Grungy
The grunge, sometimes known as the Seattle sound, is a subgenre of alternative rock influenced by punk, hardcore punk, noise rock, heavy metal and with structures close to classic pop rock. eighties, with groups hailing primarily from the US state of Washington, particularly the Seattle area. The first company that promoted and made the genre known was the Sub Pop record label, 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 early and more aggressive songs of the genre were influenced by sludge metal.
Grunge spread worldwide during the first half of the 1990s, fueled mainly by the commercial success of Nirvana's Nevermind albums and >Ten by Pearl Jam. This success catapulted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular rock genre of that time. Despite this, many groups were always uncomfortable with their status. of superstars 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 separation to the death of some of its members.
The popularity of grunge would begin to fade at the beginning of the new century. Of the great bands that gave life to the movement, in 2023 only Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and The Melvins remain active. Even with this, the influence of grunge was decisive in the subsequent development of alternative rock.
Origin of the term
It is believed that the term "grunge" comes from a relaxed pronunciation of the adjective "grungy" - slang used in English to say "dirty" -, which originated as slang for the English terms "dirt" - "dirt", "muck" - or "filth" - "filth", "filth" -
Mark Arm, then lead singer of the group Green River and later of Mudhoney, is generally credited as the first person to use the term "grunge," referring to a new style of music. Arm used the word in 1981 in a letter he wrote and sent under his given name, Mark McLaughlin, to the Seattle magazine Desperate Times, criticizing his former band Mr. Epp and the Calculations, calling it "Pure grunge! Pure white noise! Pure shit!» —«Pure grunge! Pure background noise! Pure bullshit!"—"The magazine's editor, Clark Humphrey, mentioned this as the first time the word had been used to refer to a Seattle band, adding that Bruce Pavitt, of the Sub Pop label, would popularize the term by frequently using it to describe Green River's style. Although Arm originally used the term in a derogatory way, he ended up calling it one of the most popular musical genres of the 1990s. ninety.
Features
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 day were associated with Seattle's independent record company Sub Pop; however, other independent labels from that city also gained recognition, including Kill Rock Stars and K Records. Executive David Geffen also had a major role in marketing grunge.
The grunge scene was also heavily influenced by the music culture of the Northwestern United States and local youth culture. The resemblance to other bands from the same origin, such as The Fabulous Wailers and, more particularly, The Sonics, is notorious.
The grunge lyrics stand out for their disenchantment and apathy and for dealing with issues such as alienation, the search for freedom or social marginalization. Through these themes, 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" of Mudhoney. One of the targets of 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&# 3. 4; by Soundgarden, a song in which these bands are satirized.
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 up to that time the performances of many groups with commercial success.
History
Roots and influences
The massive reception of grunge by the audience was seen as a reaction against the popular dominance of glam metal, represented by bands like Poison, Motley Crüe, Ratt or Bon Jovi, who had been dominating the charts, especially in the United States, during the 1980s. The theme of the songs grunge contrasts with the macho lyrics of hair metal, since it has greater sensitivity and a marked social conscience. Whereas in glam metal the lyrics generally made reference to sexual achievements or flaunting drug and alcohol use.
Grunge's distinctive sound was partly due to Seattle's isolation from other music scenes. Jonathan Poneman of the Sub Pop label commented: "Seattle was the perfect example of a secondary city with a very active music scene that was completely ignored by the American media fixation on Los Angeles or New York." Mark Arm countered that such isolation meant: "This corner of the map was by nature cut off from other people's ideas." Fartz, The U-Men, 10 Minute Warning, The Accused and The Fastbacks. The slow, heavy and dirty style of The Melvins was also one of the most significant influences on the grunge sound.
In addition to groups from the American Northwest, other groups and music scenes influenced grunge. Bands from the American alternative scene, such as Sonic Youth, The Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr, are considered major influences on the movement. Sonic Youth was one of the groups that most supported and promoted the Seattle scene, whose influence reinforced the decidedly independent attitudes of its musicians. The influence of The Pixies on Nirvana was declared by Kurt Cobain, who commented in an interview for the magazine Rolling Stone that he felt "so strongly connected to the band that he should be in it". of The Pixies and popularized it in both grunge and other alternative rock subgenres.
Alongside the alternative and punk roots of the scene, many grunge bands were equally influenced by the heavy metal of the early 1970s. Clinton Heylin, author of the book Babylon's Burning: From Punk to Grunge, cites Black Sabbath as "perhaps the most ubiquitous pre-punk influence on the Northwest scene". Black Sabbath played a major role in shaping the grunge sound, both with their own albums and those they inspired. Led Zeppelin's influence is also evident, particularly in the work of Soundgarden, who in an interview with magazine i>Q noted that they "[were] indebted to 1970s rock, but despised the genre's overt sexism and machismo". The 1984 album My War Combining heavy metal with their traditional sound, i> by Los Angeles hardcore punk group Black Flag made a big impact in Seattle. Steve Turner, guitarist for Mudhoney commented: 'A lot of people across the country actually hated the slow sound of Black Flag... But here it was really great... Here it was 'Yay!' They're crazy and fucking up the sound'. Turner, explaining the integration of metal influences into grunge, commented: 'Hard rock and metal were never enemies of punk like they were in other scenes. Here it was more like, 'There are only twenty people here, you can't really find a group to hate'. Seattle groups began mixing metal and punk on the scene in 1984. Much of the recognition this fusion received is due to the relative popularization of The U-Men's style.
The raw, distorted sound and heavy use of feedback of some noise rock bands also influenced grunge. Among these groups was the Wisconsin group Killdozer, and most notably, the San Francisco band Flipper, who were known for their "noise punk" slow and cloudy. The Butthole Surfers, whose style blended punk, heavy metal, and noise rock, was a major influence, particularly on the early work of Soundgarden and Nirvana. Soundgarden and other pioneering grunge bands were influenced by British post-punk bands such as Gang of Four and Bauhaus, who were very popular in the early 1980s in the Seattle scene. After Neil Young played a few shows with Pearl Jam and they recorded the album Mirror Ball together, some The media began calling Young "The Godfather of Grunge." This was based on his work in his group Crazy Horse and the habitual use of distorted guitar in his songs, particularly on the album Rust Never Sleeps. In addition to his musical influence, Neil Young meant a great influence on the attitude and behavior of various groups. Eddie Vedder would comment during Young's Rock Hall of Fame induction: "He taught the band a lot about dignity and commitment and knowing how to act in the moment..." A similar influence, which however not yet highly regarded, it was Redd Kross and his album Neurotica, about which the Sub Pop co-founder said: "Neurotica was the one that changed my life and that of various people in the Seattle music community".
The figure of the godfather group of grunge has often been debated and this name has been given indistinctly to The Melvins, Green River or Malfunkshun. If we look at the chronological order, the godfather of grunge would be Malfunkshun (founded in 1980), but given its influential character in the rest of the bands, Green River could be considered as the first band of grunge as we know it today, like The Melvins, creditors of the heavy sound to which Nirvana would give more melodic overtones.
Development (1986-1990)
The compilation album Deep Six, released in 1986 on C/Z Records, later renamed A&M, is one of the earliest albums in 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 saying, 'Okay, what kind of music is this? It's not metal, it's not punk, what is it? [...] people would say 'Eureka!', these bands have something in common".
Later in the same year, Bruce Pavitt released on his Sub Pop label the compilation album Sub Pop 100, which contained other tracks by early grunge bands., 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 scenes Regionals that had featured in music history, worked to ensure that their label projected a 'Seattle sound,' reinforcing a similar style in production and album artwork. They also tried to have a publicity work in shape, with a view to spreading the popularity of the scene. An example of this are the images of the first grunge concerts, which despite their low audience (some with attendance of less than a few dozen people) created the impression that they were massive events thanks to to the work of Charles Peterson, Sub Pop's photographer. Other Pacific Northwest record labels joined Sub Pop to help promote grunge, such as C/Z Records, Estrus Records, EMpTy Records and PopLlama Records.
It was around this time that the separation of Green River occurred. Each of its members took different paths that would eventually 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, who was the 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. From this point on, it served as the banner of the Sub Pop record label during their time there and became the spearhead of the grunge movement in Seattle.
Meanwhile, music writer Michael Azerrad commented that early grunge bands, such as the aforementioned Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Tad, despite having very different musical styles, &# 34;to an objective observer, there were some marked similarities between them".
Grunge would attract UK media attention after Pavitt and Poneman asked journalist Everett True of UK magazine Melody Maker if he could write a article in said publication about the local music scene. This exposure helped make grunge more popular outside of the Seattle area during the late 1980s and led to more crowds attending its concerts. The rise of grunge within the music press was like "the promise of a return to a more regional and auteur vision of American rock". The growing popularity of grunge within the underground music scene caused several bands to start to move to Seattle to approach the style and sound of the original grunge bands. Steve Turner commented on it: "It was really bad. Pretending to be bands that came from here, with stuff that doesn't come from where we came from". In response, many grunge bands diversified their style: for example, Nirvana and Tad in particular created a much more melodic style in their songs. Heather Dawn of Seattle's Backlash magazine noted that in 1990 many venues were tired of the hype created around the Seattle scene and hoped that media exposure would begin to disappear.
Explosion and commercial success (1991-1995)
Grunge bands would begin to break into the mainstream music market during the late 1980s. Soundgarden became the first grunge band to sign a contract with a major record company, joining the A&M Records catalog in 1989. This band, along with other groups newly signed to major record companies such as Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees, had a good debut with their first record releases on said companies, according to what Jack Endino comments. In 1989, Mother Love Bone managed to be hired by the PolyGram record company, immediately beginning the recordings of what would be their first album, Apple, but the project was frustrated by the heroin overdose death of singer Andrew Wood. In the mid-1990s Chris Cornell, singer of Soundgarden, began 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 they were 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 of Temple of the Dog), they recorded a series of demos that they distributed to various acquaintances. It was through these recordings that the singer Eddie Vedder joined the group, which would later take the name Pearl Jam. Meanwhile, the newly emerging Seattle scene began to become permeated by drugs, especially heroin, to which many emerging musicians confessed to being addicted.
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 their first album for Geffen and the second of their career., Nevermind. Geffen initially expected less success than Sonic Youth's album Goo, released on the same label a year earlier. It was the release of the album's first single, " Smells Like Teen Spirit" the one who "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. In January 1992, Nevermind it replaced pop superstar Michael Jackson's album Dangerous from number one on the Billboard album chart.
The success of Nevermind took the music industry by surprise. The album would not only popularize grunge, but also establish the "cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general". Michael Azerrad stated that Nevermind symbolized "a sea change in rock music" in which glam metal, which had dominated rock until then, was replaced in favor of much more authentic and culturally relevant music.
Immediately other grunge groups began to replicate Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten, despite being released a month before Nevermind, began to accelerate in sales in 1992. By the second half of that year, Ten became the second great grunge hit, being certified gold in the United States and reaching number two on the Billboard charts. it 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 label A&M Records took advantage of the commercial success of grunge and re-released the project album Temple of the Dog, which a year earlier had barely sold 70,000 copies. 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 an extent that it reached one million copies sold and was certified platinum by the RIAA.
Another factor that boosted the popularity of grunge came from the movie Singles, directed by Cameron Crowe and shot in early 1991. The plot of Singles revolves precisely around the Seattle music scene and in it you can see several of the movement's groups, such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains, performing in small parts. The film was not released after it was finished as Warner Bros. did not know what to do with it. As the commercial phenomenon of grunge began to take place, the film was released in September 1992. The soundtrack became a showcase of the main bands on the Seattle scene, including tracks by Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone or Mudhoney, although songs by Jimi Hendrix or The Smashing Pumpkins were also included. The Singles soundtrack also helped the grunge movement stop being a local phenomenon and spread across the United States, in addition to crystallizing the idea of a Seattle scene among mainstream audiences.
The impact of grunge began to reach unsuspected dimensions. Rolling Stone magazine named Seattle "the new Liverpool". while a second wave of gangs began migrating to the city in hopes of finding success.
Around 1993 there began to be a violent reaction in Seattle against grunge; Bruce Pavitt commented that in the city "all things grunge were treated with the utmost cynicism and amusement [...] Because most of that stuff was a manufactured movement and always it has been". Many artists in the grunge movement began to feel uncomfortable with success and the attention placed on them that it entailed. Kurt Cobain, in an interview with Michael Azerrad, stated: "Being famous is the last thing I wanted to be." Pearl Jam also began to feel the weight of success, especially Eddie Vedder, who fell on the most of the attention. Nirvana's next album, In Utero, released in 1993, was conceived as an intentionally abrasive and difficult record. Krist Novoselic, bassist for Nirvana, described it as "a wild aggressive sound, a true alternative album". Despite this, In Utero would reach the top of the charts. Billboard in October 1993.
Pearl Jam would also continue their commercial success with their second album, Vs., released in 1993. The album would sell 950,378 copies in its first week of release, which was a US record for sales. United States for several years, simultaneously reaching the first place of the Billboard charts and the Top Ten in the same week, all this despite the rawer and more abrasive sound than its predecessor.
Loss of popularity (1995-2006)
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 to commercial audiences 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.
Conversely, another subgenre of alternative rock, Britpop, emerges as part of a backlash against grunge's dominance in the UK. In contrast to the harshness of grunge, Britpop is defined as "exuberant and full of youth and a desire for recognition". Groups like Oasis or Blur became banners of the style. Blur frontman Damon Albarn went so far as to admit that his band was "anti-grunge," while Oasis member Noel Gallagher strongly criticized grunge, especially the song "I Hate. Myself and Want to Die" of Nirvana, ruling that "all this victimhood in music was pure rubbish", unequivocally referring to grunge.
Many of the big grunge groups broke up in the mid-1990s. Kurt Cobain began having serious problems with his drug addiction, and in early 1994 he entered a rehab clinic., but he disappeared for more than two weeks until he was found dead in his home on April 8, ending Nirvana's career. That same year Pearl Jam canceled their summer tour in protest against the Ticketmaster company, which had made their concert tickets more expensive. Thus, the band began a boycott against the company that not only reduced the number of concerts organized by the company, but also but also those managed by many other similar organizations under the denial of the group, which meant that they had almost no concerts in the United States for three years.
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 resent 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 appeared between the members of the group 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 lousy sales and ending the history of the group by not finding any company that would finance their next job. Already in the middle of the year, Pearl Jam released one of their most controversial albums, No Code, which was intended as a complete break from the group with respect to their previous works, especially from Ten, and grunge in general. The early recording sessions were fraught with tension, which nearly led to the dissolution of the group. However, they were able to overcome their personal problems, largely aided by their new drummer, Jack Irons.
Resurgence of grunge bands (2006-present)
By 2015, Pearl Jam were one of the few successful grunge groups still active, having released ten albums and managing to endure and influence public opinion despite their sustained anti-commercial attitude. Mudhoney continues to release records with relative frequency, but with much less success than during the days of grunge's popularity.
Since 2006 we began to see a reintegration of some of the original bands of the movement. In that year, the members of Alice in Chains reunited, integrating singer William DuVall to replace the late Layne Staley, and released a new album on September 29, 2009 titled Black Gives Way to Blue. Soundgarden also reunited in 2009 releasing new record material and restarting concerts at festivals in the United States and several other countries.
In 2010 the grunge band Tatto Falconi TTF emerged, a band strongly influenced by the grunge of the 90s and by groups like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. The last days of August 2015, Tatto Falconi TTF begin a tour of Europe, performing on stages in Madrid and Valencia, Spain. Then in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany. In September 2015 they begin a tour in Latin America, which starts in Mexico City. Due to inconveniences and unforeseen events, the band did not arrive in Bogotá, Colombia, as planned. Later, they arrive in Lima, Peru, performing at 3 events and ending the tour on September 27, 2015. Later, the band released new singles, such as 《Five Forces》(2015), 《Tragedy》 (2015), 《As Minas pirão》 (2015) and followed by the albums《Five Forces》(2015) and 《As Minas Pirão》(2016).
Posts
Compilations
- Deep Six (1986)
- Sub Pop 100 (1986)
- Sub Pop 200 (1988)
- Singles (soundband) (1992)
- The Grunge Years (1994)
- Hype! (1996)
Documentaries
- 1991: The Year Punk Broke (1991)
- Hype! (1996)