Seattle Grunge: Remembering the anguished vocal and heartfelt lyrics

The word Grunge, which means grime or dirt, came to describe a music genre, fashion style and lifestyle, exclusively attached to the Pacific Northwest, specifically, Seattle, the United States. With the effects of this movement still relevant some 30 years later, it is worth exploring how it all began and how Grunge entered the mainstream.

The early days

Grunge: It is a word that turned synonymous with the Seattle sound. It was used to describe a number of different ‘alternative’ bands from the region in the 1980s, and also into the 1990s, with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Screaming Trees. At one point, the term became so convoluted that the Grunge label was used to describe bands like Candlebox, Stone Temple Pilots, Bush and Silverchair, bands that had little or nothing to do with the Northwest music scene, and bands the progenitors of Grunge hated to be associated with.

Grunge started with the Melvins. Formed in 1983 in Washington State, the band were part of a generation of musicians influenced by the likes of KISS, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Inspired by the bands they loved, the Melvins were one of the first rock groups to mix elements of metal and punk in their compositions.

Seattle at that time was just shedding its hippie image off, but still holding on to the hippie values of counterculture and nonconformity. Seattle-based bands Green River and Soundgarden were formed in 1984, followed by the Screaming Trees in 1985. The following year brought the founding of Sub Pop Records and saw Seattle-based record label C/Z Records’ first release, ‘Deep Six.’ This compilation, credited as the first distribution of Grunge, included the Melvins, Green River, Soundgarden, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard and The U-Men. Metal band Alice in Chains joined this faction of Seattle bands when it was formed in 1987.

Between 1988 and 1990, the group of Seattle bands went through many transformations. Green River split into two groups: the members who wanted to stay ‘underground’ formed Mudhoney; while those who wanted to become famous rock stars formed Mother Love Bone (picking up the lead singer from Malfunkshun, Andrew Wood). Representing another shift in those values of nonconformity, Soundgarden signed, in 1988, with a mainstream label, A&M Records, to the dismay of many of their fans.

In 1990, Nirvana consisted only of singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, and was yet to find a full-time drummer. They were eventually introduced to Dave Grohl through their friends the Melvins, becoming another staple Grunge band of the 1990s made possible through collaboration.

The bands became regulars at music venues across the city, performing at locations which are still open today such as The Crocodile and The Showbox. Before any of the bands really left Seattle, they described themselves in self-deprecating ways, referring to themselves and their music style as dirt, scum and, ‘Grunge.’

Anguished lyrics and popularity

In 1991, when Nirvana reached number one on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, with Pearl Jam following closely behind, ‘Grunge’ turned from a joke into an actual descriptor of the rock music subgenre characterized by guitar distortion, feedback and heartfelt, anguished lyrics. That same year, Mudhoney and the Screaming Trees achieved indie success. Soundgarden did not catch up with the commercial success of Nirvana and Pearl Jam until 1994.

As these bands developed a need for marketing, ‘Grunge’ changed from descriptor to ultimate promoter, especially in fashion. That industry, from Macy’s to Marc Jacobs, started creating items that mimicked the style of these bands and their Seattle audiences, namely flannel shirts, combat boots and wool ski hats, often worn with unwashed hair.

While the muses for these fashion statements may have started out too poor and cold to buy anything else, and didn’t care to look after or style their hair, the popularity of Grunge inspired the style of the rich.

The combat boots that were practical for traction in Seattle’s rain began hitting the catwalks. For the first time, instead of going from boutiques to last season’s department to Goodwill, clothes purchased from Goodwill were inspiring what got brought into the shops. Punks were anti-fashion: their outfits made a statement against it. Grunge rockers were fashion-indifferent: they made no statement at all. And yet Grunge became a fashion statement in and of itself.

As the concept of Grunge was increasingly used in the mainstream, it became more and more rejected in anti-conformist Seattle. Grunge became a blanket term for Northwest bands of the ’80s and ’90s, even if they had completely different styles and sounds.

Today the term has been reclaimed, though. Seattleites still hold the same values that began the Grunge movement and have learned to embrace the subgenre that put their city on the map.

Interesting things about the Seattle (Grunge) music scene:

1. The Seattle ‘scene’ was never as big as it was portrayed in the media.
2. Very few bands from the Seattle scene actually made it big.
3. What was called the ‘Seattle’ scene was really a group of smaller sub-scenes across the region that weren't necessarily related.
4. Many bands found more success abroad than in America or even in their hometowns.
5. Grunge and Sub Pop were just one part of the northwest music scene.
6. ‘Grunge fashion’ was never really a style thing in Seattle.
7. Pearl Jam was initially hated by a lot of people in the Seattle scene.
8. ‘Grunge’ didn’t kill pop music.
9. Seattle is over grunge.
10. Grunge has become a nostalgia act.

References used:

1. https://www.britannica.com/art/grunge-music
2. https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/washington/articles/a-brief-history-of-grunge-the-seattle-sound/
3. https://www.revolutioncomeandgone.com/articles/14/ugly-truth-10-things-seattle-grunge-scene.php
4. http://www.revolutioncomeandgone.com/articles/1/the-origin-of-grunge.php