A Purple Duckie
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.......................Grunge is Back? -Click -
.......................Sleepless in Seattle Info - Click -
Grunge - a huge hit in the 90's and the genre that gave us nirvana, alice in chains, pearl jam, soundgarden and so many more. I know quite a few people who keep grunge alive however, there are many people who don't know what grunge is. This thread will help with that.
The Definition:
grunge (gruhnj)
1) Filth; dirt.
2)a style of rock music featuring harsh guitar chords, heavy riffs and drumming, and whose performers wear sloppy clothes; also called grunge, grunge rock, grunge metal
(Thank you Dictionary.com)
The Music:
As defined, there were harsh guitar chords, heavy riffs and drumming, grunge bands usually had 3 key instruments: Guitar, Bass and Drums. The music was a mixture of Thrash, Metal, Punk and Rock. This developed into it's own sound (such as the low almost monotone sound that is heard in both nirvana and alice in chains predominantly) however with some grunge bands you can still hear the punk or metal/thrash influences.
The Look:
Every style of music has an image to go with it. Metal goes with spikes, Punk with mohawks and Rap with the bling bling (ha I just wanted to say that.) So what does grunge have? Probably the easiest and most cost effective look to come out. Lets look at the definition of 'Grunge' for number one it says 'filth; dirt' and in a way that is the style.
Hair
Long or medium length, Unwashed, Messy and uncombed. Usually very straight. If you just wake up one day after not washing your hair (for oh lets say 2 or 3 days) then you have the hair covered.
Clothes
The fun part of grunge clothes is that they involve holes, lots of holes! You see those jeans or that pair of corduroys? Yeah they are a little baggy so rip some holes in them, maybe throw on a few patches that are of different material if the holes are too big to wear the pants.
Flannel shirts or lumberjack jackets are just what you need, layers are a must! Once again you need holes, patches and maybe some stains. Remember you want to look like your clothes are dying (don't worry this is a good thing!)
And lastly, most grungers would be seen with their much beloved Nirvana shirt.
The History:
(This is based on the more popular knowledge that grunge developed in the states, the Scientists in Australia as well as other bands have been claimed as the start of grunge. This may be true but most of the grunge bands have come out of the area around and in Seattle so I will be basing my history off of this.)
Seattle, Washington. Hop back a couple of decades, not many bands tour this area, it rained a lot and there was not much else to do but go inside and either talk or make music. The mid 80s brought British punk to Seattle and many people were making bands to play in small clubs.
Some of these groups evolved their music combining guitar rock, punk, metal and thrash into one genre, one of these bands was Mudhoney. After their second album (their fist in '88 ) a British journalist by the name of Andy Catlin went to Seattle and saw a Mudhoney show. ('89) This spawned an article about the Seattle grunge movement, though the US underground was all talking about Seattle's music scene there wasn't much other cities did to grab on to the grunge culture.
Though grunge was spread media-wize through Mudhoney the band that is concitered to of started grunge would be Green River which broke off to form both Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone which continued Green River's grunge style. Green river can also be counted as the creator of the term 'grunge' when Mark Arm called the style "pure grunge, pure s**t" which was not taken as a negative by the media.
Nirvana started in Aberdeen, in Kurt Cobain's basement. Nirvana had their title and were playing local shows until the release of 'Nevermind' in '91. They were still counted as a small band and this album was not expected to amount to much until MTV placed 'Smells like teen spirit' in high rotation. Almost overnight the band became a huge sensation. Grunge became a global culture and though bands such as Mudhoney and The Melvins had started the scene, Nirvana and Pearl Jam pushed it over the edge. (Nirvana was also known for destroying their instruments, many bands during this time had little or no money including nirvana. The fact that they would destroy their equipment made them one of the best)
Grunge then became 'Mainstream' and 'Popular Culture' which caused some of the starters to lose their grunge appeal, in hopes to stray from the mainstream.
On April 8th, 1994 three coroners arrived at the home of Kurt Cobain. Kurt had committed suicide. Kurt was one of the lead spokespeople for the generation X grunge movement and with him gone the scene began to unravel. Some say that the grunge scene died with Kurt, however it would of eventually made way for the rise of Pop which started gaining in the early 90s. The fall of grunge was not only because of Cobain's death, it was mainly because the 4 most popular grunge bands (Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam) stopped making new music and members from the bands had died. A 3rd reason that grunge died was the introduction of post-grunge. This was a sub variation of grunge that was radio friendly and lacked the 'dirty' sound of regular grunge. Many of these bands were noted as 'Sell Outs' causing grunge to disappear from the mainstream.
Grunge is still seen today, The Best of Nirvana album, and With the Lights out were released within the past few years, as well as Sliver: The Best of the Box. Alice in chains, Pearl Jam, and other big name grunge bands are still played on the radio today. And alot of post-grunge bands are going strong. Heh rock came around again maybe grunge is in for a comeback?
**also refer to 3rd post**
The Bands:
There are many grunge bands, some are more well known than others. If you have any bands that are GRUNGE then please submit them ^.^
- Mudhoney
- Nirvana
- Pearljam
- Screaming Trees
- Hole
- Alice in Chains
- Love Battery
- Mother Love Bone
- Temple of the dog
- Tad
- Cell
- Willard
- Soundgarden
- Mad Season
- Malfunkshun
- Skin Yard
- Green River
- Babes in toyland
- The Gits
- 7 year b***h
- Supersuckers
Alternative Rock/Punk Bands That Influenced Grunge
- Husker Du (Some grunge, mostly punk oriented)
- The Pixies
- The Melvins
-Dinosaur Jr
-Sonic Youth
-The Meat Puppets
-The Vaselines
-The Replacements
-Minutemen
Post Grunge
- Everclear
- Bush
- Soul Asylum
- Silverchair
- Candlebox
- Toadies
-Collective Soul
Not grunge
- Smashing Pumpkins (Alternative)
- Jesus Lizard (Noise rock)
Links:
http://www.topix.net/music/grunge - Grunge News
http://www.nirvanaclub.com/ - The Internet Nirvana Fanclub
http://www.unofficial-mudhoney.com/ -Unofficial Mudhoney Homepage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_music - Winkipedia: Grunge Music
Music Samples:
I'm nice, I uploaded some grunge songs so you could try them out ^.^
(they work now!)
Run Shithead Run - Mudhoney
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Black hole Sun - Soundgarden
Angry Chair - Alice in Chains
Unwind - Green River
Feel free to talk about any grunge band, grunge music or anything related ^.^ Post pictures of your grunge look. List your grunger collection and comment on all that is grunge! biggrin
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