Grunge

Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture which emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal. The genre featured 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, drums and vocals. 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, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom.

The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene. The owners of Sub Pop marketed the style shrewdly, encouraging the media to describe it as "grunge"; the style became known as a hybrid of punk and metal. 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 ''Superunknown'', 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.

Several factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. During the , many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, labeled by ''Time'' as "the John Lennon of the swinging Northwest", struggled with an addiction to heroin before his suicide in 1994. 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 and added introspection and an exploration of what it means to be true to oneself.Felix-Jager, Steven. ''With God on Our Side: Towards a Transformational Theology of Rock and Roll''. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017. p. 134 Grunge was also an influence on later genres such as post-grunge.

Origin of the term

The word "grunge" is American slang for "someone or something that is repugnant" and also for "dirt". The word was first recorded as being applied to Seattle musicians in July 1987 when Bruce Pavitt described Green River's '' Dry as a Bone'' EP in a Sub Pop record company catalogue as "gritty vocals, roaring Marshall amps, ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation". Although the word "grunge" has been used to describe bands since the 1960s, this was the first association of grunge with the grinding, sludgy sound of Seattle. It is expensive and time-consuming to get a recording to sound clean, so for those northwestern bands just starting out it was cheaper for them to leave the sound dirty and just turn up their volume. This dirty sound, due to low budgets, unfamiliarity with recording, and a lack of professionalism may be the origin of the term "grunge".

The "Seattle scene" refers to a regional Pacific Northwest alternative music movement that was linked to the University of Washington in Seattle, and the Evergreen State College in Olympia. Evergreen is a progressive college which does not use a conventional grading system and has its own radio station, KAOS. Seattle's remoteness from Los Angeles led to a perceived purity of its music. The music of these bands, many of which had recorded with Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop, became labeled as "grunge".Shuker, Roy. ''Understanding Popular Music Culture'', 4th Edition. Routledge, 2013. p. 182 Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain, in one of his final interviews, credited Jonathan Poneman, cofounder of Sub Pop, with coining the term "grunge" to describe the music.

The term "Seattle sound" became a marketing ploy for the music industry. In September 1991, the Nirvana album '' Nevermind'' was released, bringing mainstream attention to the music of Seattle. Cobain loathed the word "grunge" and despised the new scene that was developing, feeling that record companies were signing old "cock-rock" bands who were pretending to be grunge and claiming to be from Seattle.

Some bands associated with the genre, such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, have not been receptive to the label, preferring instead to be referred to as " rock and roll" bands. Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden stated that he "hates the word" grunge and hates "being associated with it." Seattle musician Jeff Stetson states that when he visited Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a touring musician, the local musicians did not refer to themselves as "grunge" performers or their style as "grunge" and they were not flattered that their music was being called "grunge".

''Rolling Stone'' noted the genre's lack of a clear definition. Robert Loss acknowledges the challenges of defining "grunge"; stating that while he can recount stories about grunge, they do not serve to provide a useful definition. Roy Shuker states that the term "obscured a variety of styles." Stetson states that grunge was not a movement, "monolithic musical genre", or a way to react to 1980s-era metal pop; he calls the term a misnomer mostly based on hype. Stetson states that prominent bands considered to be grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Hammerbox) all sound different. Mark Yarm, author of ''Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge'', pointed out vast differences between grunge bands, with some being punk and others being metal-based.

Musical style

In 1984, the punk rock band Black Flag toured small towns across the US to bring punk to the more remote parts of the country. By this time, their music had become slow and sludgy, less like the Sex Pistols and more like Black Sabbath. Krist Novoselic, later the bassist with Nirvana, recalled going with the Melvins to see one of these shows, after which Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne began writing "slow and heavy riffs" to form a dirge-like music that was the beginning of northwest grunge. The Melvins were the most influential of the early grunge bands. Sub Pop producer Jack Endino described grunge as "seventies-influenced, slowed-down punk music".

Leighton Beezer, who played with Mark Arm and Steve Turner in the Thrown Ups, state that when he heard Green River play ''Come On Down'', he realized that they were playing punk rock backwards. He noted that the diminished fifth note was used by Black Sabbath to produce an ominous feeling but it is not used in punk rock. In the 1996 grunge film documentary ''Hype!'', Beezer demonstrated on guitar the difference between punk and grunge. First he played the riff from "Rockaway Beach" by the Ramones that ascends the neck of the guitar, then "Come On Down" by Green River that descends the neck. The two pieces are only a few notes apart but sound unalike. He took the same rhythm with the same chord, however descending the neck made it sound darker, and therefore grunge. Early grunge bands would also copy a riff from metal and slow it down, play it backwards, distort it and bury it in feedback, then shout lyrics with little melody over the top of it.

Grunge fuses elements of punk rock (specifically American hardcore punk such as Black Flag) and heavy metal (especially traditional, earlier heavy metal groups such as Black Sabbath), although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Alex DiBlasi feels that indie rock was a third key source, with the most important influence coming from Sonic Youth's "free-form" noise. Grunge shares with punk a raw, lo fi sound and similar lyrical concerns, and it also used punk's haphazard and untrained approach to playing and performing. However, grunge was "deeper and darker"-sounding than punk rock and it decreased the "adrenaline"-fueled tempos of punk to a slow, "sludgy" speed, and used more dissonant harmonies. Seattle music journalist Charles R. Cross defines "grunge" as distortion-filled, down-tuned and riff-based rock that uses loud electric guitar feedback and heavy, "ponderous" basslines to support its song melodies. Robert Loss calls grunge a melding of "violence and speed, muscularity and melody", where there is space for all people, including women musicians. VH1 writer Dan Tucker feels that different grunge bands were influenced by different genres; that while Nirvana drew on punk, Pearl Jam was influenced by classic rock, and that "sludgy, dark, heavy bands" such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains had a sinister metal tone.

Grunge music has what has been called an "ugly" aesthetic, both in the roar of the distorted electric guitars and in the darker lyrical topics. This approach was chosen both to counter the "slick" elegant sound of the then-predominant mainstream rock and because grunge artists wanted to mirror the "ugliness" they saw around them and shine a light on unseen "depths and depravity" of the real world. Some key individuals in the development of the grunge sound, including Sub Pop producer Jack Endino and the Melvins, described grunge's incorporation of heavy rock influences such as Kiss as "musical provocation". Grunge artists considered these bands "cheesy" but nonetheless enjoyed them; Buzz Osborne of the Melvins described it as an attempt to see what ridiculous things bands could do and get away with.Pray, D., Helvey-Pray Productions (1996). ''Hype!'' Republic Pictures. In the early-1990s, Nirvana's signature "stop-start" song format and alternating between soft and loud sections became a genre convention.

In the book ''Accidental Revolution: The Story of Grunge'', Kyle Anderson wrote:

Instrumentation

Electric guitar

Grunge guitarists like Kurt Cobain often used "offset" guitars like the Fender Jaguar, Fender Jazzmaster, or Mustang. They used primarily offset guitars because at the time they were unpopular enough to offer a new image as opposed to more frequently seen Gibson Les Pauls or Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster used by mainstream pop & rock bands. Being unpopular when grunge started, offset guitars also offered excellent bang for buck.
Grunge is generally characterized by a sludgy electric guitar sound with a thick middle register and rolled-off treble tone and a high level of distortion and fuzz, typically created with small 1970s-style stompbox pedals, with some guitarists chaining several fuzz pedals together and plugging them into a tube amplifier and speaker cabinet. Grunge guitarists use very loud Marshall guitar amplifiers and some used powerful Mesa-Boogie amplifiers, including Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl (the latter in early, grunge-oriented Foo Fighters songs). Grunge has been called the rock genre with the most "lugubrious sound"; the use of heavy distortion and loud amps has been compared to a massive "buildup of sonic fog". or even dismissed as "noise" by one critic. As with metal and punk, a key part of grunge's sound is very distorted power chords played on the electric guitar.Felix-Jager, Steven. ''With God on Our Side: Towards a Transformational Theology of Rock and Roll''. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017. p. 135

Whereas metal guitarists' overdriven sound generally comes from a combination of overdriven amplifiers and distortion pedals, grunge guitarists typically got all of their "dirty" sound from overdrive and fuzz pedals, with the amp just used to make the sound louder. Grunge guitarists tended to use the Fender Twin Reverb and the Fender Champion 100 combo amps (Cobain used both of these amps). The use of pedals by grunge guitarists was a move away from the expensive, studio-grade rackmount effects units used in other rock genres. The positive way that grunge bands viewed stompbox pedals can be seen in Mudhoney's use of the name of two overdrive pedals, the Univox Super-Fuzz and the Big Muff, in the title of their debut EP '' Superfuzz Bigmuff''.Shepherd, John and Horn, David. ''Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World Volume 8: Genres: North America''. A&C Black, 2012. p. 23 In the song "Mudride", the band's guitars were said to have "growled malevolently" through its "Cro-magnon slog".

Other key pedals used by grunge bands included four brands of distortion pedals (the Big Muff, DOD, and Boss DS-2 and Boss DS-1 distortion pedals) and the Small Clone chorus effect, used by Kurt Cobain on " Come As You Are" and by the Screaming Trees on "Nearly Lost You". The DS-1 (later DS-2) distortion pedal played a key role in Cobain's switching from quiet to loud and back to quiet approach to songwriting. The use of small pedals by grunge guitarists helped to start off the revival of interest in boutique, hand-soldered, 1970s-style analog pedals. The other effect that grunge guitarists used was one of the most low-tech effects devices, the wah-wah pedal. Both " im Thayil and Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell ... were great advocates of the wah wah pedal." Wah was also used by the Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr.

Grunge guitarists played loud, with Kurt Cobain's early guitar sound coming from an unusual set-up of four 800 watt PA system power amplifiers. Guitar feedback effects, in which a highly amplified electric guitar is held in front of its speaker, were used to create high-pitched, sustained sounds that are not possible with regular guitar technique. Grunge guitarists were influenced by the raw, primitive sound of punk, and they favored "... energy and lack of finesse over technique and precision"; key guitar influences included the Sex Pistols, the Dead Boys, Celtic Frost, King's X, Voivod, Neil Young ('' Rust Never Sleeps'', side two), the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Black Flag, and the Melvins.Prown, Pete and Newquist, Harvey P. ''Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists''. Hal Leonard Corporation, 1997. p. 242-243 Grunge guitarists often downtuned their instruments for a lower, heavier sound. Soundgarden's guitarist, Kim Thayil, did not use a regular guitar amplifier; instead, he used a bass combo amp equipped with a 15-inch speaker as he played low riffs, and the bass amp gave him a deeper tone.

Guitar solos

Grunge guitarists "flatly rejected" the virtuoso "shredding" guitar solos that had become the centerpiece of heavy metal songs, instead opting for melodic, blues-inspired solos – focusing "on the song, not the guitar solo". Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains stated that solos should be to serve the song, rather than to show off a guitarist's technical skill. In place of the strutting guitar heroes of metal, grunge had "guitar anti-heroes" like Cobain, who showed little interest in mastering the instrument.

In Will Byers' article "Grunge committed a crime against music—it killed the guitar solo" in ''The Guardian'', he states that while the guitar solo managed to survive through the punk rock era, it was weakened by grunge. He also states that when Kurt Cobain played guitar solos that were a restatement of the main vocal melody, fans realized that they did not need to be a Jimi Hendrix-level virtuoso to play the instrument; he then says this approach helped to make music feel accessible by fans in a way not seen since the 1960s folk music movement. The producer of Nirvana's ''Nevermind'', Butch Vig, stated that this album and Nirvana "killed the guitar solo". Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil stated he feels in part to be responsible for the "death of the guitar solo"; he said that his punk rocker aspects made him feel that he did not want to solo, so in the 1980s, he preferred to make noise and do feedback during the guitar solo. Baeble Music calls the grunge guitar solos of the 1990s "raw", "sloppy", and "basic".

Not all sources support the "grunge killed the guitar solo" argument. Sean Gonzalez states that Pearl Jam has plentiful examples of guitar solos. Michael Azerrad praises the guitar playing of Mudhoney's Steve Turner, calling him the "Eric Clapton of grunge", a reference to the British blues guitarist who ''Time'' magazine has named as number five in their list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players". Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready has been praised for his blues-influenced, rapid licks. The Smashing Pumpkins' guitarist Billy Corgan has been called the "arena rock genius of the '90s" for pioneering guitar playing techniques and showing through his playing skill that grunge guitarists do not have to be sloppy players to rebel against mainstream music. Thayil stated that when other major grunge bands, such as Nirvana, were reducing their guitar solos, Soundgarden responded by bringing back the solos.

Bass guitar

The early Seattle grunge album '' Skin Yard'' recorded in 1987 by the band of the same name included fuzz bass (overdriven bass guitar) played by Jack Endino and Daniel House. Some grunge bassists, such as Ben Shepherd, layered power chords with distorted low-end density by adding a fifth and an octave-higher note to a bass note.

An example of the powerful, loud bass amplifier systems used in grunge is Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez's setup. He uses four powerful Ampeg SVT-2 PRO tube amplifier heads, two of them plugged into four 1×18" subwoofer cabinets for the low register, and the other two plugged into two 8×10" cabinets. Krist Novoselic and Jeff Ament are also known for using Ampeg SVT tube amplifiers. Ben Shepherd uses a 300 watt all-tube Ampeg SVT-VR amp and a 600 watt Mesa/Boogie Carbine M6 amplifier. Ament uses four 6×10" speaker cabinets.

Drums

In contrast to the "massive drum kits" used in 1980s pop metal, grunge drummers used relatively smaller drum kits. One example is the drumkit used by Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron's set-up. He uses a six-piece kit (this way of describing drumkits counts only the wooden drums, and does not count the cymbals), including a "12×8-inch rack tom; 13×9-inch rack tom; 16×14-inch floor tom; 18×16-inch floor tom; 24×14-inch bass drum" and a snare drum and, for cymbals, Zildjian instruments, including "... 14-inch K Light i- hats; 17-inch K Custom Dark crash ymbaland 18-inch K Crash Ride; 19-inch Projection crash; a 20-inch Rezo crash; ... and a ... 22-inch A Medium ride ymbal.

A second example is Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's set-up during 1990 and 1991. He used a four-piece Tama drumset, with an 8" × 14" birch snare drum, a 14" × 15" rack tom, a 16" × 18" floor tom, and a 16" × 24" bass drum (this kit "was demolished at the Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 10/12/91"). Like Matt Cameron, Dave Grohl used Zildjian cymbals. Grohl used the company's A Series Medium cymbals, including an 18" and a 20" crash cymbal, a 22" ride cymbal, and a pair of 15" hi-hat cymbals.

Other instruments

Although other instruments are generally not included in grunge, Seattle band Gorilla created controversy by breaking the "guitars only" approach and using a 1960s-style Vox organ in their group.
In 2002, Pearl Jam added a keyboard player, Kenneth "Boom" Gaspar, who played piano, Hammond organ, and other keyboards; the addition of a keyboardist to the band would have been "inconceivable" in the band's "grungy" early years, but it shows how a group's sound can change over time.

Vocals

The grunge singing style was similar to the "outburst" of loud, heavily distorted electric guitar in tone and delivery; Kurt Cobain used a "gruff, slurred articulation and gritty timbre" and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam made use of a "wide, powerful vibrato" to show his "depth of expression." Layne Staley voiced lyrics with a "heaviness" and tremolo. In general, grunge singers used a "deeper vocal style" which matched the lower-sounding, downtuned guitars and the darker-themed lyrical messages used in the style. Grunge singers used "gravelly, raspy" vocals, "... growls, moans, screams and mumbles" and "plaintive groans"; this range of singing styles was used to communicate the "varied emotions" of the lyrics. Cobain's reaction to the "bad times" and discontent of the era was that he screamed his lyrics.Talley, Tara. "Grunge and Blues, A Sociological Comparison:How Space and Place Influence the Development and Spread of Regional Musical Styles". ''Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research, School of Humanities and Social Sciences'', College of Charleston Volume 4, 2005: pp. 228–240. p. 233 In general, grunge songs were sung "simply, often somewhat unintelligibly"; the virtuoso " operatics of hair-metal were shunned." Grunge singing has been characterized as "borderline out-of-tune vocals".

Lyrics and themes

Grunge lyrics are typically dark, nihilistic, wretched, angst-filled and anguished, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, assault, neglect, betrayal, social isolation/ emotional isolation, psychological trauma, and a desire for freedom.

An article by MIT states that grunge "lyrics ereobsessed with disenfranchisement" and described a mood of "resigned despair". Catherine Strong, in her book"Grunge: Music and Memory", states that grunge songs were usually about "negative experiences or feelings", with the main themes being alienation and depression, but with an "ironic sneer."Strong, Catherine. ''Grunge: Music and Memory''. Routledge, 2016. p.19 Grunge artists expressed "strong feelings" in their lyrics about "societal ills", including a "desire to 'crucify the insincere, an approach which fans appreciated for its authenticity. Grunge lyrics have been criticized as "violent and often obscene." In 1996, conservative columnist Rich Lowry wrote an essay criticizing grunge, entitled "Heroin, Our Hero"; he called it a music that is mostly "... shorn of ideals and the impulse for political action".

A number of factors influenced the focus on such subject matter. Many grunge musicians displayed a general disenchantment with the state of society, as well as a discomfort with social prejudices. Grunge lyrics contained "explicit political messages and ... questioning about ... society and how it might be changed." While grunge lyrics were less overtly political than punk songs, grunge songs still indicated a concern for social issues, particularly those affecting young people. The main themes in grunge were "tolerance of difference", "support of women", "mistrust of authority" and "cynicism towards big corporations." Grunge song themes bear similarities to those addressed by punk rock musicians. In 1992, music critic Simon Reynolds said that "there's a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future". The topics of grunge lyrics–homelessness, suicide, rape, "broken homes, drug addiction and self-loathing"–contrasted sharply to the glam metal lyrics of bands like Poison, which described "life in the fast lane",Gina Misiroglu. ''American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History''. Routledge, 2015. p. 343 partying, and hedonism.

Grunge lyrics developed as part of " Generation X malaise", reflecting that demographic's feelings of "disillusionment and uselessness".''Music Cultures in the United States: An Introduction''. Ed. Ellen Koskoff. Routledge, 2005. p. 359 Grunge songs about love were usually about "failed, boring, doomed or destructive relationships" (e.g., " Black" by Pearl Jam). The Alice in Chains songs "Sickman", "Junkhead", "God Smack", and " Hate to Feel" have references to heroin. Grunge lyrics tended to be more introspective and aimed to enable the listener to see into "hidden" personal issues and examine the "depravity" of the world. This approach can be seen in Mudhoney's song " Touch Me I'm Sick", which includes lyrics with "deranged imagery" which depict a "broken world and a fragmented self-image"; the song includes the lines "I feel bad, and I've felt worse" and "I won't live long and I'm full of rot". Nirvana's song " Lithium", from their 1991 album '' Nevermind'', is about a "man who finds faith after his girlfriend's suicide"; it depicts "irony and ugliness" as a way of dealing with these "dark issues".

Recording production

Like punk, grunge's sound came from a lo fi (low fidelity) recording and production approach. Before the arrival of major labels, early grunge albums were recorded using low-budget analogue studios: "Nirvana's first album ''Bleach'', was recorded for $606.17 in 1989." Sub Pop recorded most of their music at a "low-rent studio named Reciprocal", where producer Jack Endino created the grunge genre's aesthetic, a "raw and unpolished sound with distortion, but usually without any added studio effects". Endino is known for his stripped-down recording practices and his dislike of 'over-producing' music with effects and remastering. His work on Soundgarden's '' Screaming Life'' and Nirvana's ''Bleach'' as well as for the bands Green River, Screaming Trees, L7, the Gits, Hole, 7 Year Bitch, and Tad helped to define the grunge sound. An example of the lower cost production approach is Mudhoney; even after the band signed to Warner Music, " ue to he band'sindie roots ... hey are... probably one of the few bands that would have to fight heir labelto record for a lower budget rather than a higher one."

Steve Albini was another important influence on the grunge sound. Albini prefers to be called a "recording engineer", because he believes that putting record producers in charge of recording sessions often destroys the band's real sound, while the role of the recording engineer is to capture the actual sound of the musicians, not to threaten the artists' control over their creative product. Albini's recordings have been analyzed by writers such as Michael Azerrad, who stated that Albini's "recordings were both very basic and very exacting: like Endino, Albini used few special effects; got an aggressive, often violent guitar sound; and made sure the rhythm section slammed as one."

Nirvana's '' In Utero'' is a typical example of Albini's recording approach. He preferred to have the entire band play live in the studio, rather than use mainstream rock's approach of recording each instrument on a separate track at different times, and then mixing them using multi-track recording. While multitracking results in a more polished product, it does not capture the "live" sound of the band playing together. Albini used a range of different microphones for the vocals and instruments. Like most metal and punk recording engineers, he mics the guitar amp speakers and bass amp speakers to capture each performer's unique tone.

Concerts

Grunge concerts were known for being straightforward, high-energy performances. Grunge shows were "celebrations, parties ndcarnivals", where the audience expressed its spirit by stagediving, moshing and thrashing.Henderson, Justin. ''Grunge: Seattle''. Roaring Forties Press, 2016. Ch. 5 Simon Reynolds states that in "... some of the most masculine forms of rock— thrash metal, grunge, moshing becomes a form of surrogate combat" in which "male bodies" can contact in the "sweat-and-bloodbath" of the moshpit. As with punk shows, grunge "performances were about frontmen who screamed and jumped around on stage and musicians who thrashed wildly on their instruments." While grunge lyrical themes focused on "angst and rage", the audience at shows were positive and created a "life-affirming" attitude. Grunge bands rejected the complex and high budget presentations of many mainstream musical genres, including the use of complex digitally controlled light arrays, pyrotechnics, and other visual effects then popular in "hair metal" shows. Grunge performers viewed these elements unrelated to playing the music. Stage acting and "onstage theatrics" were generally avoided.

Instead the bands presented themselves as no different from minor local bands. Jack Endino said in ''Hype!'' that Seattle bands were inconsistent live performers, since their primary objective was not to be entertainers, but simply to "rock out". Grunge bands gave enthusiastic performances; they would thrash their long hair during shows as "a symbolic weapon" for releasing "pent-up aggression" (Dave Grohl was particularly noted for his " head flips").Fournier, Karen. ''The Words and Music of Alanis Morissette''. ABC-CLIO, 2015. p. 44 Dave Rimmer writes that with the revival of punk ideals of stripped-down music in the early 1990s, "for Cobain, and lots of kids like him, rock & roll ... threw down a dare: Can you be pure enough, day after day, year after year, to prove your authenticity, to live up to the music ... And if you can't, can you live with being a poseur, a phony, a sellout?"

Clothing and fashion

1980s–1990s

commonly worn by grunge musicians in Washington were a "mundane everyday style", in which they would wear the same clothes on stage that they wore at home. This Pacific Northwest "slacker style" or "slouch look" contrasted sharply with the "wild" mohawks, leather jackets and chains worn by punks. This everyday clothing approach was used by grunge musicians because authenticity was a key principle in the Seattle scene. The grunge look typically consisted of second-hand clothes or thrift store items and the typical outdoor clothing (most notably flannel shirts) of the region, as well as a generally unkempt appearance and long hair. For grunge singers, long hair was used "as a mask to conceal the face" so they can "expres theirinnermost thoughts"; Cobain is a notable example. Male grunge musicians were "... unkempt ... nd... unshaven with ... tousled hair" that was often unwashed, greasy and "... matted nto asheep-dog mop".

The lumberjack attire was a common sight in the thrift stores near Seattle for the low prices that musicians could afford. Grunge style consisted of ripped jeans, thermal underwear, Doc Martens boots or combat boots (often unlaced), band T-shirts, oversized knit sweaters, long and droopy skirts, ripped tights, Birkenstocks, hiking boots, and eco-friendly clothing made from recycled textiles or fair trade organic cotton. As well, since women in the grunge scene wore the "... same plaid hirt, boots, and short cropped heads as their male counterparts", women showed "... that they are not defined by their sex appeal."

"Grunge ... became an anti-consumerist movement where the less you spent on clothes, the more 'coolness' you had." The style did not evolve out of a conscious attempt to create an appealing fashion; music journalist Charles R. Cross said, " irvana frontmanKurt Cobain was just too lazy to shampoo", and Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman said, "This lothingis cheap, it's durable, and it's kind of timeless. It also runs against the grain of the whole flashy aesthetic that existed in the 80s." The flannel and "... cracked leatherette coats" in the grunge scene were part of the Pacific Northwest's thrift-shop aesthetic. Grunge fashion was very much an anti-fashion response and a non-conformist move against the "manufactured image", often pushing musicians to dress in authentic ways and to not glamorize themselves. At the same time, Sub-Pop utilized the 'grunge look' in their marketing of their bands. In an interview with VH1, photographer Charles Peterson commented that members from grunge band Tad "were given blue collar identities that weren't entirely earned. Bruce (Pavitt) really got him to dress up in flannel and a real chain saw and really play up this image of a mountain man and it worked."

''Dazed'' magazine called Courtney Love one of "ten women who defined the 1990s" from a style perspective: the "... image of Courtney Love's too-short baby doll dress, tattered fur coat and shock of platinum hair", a look dubbed " kinderwhore", "... topped with a tiara, of course – is seared on the memory of anyone who lived through the decade." The kinderwhore look consisted of torn, ripped tight or low-cut babydoll and Peter-Pan-collared dresses, slips, heavy makeup with dark eyeliner, barrettes, and leather boots or Mary–Jane shoes. Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland was the first to define it, while Courtney Love of Hole was the first to popularize it. Love has claimed that she took the style from Divinyls frontwoman Chrissy Amphlett. The look became very popular in 1994.

'' Vogue'' stated in 2014 that "Cobain pulled liberally from both ends of a woman's and a man's wardrobe, and his Seattle thrift-store look ran the gamut of masculine lumberjack workwear and 40s-by-way-of-70s feminine dresses. It was completely counter to the shellacked, flashy aesthetic of the 1980s in every way. In disheveled jeans and floral frocks, he softened the tough exterior of the archetypal rebel from the inside out, and set the ball in motion for a radical, millennial idea of androgyny." Cobain's way of dressing "was the antithesis of the macho American man", because he "... made it cooler to look slouchy and loose, no matter if you were a boy or a girl." Music and culture writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd wrote that with Cobain's style of dress "Not only did he make it okay to be a freak, he made it desirable."

Adoption by mainstream

Grunge music hit the mainstream in the early 1990s with bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana being signed to major record labels. Grunge fashion began to break into mainstream fashion in mid-1992 for both sexes and peaked in late 1993 and early 1994. As it picked up momentum, the grunge tag was being used by shops selling expensive flannelette shirts to cash in on the trend. Ironically, the non-conformist look suddenly became a mainstream trend. In the fashion world, Marc Jacobs presented a show for Perry Ellis in 1992 (the Spring 1993 Collection,) featuring grunge-inspired clothing mixed with high-end fabrics. Jacobs found inspiration in the "realism" of grunge streetwear; he mixed it with the luxury of fashion by sending models down the catwalk in beanies, floral dresses and silk flannel shirts. This did, however, not sit well with the brand owners and Jacobs was dismissed. Other designers like Anna Sui, also drew inspiration from grunge during the spring/summer 1993 season.

In the same year, ''Vogue'' did a spread called "Grunge & Glory" with fashion photographer Steven Meisel who shot supermodels Kristen McMenamy, Naomi Campbell, and Nadja Auermann in a savanna landscape wearing grunge-styled clothing. This shoot made McMenamy the face for grunge, as she had her eyebrows shaved and her hair cropped short. Designers like Christian Lacroix, Donna Karen and Karl Lagerfeld incorporated the grunge influence into their looks. In 1993, James Truman, editor of ''Details'', said: "to me the thing about grunge is it's not anti-fashion, it's unfashion. Punk was anti-fashion. It made a statement. Grunge is about not making a statement, which is why it's crazy for it to become a fashion statement." The unkempt fashion sense defined the look of the "slacker generation", who "skipped school, smoked pot ... ndcigarettes and listened to music" hoping to become a rock star one day.

2000s–2010s

Even though the grunge movement died down in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain, designers have continued to draw inspiration from the movement from time to time. Grunge appeared as a trend again in 2008, and for Fall/Winter 2013, Hedi Slimane at Yves Saint Laurent brought back grunge to the runway. With Courtney Love as his muse for the collection, she reportedly loved the collection. "No offense to MJ arc Jacobsbut he never got it right," Courtney said. "This is what it really was. Hedi knows his shit. He got it accurate, and MJ and Anna uidid not." Both Cobain and Love apparently burnt the Perry Ellis collection they received from Marc Jacobs back in 1993. In 2016, grunge inspired an upscale "reinvention" of the style by A$AP Rocky, Rihanna and Kanye West. However, "dressing grunge is no longer a badge of authenticity, though: the signifiers of rebellion (Dr Martens boots, tartan shirts) are omnipotent on the high street", says Lynette Nylander, deputy editor of '' i-D magazine''.

Alcohol and drugs

Many music subcultures are associated with particular drugs, such as the hippie counterculture and reggae, both of which are associated with marijuana and psychedelics. In the 1990s, the media focused on the use of heroin by musicians in the Seattle grunge scene, with a 1992 ''New York Times'' article listing the city's "three principal drugs" as " espresso, beer and heroin" and a 1996 article calling Seattle's grunge scene the "... subculture that has most strongly embraced heroin". Tim Jonze from ''The Guardian'' states that "... heroin had blighted the rungescene ever since its inception in the mid-80s" and he argues that the "... involvement of heroin mirrors the self-hating, nihilistic aspect to the music"; in addition to the heroin deaths, Jonze points out that Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, as well as Courtney Love, Mark Lanegan, Jimmy Chamberlin and Evan Dando "... all had their run-ins with the drug, but lived to tell the tale." A 2014 book stated that whereas in the 1980s, people used the "stimulant" cocaine to socialize and "... celebrate good times", in the 1990s grunge scene, the "depressant" heroin was used to "retreat" into a "cocoon" and be "... sheltered from a harsh and unforgiving world which offered ... few prospects for ... change or hope."Marion, Nancy E and Oliver, Willard M. ''Drugs in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture. and the Law''. ABC-CLIO, 2014 . p. 888. Justin Henderson states that all of the "downer" opiates, including "heroin, morphine, etorphine, codeine, opium, nd hydrocodone ... seemed to be the habit of choice for many a grunger".Henderson, Justin. ''Grunge: Seattle''. Roaring Forties Press, 2016. Ch. 5 "the really big time", section: "here come the tabloids!"

The title of Nirvana's debut album ''Bleach'' was inspired by a harm reduction poster aimed at heroin injection users, which stated "Bleach your works .g., syringe and Hypodermic needle">needle