Grunge

Grunge

What is Grunge? 

Let’s start with, what is grunge? Grunge is a subgroup of rock and heavy metal music that came about in the early 1990’s inSeattle Washington. As a child of two parents who were had kids way too young and were inter 20’s during the golden age of grunge, you can say I listened to it a lot growing up. Grunge lyrics are some that brings up hard hitting and controversial topics such as social alienation, abuse, mental health, addiction, and the desire for freedom. The wide variety of topics that the music discusses allow for a wide variety of listeners to connect and identify with the music and the artists themselves.

Instruments

Grunge instruments themselves includes bass, drums, vocals and the electric guitar. The electric guitar offers a buzz-like sound mixed with the sound of a 1970’s stomp box pedals. The electric guitar and its solos are a major ingredient in grunge. Many bands during the grunge era were influenced by different genres allowing for an array of other instruments as well. It shares a similar lo-fi and lyrical sound with punk music but was deeper and darker than punk music causing a decrease in up beat tempo. 

Fashion

While instrumentals were key in grunge fashion within the grunge community wasn’t of utter importance it can be described as a “mundane everyday style” dressed in clothing that many would wear around their home. Grunge attire consisted of oversized sweaters, combat boots, t- shirts, flannels and ripped jeans. The reasoning behind this was simply because many artists and bands did not make a lot of money and were on the less fortunate side, without much disposable income it was easier to just wear you have. Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of the band Nirvana their music discussed everything from repression to sexism, it is said in many interviews that Cobain did not want to be famous or wealthy but simply to make music, he later died of a drug overdose. The adoption of grunge into main stream media began with Alice and Chains Nirvana and Sound garden being signed by major record labels, but it was the fashion that carried the music. The style that grunge music came with quickly worked its way into the magazines and runways. 

Nirvana

On September 24, 1991 Nirvana released what was unknowingly going to be one of the most impactful albums ever made, dynamically the album was extremely fluid. It combined ideas of soft and loud song structures, and combined them with ideas from bands like Pixies, The Beatles, and Black Flag. The album also combined the angst and anger of the then popular Generation X bands with the happy, go-lucky pop songs that Cobain and many others grew up with. The music was loved by adults and kids but also became a point of contention from those of extreme religious background, making claims that the album twisted the ideals of Generation X.

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam is a band similar to Nirvana in which they paved the way for grunge music, their music consisted of combining the riff heavy rock of the 1970’s with the 1980’s angry post punk. They pulled inspiration from bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Neil Young. Pearl Jam’s music is that of which has had a huge impact on the people “Pearl Jam’s sound has always sought to make a personal connection with every listener”, I truly believe is because of the controversial topics that grunge music discusses. Pearl Jam came to be a band by due to the lead singer of Mother Love Bone, Andrew Wood, passing away from heroine over dose and the band joining Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready. 

Sound Garden 

In 1988 Sound Garden released its first album “Louder than Love” and continued to hit top chart after top chart. Shortly after Sound Gardens release Kurt Cobain dies of overdose (ruled suicide but I have my own opinion). Sound Garden releases a final album called “Down on the Upside”  right before the bands split in 1997. Lead singer of Sound Garden, Chris Cornell later goes on to start another band in 2001 known as no other than Audio Slave, Cornell died in 2017 at the age of 52 from suicide. 

Grunge Music has changed and helped further the development of music from heavy metal to the weird rock/rap/pop we have now in mainstream media. Grunge connected generations through trauma, addiction, and other hard hitting topics that now in 2022 are becoming more socially acceptable to talk about openly. 

 

Citations:

Bush, Evan. “How Chris Cornell and Soundgarden Shaped Seattle's Music Scene - and 'Destroyed the '80s Music'.” The Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 18 May 2017, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-chris-cornell-and-soundgarden-shaped-seattles-music-scene-and-destroyed-the-80s-music/. 

“Grunge.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Oct. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge#Electric_guitar. 

“Pearl Jam: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” Pearl Jam | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, https://www.rockhall.com/pearl-jam#:~:text=Inductee%20Insights%3A%20Pearl%20Jam,-Inductee%20Insights%20explores&text=Grunge%20gave%20birth%20to%20a,a%20pioneer%20of%20this%20era. 

Starkey, Arun. “The Lasting Cultural and Musical Impact of Nirvana Album 'Nevermind'.” Far Out Magazine, 24 Sept. 2021, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-lasting-cultural-and-musical-impact-of-nirvanas-nevermind/. 

Gender :/

     This topic is especially interesting to me as I consider myself to fit into a different category of just man or woman. I am genderfluid, for those who don't know gender fluid is exactly what it sounds like the fluidity between genders. Gender fluidity is weird, it's a constant not knowing. Some days are easy and some days aren't, it feels like a constant cycle of being comfortable with how you look in the body you're given and others it creates this pit in your stomach where everything looks and feels just wrong. These are things that I have just recently found out about myself, and I understand that not everyone will know what I am talking about but within coming to Converse and seperating myself from the conservative, christian household where gender was not up for discussion, I've found comfort in music knowing that someone knows what it feels like to not ever really know. 

     Music in and of itself has been know to be very sexist and not necessarily in a bad way but there are specific gender roles that were filled just like anything yet in modern day more artists are no longer conforming. More and more artists over the years have shared larger pieces of their lives like sexuality and gender. Demi Lovato is an example of that, Demi identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Their most recent album resonates with a lot of people not just because of the messages behind them but because of the person who writes them. I personally will become way more obsessed with a song if I feel like I know the artists story. 

"Freak" by Demi Lovato and YUNGBLUD isn't a song about gender but YUNGBLUD is another artist who is very open about his sexuality and openly discusses hard hitting topics not only in his songs but at his concerts as well. Many artists will collaborate on the The openness of artists help me feel connected to something especially when it's been been a hard day. 

Growing up in my house wearing boys clothes wasn't okay for a girl, dresses always needed to be worn at nice events because pants were for men, and even the basic things like always expect a man to open the door for you. I never understood that because when it came to clothes I just wanted to be comfortable and I didn't understand why I couldn't open my own door, as I've grown it was never about whether I could or couldn't but what was socially expected. 

    "Verbatim" by Mother Mother, I absolutely love this song it questions gender in clothing, what defines a man or a person's sexuality. I heard this song about a year ago and it quickly became part of my everyday playlist. It touches on things that would typically not come in an everyday conversation and it shows a little window into the artists as people. 

   

     I think that gender and sexuality in music is something that is needed as a way to express differences rather than uphold the gender normalities, everyone is a different person who goes through different experiences that shape us into individuals that we are and those who share the emotions that come with it become a life-line to another simply through music.