Grunge

Grunge became popular though the success of Nirvana. It pretty much stopped as a popular music style with the death of Kurt Cobain, and the demise of Nirvana.

Grunge was both a music style and a lifestyle choice, with grunge hair styles and clothing.

Neil Young is considered to be the godfather of Grunge. Kurt Cobain was influenced by Neil Young. Other Grunge bands were closely associated with Kurt Cobain. Nirvana is the key Grunge band.

Grunge could be seen as being Kurt Cobain's take on Neil Young's approach to music and his attitude to clothing and lifestyle.


Wikipedia:

Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a rock music genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the Pacific Northwest U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene. By the early 1990s its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals.
Grunge was commercially successful in the early to mid-1990s, due to releases such as Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Alice in Chains' Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots' Core. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular form of rock music at the time^[7] Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, they influenced modern rock music, as their lyrics brought socially conscious issues into pop culture^[8] and added introspection and an exploration of what it means to be true to oneself.^[9] Grunge was also an influence on later genres such as post-grunge (such as Creed and Nickelback) and nu metal (such as Korn and Limp Bizkit).
Grunge fuses elements of punk rock^[1] and heavy metal,^[2] featuring the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, a drummer and a singer. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.^[10][11]A number of factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. During the mid-to-late 1990s, many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, labeled by Time as "the John Lennon of the swinging Northwest", appeared unusually tortured by success and struggled with an addiction to heroin before he died by suicide at the age of 27 in 1994.

AllMusic

Using the sludgy, murky sound of the Stooges and Black Sabbath as a foundation, Grunge was a hybrid of heavy metal and punk. Though the guitars were straight from early '70s metal, the aesthetic of grunge was far from metal. Both the lyrical approach and musical attack of grunge were adopted from punk, particularly the independent ideals of early '80s American hardcore. The first wave of grunge bands -- Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden -- were heavier than the second, which began with Nirvana. Nirvana was more melodic than their predecessors and they also had signature stop-start dynamics, which became a genre convention nearly as recognizable as fuzzy, distorted guitars. After Nirvana crossed over into the mainstream, grunge lost many of its independent and punk connections and became the most popular style of hard rock in the '90s.

1979 Neil Young / Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps  Grunge starts here.


1987  Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff   

1988  Soundgarden –  Ultramega OK   Soundgarden are regarded as a grunge band, which was a Seattle based music movement that blended punk attitude and heavy metal. I'm only seeing metal in this recording, and nothing new or interesting. This is their debut album; it is a blend of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Superunknown, their most popular and well known album, works in the same area., though I prefer the debut album as it has more energy and pith.  Score: 4  

1988 Green River  - Rehab Doll

1990  Nirvana – Nevermind 

1990 Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge  

1991  Pearl Jam – Ten 

1992  Alice in Chains – Dirt  

1992 L7 - Bricks Are Heavy   

1993  The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream 

1993  Nirvana – In Utero 

1993  Hole – Live Through This 

1993 Soundgarden – Superunknown 

1994  Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York 


1994 Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters  This is an attempt by Nirvana's drummer, Grohl, to keep the Nirvana sound going. It is a long way from the beauty, power, and anguish of Nirvana, and while it copies Nirvana and grunge in general, it is more like mainstream hard rock,  with grunge elements married to pop melodies - it sort of sits between grunge and alt rock. It's decently done,  and the band were (are) popular, but there's a distinct lack of originality as well as substance in this. Grohl plays all the instruments. "This Is A Call", the opening track, is the peak of the band's achievements - Grohl never bettered the pop-Nirvana joyous thrash of that track. Score: 4 


Wikipedia: List of Grunge Bands

50 Best Grunge Songs

Top 10 Seattle Grunge Bands

Rolling Stone Top 10 Grunge Albums 

Loudwire Top 30 Grunge Albums

CoS  Top 10 Grunge Albums 

VMP  Top 10 Grunge Albums

Top Ten Grunge Albums  

Louder 10 Essential Grunge Albums

Diffuser 25 Most Influential Grunge Albums 

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