana's next album, In Utero, released in 1993, was conceived as an intentionally abrasive and difficult album. Krist Novoselic, Nirvana's bassist, described it as having "a wild, aggressive sound, a true alternative album."55 Despite this, In Utero would reach the top of the Billboard charts in October 1993.56
Pearl Jam would also continue its commercial success with its second album, Vs., released in 1993. The album would sell 950,378 copies in its first week of release, which was a sales record in the United States for several years, while reaching the first place on the Billboard charts and the Top Ten in the same week,57 all this despite the rawer and more abrasive sound than its predecessor.
There were many factors that influenced grunge to begin to decline in its popularity ratings. The appearance of post grunge during the second half of the 1990s caused the progressive supplanting of grunge by it. Post grunge, with a softer and more accessible style, dethroned many grunge bands and works. Groups more oriented towards a commercial audience appeared, with a much more accessible sound, such as Collective Soul, Silverchair or Bush, characterized by softening the distorted guitars of grunge with a much more polished production.58
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Conversely to this, another subgenre of alternative rock, Britpop, emerges as part of a reaction against the dominance of grunge in the United Kingdom. In contrast to the harshness of grunge, Britpop is defined as "exuberant and full of youth and desire for recognition."59 Groups like Oasis or Blur became standard bearers of the style. Blur vocalist Damon Albarn even admitted that his band was "anti-grunge",60 while Noel Gallagher, a member of Oasis, harshly criticized grunge, especially the song "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" by Nirvana, stating that "all this victimhood in music was pure garbage", referring unequivocally to grunge.61
Many of the big grunge groups broke up in the mid-90s. Kurt Cobain began to have serious problems with his drug addiction,62 and in early 1994 he entered a rehab clinic, but disappeared for more than two weeks until being found dead in his home on April 8, which ended Nirvana's career. That same year, Pearl Jam canceled its summer tour in protest against the Ticketmaster company, which had made tickets for its concerts more expensive.63 Thus, the band began a boycott against the company that not only reduced the number of concerts organized by said company. , but also those managed by many other similar organizations under the group's denial, which caused them to have almost no concerts in the United States for three years.64
1996 can be considered the year that marks the end of grunge as a dominant genre. In this year, Alice in Chains gave their last live performances with an already very estranged and weakened Layne Staley, who began to seriously suffer from his drug problems, causing the suspension of concerts and, finally, the band's activity. until his death in April 2002. In May, Down On the Upside appeared, which would ultimately be Soundgarden's last album. Despite having some good reviews, the work did not achieve the success of his previous productions. During the recording of the album, friction arose between the members of the group65 that would lead to its dissolution on April 9, 1997. A similar fate would befall Screaming Trees, who released Dust, their last album, in 1996, obtaining terrible sales and ending the history of the group not finding any company that would finance their next work. Already in the middle of the year, Pearl Jam released one of its most controversial albums, No Code, which was intended as a complete break by the group with respect to its previous works, especially Ten, and grunge in general. The recording sessions at the beginning were full of tension, which almost caused the group to dissolve.66 However, they were able to overcome their personal problems, largely helped by their new drummer, Jack Irons.