GRUNGE: WHAT IT WAS, WHAT IT IS
It was the eighties. Hair Metal and Glam Rock, music for partying, getting drunk, and doing drugs, dominated the national music scene. The recurring sentiment in rock seemed to be that the world was care free, and teens were meant to party. The glamorous idols of rock and roll were raised to demigod status, and the kids had something to look up too, but there were those who chose to seek more. The kids were angry, the kids were depressed as they had always been, but they needed more to live on than just partying. Some were contented to live this way, party on and forget their problems, others wanted to face them and scream them to the world.This is where Grunge took its place. A generation of rising rock bands decided to dump all their musical inspiration and all their emotion into one big bucket and throw back whatever came of this musical mess. Punk, Blues, Arena Rock, Metal, Rock n’ Roll, and a twist of the new musical approach resulted in the sound of Grunge, or Alternative Rock. This was the “alternative†to the hardcore metal that was predominant. Grunge can be simply described as a revolution against the commonly accepted music of the time, especially Hair Metal, but the roots were far deeper than a simple breaking down of common music. The guitar lines were rather simple, dirgey riffs with growling, scratchy vocals to lead the songs. The voices were deep and mumbling as apposed to the wailing of Hair Metal. The music of Grunge was never intended to be a precise art, but more meant to effectively convey emotion to the outside world. The songs were about anger, self-loathing, pain, anxiety, and personal struggle. Where Punk had fought politically, Grunge fought personally. The music was for a generation that felt forgotten, and they were now calling attention to themselves. The movement of grunge started in clubs and local areas, ranging from Athens, Georgia to Seattle, Washington. It was only a matter of time before grunge hit the mainstream, with much thanks to the bands known as the Seattle Four: Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana. R.E.M. laid the foundations for much of Modern Alternative rock, and they were often more mellow than Grunge, but still just as pointed. Many more were to follow these band’s examples. (See archives) The musicians of the time abandoned wearing tight leather, jewels, and flashy hairstyles. They kept their working class hero look that hadn’t been widely used at the time. The common grunge aesthetic consisted of any article of clothing, or layers of clothing, that was old, ripped, bleached, or worn. The clothes simply captured the feeling of the discontented youth, but in a visible way. The youth felt worn, neglected, dirty, and torn, like their clothes. The long hair trend of the Hippy era came in style again, but not in the glamorous way of Hair Metal.Instead of neat, styled hair, dirty, unkempt hair was the norm. The overall look was a look of raggedness, mismatch and out of place, practically the opposite of other modern music genres, with the exception of punk. This movement had nearly a decade and a half of mainstream exposure, but events beginning in 1993 began the decline. The bands were dying off from drugs, internal struggles, and the media, which had gotten bored with this movement. The bands were dissolving, as was the money. By 1996, most grunge bands had released their last monumental album, and had moved to different things. A few bands straggled behind, clinging to what was, but seemed to be dying. A few bands retreated back to the underground, where they could still play their songs and be appreciated by loyal fans outside the mainstream. Some stayed successful, but one fact was true: they were few and far between.Some say that grunge is dead, but grunge is very far from it. Grunge achieved its ultimate
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