research on grunge music

The Grunge Effect: Music, Fashion, and the Media During the Rise of Grunge Culture In the Early 1990s

• Paul Edgerton Stafford Tarleton State University

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Introduction

The death of Chris Cornell in the spring of 2017 shook me. As the lead singer of Soundgarden and a pioneer of early 1990s grunge music, his voice revealed an unbridled pain and joy backed up by the raw, guitar-driven rock emanating from the Seattle, Washington music scene. I remember thinking, there’s only one left, referring to Eddie Vedder, lead singer for Pearl Jam, and lone survivor of the four seminal grunge bands that rose to fame in the early 1990s whose lead singers passed away much too soon. Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley died in 2002 at the age of 35, and Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994 had resonated around the globe. I thought about when Cornell and Staley said goodbye to their friend Andy Wood, lead singer of Mother Love Bone, after he overdosed on heroine in 1990. Wood’s untimely death at the age of 24, only days before his band’s debut album release, shook the close-knit Seattle music scene and remained a source of angst and inspiration for a genre of music that shaped youth culture of the 1990s.

When grunge first exploded on the pop culture scene, I was a college student flailing around in pursuit of an English degree I had less passion for than I did for music. I grew up listening to The Beatles and Prince; Led Zeppelin and Miles Davis; David Bowie and Willie Nelson, along with a litany of other artists and musicians crafting the kind of meaningful music I responded to. I didn’t just listen to music, I devoured stories about the musicians, their often hedonistic lifestyles; their processes and epiphanies. The music spoke to my being in the world more than the promise of any college degree. I ran with friends who shared this love of music, often turning me on to new bands or suggesting some obscure song from the past to track down. I picked up my first guitar when John Lennon died on the eve of my eleventh birthday and have played for the past 37 years. I rely on music to relocate my sense of self. Rhythm and melody play out like characters in my life, colluding to make me feel something apart from the mundane, moving me from within. So, when I took notice of grunge music in the fall of 1991, it was love at first listen. 

As a pop cultural phenomenon, grunge ruptured the music and fashion industries caught off guard by its sudden commercial appeal while the media struggled to galvanize its relevance. As a subculture, grunge rallied around a set of attitudes and values that set the movement apart from mainstream (Latysheva). The grunge sound drew from the nihilism of punk and the head banging gospel of heavy metal, tinged with the swagger of 1970s FM rock running counter to the sleek production of pop radio and hair metal bands. Grunge artists wrote emotionally-laden songs that spoke to a particular generation of youth who identified with lyrics about isolation, anger, and death. Grunge set off new fashion trends in favor of dressing down and sporting the latest in second-hand, thrift store apparel, ripping away the Reagan-era starched white-collared working-class aesthetic of the 1980’s corporate culture. Like their punk forbearers who railed against the status quo and the trappings of success incurred through the mass appeal of their art, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and the rest of the grunge cohort often wrestled with the momentum of their success. Fortunes rained down and the media ordained them rock stars.

This auto-ethnography revisits some of the cultural impacts of grunge during its rise to cultural relevance and includes my own reflexive interpretation positioned as a fan of grunge music.  

I use a particular auto-ethnographic orientation called “interpretive-humanistic autoethnography” (Manning and Adams 192) where, along with archival research (i.e. media articles and journal articles), I will use my own reflexive voice to interpret and describe my personal experiences as a fan of grunge music during its peak of popularity from 1991 up to the death of Cobain in 1994. It is a methodology that works to bridge the personal and popular where “the individual story leaves traces of at least one path through a shifting, transforming, and disappearing cultural landscape” (Neumann 183).   

Grunge Roots

There are many conflicting stories as to when the word “grunge” was first used to describe the sound of a particular style of alternative music seeping from the dank basements and shoddy rehearsal spaces in towns like Olympia, Aberdeen, and Seattle. Lester Bangs, the preeminent cultural writer and critic of all things punk, pop, and rock in the 1970s was said to have used the word at one time (Yarm), and several musicians lay claim to their use of the word in the 1980s. But it was a small Seattle record label founded in 1988 called Sub Pop Records that first included grunge in their marketing materials to describe “the grittiness of the music and the energy” (Yarm 195).

This particular sound grew out of the Pacific Northwest blue-collar environment of logging towns, coastal fisheries, and airplane manufacturing. Seattle’s alternative music scene unfolded as a community of musicians responding to the tucked away isolation of their musty surroundings, apart from the outside world, free to submerge themselves in their own cultural milieu of rock music, rain, and youthful rebellion.

Where Seattle stood as a major metropolitan city soaked in rainclouds for much of the year, I was soaking up the desert sun in a rural college town when grunge first leapt into the mainstream. Cattle ranches and cotton fields spread across the open plains of West Texas, painted with pickup trucks, starched Wrangler Jeans, and cowboy hats. This was not my world. I’d arrived the year prior from Houston, Texas, an urban sprawl of four million people, but I found the wide-open landscape a welcome change from the concrete jungle of the big city. Along with cowboy boots and western shirts came country music, and lots of it. Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, George Straight; some of the voices that captured the lifestyle of my small rural town, twangy guitars and fiddles blaring on local radio. While popular country artists recorded for behemoth record labels like Warner Brothers and Sony, the tiny Sub Pop Records championed the grunge sound coming out of the Seattle music scene.  

Sub Pop became a playground for those who cared about their music and little else. The label cultivated an early following through their Sub Pop Singles Club, mailing seven-inch records to subscribers on a monthly basis promoting new releases from up-and-coming bands. Sub Pop’s stark, black and white logo showed up on records sleeves, posters, and t-shirts, reflecting a no-nonsense DIY-attitude rooted in in the production of loud guitars and heavy drums.

Like the bands it represented, Sub Pop did not take itself too seriously when one of their best-selling t-shirts simply read “Loser” embracing the slacker mood of newly minted Generation X’ers born between 1961 and 1981. A July 1990 Time Magazine article described this twenty-something demographic as having “few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own” suggesting they “possess only a hazy sense of their own identity” (Gross & Scott). As a member of this generation, I purchased and wore my “Loser” t-shirt with pride, especially in ironic response to the local cowboy way of life. I didn’t hold anything personal against the Wrangler wearing Garth Brooks fan but as a twenty-one-year-old reluctant college student, I wanted to rage with contempt for the status quo of my environment with an ambivalent snarl.

Grunge in the Mainstream

In 1991, the Seattle sound exploded onto the international music scene with the release of four seminal grunge-era albums over a six-month period. The first arrived in April, Temple of the Dog , a tribute album of sorts to the late Andy Wood, led by his close friend, Soundgarden singer/songwriter, Chris Cornell. In August, Pearl Jam released their debut album, Ten , with its “surprising and refreshing, melodic restraint” (Fricke). The following month, Nirvana’s Nevermind landed in stores. Now on a major record label, DGC Records, the band had arrived “at the crossroads—scrappy garageland warriors setting their sights on a land of giants” (Robbins). October saw the release of Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger as “a runaway train ride of stammering guitar and psycho-jungle telegraph rhythms” (Fricke). These four albums sent grunge culture into the ether with a wall of sound that would upend the music charts and galvanize a depressed concert ticket market.

In fall of 1991, grunge landed like a hammer when I witnessed Nirvana’s video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on MTV for the first time. Sonically, the song rang like an anthem for the Gen Xers with its jangly four-chord opening guitar riff signaling the arrival of a youth-oriented call to arms, “here we are now, entertain us” (Nirvana). It was the visual power of seeing a skinny white kid with stringy hair wearing baggy jeans, a striped T-shirt and tennis shoes belting out choruses with a ferociousness typically reserved for black-clad heavy metal headbangers. Cobain’s sound and look didn’t match up. I felt discombobulated, turned sideways, as if vertigo had taken hold and I couldn’t right myself. Stopped in the middle of my tracks on that day, frozen in front of the TV, the subculture of grunge music slammed into my world while I was on my way to the fridge.

Suddenly, grunge was everywhere, As Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam albums and performances infiltrated radio, television, and concert halls, there was no shortage of media coverage. From 1992 through 1994, grunge bands were mentioned or featured on the cover of Rolling Stone 33 times (Hillburn). That same year, The New York Times ran the article “Grunge: A Success Story” featuring a short history of the Seattle sound, along with a “lexicon of grunge speak” (Marin), a joke perpetrated by a former 25-year-old Sub Pop employee, Megan Jasper, who never imagined her list of made-up vocabulary given to a New York Times reporter would grace the front page of the style section (Yarm). In their rush to keep up with pervasiveness of grunge culture, even The New York Times fell prey to Gen Xer’s comical cynicism.

The circle of friends I ran with were split down the middle between Nirvana and Pearl Jam, a preference for one over the other, as the two bands and their respective front men garnered much of the media attention. Nirvana seemed to appeal to people’s sense of authenticity, perhaps more relatable in their aloofness to mainstream popularity, backed up with Cobain’s simple-yet-brilliant song arrangements and revealing lyrics. Lawrence Grossberg suggests that music fans recognise the difference between authentic and homogenised rock, interpreting and aligning these differences with rock and roll’s association with “resistance, refusal, alienation, marginality, and so on” (62). I tended to gravitate toward Nirvana’s sound, mostly for technical reasons. Nevermind sparkled with aggressive guitar tones while capturing the power and fragility of Cobain’s voice. For many critics, the brilliance of Pearl Jam’s first album suffered from too much echo and reverb muddling the overall production value, but twenty years later they would remix and re-release Ten , correcting these production issues.

Grunge Fashion

As the music carved out a huge section of the charts, the grunge look was appropriated on fashion runways. When Cobain appeared on MTV wearing a ragged olive green cardigan he’d created a style simply by rummaging through his closet. Vedder and Cornell sported army boots, cargo shorts, and flannel shirts, suitable attire for the overcast climate of the Pacific Northwest, but their everyday garb turned into a fashion trend for Gen Xers that was then milked by designers. In 1992, the editor of Details magazine, James Truman, called grunge “un fashion” (Marin) as stepping out in second-hand clothes ran “counter to the shellacked, flashy aesthetic of 1980s” (Nnadi) for those who preferred “the waif-like look of put-on poverty” (Brady). But it was MTV’s relentless airing of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden videos that sent Gen Xers flocking to malls and thrift-stores in search grunge-like apparel. I purchased a pair of giant, heavyweight Red Wing boots that looked like small cars on my feet, making it difficult to walk, but at least I was prepared for any terrain in all types of weather. The flannel came next; I still wear flannos. Despite its association with dark, murky musical themes, grunge kept me warm and dry.

Much of grunge’s appeal to the masses was that it was not gender-specific; men and women dressed to appear unimpressed, sharing a taste for shapeless garments and muted colors without reference to stereotypical masculine or feminine styles. Cobain “allowed his own sexuality to be called into question by often wearing dresses and/or makeup on stage, in film clips, and on photo shoots, and wrote explicitly feminist songs, such as ‘Sappy’ or ‘Been a Son’” (Strong 403). I remember watching Pearl Jam’s 1992 performance on MTV Unplugged, seeing Eddie Vedder scrawl the words “Pro Choice” in black marker on his arm in support of women’s rights while his lyrics in songs like “Daughter”, “Better Man”, and “Why Go” reflected an equitable, humanistic if somewhat tragic perspective. Females and males moshed alongside one another, sharing the same spaces while experiencing and voicing their own response to grunge’s aggressive sound. Unlike the hypersexualised hair-metal bands of the 1980s whose aesthetic motifs often portrayed women as conquests or as powerless décor, the message of grunge rock avoided gender exploitation. As the ‘90s unfolded, underground feminist punk bands of the riot grrrl movement like Bikini Kill, L7, and Babes in Toyland expressed female empowerment with raging vocals and buzz-saw guitars that paved the way for Hole, Sleater-Kinney and other successful female-fronted grunge-era bands. 

The Decline of Grunge

In 1994, Kurt Cobain appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine in memoriam after committing suicide in the greenhouse of his Seattle home. Mass media quickly spread the news of his passing internationally. Two days after his death, 7,000 fans gathered at Seattle Center to listen to a taped recording of Courtney Love, Cobain’s wife, a rock star in her own right, reading the suicide note he left behind.

A few days after Cobain’s suicide, I found myself rolling down the highway with a carload of friends, one of my favorite Nirvana tunes, “Come As You Are” fighting through static. I fiddled with the radio to clear up the signal. The conversation turned to Cobain as we cobbled together the details of his death. I remember the chatter quieting down, Cobain’s voice fading as we gazed out the window at the empty terrain passing. In that reflective moment, I felt like I had experienced an intense, emotional relationship that came to an abrupt end. This “illusion of intimacy” (Horton and Wohl 217) between myself and Cobain elevated the loss I felt with his passing even though I had no intimate, personal ties to him. I counted this person as a friend (Giles 284) because I so closely identified with his words and music. I could not help but feel sad, even angry that he’d decided to end his life.

Fueled by depression and a heroin addiction, Cobain’s death signaled an end to grunge’s collective appeal while shining a spotlight on one of the more dangerous aspects of its ethos. A 1992 Rolling Stone article mentioned that several of Seattle’s now-famous international musicians used heroin and “The feeling around town is, the drug is a disaster waiting to happen” (Azzerad). In 2002, eight years to the day of Cobain’s death, Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice In Chains, another seminal grunge outfit, was found dead of a suspected heroin overdose (Wiederhorn). When Cornell took his own life in 2017 after a long battle with depression, The Washington Post said, “The story of grunge is also one of death” (Andrews). The article included a Tweet from a grieving fan that read “The voices I grew up with: Andy Wood, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain…only Eddie Vedder is left. Let that sink in” (@ThatEricAlper).

The grunge movement of the early 1990s emerged out of musical friendships content to be on their own, on the outside, reflecting a sense of isolation and alienation in the music they made. As Cornell said, “We’ve always been fairly reclusive and damaged” (Foege). I felt much the same way in those days, sequestered in the desert, planting my grunge flag in the middle of country music territory, doing what I could to resist the status quo. Cobain, Cornell, Staley, and Vedder wrote about their own anxieties in a way that felt intimate and relatable, forging a bond with their fan base. Christopher Perricone suggests, “the relationship of an artist and audience is a collaborative one, a love relationship in the sense, a friendship” (200). In this way, grunge would become a shared memory among friends who rode the wave of this cultural phenomenon all the way through to its tragic consequences. But the music has survived. Along with my flannel shirts and Red Wing boots.

@ThatEricAlper (Eric Alper). “The voices I grew up with: Andy Wood, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain…only Eddie Vedder is left. Let that sink in.” Twitter , 18 May 2017, 02:41. 15 Sep.  2018 < https://twitter.com/ThatEricAlper/status/865140400704675840?ref_src >.

Andrews, Travis M. “After Chris Cornell’s Death: ‘Only Eddie Vedder Is Left. Let That Sink In.’” The Washington Post , 19 May 2017. 29 Aug. 2018 < https://www.washingtonpost.com/newsmorning-mix/wp/2017/05/19/after-chris-cornells-death-only-eddie-vedder-is-left-let-that-sink-in >.

Azzerad, Michael. “Grunge City: The Seattle Scene.” Rolling Stone , 16 Apr. 1992. 20 Aug. 2018 < https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grunge-city-the-seattle-scene-250071/ >.

Brady, Diane. “Kids, Clothes and Conformity: Teens Fashion and Their Back-to-School Looks.” Maclean’s, 6 Sep. 1993. 

Brodeur, Nicole. “Chris Cornell: Soundgarden’s Dark Knight of the Grunge-Music Scene.” Seattle Times , 18 May 2017. 20 Aug. 2018 < https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/chris-cornell-soundgardens-dark-knight-of-the-grunge-music-scene/ >.

Ellis, Carolyn, and Arthur P. Bochner. “Autoethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity: Researcher as Subject.” Handbook of Qualitative Research . 2nd ed. Eds. Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000. 733-768.

Foege, Alec. “Chris Cornell: The Rolling Stone Interview.” Rolling Stone , 28 Dec. 1994. 12 Sep. 2018 < https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chris-cornell-the-rolling-stone-interview-79108/ >.

Fricke, David. “Ten.” Rolling Stone , 12 Dec. 1991. 18 Sep. 2018 < https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/ten-251421/ >.

Giles, David. “Parasocial Interactions: A Review of the Literature and a Model for Future Research.” Media Psychology 4 (2002): 279-305.

Giles, Jeff. “The Poet of Alientation.” Newsweek , 17 Apr. 1994, 4 Sep. 2018 < https://www.newsweek.com/poet-alienation-187124 >.

Gross, D.M., and S. Scott. Proceding with Caution . Time, 16 July 1990. 3 Sep. 2018 < http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,155010,00.html >.

Grossberg, Lawrence. “Is There a Fan in the House? The Affective Sensibility of Fandom. The Adoring Audience” Fan Culture and Popular Media . Ed. Lisa A. Lewis. New York, NY: Routledge, 1992. 50-65.

Hillburn, Robert. “The Rise and Fall of Grunge.” Los Angeles Times , 21 May 1998. 20 Aug. 2018 < http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/31/entertainment/ca-54992 >.

Horton, Donald, and R. Richard Wohl. “Mass Communication and Para-Social Interactions: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance.” Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Process 19 (1956): 215-229.

Latysheva, T.V. “The Essential Nature and Types of the Youth Subculture Phenomenon.” Russian Education and Society 53 (2011): 73–88.

Manning, Jimmie, and Tony Adams. “Popular Culture Studies and Autoethnography: An Essay on Method.” The Popular Culture Studies Journal 3.1-2 (2015): 187-222.

Marin, Rick. “Grunge: A Success Story.” New York Times , 15 Nov. 1992. 12 Sep. 2018 < https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/style/grunge-a-success-story.html >.

Neumann, Mark. “Collecting Ourselves at the End of the Century.” Composing Ethnography:  Alternative Forms of Qualitative Writing . Eds. Carolyn Ellis and Arthur P. Bochner. London: Alta Mira Press, 1996. 172-198.

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind , Geffen, 1991.

Nnadi, Chioma. “Why Kurt Cobain Was One of the Most Influential Style Icons of Our Times.”  Vogue , 8 Apr. 2014. 15 Aug. 2018 < https://www.vogue.com/article/kurt-cobain-legacy-of-grunge-in-fashion >.

Perricone, Christopher. “Artist and Audience.” The Journal of Value Inquiry 24 (2012). 12 Sep. 2018 < https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF00149433.pdf >.

Robbins, Ira. “Ten.” Rolling Stone , 12 Dec. 1991. 15 Aug. 2018 < https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/ten-25142 >.

Strong, Catherine. “Grunge, Riott Grrl and the Forgetting of Women in Popular Culture.”  The Journal of Popular Culture 44.2 (2011): 398-416. 

Wiederhorn, Jon. “Remembering Layne Staley: The Other Great Seattle Musician to Die on April 5.” MTV, 4 June 2004. 23 Sep. 2018 < http://www.mtv.com/news/1486206/remembering-layne-staley-the-other-great-seattle-musician-to-die-on-april-5/ >.

Yarm, Mark. Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge . Three Rivers Press, 2011. 

Author Biography

Paul edgerton stafford, tarleton state university.

Paul Stafford is an assistant professor of in the Department of Communication Studies at Tarleton State University. His research focuses on biographical writing of lived experiences at the intersection of relational communication and popular culture.

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What is Grunge Music? The Origins and Influences of this Iconic Genre

Discover the origins and defining characteristics of grunge music, the iconic seattle sound that fused punk and heavy metal. learn more now.

Welcome to the world of grunge, my friends! You’ve stumbled upon a genre that’s as raw as your morning cup of joe and as earth-shattering as when you found out Santa wasn’t real. Let’s take a trip to the Pacific Northwest of the 1990s, where the grunge music scene exploded faster than you can say “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

You’ll learn about the defining grunge sound , the bands that shaped the genre, and the fashion trends that made grunge synonymous with rebellion. So, let’s crank up the volume, and dive in!

What is grunge music? Grunge music is a subgenre of alternative rock originating in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is characterized by its heavy use of guitar distortion, raw vocals, and a fusion of punk rock and heavy metal influences.

What is grunge music?

Grunge music was a subgenre of hard rock and alternative music that gained widespread popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It sprouted from the fertile grounds of the Pacific Northwest, with Seattle, Washington serving as its epicenter.

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How did grunge music originate?

Grunge music originated in the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest, particularly in Seattle, Washington, and nearby towns. This alternative rock genre and subculture emerged as a fusion of punk rock and heavy metal elements but without the structure and speed of punk rock. The genre featured a distorted electric guitar sound commonly used in both punk rock and heavy metal.

Seattle bands in the mid-’80s started mixing metal and punk rock to create the grunge sound. The term “grunge” was first used to describe murky-guitar bands, most notably Nirvana and Pearl Jam, that emerged from Seattle in the late 1980s, serving as a bridge between mainstream 1980s heavy metal-hard rock and post-punk alternative rock.

The history of grunge’s formative years is characterized by flexible band members and tight-knit circles of musicians who were inspired by each other . The word “grunge,” which means grime or dirt, came to represent the music genre and the fashion style and lifestyle associated with the Pacific Northwest and, specifically, Seattle.

What are the defining characteristics of grunge music?

Grunge music is known for its distinctive sound, characterized by heavy distortion , thunderous power chords, and strong riffs. Lets break down what makes grunge, grunge.

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1. Guitar sludge: the dirty sound of grunge

Grunge music was known for its heavy distortion and thunderous power chord riffs. Grunge guitarists, like Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, steered clear of flashy guitar solos and instead relied on distortion pedals and powerful amplifiers to deliver their signature sound. The result? A dirty, sludgy tone that set grunge apart from other genres.

2. Minimal drum kits: stripped-down power

Grunge bands took a minimalist approach to their drum kits, moving away from the elaborate setups favored by ’80s rock bands. Drummers like Dave Grohl and Matt Cameron opted for four- or six-piece drum kits, focusing on skill and power rather than flashy embellishments. The goal was to deliver an overwhelming grunge beat with a raw and straightforward approach.

3. Intense vocals: from bellowing to muscular vibrato

Kurt Cobain’s unique vocal style, characterized by a slurred, growling delivery that could rise to a stunning bellow, largely defined grunge vocals. This distinctive approach was echoed to varying degrees by other singers like Courtney Love of Hole, Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Their vocals added an intense and emotive layer to the music , with Vedder and Cornell infusing a muscular vibrato into their performances.

4. Dark lyrics: reflections of angst and despair

Grunge lyrics frequently explored themes of despair, disillusionment, hopelessness, and self-loathing. They reflected the feelings of the grunge fanbase, who often grappled with the challenges of their generation. While some lyrics had an ironic detachment, many captured the raw emotions and frustrations of teens and young adults searching for meaning and grappling with societal issues.

How did grunge music influence pop culture?

Grunge music left an indelible mark on popular culture , extending its influence far beyond the realm of music. Let’s take a closer look at the different areas where grunge made its impact.

Fashion: the rise of grunge style

Grunge fashion became a hallmark of the genre, reflecting the lower- to middle-class backgrounds of both performers and listeners. Plaid flannel shirts, ripped jeans, and a nonchalant, “just rolled out of bed” look became iconic. Female rockers like Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland added a touch of ’50s girls’ fashion and ’70s glam, creating a unique style that blended rebellion and nostalgia. Even mainstream designers eventually adopted grunge fashion, despite initial criticism.

Literature: grunge lit and its disenfranchised protagonists

The American grunge scene also influenced a subgenre of Australian fiction in the 1990s known as grunge lit. These novels mirrored the music’s themes, focusing on disenfranchised young people searching for meaning in their lives. Poverty, drugs, and nihilism often served as touchstones for this literary movement, portraying a gritty and realistic portrayal of the struggles faced by the grunge generation.

Grunge music became a platform for expressing frustrations and calling for change, resonating with a generation eager to make a difference.

Graphic design: capturing the gritty realism

Grunge rock graphics drew heavily from the Xerox aesthetics of the ’70s and ’80s punk, creating a look that embodied a gritty, handmade realism. Blurred photos, hand-drawn iconography, and mismatched font types were used to convey the raw energy and DIY spirit of the genre. These designs quickly transitioned from underground zines to mainstream publications and advertising.

Hot button topics: music as a voice for change

Similar to genres like hip-hop, grunge brought socially conscious subjects to the forefront. Feminism and liberalism were espoused by grunge bands, shedding light on the challenges faced by their listeners, including substance abuse, alienation, and homelessness. Grunge music became a platform for expressing frustrations and calling for change , resonating with a generation eager to make a difference.

To help you navigate the world of grunge music and capture its essence in your own recordings, here are some quick dos and don’ts:

Notable grunge albums: gems that defined the genre

Let’s dive into some of the most notable grunge albums that left an indelible mark on the music landscape. These albums not only encapsulated the spirit of grunge but also shaped the direction of the genre and its cultural impact.

1. Come On Down by Green River

Considered by many as the first grunge album, Come On Down by Green River set the tone for the genre with its rough mix of metal and sludgy post-punk. This influential band included members who would go on to form other iconic grunge groups, such as Mudhoney and Pearl Jam. The album laid the groundwork for the grunge movement , showcasing the raw power and DIY ethos that would define the genre.

2. Deep Six Compilation

The Deep Six compilation, released by C/Z Records in 1986, played a pivotal role in shaping the future of grunge. This six-song EP moved away from punk’s fast-paced aggression and delved into slower, darker territories. It featured early songs by bands like Mudhoney, Soundgarden, The Melvins, and Malfunkshun, hinting at the musical direction grunge would take. Deep Six signaled a shift in the grunge sound, laying the groundwork for the movement’s evolution .

3. Facelift by Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains became the first grunge band to sign with a major record label, and their album Facelift helped catapult grunge into the mainstream. The unnerving single “Man in the Box” gained significant airplay, showcasing the band’s haunting sound. Facelift’s success ushered in a new era for grunge, solidifying its place in the music industry and paving the way for other bands to follow .

4. Nevermind by Nirvana

For many listeners, Nirvana’s Nevermind epitomizes the grunge scene. The album’s phenomenal success, fueled by the iconic hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” disrupted the music industry and challenged the dominance of pop and hair metal. Nevermind topped the charts, capturing the zeitgeist of the early ’90s and propelling grunge into the mainstream. Its impact was seismic, marking a cultural shift in popular music.

5. Temple of the Dog

Temple of the Dog, a collaboration between members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, released their self-titled album as a tribute to the late Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. This project brought together some of grunge’s most successful proponents and showcased their talent and shared grief. Temple of the Dog pays homage to a lost talent and stands as a testament to the unity and friendship within the grunge community.

This table showcases the evolution of prominent grunge music bands from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. It offers a glimpse into the timeline of grunge music and highlights some of the influential bands that shaped its legacy.

If you want even more tips and insights, watch this video called “What Made Grunge Grunge?” from the Loudwire YouTube channel.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Do you still have questions about grunge music? Below are some of the most commonly asked questions.

What makes grunge music distinct from other rock subgenres?

Grunge music is characterized by its heavy use of guitar distortion, raw and emotive vocals, and a combination of punk rock and heavy metal influences. This creates an intense and introspective sound, setting it apart from other subgenres.

How did fashion in grunge music develop?

Grunge fashion emerged as a reflection of the music’s anti-establishment attitude and the Pacific Northwest’s practical, utilitarian style. Flannel shirts, ripped jeans, and worn-out sneakers became emblematic of the movement, as they were affordable, comfortable, and readily available.

What role did the Pacific Northwest play in the development of grunge music?

The Pacific Northwest, particularly Seattle, served as the birthplace and incubator for grunge music. The region’s rainy and gloomy weather and vibrant music scene fostered a sense of isolation and introspection that contributed to creating the grunge sound and ethos.

Can I incorporate grunge elements into my music production?

Absolutely! Grunge offers a unique sonic palette and emotional intensity that can be harnessed in various genres. Experiment with heavy guitar distortion, minimalist drum patterns, and raw vocal delivery to infuse grunge elements into your productions.

Is grunge music still relevant today?

While the grunge movement itself faded in the mid-’90s, its influence and legacy continue to resonate in contemporary music. Many artists today draw inspiration from grunge’s raw energy and honest lyricism, incorporating elements of the genre into their sound.

Are there any modern bands that embody the spirit of grunge?

Yes! Several modern bands carry the torch of grunge’s rebellious spirit. Acts like Wolf Alice, Bully, and Yuck showcase a modern interpretation of grunge with their heavy guitars, introspective lyrics, and fierce performances.

Well, folks, we’ve reached the end of our grunge journey, and I must say it’s been a trip that’s left us more tangled than a second-hand flannel shirt. So, did we manage to strike the right chord in your quest to understand grunge music? And did I cover everything you wanted to know? Let me know in the comments section below— I read and reply to every comment .

If you found this article helpful, share it with a friend, and check out my full blog for more tips and tricks on exploring the wonderful world of music. Thanks for reading, and remember, in the immortal words of Kurt Cobain, “Come as you are,” but maybe leave the flannel at home this time!

Key takeaways

This article covered grunge music. Here are some key takeaways:

• Grunge music originated in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
• Distinct characteristics include heavy guitar distortion, raw vocals, and a mix of punk rock and heavy metal influences.
• Grunge fashion developed as a reflection of the music’s anti-establishment attitude and practical regional style.
• The Pacific Northwest’s weather and music scene fostered a sense of isolation and introspection that contributed to grunge music.

Helpful resources

• Nirvana Biography
• 50 Greatest Grunge Albums
• 12 Bands Who Are Considered Pioneers of Grunge

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Documenting the Providence of Creativity

The Resonating Legacy of the Seattle Sound: Grunge’s Profound and Enduring Impact on Music

Introduction

In the early 1990s, a seismic shift in the music industry reverberated around the world from an unassuming corner of the United States. The “Seattle Sound,” popularly known as Grunge, transcended the boundaries of genre to become a cultural, musical, and societal revolution. Emerging from the rainy streets of Seattle, this distinctive sound catapulted to global recognition, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of music. Its influence continues to echo across generations and genres, showcasing the profound and enduring impact of Grunge on the world of music.

The Genesis of Grunge

The roots of Grunge can be traced back to the underground music scene in Seattle during the late 1980s. Bands such as Mother Love Bone, Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were the pioneers who laid the groundwork for what would soon become a global phenomenon. However, it was the release of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” in 1991 that catapulted Grunge into the mainstream, forever altering the trajectory of popular music. Nirvana continues to hold a prominent place in the minds of countless casual music enthusiasts as a leading figure of ’90s grunge. However, it’s essential to acknowledge that without the supportive musical environment of Seattle, their success would not have been possible.

Shattering Conventions

Grunge defied the conventions of the late 1980s, which were dominated by glam rock and hair metal. It was characterized by its raw, unpolished sound, often featuring distorted guitars, heavy drumming, and lyrics that delved into themes of disillusionment, alienation, and social unrest. This marked a stark contrast to the glossy, excess-driven music of the previous decade.

Fashion and Attitude

Grunge was more than just a genre; it was a lifestyle. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains became synonymous with their anti-fashion statements, opting for flannel shirts, torn jeans, and unkempt hair over the flamboyant attire of their predecessors. This rebellion against conventional beauty standards and consumerism resonated deeply with a generation seeking authenticity and rejecting superficiality.

A Cultural Impact and Catalyst for Change

Grunge’s influence extended far beyond the realm of music. It played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural landscape of the 1990s. The lyrics and ethos of Grunge spoke directly to the disillusionment and disaffection felt by many young people, providing them with a sense of belonging and a means of expression. This cultural shift had a profound impact on fashion, art, film, and even politics.

“Kurt Cobain was the antithesis of the macho American man,”  said Alex Frank  of  The Fader . “He was an avowed feminist and confronted gender politics in his lyrics. At a time when a body-conscious silhouette was the defining look, he made it cooler to look slouchy and loose, no matter if you were a boy or a girl. And I think he still represents a romantic ideal for a lot of women.”

Grunge acted as a catalyst for societal change. Its raw and emotionally charged music resonated with a generation grappling with issues such as economic uncertainty, environmental concerns, and the disintegration of traditional social structures. It provided a platform for young people to voice their frustrations and seek solace in the knowledge that they were not alone in their struggles.

A New Generation of Musicians

The success of Grunge inspired a new generation of musicians to follow their own path and create music that was true to their experiences. Bands from diverse genres, including alternative rock, punk, and even pop, began to incorporate elements of Grunge into their sound. This blending of styles helped to keep Grunge’s spirit alive and evolving.

The Alternative Rock Explosion

The success of Grunge opened the floodgates for alternative rock, paving the way for bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and Foo Fighters. These acts shared a commitment to authenticity and emotional depth in their music, a direct inheritance from the Grunge era. Alternative rock emerged as a dominant force in the 1990s, challenging the status quo of the mainstream music industry.

Grunge’s International Reach

Grunge’s influence was not confined to the United States; it resonated with disenchanted youth worldwide. Bands from other countries began to incorporate Grunge elements into their music, leading to a global expansion of the genre. In countries like Australia, the UK, and Japan, Grunge-inspired bands emerged, further solidifying its place in the international music scene.

Grunge’s Global Legacy

The legacy of Grunge remains strong in the 21st century. Many contemporary artists and bands continue to cite Grunge as a significant source of inspiration. Acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden continue to have a profound impact on emerging musicians. The timeless themes of alienation, frustration, and longing explored in Grunge lyrics continue to resonate with new generations.

Grunge’s Revival and Evolution

The 2010s witnessed a resurgence of interest in Grunge, with a new wave of bands and artists drawing heavily from the genre’s signature sound. Bands like Greta Van Fleet and Highly Suspect have gained popularity for their modern take on Grunge, combining its gritty authenticity with a fresh twist. This revival serves as a testament to Grunge’s enduring appeal and its ability to evolve with the times.

The “Seattle Sound,” or Grunge, was more than just a genre of music; it was a cultural movement that challenged the norms of the music industry and gave voice to a generation’s frustrations and aspirations. Its raw, unfiltered sound and commitment to authenticity continue to inspire musicians and artists across the globe, proving that Grunge’s impact is profound and timeless.

Grunge’s legacy lives on in the music we hear today, in the artists who dare to be authentic, and in the listeners who seek solace and connection in its powerful, emotive lyrics. As long as there are those who refuse to conform to the expectations of mainstream culture, the spirit of Grunge will endure, ensuring that its influence on music remains profound and everlasting. From its humble beginnings in the rainy streets of Seattle to its global resonance, Grunge remains a testament to the enduring power of music to reflect and shape the world around us.

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How Grunge Briefly Took Over the World

What starts a movement? It’s a complicated question that often has no one answer.

Throughout history, true movements – that is, where music, art, fashion and culture have all coalesced in a singular clear direction – have been few and far between.

Grunge, arguably the most recent societal movement, is commonly regarded as a ‘90s phenomenon, but it never would have happened without the '80s.

Ah, yes, the '80s ... hair metal, spandex, cocaine, fast cars, loose women, Ronald Reagan, power ballads, lighters in the air and enough Aqua Net to cut a hole in the ozone layer. It was an era of unfiltered decadence, but once the cultural pendulum swung so far in that direction, it was bound to reverse course.

In many ways, Seattle was the perfect breeding ground for rock’s next wave. The rainy Emerald City would never be mistaken for the glitzy Sunset Strip. Isolated in the Pacific Northwest, with logging and fishing still among its chief industries, Seattle couldn’t have felt further from the hair-metal scene.

It was also cheap. Before Starbucks, Microsoft and Amazon made it a modern-day commercial hub, Seattle was viewed by most of the U.S. as a sleepy town. Economic setbacks in the '70s kept rent prices down into the following decade, and many musicians moved there looking for a low cost of living and affordable rehearsal space.

“Seattle had been this isolated, provincial little petri dish of art and music that was allowed to kind of grow because nobody cared about it,” Chris Cornell explained to CNN in 2013.

Watch Soundgarden Perform in Seattle in 1987

The influx of raw but talented artists helped foster a burgeoning music scene. Rock clubs became some of the area’s hottest night spots, with bands regularly gigging around town in an effort to perfect their sound.

A true sense of community began to form among the artists. "There were a lot of very positive values about that culture," Sub Pop cofounder Bruce Pavitt told Spin , noting “the level of integrity, the level of camaraderie, the sense of community" in Seattle at the time. Bands shared the same bills, swapped ideas and were occasionally featured on one another’s songs.

This cross pollination gave birth to what was soon referred to as the “Seattle Sound,” later simply called grunge. Rock had, in fact, been sparingly described that way for years: Music critic Lester Bangs used the word "grunge" as far back as 1972. But something changed after 1981, when future Mudhoney singer Mark Arm – then in Mr. Epp and the Calculations – described his band’s sound as “pure grunge” in a letter to the Seattle fanzine Desperate Times .

“I actually remember when we got his letter," writer Maire Masco recalled in the book Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge. "I said to Daina Darzin, the editor, ‘I don’t think grunge is a word.’ And she said, ‘It doesn’t matter; it sounds cool.’”

Like it or not, any rock artist from Seattle (or, more accurately, all of Washington state) would soon be categorized as grunge.

Watch Melvins Perform in 1989

It’s commonly accepted that Melvins were grunge's forefathers, forming in 1983 and quickly developing a sound steeped in classic-rock influences, blended with the energy of hardcore punk.

They’d soon be followed by many more acts. Green River, a short-lived group featuring future members of Pearl Jam and Mudhoney, are credited with the first grunge release, 1985’s Come on Down EP. The same year, C/Z records issued the compilation album Deep Six , which featured Melvins and Green River while also highlighting such grunge trailblazers as Soundgarden , Skin Yard, Malfunkshun and the U-Men.

In the course of just a few years, the scene suddenly had palpable momentum. Seattle acts were churning out new music that sounded decidedly different to what was being heard across the rest of the country. Bands found allies like The Rocket newspaper and independent radio station KCMU, the latter of which gave airtime to Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. They would go on to found Sub Pop records, the label now credited with bringing grunge to the masses.

Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Sub Pop released material by Sonic Youth, Skinny Puppy, Soundgarden, Green River, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees and Hole – each of whom played important roles in the growth of grunge. Still, arguably the label’s most notable release was 1989’s Bleach , the debut album by  Nirvana .

Watch the Music Video for Alice in Chains' 'Man in the Box'

By the dawn of a new decade, grunge was ready to erupt. In August 1990, Alice in Chains released their debut album, Facelift . Its second single, “Man in the Box,” would become a radio hit, the first grunge track to reach a national audience. Temple of the Dog ’s self-titled LP followed in April 1991, with its own hit single, “Hunger Strike.”

These body blows were nothing compared to the haymakers yet to come.

Pearl Jam debut album Ten followed in August 1991. A month later, Nirvana unveiled their sophomore LP, Nevermind . Though neither album arrived with much fanfare, hype would soon engulf both releases.

The iconic music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” made Nirvana overnight MTV darlings. Meanwhile, Pearl Jam and their magnetic frontman Eddie Vedder found themselves in a drudged-up – and largely media created – rivalry with their counterparts.

The grunge movement had found its Beatles and Stones .

Watch the Music Video for Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

By 1992, the genre hadn't just arrived; grunge had dramatically altered the landscape of rock. Ten was on its way to selling more than 18 million copies worldwide, yet that was nothing compared to Nevermind . At one point, Nirvana’s classic LP was moving more than 300,000 units per week on its way to selling more than 30 million copies across the globe.

“We never imagined any of that stuff happening to a band like ours or people like us,” Dave Grohl admitted in 2003 , looking back at the craziness that surrounded his Nirvana years. “It was a free-for-all. The word 'grunge' became a household term, and fashion runways were filled with flannel shirts and long underwear.” Soon, the subculture’s fashion sense was adopted by mainstream America, meaning flannel shirts and faded, ripped jeans were suddenly status apparel.

Across the world, people were paying top dollar to look like they were broke and struggling musicians. Grunge found itself in a place it never wanted: becoming commercialized.

Watch the Music Video for Pearl Jam's 'Alive'

In spite of (or, more likely, because of) those dizzying heights, the grunge revolution burned out quickly. Tragedy plagued the bands, many of whom had members who’d been battling addiction for years.

In grunge’s early years, Mother Love Bone ’s Andrew Wood died of an overdose only days before the band’s debut album was set to be released. 7 Year Bitch guitarist Stefanie Sargent (1992), Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff (1994), Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin (1996) and Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley (2002) reached similarly tragic fates.

Perhaps the most earth-shattering loss came in April 1994, when Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home, having taken his own life. An era seemed to be over, connected forever to those early Seattle years.

Grunge has remained influential, however, even if it's no longer the dominant force it once was. The late '90s and early '00s saw a post-grunge wave, and more recently the genre has been once again embraced by rock and pop artists alike.

So, what ends a movement? The answer, again, is complicated.

30 Great Quotes About Grunge: How Rockers Reacted to a Revolution

You think you know nirvana, more from ultimate classic rock.

Grunge Music

Artists and bands that revolutionized the nineties music scene.

Grunge is a subgenre of rock with roots in heavy metal, hard rock, and punk or hardcore punk (which where a staple of the seventies and eighties) while also influenced by alternative rock and noise rock. The term grunge is derived from the adjective grungy (American slang to refer to something filthy, grimy, or disheveled).

Grunge emerged in the late eighties and reached its peak in popularity in the early nineties. Many of the bands that defined the scene came out of Washington state, particularly out of Seattle. The first record label that helped promote the grunge scene was SubPop Records, who supported bands that became essential to the movement, such as Green River, Soundgarden or the most prominent, Nirvana. The genre started standing out around 1987 when Soundgarden released Screaming Life. Grunge was also influenced by other bands such as Pixies, Sonic Youth, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Mudhoney and Melvin . Since almost all these bands were coming out of the Seattle scene, music journalists started referring to grunge as the Seattle sound. Although every band had its own sound, the music was labeled grunge, giving an identity to a genre that resonated with a new generation of young people (Generation X).

To understand how grunge as a genre and subculture started, we must look at the changes rock was going through at the time. The Seattle grunge scene (or simply Seattle scene) came to be due to several factors; first, the genre was heavily influenced by the Pacific northwest music scene and the local youth culture. The previous decade had seen new genres emerge such as heavy metal (in the early 70s) with bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, the latter which hugely influenced the sound of Soundgarden. The raw and distorted sound of noise rock was also a big influence in the genre, with bands such as Wisconsin  Killdozer and Butthole Surfers , whose style fused punk and heavy metal and can whose influence can be definitely heard in Soundgarden’s eponymous debut album.                   

Other seminal bands of the genre were influenced by British post-punk bands like Gang of Four and Bauhaus , who were very popular in the early eighties Seattle scene. On the other hand, Pearl Jam’s style was notoriously more laid back, with less heavy metal sounds and resembles an earlier 70s classic rock. The band cited several punk and classic rock bands as The Who, Neil Young and Ramones as influences.

Furthermore, the genre’s success and reception could also be a contrarian reaction towards the mainstream popularity of glam rock or hair metal performed by bands such as Poison ,  Motley Crüe ,  Ratt   o   Bon Jovi , who had remained in the music charts throughout the eighties, especially in the U.S. Many grunge bands rejected the genre due to its mainstream status as well as their sexists’ videos and content. Grunge lyrics delved into social conscious themes, very opposite to the sexist lyrics performed by hair metal bands. For instance, Soundgarden’s Big Dumb Sex makes a social commentary and parodies the wild partying, misogynistic rockstar stereotype and the “Drugs, Sex and Rock and Roll” lifestyle portrayed in glam rock or hair metal videos.

PICTURE 1: From the left: Eddie Vedder (Peral Jam’s vocalist), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana’s vocalist and guitarist), Chris Cornell (Audioslave and Soundgarden’s vocalist) and Courtney Love (Hole’s vocalist and guitarist).

Another reason for the success of grunge was the social context that a whole generation identified with, young people with a hopeless view of the future. All these bands reflected the nonconformist, rebel attitude and disillusionment felt towards society. Unlike other genres, grunge focused on expressing the apathy and indolence felt by an entire generation, unimpressed with the times and rejecting the ever faster and programmed world that started emerging with the rise of new technologies in the early nineties.

Grunge was also a counterculture movement that tried to break down social norms and characterized by a disdain and rejection towards the herd mentality and disinterested by consumerism. All this arose within an underground and independent movement that vouched for anti-consumerism and with little to no importance given to how one is portrayed or perceived by the public; they dressed in whatever they found, from secondhand clothes to thrift shops, running away from the flashy and extravagant fashion that existed in the eighties. The grunge look was disheveled. It wasn’t even an attempt to be anti-fashion; using clothes with no regard to whether it matches or not, like flannel shirts, ragged jeans, worn snickers, long and unkempt hair was a reflection on how little importance they gave to looks, poses or a premeditated aesthetic. However, as it always does, capitalism found its way and made a business out of the grunge look, which is prevalent nowadays with our pre-bleached and pre-ripped jeans. In the same way, grunge would lose its essence as soon as it became a mainstream fashion and consumption product.

PICTURE 2: Pearl Jam in a practice room.

Grunge bands were not there for the money; instead, they focused on experimenting with music, sharing it and expressing through it. The most distinguishable characteristics of the grunge sound came out of using instruments such as electric guitars, creating energetic rhythms and repetitive and distorted sounds, guttural and raspy melodies, reverbed drums, and heavy sounds along with fast and pronounced or slowed and calmed measures.

Their lyrics were characterized by expressing feelings of apathy and disenchantment and were also introspective, reflecting on the general angst felt by the youth, their existential dread, frustration, unease, pessimism, anger, rage, confusion, sadness, etc. Other themes were the quest towards freedom and independence from society, feeling alienated and oppressed, as well as reflection and critique towards social marginalization, loneliness, and prejudices against specific groups; for instance, In Bloom by Nirvana is heavy in sarcasm and mockery as well as Touch Me I’m Sick by Mudhoney, which had a more relaxed and loutish tone.

Grunge spread worldwide in the mid-nineties mainly due to the commercial success of albums such as Nevermind by Nirvana (released in 1991 and reached the top 40) and Ten by Pearl Jam (1991), as well as Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden (1991) and Dirt by Alice in Chains (1992). These records instigated the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the biggest hard rock subgenre of the time. The genre was also getting more respect as a music genre due to the notoriety given by the media.

Nirvana’s Nevermind was pivotal to rock music and undoubtedly helped grunge in replacing glam metal, which had dominated the rock music scene at the time. But it was the release of Nevermind’s first single Smells Like Teen Spirit in 1991 that propelled the grunge rock phenomenon and marked the start of big changes in the music scene of the time, getting away from glam metal and pop (mainstream popular music that received more radio airplay due to its accessibility), who had dominated the eighties, and helped bring alternative rock and grunge to the forefront of the music scene, making the latter the dominating genre for the first half of the nineties and leaving its influence so that alternative rock continued its popularity for the rest of the decade. In December 1991, due to its heavy marketing and MTV’s constant airplay of the Smells Like Teen Spirit video, Nevermind went on to sell 400 000 copies in a week. In January 1992, Nevermind surpassed Dangerous by Michael Jackson as the number one single in the Billboard music charts.

PICTURE 3: Nirvana’s acoustic concert, MTV Unplugged, New York, 1993.

However, a lot of the bands found themselves at odds with their newfound success and their rockstar status. In an interview with Michael Azerrad, Kurt Cobain stated: “Being famous is the last thing I wanted to become”. Pearl Jam was also struggling with the weight of their fame, particularly Eddie Vedder, since as a lead vocalist, received most of the attention.

Grunge’s rise in popularity started to wane around the middle of the nineties. Several factors led to this event; a lot of bands were disbanding, tour cancellations, the overwhelming drug addiction and alcoholism within band members and, of course, the tragic and untimely death of Kurt Cobain (Nirvana’s singer). After some time, the biggest representatives of the grunge subculture found themselves in the middle of everything they stood against.

Post grunge appeared during the second half of the nineties and went on to replace grunge. Post grunge, with its softer and more accessible style left behind a lot of grunge bands and artists. Bands were becoming more mainstream and with a friendlier sound, like Collective Soul, Silverchair or Bush , known for softening the characteristic grunge distorted guitar sound and using a higher quality production.

Of the most prominent and famous bands that helped create the movement, there are only a few still active such as Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, The Melvins, Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains y Collective Soul (although many of its original members have been replaced, among other causes, their passing away. In any regards, grunge was very influential in the subsequent evolution of rock and its essence can still be heard and felt today.

PICTURE 4: Nirvana concert for their album In Utero, Live & Loud, 1993.

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Case Study: Grunge Music and Grunge Style

• First Online: 11 August 2017

Cite this chapter

• Jochen Strähle 3 &
• Noemi Jahne-Warrior 3  

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Fashion Business ((SSFB))

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This paper is purposed to examine the impact of grunge music on fashion and to explain how grunge music is reflected in grunge style. The research methodology applied is a case study on grunge music and grunge style. Key findings suggest that different elements of grunge music had a great impact on the evolution of grunge style: Mentality and philosophy of the movement, musical style and sound as well as lyrical concerns are incorporated by grunge style. Commercial exploitation of grunge partly led to its downfall. Moreover, the original spirit of the movement is not commonly shared by all sub-genres’ respective contemporary styles. Musicians had great impact on the evolution of grunge style and unintentional rose to style icons. The research is limited by the amount of academic literature concerning the connection between grunge music and grunge style. Therefore, journal entries and blogs are used as reference as well.

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Strähle, J., Jahne-Warrior, N. (2018). Case Study: Grunge Music and Grunge Style. In: Strähle, J. (eds) Fashion & Music. Springer Series in Fashion Business. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5637-6_4

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What Is Grunge Music? With 7 Top Examples & History

Grunge music was popular in Seattle, Washington, in the 1980s, long before it reached mainstream popularity. Bands like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam became popular playing locally and started to have some mainstream success by 1990.

Nirvana's second album in 1990 made the band, and grunge music in general, famous. Its success took an underground subculture music scene into the mainstream.

Definition: What Is Grunge Music?

A comprehensive grunge music definition is hard to narrow down to just a few words because it's such a broad genre that the bands can have completely different sounds.

But at its core, what is grunge music? Grunge is a mixture of punk rock that became popular in the 70s and 80s and heavy metal that peaked in popularity during the same years. Punk and metal blended into an alternative sound.

Grunge Music Characteristics

Grunge music features intense vocals, often angry like punk rock and sometimes using harsh vocals like in metal, with lyrics covering dark and depressing topics.

Distinctive, repetitive guitar riffs are common in grunge music, with simple drum lines. You won't find anything like wailing rock guitar solos in grunge music. Bands relied on heavy guitar distortion to create a noisy “grunge” sound.

The themes often speak to things young people face, like hopelessness at the state of the world, uncertainty about the future, drug addiction, betrayal, impermanence, and angst. Many of the lyrics seem abstract and cryptic, adding to the mystique of the songs.

Songs about fear, hopelessness, and angst can either be utterly despairing or with an “us against the world” attitude. A typical vibe in grunge music is that everything is awful, but at least we know it and are in this together.

Grunge musicians embraced the lower-middle-class aesthetic of ripped jeans, t-shirts, and a casual unkemptness that many of its singers became known for, like Kurt Cobain.

7 Examples of Grunge Music

Each grunge band, and often each song, has a distinctive sound that could put it in other musical genres , from alternative rock to heavy metal. Opaque lyrics and the general mood help distinguish the music as grunge.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

This grunge song by Nirvana might be the one most people think of when they ask, “What is grunge music?” even though Alice in Chains and Soundgarden had albums that took off before the song was released.

Lead singer Kurt Cobain growls through a song inspired by his ex-girlfriend's statement that he smelled like teen spirit, not knowing she meant the deodorant brand. This song put Nirvana, already popular in the Seattle music scene, on the mainstream map.

Cobain's lyrics present a hollow portrait of life through a teenager's eyes, with the popularity of mindless, violent entertainment and apathy. Much of the lyrics seem random with no clear meaning, which became part of the song's appeal.

He intended the song as a message to kids to wake up and pay attention to what was going on around them.

A bright and cheerful guitar line starts this song by the Smashing Pumpkins.

The chorus is light and airy, but the rest of the song is about regret and the dark parts of life so often covered in grunge music, like despair and suicidal thoughts.

Lead singer Billy Corgan uses a sweeter, lighter vocal during the chorus and drops to a harsher growl during the rest to match the tone of the darker lyrics.

“Alive” is one of Pearl Jam's most popular songs. In the song, a boy learns that his father is dead, and the man he thought was his father is his step-father. The lyrics imply that the mother seduces the son, and he suffers enough guilt to wonder if he deserves to be alive.

It's a decidedly depressing song written about lead singer Eddie Vedder's real-life discovery about his father, though the rest of the song is fiction.

Its themes of deception, abuse, and regret resonated with many, making it a hit. “Alive” became an anthem about staying alive and hanging in there when the going gets tough.

The song is the first of a trilogy. In the second song, the character has a hidden gun and murderous urges, and the third song clarifies that he did commit murder and lives with regret.

Lead singer Scott Weiland wrote this song for the Stone Temple Pilots about his struggles with heroin addiction. The lyrics talk about how it feels to get stuck in the same lousy situation repeatedly.

The song doesn't mention heroin or drugs but talks about looking for things you can't find and trying to grasp things you can't reach.

Getting stuck in the same mess no matter how hard you try is the type of despair popular in grunge music, as is the sense that no matter what you do, things won't change.

Railing against that hopelessness is a common theme in the genre and helped make this song one of their biggest hits.

Superunknown

The heavy-metal influences in grunge come through in this Soundgarden hit with loud and continuous guitar riffs lead singer Chris Cornell wails above.

Like most grunge music, the song doesn't have a story narrative. It's about not seeing everything in black and white but recognizing there are shades between them.

The song features a grinding beat behind words that sound hopeless, angry, confused, and moody.

Man in the Box

This song by Alice in Chains was one of the first grunge hits of the 1990s.

In the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) pushed for music censorship by labeling it with parental advisory stickers and making lists of objectionable songs. “Man in the Box” wasn't the only song protesting this kind of censorship, but it became one of the most popular.

The song uses animal suffering in the meat industry as a metaphor for censorship and musicians figuratively trapped in a box by it.

As with many songs, not only those that fit the grunge music definition, we only know the precise meanings because the artists explained them later.

Come as You Are

This song became the second single released from Nirvana's album “Nevermind” and followed their wildly successful “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Like all the songs from that album, Kurt Cobain wrote the lyrics and sang them with his typical growly delivery. The song is about society's expectations on you to appear and even exist in a certain way while encouraging listeners to be themselves in the face of that.

The theme is the toll it takes on people to constantly be pressured by society to be something they're not. The meaning behind the song and distinctive guitar riff made it one of Nirvana's most popular songs.

5 Top Grunge Musicians

Most of the famous grunge musicians from the 1990s had multiple hits over the decade.

Other bands like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains had albums that did well before Nirvana's second album, Nevermind hit the charts. But it was this album that propelled grunge into the mainstream.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the first single from the album, became grunge music's anthem and influenced everything that came after. It led Nirvana to become one of the best-selling bands of all time and earned them induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Their third album sold nearly as well as their second, but Kurt Cobain struggled with heroin addiction and ended up in the hospital in March 1994 while on a European tour.

He committed suicide a month later, on April 8th. Drummer Dave Grohl later formed the band Foo Fighters.

Pearl Jam became popular in the Seattle music scene after forming in 1990. Their first album, Ten , hit #2 on the Billboard chart.

They set the record in 1993 for the album that sold the most copies in its first week with their second album, “Vs.” The band earned an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

They remain one of the top-selling bands of all time and still release music today.

Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins, led by guitarist and vocalist Billy Corgan, broke into the mainstream in 1993 with their second album, Siamese Dream . Corgan formed the band in 1988 in Chicago.

They became one of the best-selling bands of the 1990s but broke up by 2000 because of addiction issues and disagreements.

The band reformed in part in 2006, with original members leaving and rejoining over the years. They continue to release music today, with a tour planned for 2022.

Soundgarden

Seattle-based Soundgarden, formed in 1984, became one of the first grunge bands to sign a recording contract with a major label. 

The band's popularity grew until their fourth album, Superunknown, debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart.

They broke up in 1997 and reunited in 2010 to release an album. Lead singer Chris Cornell died in 2017 while they were on tour, and the remaining members opted to end the band.

Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains achieved fame in the early 1990s as grunge music hit its peak in popularity. They formed in 1987 and had success with their first album, Facelift , in 1990, though it sold slowly at first.

The single “Man in the Box” and its regular play on MTV led it to hit the charts and gave the band mainstream success.

They released two more albums and an EP before they went dormant without officially breaking up. Surviving members reformed in 2006, resulting in three more albums and a 2022 American tour.

The History of Grunge Music

Grunge music has its roots in Seattle and other towns in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s. So many of the earliest bands came from and played in the Seattle area that the music became known as the “Seattle sound.”

The mixture of punk rock, heavy metal, and anguished lyrics gave grunge a distinctive sound and atmosphere.

Though the music pulled in elements of punk and metal, the clothing was different. Popular bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, and others that played the Seattle scene commonly wore torn jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts, and combat boots.

The look defined the grunge subculture much as dyed, spiked hair once did for the punk scene.

Other bands started to see mainstream success, but Nirvana's second album in 1990 catapulted grunge into the mainstream consciousness. Unfortunately, Cobain’s death in 1994 marked a downturn for the genre.

Grunge's popularity faded by the end of the 90s, though some bands like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam still make music today with a slightly more alternative rock bent.

What Is Grunge Music? Final Thoughts

Grunge captured the rebellion of punk rock and the driving guitars of heavy metal with lyrics steeped in restlessness, uncertainty, and sometimes hopelessness.

The heavy-metal sound of Alice in Chains and the more plaintive sound of Nirvana are only two types of grunge music you can enjoy.

Though the genre hasn't regained its one-time popularity, fans still love the wide range of sounds and styles the top grunge bands produced in the 1990s.

P.S. Remember though, none of what you've learned will matter if you don't know how to get your music out there and earn from it. Want to learn how to do that? Then get our free ‘5 Steps To Profitable Youtube Music Career' ebook emailed directly to you!

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Essential Question

What was Grunge and where did it come from?

“There’s a feeling of burnout in the culture at large. Kids are depressed about the future.”

— Music critic Simon Reynolds, 1992, about Generation X

The pre-Grunge era of the early 1980s was a time of media saturation, but many young people did not see themselves or their concerns accurately reflected in the slick music videos offered by MTV or in other mass media. The resulting alienation and apathy helped pave the way for the emergence of a new sound that became known, simply, as Grunge.

Sometimes called the “Seattle Sound,” Grunge began in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s and early 90s. The Grunge generation grew up on Heavy Metal, Punk, and Hardcore, drawing on elements of each to define its sound. The resulting aesthetic combined the droning, distorted guitar tones of Metal, the alienation and anti-authority attitude of Punk, and the edgy, physical stage shows of Hardcore. Like Punk, Grunge was full of anger, but with a dose of angst, self-deprecation, and depression added to the mix. And though the intimacy and spontaneity of live performances often gave it a similar feel to Punk, Grunge was more musically complex. More varied instrumentally, Grunge also accentuated dynamic shifts that evoked the frustrations of youth. Grunge musicians tended to reject the latest fashions and projected a feeling of indifference that was reflected in everything from their lyrics to their disheveled appearance. Adopting a thrift-store look, artists embraced lumberjack-style apparel — most notably flannel shirts — while pushing back against the exaggerated masculinity it often implied.

In its early years, Grunge was largely a localized phenomenon, emerging out of the club scene in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle had been deeply affected by the economic recession of the early 1990s, when unemployment was at a high and Starbucks did not yet have the ubiquitous presence it does today. Grunge, with its dour visuals and indifferent lyrics, seemed to encapsulate the grey and depressed mood of the region at the time. As the 90s progressed, the commercial success of groups such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam catapulted the Grunge sound into a national spotlight for which its creators and adherents were largely unprepared.

Upon completion of this lesson, students will:

• The influence of earlier musical forms, particularly Heavy Metal and Punk, on Grunge
• The social, cultural, economic, and geographic influences that led to the rise of Grunge
• The musical contributions of such Grunge artists as Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Pearl Jam
• Connect music to the historical context in which it emerged
• Common Core: Students will analyze primary source documents, including videos, photographs, and newspaper/magazine articles in order to make inferences and cite specific textual evidence (CCSS Reading 1; CCSS Reading 7; CCSS Writing 9; CCSS Speaking and Listening 2)
• Common Core: Students will work collaboratively to write a three-paragraph review of early Grunge music (CCSS Writing 1; CCSS Speaking and Listening 1)

Touch Me I’m Sick

Smells like teen spirit, black sabbath, family matters, family ties, growing pains, motivational activity:.

1. Ask students: When you watch TV or go to the movies, do you see people who look and sound like you? Who seem to share your outlook on life? Who seem to share the concerns and problems you face?

2. Display the three pictures below, explaining to students that they are all from hit TV shows of the 1980s and early 90s ( Family Ties ,  Growing Pains , and  Family Matters ).

3. Ask students:

• What do you notice about the people in all three pictures, especially the teenagers? Do they look happy or unhappy? Do they appear to have the kinds of problems and issues teenagers typically have?
• If you had been a teenager then, how well do you think you would have been able to relate to these characters?
• Remember that there were no cell phones, no Internet, and no Facebook in the 1980s and early 90s. If you did not feel you were being represented in mass media, where might you turn? Where might you find art or culture that you felt represented your world and your outlook?
• What is their general attitude toward life?
• How would you describe their appearance, especially compared to the characters in the television shows from the 1980s?
• Why might their general attitude have resonated with teenagers during this time period?
• Divide students into pairs. Explain that they will work with a partner to write a three-paragraph review of early Grunge music. The class will watch several music videos together, and each group will be given a set of documents that they will use as source material for their review.
• Distribute the following handouts: Handout 1: Document Set ; Handout 2: Discussion Questions ; Handout 3: Graphic Organizer , and Handout 4: Music Review Template .
• Inform students that they will use the discussion questions in Handout 2 to help them review the documents in Handout 1. As they do so, they should take notes on the graphic organizer in Handout 3. Inform students that it is not necessary to fill in every bubble on the graphic organizer; conversely, they should feel free to create additional categories and bubbles.
• Black Sabbath, “Paranoid” (1970), example of Heavy Metal
• Black Flag, “Rise Above” (1981), example of Hardcore Punk
• Mudhoney, “Touch Me I’m Sick” (1988)
• Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
• Pearl Jam, “Alive” (1991)
• Do you notice any similarities in instrumentation and/or vocals? What are they?
• What do you hear in terms of dynamics? Are there contrasts between loud and soft? If so, what does this contribute to the song?
• What do you notice about the performers’ clothing and appearance? Do you see any similarities in aesthetic?
• What is similar about the attitude of the performers in the different videos?
• What specifically do the Grunge songs (Mudhoney, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam) appear to draw from the earlier Punk and Heavy Metal performances?
• After the discussion is complete, allow students ample time to work their way through the documents, complete the graphic organizer, and write their reviews. Emphasize that the reviews should incorporate as much specific information from the documents and video clips as possible.

Summary Activity:

Ask a few groups to share excerpts from their reviews with the class. Discuss the different views of the Grunge songs and their meanings. Were certain viewpoints represented more than others?

Writing Prompt:

How did early Grunge reflect the social environment and the frustrations of youth in the Seattle area in the late 1980s and early 1990s?

Handout 1: Document Set Handout 2: Discussion Questions Handout 3: Graphic Organizer Handout 4: Music Review Template

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New Jersey State Learning Standards for English Language Arts: Reading

• NJSLSA.R1 : Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences and relevant connections from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
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• NJSLSA.W9 : Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

New Jersey State Learning Standards for English Language Arts: Speaking and Listening

• NJSLSA.SL1 : Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• NJSLSA.SL2 : Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

New York State Standards

New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards Reading Anchor Standards

• Standard 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• Standard 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats.

Writing Anchor Standards

• Standard 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Standard 5: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Speaking and Listening

• Standard 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners; express ideas clearly and persuasively, and build on those of others.
• Standard 2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats (including visual, quantitative, and oral).

NYS Next Generation 6-12 Literacy Standards in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Literacy 6-12 Anchor Standards for Reading

• Standard 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including across multiple texts.

Literacy 6-12 Anchor Standards for Writing

• Standard 7: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Texas State Standards

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for ELA & Reading

• Make inference about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.
• Summarize, paraphrase, and synthesize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order within a text and across texts.
• Make intertextual links among and across texts, including other media (e.g. film, play, music) and provide textual evidence.
• Make complex inference about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies

• Explain the relationships that exist between societies and their architecture, art, music, and literature.
• Relate ways in which contemporary expressions of culture have been influenced by the past. Describe ways in which contemporary issues influence creative expression.
• Pose and answer geographic questions including: Where is it located? Why is it there? What is significant about its location? How is its location related to the location of other people, places and environments?
• Explain the reasons for the increase in factories and urbanization.
• Analyze the causes and effects of economic differences among different regions of the United States at selected times in U.S. History.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine and Performing Arts

• Historical and cultural relevance: The student relates music to history, culture, and the world. The student is expected to: Identify relationships of concepts to other academic disciplines such as the relations between music and mathematics, literature, history, and the sciences.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Music

• (A) compare and contrast music by genre, style, culture, and historical period;
• (B) define uses of music in societies and cultures;
• (C) identify and explore the relationships between music and other academic disciplines;
• (E) identify and explore the impact of technologies, ethical issues, and economic factors on music, musicians, and performances.

Common Core State Standards

College and Career Readiness Reading Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 for Literature and Informational Text

• Reading 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• Reading 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

College and Career Readiness Writing Anchor Standards for Grades 6-12 in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects

• Writing 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
• Writing 9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening for Grades 6-12

• Speaking and Listening 1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
• Speaking and Listening 2: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Social Studies – National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)

• Theme 1 : Culture
• Theme 2 : Time, Continuity, and Change
• Theme 3 : People, Places, and Environments
• Theme 4 : Individual Development and Identity

National Standards for Music Education

Core Music Standard: Responding

• Select : Choose music appropriate for a specific purpose or context.
• Analyze : Analyze how the structure and context of varied musical works inform the response.
• Interpret : Support interpretations of musical works that reflect creators’ and/or performers’ expressive intent.
• Evaluate : Support evaluations of musical works and performances based on analysis, interpretation, and established criteria.

Core Music Standard: Connecting

• Connecting 11 : Relate  musical ideas and works to varied contexts and daily life to deepen understanding.

National Core Arts Standards

• Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
• Anchor Standard 8: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
• Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
• Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
• Anchor Standards 11: Relate artistic ideas and work with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

Career Technical Education Standards (California Model) – Arts, Media and Entertainment Pathway Standards

Design, Visual and Media Arts (A)

• A1.0 Demonstrate ability to reorganize and integrate visual art elements across digital media and design applications. A1.1 View and respond to a variety of industry-related artistic products integrating industry appropriate vocabulary. A1.4 Select industry-specific works and analyze the intent of the work and the appropriate use of media. A1.5 Research and analyze the work of an artist or designer and how the artist’s distinctive style contributes to their industry production. A1.8 Compare how distortion is used in a variety of media to modify the message being communicated. A1.9 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work. ia, and Entertainment | A3.0 Analyze and assess the impact of history and culture on the development of professional arts and media products. A3.2 Describe how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence and are reflected in a variety of artistic products. A3.3 Identify contemporary styles and discuss the diverse social, economic, and political developments reflected in art work in an industry setting. A4.0 Analyze, assess, and identify effectiveness of artistic products based on elements of art, the principles of design, and professional industry standards. A4.2 Deconstruct how beliefs, cultural traditions, and current social, economic, and political contexts influence commercial media (traditional and electronic). A4.5 Analyze and articulate how society influences the interpretation and effectiveness of an artistic product. A5.0 Identify essential industry competencies, explore commercial applications and develop a career specific personal plan. A5.3 Deconstruct works of art, identifying psychological content found in the symbols and images and their relationship to industry and society.

Performing Arts (B)

• B2.0 Read, listen to, deconstruct, and analyze peer and professional music using the elements and terminology of music. B2.2 Describe how the elements of music are used. B2.5 Analyze and describe significant musical events perceived and remembered in a given industry generated example. B2.6 Analyze and describe the use of musical elements in a given professional work that makes it unique, interesting, and expressive. B2.7 Demonstrate the different uses of form, both past and present, in a varied repertoire of music in commercial settings from diverse genres, styles, and professional applications. B7.0 Analyze the historical and cultural perspective of multiple industry performance products from a discipline-specific perspective. B7.1 Identify and compare how film, theater, television, and electronic media productions influence values and behaviors. B7.3 Analyze the historical and cultural perspective of the musician in the professional setting. B8.0 Deconstruct the aesthetic values that drive professional performance and the artistic elements necessary for industry production. B8.3 Analyze the aesthetic principles that apply in a professional work designed for live performance, film, video, or live broadcast.
• Trace It Back - People
• AP/Honors/101
• Elementary 3-6
• Ethnic Studies
• General Music
• Physical Education
• Social Emotional Learning
• Social Studies/History

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The 25 Best Grunge Albums of the ’90s

By Stuart Berman and Jeremy D. Larson

For as long as guitars have been plugged into amplifiers, the loudest noise in America has tended to emanate from the Pacific Northwest. The region played a transformative role in the evolution of rock’n’roll many times over throughout the 1960s and ’70s, with Washington State alone birthing everyone from proto-punks the Sonics to Jimi Hendrix to Heart. But all that was a mere distant rumble of thunder compared to the storm that erupted when, in the mid-’80s, a bunch of long-hairs in the Seattle area came to the then-radical conclusion that Black Flag and Black Sabbath shared more than just a favorite color.

Numerous books , documentaries , and podcasts have been devoted to the subject of how and why grunge came to be. (Take your pick: boredom, shitty weather, robust local college-radio support, Reagan-era malaise, grim local history , easy access to good coffee, deep-seated aversions to both hair-metal pageantry and hardcore orthodoxy.) Initially, what became known as grunge was a thriving regional scene that rallied around proudly scuzzy trailblazers like Green River , crucial compilations like C/Z Records’ Deep Six , and impoverished but media-savvy labels like Sub Pop. However, with the 1991 insurrection of Nirvana’s Nevermind , grunge became the sort of once-in-a-generation phenomenon that permanently altered the sound of rock radio, turned the surplus-store discount rack into catwalk fodder , and inspired hordes of disaffected Gen Xers to grow their hair longer and shower less.

As with any suddenly hip genre, pretty much everyone slapped with the grunge label rejected it, which paradoxically gave it more power and reach. Certainly, there was a canyon of aesthetic difference between, say, the cheeky garage-punk of Mudhoney and the dramatic, Sabbath-schooled dirges of Alice in Chains, but collectively they represented a united affront to the corporate-rock excesses of the ’80s. And just as it served as the battering ram that dismantled the gates separating America’s freak scene from the top of the charts, grunge’s revolution raged in both directions, luring scores of impressionable kids into the nation’s DIY ecosystem, with all those obscure bands that Kurt Cobain name-dropped in interviews serving as wormholes into an outsider musical universe.

As a supplement to our recent Best Albums and Songs of the 1990s lists, here is a tally of the 25 greatest grunge records of that particular decade. To certain purists, the late-’80s was grunge’s true golden age, when classics like Nirvana’s Bleach and Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff came out, a few years before the community got turned into a Halloween costume . But the genre’s legacy as it exists today—both as a perennial, fuzzbox-abusing sound and as aspirational proof that the weirdos sometimes do come out on top—was largely written in the ’90s. Like grunge itself, this list isn’t confined to Washington State; it’s a reflection of how thoroughly grunge reshaped the musical landscape at the time, by attracting countless bandwagon jumpers, prompting veteran alterna-acts to twist their amp knobs a few notches to the right, and catapulting a small army of unmarketable misfits onto major-label rosters.

The albums featured here cover the period spanning 1990 to 1994, which symbolically marked the moment when the promise of grunge gave way to the reality of Sponge —i.e., a wave of opportunists who could front with angsty, mosh-bro energy but lacked the stinging irony and self-aware humor that was always at the heart of the original scene.

However, if grunge was the product of a very specific time and place, it has—like garage-rock, punk, and heavy metal before it—graduated from buzzy subgenre to a permanent feature in the rock playbook, because the fuck-it-all feelings behind it remain eternal, too. Like the sort of moldy fungi the word once described, grunge has continued to spread and mutate far beyond its point of origin, its influence now manifest in everyone from irrepressible pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo to modern-day indie-rockers like Soccer Mommy to nu-school noisemakers like Chat Pile to Cobain-obsessed rappers like Post Malone (while still inspiring runway looks in clockwork five - year cycles ).

These are the records that allowed grunge to transcend trendiness and become a sound that never goes out of style, listed in chronological order.

Read Pitchfork’s list of the best albums of the 1990s here and best songs of the 1990s here , and check out our full ’90s package here .

(All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, however, Pitchfork may earn an affiliate commission.)

Stardog / Mercury

Mother Love Bone: Apple (1990)

Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose in March 1990, at age 24, mere days before his band was set to release this debut album. His passing proved to be a particularly pivotal event in the history of grunge. Soon after, Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament became demo-trading pen-pals with a San Diego gas-station attendant named Eddie Vedder, marking the beginning of Pearl Jam. And who knows: If the psychedelically inclined Wood had survived, it’s entirely possible that Seattle would be better known today for floral patterns and cosmic power ballads than flannel and dropped-D tuning.

Already a scene star thanks to his tenure in ’80s hard rockers Malfunkshun, Wood was destined to enter his rightful golden-god realm with Mother Love Bone, whose vision of grunge hit the sweet spot between Guns N’ Roses’ underbelly grit and Jane’s Addiction’s boho-Zeppelin ambitions. Even as it embodies the very qualities—glamor, world-beating attitude, sexualized swagger—that grunge was supposed to reject, Apple is nonetheless a foundational text for prophesying how the genre’s grimy guitar sound could be reengineered for arena-rattling mass appeal. (After all, it’s just a short crowd-surf from the cocksure choogle of “ Holy Roller ” to the dam-bursting momentum of “ Even Flow .”) More significantly, the album’s sad epilogue cast a dark cloud over the scene that even its most successful ambassadors would never fully escape. –Stuart Berman

Listen/Buy: Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal

Mark Lanegan: The Winding Sheet (1990)

As lead singer for Ellensburg, Washington quartet Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan had helped formulate grunge’s mix of grubby garage-rock, brown-acid psychedelia, and corrosive melodies. But on his 1990 solo debut, he looked back far beyond the ’60s and ’70s to forge spiritual communion with pre-rock forms like folk, blues, and murder ballads, which included digging up a certain Lead Belly standard that his friend and backing singer Kurt Cobain would later claim for himself . A largely acoustic and piano-based affair, The Winding Sheet is hardly a dictionary-definition grunge album. But in highlighting both the delicate and disquieting qualities of Lanegan’s sandpapered voice, it set the standard for the unplugged sound that became a go-to mode for Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains, proving that, for all its fuzz-caked guitars, grunge was really defined by a doomy, seasick feeling. –Stuart Berman

Tad: 8-Way Santa (1991)

If grunge were a person, it’d be Tad Doyle, whose hulking, howling, scowling presence was the perfect advertisement for his group’s guttural sludge-punk. It’s an image the Sub Pop publicity department played up to the hilt, with press photos that looked more like stills from a grindhouse flick . But by 1991—with the likes of Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Screaming Trees already entrenched in the major-label ecosystem—even Seattle’s gnarliest groups were getting ready for their close-up. 8-Way Santa was Tad’s final release for Sub Pop before the band became one of the unlikeliest Warner Bros. signings of all time.

While the album hardly skimped on hillbilly heavy-metal grinds , there’s also a concision and clarity to the performances that, at times, yield surprising moments of melodic levity . Credit producer Butch Vig, then a midwestern noise-punk foot solider who was still a few months away from steering Nirvana’s commercial crossover on Nevermind . In some respects, 8-Way Santa made that breakthrough possible: After all, if Vig could help Tad sound more like R.E.M. , then turning Nirvana into radio stars would be a cake-walk. –Stuart Berman

Temple of the Dog: Temple of the Dog (1991)

Temple of the Dog wasn’t so much a supergroup as a group séance. Formed by two members of Soundgarden (vocalist Chris Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron) and the core of what was about to become Pearl Jam (ex-Mother Love Bone founders Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, along with guitarist Mike McCready and budding singer Eddie Vedder), the ad-hoc band’s one and only album was effectively a funeral prayer service for their late friend, Andrew Wood.

But while the album is best remembered for introducing Vedder to the world on the alt-karaoke classic “Hunger Strike” (which taught a generation the proper way to enunciate “ brrrrreead ”), it marked an important evolutionary step for everyone involved, planting the seed for a more emotionally vulnerable strain of songwriting that would gradually flourish within both Pearl Jam and Soundgarden’s amped-up onslaught. Today, the album is just as much a eulogy for the late Cornell—from the 11-minute wah-wahed workout of “Reach Down” to the slow-burning acoustic-blues rapture of “Times of Trouble,” the record is loaded with career-best vocal performances where the singer elevates grunge to the realm of gospel. –Stuart Berman

Smashing Pumpkins: Gish (1991)

Without Gish , there would probably be no Nevermind as we know it. Recorded in Butch Vig’s studio in Madison, Wisconsin, the Smashing Pumpkins’ debut was guided by the dreamy, classic rock ear of Billy Corgan. The frontman once said that Gish is inspired by the sound of Rick Rubin trying to sound like Black Sabbath—a dry and imposing sound, extremely loud guitars, similar to but totally different than what Steve Albini was doing in Chicago. In 1991, the Pumpkins were still on an independent label, but they worked with the fastidious approach of a blockbuster rock act, swinging into songs with gas-face guitar solos, undergirded by the jazz-prog drumming of Jimmy Chamberlin. Gish —named after silent film icon Lillian Gish—would become one of the best-selling indie records ever at the time. After the release of Nevermind —which was guided by Vig and the production ideas he got from Corgan—the Pumpkins were cited to be the “next Nirvana.” They weren’t, but it could be argued they were there first. –Jeremy D. Larson

Mudhoney: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (1991)

When Mudhoney belched out their debut single, “Touch Me I’m Sick,” in 1988, they instantly became the leading cause célèbres, satirists, and bullshit detectors of the Seattle scene, forsaking their peers’ ’70s hard-rock worship for pure Stoogean insolence. By the time they released their second album, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge , in the summer of 1991, they were Sub Pop’s top-selling band—at least until all the millions of kids who bought Nevermind a few months later discovered that Nirvana had put out another record before it.

But on EGBDF , Mudhoney shrewdly took a step back from the sludgy sound they helped popularize to hitch themselves to a more time-tested ’60s-garage lineage, complete with Farfisas, hey-hey-hey hooks , and acoustic guitars slicing through the fuzz . Coming at a time when America was turning into one giant mosh pit, this album was an invitation to do the watusi, cementing Mudhoney’s status as the contrarians of the contrarians. –Stuart Berman

Pearl Jam: Ten (1991)

Underground punk and hard rock were the two main tributaries that flowed into the Puget Sound to create the brackish waters of grunge. If Nirvana drank from the first bank, Pearl Jam slurped deeply from the second. Formed from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam came together in dribs and drabs, most urgently after the band heard back from a San Diego surfer who was then working the graveyard shift at a Chevron station. Eddie Vedder put lyrics and vocals to a demo tape the rhythm section had been shopping around in order to find a new frontman. One of those songs would become “Alive,” a slow-burning, mid-tempo rocker about Vedder’s estranged biological father, who died unbeknownst to him when he was a teenager. All of the band’s might is captured in the affirmation of “Alive”; where other groups subliminized pain, Pearl Jam sought to transcend it.

You could roll your eyes at Pearl Jam’s apparent bluster, oceanic sound, and Ace Frehley-inspired solos, as Kurt Cobain did. And in the end, Pearl Jam’s debut, Ten, wasn’t nearly as big as Nevermind, which would come out just a month later. But Ten is undoubtedly the second-largest record in the grunge canon, and perhaps one of the most perennially cherished, because of its roots in the institution of classic rock. Sure, there’s way too much reverb, and the back side of the record is about as baggy as one of bassist Jeff Ament’s hats. But Ten put forward a sound that every major label band could try to iterate on, drawing from music that packed stadiums and reached the rafters. From the sore necks headbanging to “Even Flow” to the singed thumbs from holding lighters in the air for the entirety of “Black,” Ten was the beginning of Pearl Jam’s tenure as the people’s rock band. –Jeremy D. Larson

Nirvana: Nevermind (1991)

While alternative rock was certainly no secret throughout the ’80s, Nirvana’s uncomfortable rocket ride to the top on 1991’s Nevermind marked the genre’s supernova moment. Launched by “Smells Like Teen Spirit”’s bare, twitchy guitar intro and explosive drums, the album’s ennui, angst, and incredible songwriting made it suddenly seem like talented outcasts could rule the world. Many would try to bottle Nirvana’s soured essence in the years following, but few other bands were working with the same quality of raw components: Krist Novoselic’s hypnotic basslines, Dave Grohl’s furious pace, and Kurt Cobain’s ability to create anthemic choruses out of the blunt-edge scrape of a single word. Veering through tempos with an alchemic mix of poignancy and catchiness, Nevermind explores the duality of acceptance and rejection, but never makes it feel like a lesson. Fuzzed-out “In Bloom” and chill “Come As You Are” manage to be opposite sides of the same coin, with Cobain sizing up the people who liked all their pretty songs but didn’t fully grasp them, before opening his arms to misfits everywhere. Call it a generational changing of the guard if you must, but these 12 songs connected with young listeners around the world—some who just thought they rocked, and many more who recognized Cobain’s wary POV for what it was: the truth. –Jessica Letkemann

Soundgarden: Badmotorfinger (1991)

Soundgarden were always a few steps ahead of the pack. Among the first Sub Pop signings, they were also the first in the scene to graduate to major-label patronage, get nominated for Grammys, and prove their mettle opening for arena-rock acts. But if 1989’s A&M debut Louder Than Love captured a band both embracing and satirizing ’70s-rock mythology, Badmotorfinger liberated Soundgarden from their next-Zeppelin destiny with a fearless and peerless display of prog-punk dynamism, psychedelic expanse, and metallic modernism.

Soundgarden’s third album arrived in the thick of grunge’s 1991 epoch, soon after Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s Ten , and it initially received more attention for its lead single/video, “Jesus Christ Pose,” getting banned by MTV for its artful bastardization of Christian imagery. But what’s more remarkable is that such a relentless and dissonant track was even considered for rotation in the first place. With new bassist Ben Sheperd bulking up drummer Matt Cameron’s bulldozer swing, guitarist Kim Thayil dropping equal doses of Tony Iommi riffage and Thurston Moore avant-screech, and Chris Cornell’s five-alarm shriek permanently set to beast mode, Badmotorfinger is as nerve-wracking and exhilarating as winning a first-person-shooter video game on expert level. The band’s next record would be their commercial peak, but Badmotorfinger was Soundgarden’s true leap into the superunknown. –Stuart Berman

Afghan Whigs: Congregation (1992)

Cincinnati’s Afghan Whigs were one of the first Sub Pop acts that hailed from outside the Seattle area, and not everyone in the scene was happy about it: As legend has it , Sub Pop’s top earner, Mudhoney, jumped ship for Reprise in 1992 because they were upset their royalties were being used to underwrite out-of-town acts unaffiliated with their core community. But the Whigs were separated from Seattle by more than just geography. Along with providing a sneak peek at the soulful center anchoring frontman Greg Dulli’s ever-expanding vision, Congregation showed how grunge’s roar could express an emotional depth beyond anger and disillusionment. Full of white-knuckled songs brimming with sensuality, obsession, and betrayal, the album plays out like some alt-rock soap opera. Teenage angst would pay off well for some, but by this point, the Whigs had already tapped into the rich dramatic terrain of midlife crises. –Stuart Berman

L7: Bricks Are Heavy (1992)

With Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and Chris Cornell all over MTV and magazine covers, it was easy to get the impression that grunge was a boys-only zone. But that wasn’t entirely the case: Among the scene’s ’80s pioneers were Bam Bam , fronted by Tina Bell, a Black woman. L.A.-bred, but Seattle in spirit, L7 also predated the grunge explosion by several years, and with 1990’s Smell the Magic , they became the first all-woman band on Sub Pop’s roster. Where that record opened with a mission-statement declaration—“Get outta my way/Or I’m gonna shove”—that spoke to L7’s position as outsiders rattling the palace gates, their subsequent major-label debut, Bricks Are Heavy , showed what they were capable of when given the keys to the kingdom: proudly nasty but undeniably hooky hard-rock that fused classic punk and metal, like that photo of Debbie Harry and Lemmy come to life.

While grunge’s leading male lights often used their interviews or liner notes to support feminist and progressive causes, L7 treated each song as a megaphone, highlighting how pretty much everything that sucks about the world—from war to domestic abuse to conservative oppression to punker-than-thou scene-policing —is the product of ignorant, entitled men. Coming after L7 had co-founded the Rock for Choice concert series for abortion rights, Bricks Are Heavy was an emblem of grunge’s growing political influence, which continues to reverberate today: Once a revenge-fantasy anthem aimed at unspecified assholes, its signature rager “Shitlist” has been embraced by sexual-assault survivors in recent years as an effective strategy for seeking justice against abusers. –Stuart Berman

Various Artists: Singles: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

There’s good timing, and then there’s Singles timing. Writer-director Cameron Crowe’s rom-com set in the Seattle music scene was filmed in the spring of 1991, before its parade of local-musician cameos (including Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell) had become household names. In the run-up to its fall 1992 release, the post- Nevermind wave was surging at full strength, and Epic Records made the unconventional decision to release the soundtrack a good three months before the film. The result was the closest thing this moment had to a Now That’s What I Call Grunge! compilation, replete with exclusive tracks—like a pair of top-notch Pearl Jam burners, Soundgarden’s monstrous “Birth Ritual,” and Mudhoney’s hype-deflating “Overblown”—at a time when demand for any new material by its constituent bands was at a frothy fever pitch.

Crowe’s curation also adds some important context to a movement that seemed to blow up out of nowhere, placing grunge on a Seattle-rock lineage that includes Jimi Hendrix and Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson, while tapping the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg for two winsome tunes that show the upstarts how an indie-rocker can age gracefully after the hysteria dies down. –Stuart Berman

Sonic Youth: Dirty (1992)

Whether cutting split singles with Mudhoney, luring Nirvana from Sub Pop over to DGC Records, or taking those bands out on a legend-making European tour , Sonic Youth are arguably the most important grunge catalysts not from Washington State. And Dirty was their ultimate expression of Seattle fandom, the moment where the indie icons went from playing de facto A&R reps to putting on the knit hats and joining their younger disciples in the pit. The band’s catalog up to that point was hardly lacking for moments of pure , adrenalized exhilaration , but Dirty captures the sound of Sonic Youth rocking the fuck out with a muscular menace they’d never really exhibited before and never would again. But as much as it’s musically date-stamped to its era of origin, Dirty has proven to be a timeless record, its seething indictments of workplace sexual harrassment , gun violence , right-wing cruelty , and the ineffable shitiness of Clarence Thomas resounding loudly as ever. –Stuart Berman

Babes in Toyland: Fontanelle (1992)

Formed in Minnesota, Babes in Toyland were a chimera of noise and grunge, led by the unadulterated and caustic sound of Kat Bjelland on vocals and guitar, with drummer Lori Barbero and bassist Maureen Herman lightly tempering her exorcisms. On stage, Bjelland would stand there with her face in rictus fury, becoming the very figure of torment and rage. (Kathleen Hanna called their live show “amazing, life-changing,” and part of the inspiration for forming Bikini Kill).

Their first record for Reprise, co-produced with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, took the galloping melodic hardcore of Hüsker Dü and backed you uncomfortably into a corner with it. One minute, Bjelland is lightly whimpering, “I want to live in the smallest corner,” the next she’s summoning a voice from the blackest chamber of her heart: “I vacuumed out my head/Jumping from bed to bed.” Fontenelle is soul and guts in equal measure. –Jeremy D. Larson

Alice in Chains: Dirt (1992)

Unlike most of the bands on this list, Alice in Chains had no formal connections to the Sub Pop scene, or to punk rock in general: Their initial late-’80s incarnation, as Alice N’ Chains, saw frontman Layne Staley belting out funky glam-metal tunes with a sky-high hairdo to match. Even after guitarist Jerry Cantrell steered them to a tougher sound for their proper 1990 debut, Facelift , they were still touring with bands like Van Halen and Poison. But with their harrowing 1992 follow-up Dirt , Alice in Chains emerged as the quintessential Seattle band of the moment, blowing up grunge’s dread-ridden riffage and grey-skied mood to horror-movie proportions, while Staley provided documentarian dispatches from a worsening heroin addiction that exposed the dark side of life in America’s hippest city.

This is an album that opens with a pained cry of “ owwwww ,” and only gets more unforgiving from there. But Dirt ’s most devastating quality lies in Staley and Cantrell’s haunted harmonies—beyond providing just enough melodic grace to send such a bleak album to the Top 10, they represent fading glimpses of the humanity that gets buried when you’re down in a hole. –Stuart Berman

Nirvana: Incesticide (1992)

It may be one of the few albums revered as much for its liner notes as its music. Released a year and three months after Nevermind changed the molecular structure of rock’n’roll and made Nirvana rich beyond their dreams, this collection of early demos, covers, Sub Pop singles, and Peel Session recordings captured the prologue of Nirvana as lovers of noise, pop, and the underground scene. It was a self-administered (but lousily promoted) antidote to their sudden media attention, one that was meant to clarify their intentions, their politics, and their passions. It opens with one of the most important 7" records ever made, the canonical sloppy and poppy “Dive” b/w “Sliver,” and closes with “Aneurysm”—an absolutely perfect, blood-boiling, body-moving, and still severely underrated song.

And then there’s those apoplectic, last-word-in-the-argument liner notes. Long before the internet made lists of the best albums, Kurt Cobain gave the true fans a handful of artists who moved him, who inspired him. Scribble them on a piece of paper and bring them to the record store and check them out and get on their level: the Raincoats, Shonen Knife, Sonic Youth, Stinky Puffs, Jad Fair, the Wipers, Mazzy Star, Bjorn Again, T.V. Personalities. “At this point,” Cobain wrote at the end, “I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us—leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.” This much was clear in 1992: If you weren’t into what Incesticide was offering, there’s the door. –Jeremy D. Larson

PJ Harvey: Rid of Me (1993)

On Kurt Cobain’s famous hand-written list of his 50 favorite albums of all time, his most current entry was reserved for PJ Harvey’s 1992 debut, Dry . It’s easy to hear why the record scored an instant spot in his canon: With her predilection for no-frills production, dirge-blues squalor, and shrewd anti-patriarchy critique, the young Polly Harvey was the living embodiment of all that Cobain held dear on both a musical and socio-political level. (It’s no wonder they both looked to the same indie hardliner, Steve Albini, to record their respective post-breakthrough follow-ups.) But if Dry suggested Harvey and Cobain were kindred spirits, Rid of Me proved that her eponymous power trio was every bit Nirvana’s equal when it came to seismic quiet/LOUD eruptions and blood-letting lyricism. Framing its tales of murderous obsession , sexual domination , and literal gender-fucking with thundering jolts of junk-punk fury, Rid of Me ensured that Nirvana’s In Utero would be only the second-most ferocious grunge album of 1993. –Stuart Berman

Melvins: Houdini (1993)

The musical equivalent of a steamroller paving over a pile of dinosaur bones, the Melvins were cited as a formative influence on Kurt Cobain so often, they probably should’ve received a cut of his royalties. As a consolation prize, the stoner-metal titans landed a deal with Atlantic on the back of Cobain’s endorsement, and the opportunity to have their famous friend produce their fifth album. Or at least that’s what the liner notes say: Though credited as a producer and player on a handful of tracks, Cobain was, by all accounts, too waylaid by his heroin addiction to be a functional collaborator. But the Melvins still made the most of the situation— Houdini reins in their sludgy sprawl for more focused blasts of fury that sound like vintage Metallica played at half-speed (which for the Melvins, was still plenty fast). And if Cobain wasn’t a fully present participant, you can still hear his disarming melodic sensibility seep into tracks like “Lizzy” and “Set Me Straight,” while a faithfully lumbering cover of Kiss’ “Goin’ Blind” makes a convincing case for that 1974 deep cut as the first-ever grunge song. The result of an uncompromising band finding itself on a major label and being produced by a rockstar pal too fucked up to do his job, Houdini is all the triumph and tragedy of the grunge saga condensed into a single record. –Stuart Berman

Nirvana: In Utero (1993)

By 1993, Kurt Cobain was ailing from chronic stomach pain, exacerbated by a poor diet and his scoliosis, which he treated unsuccessfully with heroin. In February of that year, In Utero wasn’t so much made as it was purged from Nirvana’s digestive tract, tasting of copper and smelling of offal. Recorded live in a Minnesota studio by Steve Albini in a two-week sprint, the album was in exercise in rejection: of the glossy sound of Nevermind, of Nirvana’s sudden fame, of bodily organs, of life in general. Cobain sang about kissing open sores, eating cancer, anemia, milk, shit, umbilical nooses—an undigested litany that hints that his pain was much more of his body than in his mind. The singer’s vocal cords sound either lightly sandpapered or heavily scalpelled, recorded without any overdubs. He is alternately angry, sarcastic, spiritual, caustic, wearing his heart on his sleeve only because he’s turned his body inside out for all to see. –Jeremy D. Larson

This Way Up

Redd Kross: Phaseshifter (1993)

As the CD-booklet spread for Phaseshifter makes clear, Redd Kross are the only band in the world who could corral Kim Gordon, the Minutemen’s Mike Watt, Black Flag’s Kira Roessler, and a thoroughly unenthused Gene Simmons for a backstage photo . It’s the perfect visual testament to the L.A. group’s penchant for inhabiting many different worlds simultaneously, through a discography that spans teenage-hardcore kicks , ’70s-rock raunch , and jangle-pop joy . On this album, brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald refashion themselves yet again as a bubblegrunge factory, pumping up the riffs into stage-dive-worthy strikes , but also heightening the sugar rush. Released just a few weeks after In Utero , Phaseshifter imagined an alternate post-success path for Nirvana, where Kurt Cobain was less concerned with scaring away the normies through Jesus Lizard-styled shock tactics , and instead channeled his songwriting gifts into crafting the alt-rock “Ticket to Ride.” –Stuart Berman

Soundgarden: Superunknown (1994)

On Superunknown , Soundgarden mixed some pop vulnerability into their Zep-influenced hard rock and broke into the mainstream. The album is a grunge staple, but its pummeling riffs and Chris Cornell’s one-of-a-kind wail also transcended the genre’s power chords and raspy sneering. The anthemic melodies are juxtaposed with bleak themes of death, despondence, and apocalypse that feel even more devastating following Cornell’s 2017 suicide. The album remains an alt-rock anomaly, thundering and openhearted in equal measure. –Max Freedman

Hole: Live Through This (1994)

In 1994, Courtney Love had a hell of a lot to be angry about: unrelenting abuse at the hands of the media and misogynist grunge fans; Child Protective Services’ brief seizure of her infant daughter; husband Kurt Cobain’s personal downward spiral, which ended with his suicide just days before the release of Live Through This , Hole’s second album. She channeled all this into a masterpiece of wrathful beauty—12 tracks bubbling over with poison-candy-apple hooks and some of the most deliciously melodic screams ever recorded. Raging against abusive lovers (“Violet”), victim-blaming (“Asking for It”), impossible beauty standards (“Miss World”), motherhood (“Plump”), and more, Love became an icon for the misfits, the survivors, and the fed-up. Live Through This broke the dam, flooding rock’n’roll with a strain of fury that flowed from riot grrrl to Alanis Morrissette to Paramore to Olivia Rodrigo and beyond. “Just you try to hold me down/Come on try to shut me up,” Love snarled on “Gutless.” Three decades later, nobody has been able to do either. –Amy Phillips

7 Year Bitch: ¡Viva Zapata! (1994)

By 1994, whatever life left in grunge was balanced by how much death it had to contend with. ¡Viva Zapata!, the second album by Seattle punks 7 Year Bitch, was shrouded in sudden death: It was the first album the band made after the overdose of their lead guitarist Stefanie Sargent, and its title is in honor of Mia Zapata, the frontwoman of the Gits, who was raped and strangled to death on her way home from a bar. Selene Vigil’s blood-filled vocals of directly deal with Zapata’s murder on the breathtaking “M.I.A.,” a song that doesn’t subsume pain so much as try to make sure everyone knows exactly what pain is. ¡Viva Zapata! was a leap forward in performance and production, and the album’s best song, “The Scratch,” features dazzling interplay between the whole band, a whack-a-mole game of grunge guitar and melody. The way drummer Valerie Agnew counters Vigil when she sneers “I will have my cake and eat it too, just like you” captured 7 Year Bitch’s new chops, style, and attitude in just a few bars. –Jeremy D. Larson

Stone Temple Pilots: Purple (1994)

Like the Greta Van Fleet of grunge, Stone Temple Pilots became one of most popular—and widely mocked—bands in America with their 1992 debut Core , which presented a Seattle-sound simulacrum that was so faithful, you could almost mistake them for a tribute act. But when follow-up Purple dropped in June 1994, STP no longer seemed on the outside of the scene—because there wasn’t much of a scene left to be ostracized from.

With Nirvana suddenly gone, Pearl Jam busy battling Ticketmaster , and Soundgarden off in their own lofty psychedelic art-rock orbit, STP were given a renewed sense of purpose: to crank out the quick-hit corkers that their progenitors could no longer provide, or no longer cared to. While full-throttled blitzes like “Unglued” and soaring, Vedder-ready anthems like “Big Empty” ably filled the void, Purple ’s surprisingly melodic turns—like the yearning “Interstate Love Song” and the hypno-grooved “Vasoline”—revealed the secret sauce that allowed STP to rise above the shirtless throngs over the course of the ’90s: Behind the grungy facade, they were really alt-rock’s foremost power-pop band. –Stuart Berman

Pearl Jam: Vitalogy (1994)

“Let the ocean swell, dissolve away my past,” Eddie Vedder sang on Vitalogy ’s first song, a needling stomper called “Last Exit”—a fitting intro to a record that represented Pearl Jam’s offramp from Seattle hype, their generational spokesmodel duties, and the zeitgeist-shaping sound that made them famous. Where their first two records put them at the center of the grunge hurricane, Vitalogy was nothing less than an attempt to single-handedly change the weather. Recorded at a time when Pearl Jam was reeling from their pressure-cooker existence, Vitalogy is an endlessly fascinating portrait of a band teetering on the brink of collapse yet finding renewed inspiration in their most unrefined state, yielding a crazy-quilt sprawl that stretched out far enough to accommodate their “Nervous Breakdown” on one end and their “Revolution #9” at the other. In the thick of grunge’s ’91-’92 golden hour, it would’ve been hard to imagine that the deranged singer dangling upside-down from festival lighting rigs would, in just a few short years, be crooning about bugs over a wheezing accordion . But after all the drama, upheaval, and loss that Pearl Jam and their community had experienced in the preceding years, such unguarded moments were just Vedder’s new way of reassuring us that he was still alive. –Stuart Berman

By Pitchfork

By Matthew Strauss

By Madison Bloom

By Nina Corcoran

By Jazz Monroe

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Music Theory behind Grunge Music

From londonhua wiki.

by Katharine Conory

• 2 Introduction
• 3.1.1 Harmony
• 3.1.2 Rhythm
• 3.1.3 Dynamics
• 4.1 A Satirical Way of Writing a Grunge Song
• 4.2 Drawing Inspiration
• 4.3 Emotion and Harmony
• 4.4 Final Steps
• 5 Musical analysis of songs
• 6 Conclusion
• 7 External Links
• 8 References

The objective of this milestone is to take all that I have learned from my Grunge in London Capstone to analyze the music through the lens of music theory. I was able to see what grunge music has to offer by way of harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and form, which are some of the elements of all music. For my deliverable, I took all that I learned from this analysis of grunge music from a music theory background to create my own guide to what a grunge song would contain in the way of harmony, rhythm, dynamics and form with examples of what I would do. For this project, I drew back on my past experience with music theory and my violin background. This is slightly challenging due to the fact that harmony for a violin is much simpler for a violin than a guitar. In high school, I took several music classes and was in both chorus and band. I hope to gain more knowledge about music theory and help others understand music as well.

Introduction

This project is meant to introduce those who enjoy music to the music theory or backbone of music that makes it sounds a certain way or gives it a certain emotion. Music is defined by its elements, which allows a certain genre of music sounds different than another. So, I distinguished four important elements of music and did an in-depth analysis of each with a comparison of grunge to popular rock music of that time. From that analysis, I then produced a guide to producing gunge songs from a satirical background with examples of what I would do. In my research, I found that grunge was more covered as a social and ethical topic with little being covered about the music itself. It was difficult to find much on the elements of music in respect to the grunge genre itself, but I did find some info on it under the umbrella of alternative. I discovered that its sound and style was primarily based off of the music’s harmony with the rhythm, form, and dynamics still very important to its overall sound. But, there was no real pattern to the music. Together in had a unique sound due to the harmonic practices, but what really kept the genre a genre was the music’s attitude and the taboo topics it tried to address. Each artist has its own unique style and sound but they all fell into the same genre. This project needs more research to fully grasp the musical differences between grunge music and the popular rock of the time.

Section 1: Background

Grunge was a style choice, a cultural movement and most importantly a music style that appeared in the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s, which songs had focused on topics of a taboo nature such as alienation, depression, and suicide. The movement focused on using their music to enlighten those around them about the problems that they were suffering from, which resonated very well with the youth who were also facing many of those issues. It was very popular and topped many of the more well-known artists. It had a new an appealing sound that differed from the rock and pop music of day. Grunge music is considered to be a sub-genre of rock with heavy overlap with other rock subgenres such as alternative, metal, and punk [2] .The music contained a dirty and raw sound guitar sound, which gave the genre its name. This music has a significant effect on the culture of the Seattle area where is was started, which is no surprise due to the fact that music has always been a major component of cultural changes in society. There have been many scholarly articles citing its importance and during this time there was a major shift in attitudes towards the world and the people who lived in it, which emphasized the feelings correlated to alienation, depression, and suicide. However one may ask how music, subtracting the lyrics, could evoke such feelings, which in fact brings me to the focus of this capstone; the music theory behind grunge music that gave it its unique sound. The music theory behind grunge music will explain how this music became so unique, but this calls into question of the definition music. In the most literal idea, one can see music as “vibrations in the air that are observed by us and then interpreted as sounds. These sounds play out over time, meaning that music is, therefore, sound over time” [3] . However, that is way too literal and would infer that all sounds are music like all paintings are works of art. Music is way more sophisticated and can be seen as “multi-dimensional (and a) multimedia phenomenon’’ [4] . Therefore music is grouped into seven different elements, which are rhythm, dynamics, melody, harmony, tone color, texture, and form to help identify the key differences between grunge music and say rap. These elements added to the sound and identity of the genre, so much so it stood out from the rest of the alternative genre, which grunge was a subgenre of, during that era. Below I have chosen 4 elements I feel distinguished the grunge genre of from that which was popular during the 1990’s and created the special sound to the music that allowed the artists to express their emotions.

Musical Elements

In music, the element of form is a combination of the repetition, contrast, and continuity that creates a song’s uniqueness. The form is very dependent on the other elements of music because it is the way the music is arranged. There is a mixture of musical ideas that are carefully arranged to create the meaning behind the music, which is illustrated when the chorus, speaking both lyrically and instrumentally, is repeated. To differentiate the diversions in music, letters such as A, B, C, are used. This is used determine the slight variation in musical patterns. Repetition is often utilized in form to set the theme of the song. This is seen when the chorus is repeated or the verse lyrics change and music stays the same. Repetition in music is known to create continuity and is usually done with a catchy chorus. Contrarily when there is a change or contrast in music, it is often used to note a shift in mood. The form includes a myriad of types including strophic, binary, verse/chorus song, and ternary forms. These types of forms are derived from the repetition, contrast, and continuity referred to previously. The strophic form is when the same music is repeated over and over for several verses of music. This is the most basic form, which lacks contrast and is all repetition. The message the song is trying to portray is usually very elementary. In the binary form, there are two parts. It uses contrast to highlight the question answer music phrasing between the similar phrasing contrasting section. A combination between the binary and strophic forms is the Verse/ Chorus Song form. It alternates between the storytelling verses, which contain different lyrics each verse, and the recurring chorus. [11] . It creates the feeling of familiarity and allows for many ideas and feelings to be told and then reiterated in the chorus, which is very important in grunge music. The last form being covered is the ternary from. It is a three-part form that has a repletion of the first verse, with different lyrics, which then processes to the chorus and returns back to the theme of the first verse. The form is very diverse in music and can evoke different emotions. So one can see how important it is to grunge music because of its ability to highlight the different parts of the song through repetition, contrast, and continuity.

Grunge music is primarily about emotions and social issues that plagued many of the youth during that time, so it is very important to have the music bring attention to these issues through the phrasing of the chorus and verses. Songs In the 1990’s many rock songs followed a verse-chorus form, which Brad Osborn likes to call the “verse-chorus paradigm” (Osborn, 2013, p. 23). [12] or in less layman terms a verse-chorus pattern. Osborn then quotes John Covach who says “In a verse-chorus [form]...the focus of the song is squarely on the chorus...[T]he verses serve primarily to prepare the return of the chorus’’ (Osborn, 2013, p. 23) and this makes the song sound like it’s using the chorus as the main bringer of emotion to the song. Many grunge songs, due to the fact that they are part of the rock genre, did use this form. It allowed many of the emotions of the first verse to be realized and then an overall feeling of dissatisfaction to be released about these feelings. This can especially be seen in “Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana, which starts with verse 1

I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks I've been drawn into your magnetar pit trap trap

. The music plays on the use of the verse-chorus form to highlight the emotions of feeling trapped and helpless, which are then built on during the chorus

Wait! I've got a new complaint Forever in debt to your priceless advice Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint Forever in debt to your priceless advice Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint

. The chorus is emphasizing the trapped feeling the singer is feeling, which he compares to debt. He feels that he is ever in debt and trapped. The next verse, which is musically a mirror of the first verse, but the lyrics speak of the great helpless he feels. This form allows great emphasis on the chorus and it also climaxes at the end when the last chorus is repeated. However, not every grunge song contained this form. In Glycerine by Bush, the song has a much different form, but still allows the emotions of sorrow and regret be portrayed to the audience.

It’s all about the emotions being reached. They did not need to use this form to release and tell all of the audience their problems. It can be reached just as well with other songs

Section 2: Elements of Writing a Grunge Song

A satirical way of writing a grunge song.

So now that we have a solid understanding of what harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and form are and how they are used in grunge music, we are now ready to write a song that emphasizes the true elements of grunge music. Here we are going to go step by step and identify how to create one of these grunge songs. We will be looking back at both our background and analysis of grunge songs to help us determine the best way to make a number one seller like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. If one is not familiar with a lot of grunge music, I would suggest looking at my page Grunge in London . That page will give you more background and information about the grunge era and includes some of its iconic songs from artists both from America and London. The purpose of this is to create a light-hearted and funny guide that highlights the both the technical aspects of grunge music and its unique sound that was learned in the background. While also pointing out repetitive nature of the themes, its inaudible lyrics, and their creepy videos. This is all made in good fun and is not meant to diminish any of the personal problems that these singers faced. They had very serious problems that some were not able to overcome and many did use music as an outlet to express their emotions. But for our purposes, we are focusing more on the teen angst portion, which contains more insignificant problems like Wi-Fi buffering or not having the latest video game, which is trying to fit in with this current generation of teenagers in a world of technology. From this, we will produce steps to creating a chart-topping, show-stopping, musical genius of a grunge song that has the consideration of the elements of music we analyzed.

Drawing Inspiration

Grunge music was very much known for its aesthetic and its ability to connect with the youth of generation x or those born in the 1990’s. It covered many “distasteful” topics such as depression, suicide, and alienation, which many grunge artists experienced and fought a daily battle to overcome. Today, many still listen to grunge music and find it comforting to know that there were others out there going through the same struggles of feeling forgotten, rejected and lost. But for those who feel that grunge music does not fit in with their technology filled life, they may want to create a grunge song that covers a topic they feel creates negative feelings for them. So to get into the proper mindset to write this song, one must dig deep into the recesses of his or her feelings of teen angst to dig out some sort of darker emotions. May I suggest a YouTube video of a pug who can’t roll over, not having enough phone data, or trying to watch the finale of your favorite show but the Wi-Fi keeps buffering the video? Think of something that is basically insignificant to the rest of the world and only really matters to you. A bad selfie would qualify as a good one also but may need to be prefaced that it was posted to social media and your crush may see it. Horrifying I know! Once you have found the feelings you would like to express in your song, start thinking of how you would like to portray those emotions and what you would like the overall sound to be. These feelings will be the base of your song and all of your further decisions will be based on the mood created by these emotions. I have personally dug out from the recesses of my long-buried teen nerdy angst the feeling of anxiety and sorrow when my code wouldn’t compile.

Emotion and Harmony

Your next step is choosing how you would like to portray that to your listeners. I would do this by making it sound like the world will end if the code doesn’t work and that all will be lost. Don’t be afraid to be over dramatic. That’s what attracts people to the music is the drama and emotion. Right? Now that that has been cleared up, the actual song can now be written. One must start with the most crucial part first, the harmony. When done right, the harmony helps to create the emotion of the music. In grunge, musicians experimented with a variety of different techniques and ideas. They wanted to step out of the norm of alternative music. So, they experimented the chords of the music and found that when they distort the note a great deal it produces a much richer sound that reaches higher. Therefore, much of grunge music is written in 3 note chords which stem from a key signature. So, the first part of creating your harmony is deciding what key you would like your song, which you could do by picking you favorite note. I will be arbitrarily picking the key of F major. If you have a favorite key pick that one; it will make it more personal to you. Next, for choosing your chord progressions pick whatever sounds good together. Also, make sure to have at least one modulation of a note in there. It is a grunge classic and a must if you want your song to be grunge. This will create the dissonance you are looking for and will add to any emotion ranging from hatred to anxiety. Wow look at that, after playing with chords for a few hours, you will be able to get some chord progressions that you like. At this stage, you will also have to decide what instruments you would like to use. You honestly can’t go wrong with the grunge classic of guitar, bass guitar and drum set. If you are feeling fancy you could add another instrument to complement your theme and mood.

Final Steps

After your harmony is all figured out, which will probably take a while, you will need to figure out your rhythm. The rhythm as stated before is really based on the emotion of the song so you’re going to need to play around with the speeds until you feel it has reached the right mood to represent the emotions you are trying to portray. Many grunge pieces have a range from 90-120 (bpm), but feel free to choose one that best suits the song. Dynamics is another important part of the piece do to that fact it determines what sections are loud and what sections are softer. Many times gunge utilized dynamics to create a call and response type of sound in the song. It also had the power to create tension in a song so it may work for your song if that is what you are striving for. One may also put accents on different parts of the song where you want to highlight a lyrics. The last thing you’ll need is the form of the song or how it the song is constructed both lyrically and musically. It is all about the repetition of the song of the chorus and its verses. The classic rock and grunge form of the 1990s was the verse-chorus form that focused its attention to the chorus. This is a really nice form for if you are highlighting your chorus. Though all grunge songs did not use this form, they also achieved their aesthetic by used other forms. So feel free to look into other forms that may make your song more grunge. The last requirement to writing a grunge song is lyrics! All grunge songs contained lyrics that expressed their emotions, so make your lyrics emotional and full of angst. As a bonus, have your singer sing very muffled and with almost unintelligible manner. It seemed really popular with bands such as Nirvana and Radiohead. You can't really hear the lyrics but you still felt a deep emotional connection to them. Any of these steps can be done in any order, so maybe start with the harmony or lyrics and form. It's really up to you. Much of the genre was experimentation held together by angst and great chords. And there you have it! You have created the next “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Now go out and share your amazing song with the world, brace the world for its awesomeness!

Musical analysis of songs

Taking what has been learned about harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and form and its importance to grunge music now lets look at some songs created in the "grunge" music style. Keep in mind that you're just taking a small slice of examples and that this table isn't all-encompassing. Also note that some of the harmony listed is a general overview of the keys/tonalities explored. Find out more about grunge music and its history here .

In this project, I did an analysis of music theory from the point of view of grunge music. Music, in general, is so incredibly versatile with its ability to change one element to change the whole song and its intentions. All of the elements of music are important to delivering the music’s message. So I decided to look at grunge music though four of the elements of music to give an in-depth analysis on how these elements create the grunge sound. I also looked for ways the elements of music tied the whole genre together and gave it its particular sound. Grunge music was a unique genre that popped up as a sub-genera of alternative music, so I wanted to see what made it stand out from the rest. I determined that the genre itself was notable for its emotional connection to the music. The artists took advantage of rhythm, form, dynamics, and harmony to fit their feelings of depression, angst, and anger. Most notable they changed the way chords were heard by distorting the music’s sounds. It created a fuller sound and changed the chord progressions. They were very experimental and passionate about their music and led me to a “pattern” in their music, which was that it had to be full of emotion and it had to have distortion of chords that allowed them to modulate certain notes. I was then able to play off of this pattern to create a satirized guide to creating grunge music. In the future, I would like to see more research done on patterns in grunge music because this music created a generation and still inspires many today.

External Links

Grunge in London

• ↑ Stevenpb. (2016, August 8). Piano [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/piano-music-score-music-sheet-1655558/
• ↑ STRONG, C. (2016). GRUNGE: music and memory. S.l.: ROUTLEDGE.
• ↑ Samama, L., & Clements, D. (2016). What is music? In The Meaning of Music (pp. 27-31). Amsterdam University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/j.ctt1b9x1ts.5
• ↑ The Elements Of Music. 1st ed. West Michigan University. Web. 30 May 2017.
• ↑ McDonald, C. (2000). Exploring modal subversions in alternative music. Popular Music, 19(3), 355-363. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.wpi.edu/stable/853641
• ↑ Osborn, B. (2013). Subverting the Verse–Chorus paradigm; terminally climactic forms in recent rock music. Music Theory Spectrum, 35(1), 23-47. doi:10.1525/mts.2013.35.1.23
• ↑ Rizzardo,S. (2015, May 23). Metronome [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/music-metronome-ticking-time-780588/
• ↑ Gow, G. (1915). Rhythm: The Life of Music. The Musical Quarterly, 1(4), 637-652. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/738071
• ↑ FirmBee. (2015, May 8). Guitar [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/guitar-classical-guitar-756326/
• ↑ The Elements Of Music. 1st ed. West Michigan University. Web. 30 May 2017
• ↑ Osborn, B. (2013). Subverting the Verse–Chorus Paradigm: Terminally Climactic Forms in Recent Rock Music. Music Theory Spectrum, 35(1), 23-47. doi:10.1525/mts.2013.35.1.23
• ↑ https://play.google.com/music/preview/Ttdyvwmcelupwuxwf6fsabw2qwq?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
• ↑ Unsplash. (2015, July 12). Hipster [Photograph]. Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/hipster-goth-grunge-rocker-839803/
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Grunge: A Dull Date, the Sound of Seattle, a ‘Time Capsule’

The New York Times has a long and complicated history with the word grunge. Let’s get down and dingy in it.

By Sarah Diamond

In Word Through The Times, we trace how one word or phrase has changed throughout the history of the newspaper.

The New York Times and “grunge” go way back.

“Grunge,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary , was originally “a general term of disparagement for someone or something that is repugnant or odious, unpleasant, or dull.” Per the dictionary, the word was first printed in 1965 — via The Times. In an article, a reporter offered definitions of slang words: “A difficult date is an ‘octopus,’” the reporter wrote, and “a dull one a ‘grunge .’”

“‘ Grunge’ is a back-formation of ‘grungy,’” Jess Zafarris, an etymologist, said. A back-formation is a word that formed when speakers stopped using a suffix or prefix that had been attached to a longer word. Kory Stamper, a lexicographer at Dictionary.com, said the origin of “grungy” was unknown but that it most likely came into being in the mid-20th century from words like dingy, goo and gunge, British slang for a sticky unknown substance.

Soon, the slang word stuck to subversive music. According to Green’s Dictionary of Slang , “grunge” was used in a 1973 New Yorker article to describe the New York Dolls, a rock band. But by the late 1980s, “grunge” defined the sound of a city on the other side of the United States: Seattle . Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Mudhoney popularized grunge music, a mash of heavy metal and punk rock. And as the grunge sound reverberated across the country, the aligning subculture grew louder, too.

In November 1992, The Times, eager to cover a hip moment, published a “lexicon of grunge speak.” Megan Jasper, a 25-year-old sales representative at Caroline Records in Seattle, had offered some slang phrases for the article: “Wack slacks,” for example, were old, ripped jeans. “Swingin’ on the flippity-flop” meant hanging out. And “tom-tom club” was code for uncool outsiders. Which, apparently, were some people at The Times: After the article came out, it was revealed in The Baffler that Ms. Jasper had fabricated the words to poke fun at the mainstream media’s coverage of culture. The story behind the prank was explored in a 2017 article by The Ringer.

The embarrassment didn’t stop The Times’s interest in grunge. Appearances of the word in the newspaper peaked in 1993.

That may be because in the early 1990s, grunge itself peaked in popularity. So did grunge fashion, modeled by people like Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana. Loose fits, flannel shirts, ripped jeans, Converse sneakers and Dr. Martens defined the disheveled style. Soon, grunge marched down the runways: In 1993, Marc Jacobs was a “grunge enthusiast,” The Times wrote. “Gianni Versace did grunge,” The Times reported from Milan fashion week, in a “luxury” take “on the scruffy look of downtown Seattle music groups.”

By the late 1990s, grunge had lost its cool. But as is often the case, “grunge” eventually came back into style: In February this year, the reporter Callie Holtermann wrote that fans of Olivia Rodrigo were embracing “grunge fashion from the ’90s” at concerts.

“Grunge,” Ms. Stamper said, has “become a time capsule.”

That’s certainly true for Steven Kurutz, a Styles reporter. In 2019, he wrote an article about how “grunge made blue-collar culture cool.” In the ’90s, Mr. Kurutz went to high school in Pennsylvania, 2,600 miles from Seattle, but felt he could see his community in the grunge subculture. “I could not relate, coming from a working-class, rural background, to so much of pop culture,” he said in an interview. “I think that’s why the music meant even more for me as a teenager, because I was seeing guys on MTV who looked like the people I grew up around. And they were cool!”

For Mr. Kurutz, “grunge” is nostalgic. “I just think about Seattle in 1992.”

Sarah Diamond manages production for narrated articles. She previously worked at National Geographic Studios. More about Sarah Diamond

The effects of different types of music on mood, tension, and mental clarity

Affiliation.

• 1 Institute of HeartMath, Boulder Creek, Calif., USA.
• PMID: 9439023

This study investigated the impact of different types of music on tension, mood, and mental clarity. A total of 144 subjects completed a psychological profile before and after listening for 15 minutes to four types of music (grunge rock, classical, New Age, and designer). With grunge rock music, significant increases were found in hostility, sadness, tension, and fatigue, and significant reductions were observed in caring, relaxation, mental clarity, and vigor. In contrast, after listening to the designer music (music designed to have specific effects on the listener), significant increases in caring, relaxation, mental clarity, and vigor were measured; significant decreases were found in hostility, fatigue, sadness, and tension. The results for New Age and classical music were mixed. Feeling shifts among subjects were observed with all types of music. Designer music was most effective in increasing positive feelings and decreasing negative feelings. Results suggest that designer music may be useful in the treatment of tension, mental distraction, and negative moods.

Publication types

• Clinical Trial
• Mental Health*
• Middle Aged
• Stress, Psychological*

Why 90s Music Was the Best: A Trip Through the Decades

T he 1990s were a transformative era in music, marked by an eclectic mix of genres and the emergence of new technology. This decade witnessed the rise of grunge, the golden age of hip-hop, the resurgence of boy bands, and the advent of digital music. The unique blend of innovation and nostalgia makes the 90s a beloved period for music enthusiasts. Let’s delve into why this decade’s music holds a special place in the hearts of many.

The Rise of Alternative and Grunge

The early 90s saw the emergence of grunge and alternative rock, genres that spoke to the disillusionment of the youth. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden brought raw emotion and authenticity to their music, breaking away from the polished sound of the 80s.

Their lyrics were introspective, often exploring themes of existential angst and social alienation. The grunge movement wasn’t just a musical trend; it was a cultural phenomenon that influenced fashion, attitudes, and lifestyle, making it a defining aspect of the 90s.

Hip-Hop’s Golden Age

The 90s were undeniably a golden age for hip-hop. This era saw the emergence of some of the most influential artists in the genre, including Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and Jay-Z. Their storytelling was powerful, weaving narratives about urban life and social issues that resonated with many.

The decade also witnessed the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, which, while tragic, underscored the significant impact of hip-hop culture. The diversity and innovation in 90s hip-hop set the stage for its global dominance in the following decades.

Boy Bands and Pop Sensations

This decade also saw the resurgence of boy bands and the rise of pop icons. Groups like the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC dominated the charts with their catchy tunes and synchronized dance moves. Meanwhile, pop artists like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera became household names. Their music, often light and upbeat, provided a contrast to the more intense genres of the time.

The appeal of these artists wasn’t limited to their music; their image and marketing were integral to their success, shaping the way music was consumed and celebrated.

Technological Innovations in Music

The 1990s were pivotal in the evolution of how we experience music, thanks to technological advancements. The popularity of CDs overtook cassettes, offering better sound quality and durability. The decade also saw the birth of MP3s and the beginning of digital music.

This shift not only changed how music was produced and distributed but also how it was consumed, laying the groundwork for the streaming revolution of the 21st century. These technological changes made music more accessible, allowing for greater diversity and the rise of independent artists.

In conclusion, the 1990s were more than just a decade in music; they were a period of significant cultural and technological shifts. From the gritty realism of grunge and hip-hop to the polished performances of pop icons, the 90s offered something for everyone. The era’s influence is still felt today, not just in the music we listen to, but in the way we experience and engage with it.

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“Wild Years”: Rock Music, Problem Behaviors and Mental Well-being in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Tom t. bogt.

1 Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands

William W. Hale, III

2 Research Center Adolescent Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Andrik Becht

Associated data.

Adolescent preferences for non-mainstream types of rock music can be markers of adolescent problem behaviors, but no study has ever investigated whether this relationship continues into adulthood. In a six-wave study, 900 Dutch adolescents were followed from ages 12 to 21 ( Mage T1 12.4, 51.1% girls), while reporting on depressive symptoms, mental well-being, aggression and drug use. A latent class growth analysis on their preferences for specific types of rock music revealed four fan groups. When these fan groups were compared to one another, in adolescence, the all-out rock fans displayed the highest peak in depressive symptoms and the lowest dip in well-being and the rock/metal fans reported the most aggression. And for both these groups, drug use increased at the onset of adulthood. Pop fans displayed a profile characterized by low depressive symptoms and aggression, and high in mental well-being. Finally, the popular rock fans held an in-between position between pop fans, on one side, and the all-out rock fans and rock/metal fans, on the other side. Thus, music preferences can be markers of problems, not only in adolescence but also in young adulthood. Still, music can enhance mood, helps to cope with problems, and peers in fan groups can provide support. This research focuses on the relationship between music and problem behaviors, specifically among members of the all-out rock fans and rock/metal fans, but many of these young people might have had more personal problems if they had not had their music and their fan-group peers.

Introduction

Music is the soundtrack of adolescents’ journey into adulthood. In identifying with a specific body of songs, as well as with the creators of these songs and other fans, adolescents define and finetune their ideas about who they are, who they want to be, and with whom they want to socialize (North & Hargreaves, 1999 ). In adolescence music preferences “show who you are” and have been referred to as a “badge” (Frith, 1981 ; Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006 ). As lyrics and, more in general, personae and images of artists address a wealth of situations, cognitions and feelings, music is also a medium that can help in defining and tackling difficulties (Schäfer et al., 2013 ; Ter Bogt et al., 2016 ). But music preferences have also been connected to problem behaviors. Theories such as the Music Marker Theory (Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ) and the Peer Group Mediation Model (Slater & Henry, 2013 ) posit that young people facing problems may seek non-mainstream music as a way to cope with problems, but that within non-mainstream music scenes their problems may exacerbate, as they adopt the sometimes maladaptive attitudes and behaviors that are normative in these groups. Fans of different types of non-mainstream rock music have indeed been shown to be prone to school dropout, drug abuse, self-harm, and depression (for a review see: Lozon & Besimon, 2014 ). However, most of the studies in this field only cover the development of a specific (rock) music style or scene, and, mostly, rely on cross-sectional data. Of the few longitudinal studies on rock music and problem behaviors, none have followed fans into adulthood, to examine whether their problems are specific for adolescence or last into adulthood. Therefore, this study aims at identifying several distinct types of mainstream and non-mainstream rock fans, and follow them across adolescence, to explore heterogeneity in development of problem behaviors and mental well-being. It further aims to test whether adolescent problem behaviors dissipate when these fans find a more definite identity and place in life, or whether fans’ problems carry into their adulthood.

Rock Music and Its Audience: A Brief History

Music labeled as “rock” encompasses a range of different styles. The history of rock music covers more than sixty years and is beyond the scope of this article. However, a few basics should be discussed in order to identify the various subtypes of rock music and their fans which are the focus of this research.

It is difficult to distill definite musical essentials for rock, but during the sixties and seventies of the last century it became synonymous with electronically amplified music, with a strong drum beat, and often, but not always, loud guitars and vocals. “Rock” cannot be fully distinguished from “pop” in musical terms, but these notions generally distinguish more “serious”, album-based rock music for (young) adults versus single-based “top of the pops” music for teenagers (Frith, 1981 ; 2020 ; Gillet, 1996 ). Another relevant distinction that partly overlaps the pop-rock division is mainstream versus non-mainstream. Mainstream music is often upbeat, melodic music in radio-friendly formats, directed at a large audience of listeners (Dowd, 2013 ). Pop music is by definition mainstream music. Melodic rock songs can be mainstream, but the brash, louder rock variants are often qualified as non-mainstream. Renfrow et al. ( 2011 ; 2012 ) indicated that “intense” (rock) music is experienced by listeners as animated and strong, as dense, distorted, and loud. By the mid and late sixties, bands such as The Who, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience were called “rock” bands. In the last three decades of the past century, rock, both in mainstream and non-mainstream varieties, became a dominant popular music genre in the single and album charts, in addition to pop and soul music (Gillet, 1996 ).

In the seventies and eighties an important subgenre appeared: heavy metal. Heavy metal artists criticized the softer, popular types of rock and veered back to what they believed was the core of the genre: extremely loud vocals, guitars and drums (Christe, 2003 ; Garofalo & Waksman, 2017 ). In the nineties and the first decade of the new century, two new popular subgenres developed in the spectrum of rock music: goth and emo rock. In the U.S., goth gained popularity (and notoriety) through the music of Marilyn Manson. With highly provocative lyrics, video clips and looks, “Anti-Christ Superstar” Marilyn Manson became one of the most successful bands of the late nineties and early new century (Wright, 2000 ). Emo is another non-mainstream rock genre and subculture originating from seventies punk and new wave, thematizing feelings of out-of-placeness and teenage angst (Greenwald, 2003 ). Not all bands in the off-mainstream rock scene were as bleak, nihilistic, violent and loud as Marilyn Manson or, for example, Cannibal Corpse (sic). The goth, emo and metal scenes produced more melodic, “symphonic” bands such as Within Temptation and Nightwish, that incorporated elements of classical music in their musical vocabulary and consolidated a more female audience.

Rock has evolved into a myriad of styles and substyles. The more melodic and mainstream forms reach a broad audience across socio-economic and gender groups. The non-mainstream subgenres are adored by a smaller, but still substantial, group of fans. While the vast majority of rock artists are male, newer styles such as goth or symphonic rock, involve more female musicians and singers. In terms of other demographic characteristics, the ethnic/racial composition of the group of rock musicians and their audiences is overwhelmingly white, at least in the U.S. and Europe.

The Relationship between Music Preference and Adolescent Problem Behaviors

Music can address problems and help young people cope with difficulties. The existence of a relationship between music preferences and adolescent problems may, therefore, not come as a surprise. Particularly non-mainstream types of music –heavy metal, goth, emo, ganstarap– have been framed to directly cause problems, but the relationship between music listening and problems is far more intricate (Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ). Adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems –now to be referred to as simply problem behaviors– such as those who are bullied and feel out of place, may seek music and youth subcultures that address and reflect these experiences. Still, the immersion in these youth subcultures may also instigate or worsen problems. The relation between music and youth subcultures, on the one hand, and problem behaviors, on the other hand, might be the result of processes of both selection and influence (Young et al., 2006 ). Several authors have tried to describe and theorize on these processes in more detail.

In his Theory of Media Delinquency , Roe ( 1992 ; 1995 ) argues that the trajectory of individuals and groups within the social status hierarchy results in a specific segmentation of music audiences. Students that do well in school and anticipate high status refrain from socially disvalued media such as violent videos and extreme types of rock music; they demonstrate a preference for culturally acceptable music genres such as classical music, blues, jazz or pop. Conversely, students dissatisfied with school and anticipating occupational problems or failure tend to identify with a non-mainstream genre such as heavy metal music.

In their Peer Group Mediation Model , Slater and Henry ( 2013 ) propose that music and music videos are directly relevant for adolescent drug use, as adolescents may imitate this behavior. But, in addition to social-cognitive processes, another mechanism is important. Music and music videos provide early adolescents with social identities that precede and encourage involvement with peer groups that embrace such identities. Once involved with such peer groups, adolescents will not only adopt or finetune their attitudes and behaviors in the direction of peer norms, but they will also deepen their involvement with media types that drove them in the direction of their peer crowd. Hence, media and peers are part of a “reinforcing spiral” (Slater, 2007 ).

Ter Bogt et al. ( 2013 ) proposed a highly similar model in order to explain the relationship between music preferences and adolescent problems. Music Marker Theory assumes that the modelling of attitudes and behaviors in music media may lead to the adoption of these attitudes and behaviors among their fans. But the authors also introduce a socialization mechanism. Early adolescents, on average, already know which music they prefer. Through music, they are drawn to specific crowds, varying in problem behaviors. Peers explicitly or implicitly demand compliance to social group norms, thus stimulating the acquisition or reinforcement of norms, attitudes and behaviors consistent with those of the group. In groups characterized by more frequent internalizing or externalizing behaviors, and acceptance of these behaviors as normal, adolescent problem behavior is expected to occur more frequently and escalate more quickly (Franken et al., 2017 ). Music preferences function as an early marker of concurrent and later problems, working through peer group socialization.

Thus, the literature provides evidence for three social-cognitive, selection and socialization processes relevant for the relationship between adolescent music preferences and problem behaviors. First, adolescents may model their behaviors and attitudes on their selected music media. Secondly, an adolescent’s social position and pre-existing psychosocial problems can affect his/her choice of music. And finally, music preferences push adolescents in the direction of music scenes that are either more or less characterized by problems. Problem behaviors can be exacerbated in groups in which problem behaviors such as juvenile delinquency, drug use and misuse, depressive feelings, is the social norm, or at least tolerated.

Empirical Studies on Rock Music, Problem Behaviors, and Mental Well-being

Research shows that fans of popular forms of rock music do not stand out as being problematic, though it must be noted that Dutch studies found more aggression and delinquency among those preferring rock compared to their peers that preferred pop (Mulder et al., 2007 ; Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ). However, this relations was qualified as weak, and compared to pop fans, rock fan did not show elevated the levels of internalizing problem behaviors and drug use.

A more problematic profile may be present among fans of heavier rock music. Deena Weinstein’s Heavy Metal: A Cultural Sociology (1991) and Jeffrey Arnett’s Metalheads: Heavy Metal Music and Adolescent Alienation (1996) are two defining studies of metal fans. Obviously, many metal fans are attracted to this music for its esthetic qualities, but a part of the audience is also attracted to metal as it reflects their position in life. As Arnett’s title suggests, many metal fans are alienated from institutions such as family, school, church, workplace, and from society at large. They are disproportionally the product of broken homes and at odds with their parents, teachers, bosses and other authorities. Heavy metal music lyrics thematize the fact that life can be miserable and the world a dark and hostile place. In contrast, the heavy metal scene feels as a safe haven, a social sphere to retreat to with likeminded peers. Weinstein discusses the marginal position of many metal fans in similar terms but adds an important positive qualification. Metal fans identify as “proud pariahs”, alienated indeed, but happy with and proud of the company of kindred spirits in a crowd that feels warm and inviting. Both authors depict metal concerts as a gathering of the tribe where social isolation, failure, anger, and worries are forgotten and transcended, and fans feel togetherness in a unique, uplifting socio-musical ritual.

Although, heavy metal and other non-mainstream music may represent a valuable resource for young people (Baker & Brown, 2016 ; Sharman & Dingle, 2015 ), these fan groups consistently show more behavioral problems than, for example, their pop music-oriented peers. Preferences for metal music are related to reckless behavior, aggression, drunk driving, drug abuse, delinquency, school dropout, depression and suicide ideation (Arnett, 1991 ; Hughes et al., 2018 ; Lacourse et al., 2001 ; Martin et al., 1993 ; Roe, 1992 ; Scheel & Westeveld, 1999 ; Selfhout et al., 2008 ; Tanner et al., 2008 ; Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ).

Scottish fans of goth rock are more inclined to self-harm and attempted suicide than those not identifying with this subculture (Young et al., 2006 ). A UK study found that liking goth at age 15 materialized as a powerful predictor for depression and self-harm at age 18. (Bowes et al., 2015 ). A Dutch study found that, for both girls and boys, goth music preferences emerged as an early marker of dormant or developing depressive symptoms (Ter Bogt et al., 2021 ). All these studies included strong sets of confounders that did not render goth’s effects insignificant. In a small scale, qualitative study, a relationship was reported between belonging to the emo rock subculture and high tolerance towards self-harm, suicide ideation and suicidal behaviors (Trnka et al., 2018 ). These results prompted all these researchers to conclude that members of the goth and emo rock scene are vulnerable young people.

The literature shows that many rock fans simply like the music because of its esthetic qualities, but a preference for heavy metal and other forms of non-mainstream rock may indicate a range of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Male, white, working-class adolescents in distress made metal their music of choice in the eighties and nineties, as the music reflected their social position and problems, and the metal community offered a welcoming and soothing social environment. In recent times, the same holds true for a, in terms of gender and socio-economic status, more diverse group of fans of goth, emo and other non-mainstream rock.

However, there are some important limitations in the previous studies of the development of adolescent problem behaviors in rock music fans. Most studies have concentrated on only one type of music or a specific subgroup of rock fans, and the majority is cross-sectional. In the longitudinal studies on this topic, the focus lies often on only one subgroup of rock music fans. And in the few longitudinal studies that include several types of rock music fans, the statistical analysis is variable centered instead of person centered , implying that music is modeled as factors in multivariate analyses, and not as groups of fans for these analyses. However, the aforementioned theoretic models on the relationship between rock music and adolescent problem behaviors suggest that fan groups are a key element in the mechanism through which music preferences translate into problem behaviors. Therefore, a wide range of rock fan groups should be examined when exploring the relation between rock music types and problem behaviors. Furthermore, though it has now firmly been established that associations between preferring non-mainstream types of music and adolescent problem behaviors exist, it has never been investigated whether these problems remain over time; whether they are “adolescent limited” or “adolescent onset” (Moffitt et al., 2002 ; Odgers et al., 2008 ). It should be explored whether being part of an alienated youth culture or non-mainstream music scene may mark not only concurrent problems in adolescence but also future problems in early adulthood.

Current Study

The literature lacks a person centered, longitudinal study following different rock fans across adolescence into adulthood, assessing their music preferences in relation to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors, and well-being. Therefore, this study aims, first, at identifying the existence and development of various types of rock fan groups, including mainstream rock types, and non-mainstream types such as goth and heavy metal, or maybe even other fan groups with mixed prefrences. Second, this study aims to explore heterogeneity in fans’ problem behaviors (specifically, depressive symptoms, aggression, and drug use) and mental well-being across adolescence. Third, this study will examine if fans’ problem behaviors are best described as either adolescent limited problem behavior or remain present in adulthood. Based on the review of the literature it was hypothesized that at least three different fan groups within the rock spectrum can be discerned: fans liking popular rock, but not non-mainstream genres; fans preferring non-mainstream rock only; fans liking all types of rock music (Hypothesis 1). It was further assumed that fans liking popular rock will display less depressive symptoms, aggression and drug use, and more mental well-being, compared to fans more inclined towards non-mainstream rock (Hypothesis 2). Whether the problems and lower level of mental well-being of the last group disappear in young adulthood is open to question, but it is safe to assume that alienated adolescents in non-mainstream scenes may find it more difficult to integrate in adult life, and, thus, may remain more often problem ridden than mainstream music-oriented adolescents making a fluent transition into adulthood and adult responsibilities (Hypothesis 3). It should be stressed that, in line with the aforementioned theories, music is not identified and modelled as a causal agent; music preferences are conceptualized as markers of concurrent and future problem behaviors.

Participants

Participants were 900 adolescents ( Mage T1: 12.4 years, range 10–13 years, 51.1% girls) who participated in the early adolescent cohort of the CONflict And Management Of RElationships study (CONAMORE) (Meeus et al., 2004 ). CONAMORE is a prospective, longitudinal study that examines the relationships of Dutch adolescents with parents and peers as well as their emotional states. In the current study, data were used from six waves with a 1-year interval between waves 1 to 5, and a 5-year interval between wave 5 and 6.

Participants came from various high schools in the Dutch province of Utrecht. Parents and students received a letter in which the aims of the study were described, and information was given about the option of not participating. Participating students were required to provide written informed consent. Less than 1% decided not to participate. Participants completed a series of questionnaires in their classroom after school hours. Research assistants, who attended the administration, provided verbal instructions about filling out the questionnaires in addition to the written instructions printed above each questionnaire. Students were explicitly guaranteed confidentiality of their answers to the questionnaires. For students who were absent on the day of testing, a second assessment time was organized. Students who were absent on both days of testing were not assessed. At each of the 5 yearly waves, respondents received 10 euros. Five years later, when these students were young adults, they were again approached (mean age at T6: 21.3 years). The CONAMORE study was approved by the Ethical Review board of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Utrecht University.

Sample attrition across six waves was relatively low, with 78% of the adolescents who participated in the first wave still participating in the sixth wave. Thus, 22% of the participants dropped out over the course of the study. Next, we conducted additional analyses to test whether the drop-out group differed on any of the study variables compared to the participants. Results from a MANOVA revealed that adolescents who dropped out were slightly older 12.58 years vs. 12.32 years at W1, F (1, 133) = 5.84, p  = 0.017, partial η 2  = 0.04, and had slightly higher levels of depressive symptoms (1.25 vs 1.11, F (1, 133) = 10.41, p  = 0.002, partial η 2  = 0.07) compared to adolescents who participated both at wave 1 and wave 6. Participants did not differ on music preferences, aggression, drug use or mental well-being scores at wave 1 (all p s > 0.053). Boys were more likely to drop out over the course of the study compared to girls, χ 2 (1) = 21.60, p  < 001, φ  = 0.16. In all our subsequent analyses we included all participants with and without missing data. Missing data were handled in Mplus 8.4 using full information maximum likelihood (FIML).

Demographic variables

At wave 1, respondents reported on their gender, age, and current level of education (High school vs. vocational training).

Music preferences

Adolescents’ music preferences were assessed by means of the Music Preference Questionnaire (MPQ) (Sikkema, 1999 ). The MPQ consists of a list of 13 established categories of music, including rock, heavy metal and goth music. Subjects were asked to indicate on five-point Likert scales “the extent to which they liked” each of the genres listed (from 1 =  do not like at all to 5 =  like very much ). Option 6 indicated do not know this type of music . These scores were treated as missing values that were estimated in the analyses.

Depressive symptoms

The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) is a widely used self-report questionnaire of depressive symptomology in children and adolescents aged 8–18 years (Timbremont & Braet, 2002 ). The questionnaire is composed of 27 items that review various depressive symptoms categories such as mood, vegetative, cognitive, and psychomotor disturbances. The questionnaire is scored on a three-point scale (1 =  not true , 2 =  a bit true and 3 =  very true ). The total scores on the questionnaire can range from 27 to 81, with higher scores being reflective of greater depression. The CDI has strong internal consistency and validity in nonclinical populations (Saylor et al., 1984 ). Cronbach’s alpha for depressive symptoms ranged between 0.90 and 0.93 across waves 1‒6.

Mental well-being

Mental well-being was measured by means of the Cantril ladder (Cantril, 1965 ). This measures the feeling of general well-being and happiness. Respondents were asked to indicate on a ten-point scale how they generally feel (from 1 =  very bad to 10 =  very well ).

Aggression was measured by a self-report questionnaire, originally developed by Björkqvist et al. ( 1992 ). In the present study, only the subscale for aggression was used. This subscale consists of 17 items. Examples of these items are: When I’m mad at a classmate, I ‘call the other names’, ‘hit or kick’ and ‘curse’. The items were scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 =  never , 2 =  sometimes , 3 =  often to 4 =  very often . In this study Cronbach’s alpha for aggression ranged between 0.85 and 0.93 across waves 1‒6.

Two items in the Adolescent Criminal Behavior questionnaire (Baerveldt et al., 2003 ) measured adolescents’ cannabis use and use of other drugs than cannabis in the last 12 months. The items were also scored on the 4-point scale, ranging from 1 =  never to 4 =  four times or more .

Statistical Analyses

First, it was examined whether different rock fan subgroups existed, based on their developmental shape in rock, heavy metal, and goth music preferences. To this end, a multivariate latent class growth analyses (LCGA; Jung & Wickrama, 2008 ) was conducted on the study’s data from all of the six measurement waves in Mplus 8.4 (Muthén & Muthén, 2017 ). To determine the number of latent classes that had the best fit to the data, the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC; Schwarz, 1978 ) and the Lo-Mendell-Rubin adjusted Likelihood Ratio Test (aLRT; Lo et al., 2001 ) were used. A lower BIC value indicates a better fitting model. A significant aLRT indicates that a model with k classes fits better than a model with one class less (i.e., k - 1 classes). In addition, entropy, a measure of qualification certainty, should be acceptable (i.e., 0.75 or higher; Reinecke, 2006 ), and every class needs to cover at least 5% of the sample for meaningful interpretation and subsequent analyses (Muthén & Muthén, 2000 ). Subsequently, potential gender differences in the class distribution were explored.

Secondly, the development of problem behaviors (i.e., depressive symptoms, aggression, and drug use) and mental well-being were modelled across adolescence. To this end, four univariate latent growth curve models (LGMs) were conducted for each measure. From these LGMs, the intercept and slope factor scores for each individual were saved. Next, intercept and slope difference between the rock fan subgroups were tested. To account for classification error and keep the class distribution similar to the earlier LCGA class solution, a three step BCH approach was used (Asparouhov & Muthén, 2014 ).

Finally, it was examined whether differences in depressive symptoms, aggression, drug use and mental well-being persisted from adolescence into young adulthood. To this end, a three step BCH approach was used to examine mean level differences in problem behaviors and well-being at T6 between rock fan subgroups.

Some of the scores on the study variables were non-normally distributed. Rock music had a relatively normal distribution, but scores on the heavy metal, goth, depressive symptoms, drug use and aggression variables were all positively skewed. Scores of mental well-being were negatively skewed. Histograms with the distribution of scores for all study variables across all waves are presented in online supplementary material S1. To account for the non-normal distributions of data, all models were estimated with the robust MLR procedure (Muthén & Muthén, 2017 ).

Identification of Rock Fan Groups and Trajectories

The first aim and hypothesis regarded the identification of rock fan groups. Prior univariate growth models revealed non-linear developmental trajectories of rock, heavy metal and goth music preferences (Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ). Therefore, we specified a multivariate quadratic LCGA for identifying different fan groups. Results revealed that a 4-class solution best fitted the data (BIC = 40078.11, aLRT p  < 0.001, entropy 0.90). The BIC of this 4-class solution was lower than in the 1 through 3-class solutions, and a significant aLRT indicated that the 4-class solution provided a better fit with the data compared to a 3-class solution. While the BIC of the 5-class solution (BIC = 39792.04) was lower than the BIC of the 4-class solution (BIC = 40078.11), the aLRT of the 5-class solution was not significant ( p  = 0.062) and entropy (0.88) lower than for the 4-class solution (entropy 0.90). Therefore the 4-class solution was kept as the final model. Fit indices of all tested 1 through 5 class solutions are presented in online supplementary material Table S1. The estimated trajectories of the final 4-class solution are depicted in Fig. ​ Fig.1, 1 , and the exact parameter estimates of the intercept and slope factors of the 4 different classes can be found in Table ​ Table1 1 .

Final 4-class solution latent class growth curve analyses with estimated trajectories for rock, heavy metal, and goth music preferences across adolescence into young adulthood. Note. Range of music preferences scores depicted on the vertical axis: 1 (do not like at all) to 5 (like very much)

Parameter estimates of intercept and slope factors of rock subgenres across rock fans subgroups

Means with the same subscript do not differ significantly from one another. Note that the subscripts apply to each growth function in each rock subgenre (e.g., differences between mean intercepts of rock across the four classes)

* p  < 0.05, * * p  < 0.01, *** p  < 0.001

Individuals in the first trajectory class (45%) scored lowest on all three rock subgenres, especially on metal and goth. Additional analysis of the preferences of this group showed that they particularly liked the most popular type of pop music, that is, music represented in the pop charts. In order to not address this group with a negative identity –“rock haters”‒ they were characterized by a positive music identification. Therefore, this group of adolescents was labeled pop fans . The second trajectory class (33%) included individuals with a relatively high preference for rock but dislike of heavy metal and goth. Hence, this class was labeled popular rock fans . The third class (15%) included individuals that liked rock and heavy metal, but disliked goth music. Therefore, this class was labeled the rock/metal fans class. Finally, the fourth class (7%) included individuals that liked all rock subgenres and were labeled the all-out rock fans . This 4-class solution can also be interpreted as dividing mainstream fans in the pop and popular rock groups from non-mainstream fans in the rock/metal and all-out rock groups.

Gender Differences in Rock Fan Groups

Chi-square analysis revealed significant sex difference in the distribution of boys and girls across rock fans subgroups, χ 2 (3) = 19.86, p  < .001, φ  = 0.149. Girls were more likely to be present in the all-out rock trajectory ( n  = 39 girls vs. n  = 22 boys), and in the pop fans trajectory ( n  = 220 girls vs. n  = 193 boys). Boys were more likely to follow the rock/metal fans trajectory ( n  = 45 girls vs. n  = 87 boys). The number of boys and girls in the popular rock fans group was equal ( n  = 147 boys, n  = 147 girls).

Developmental Trajectories of Problem Behaviors in Rock Fan Groups

Regarding the second aim, it was tested whether rock fans subgroups differed in their development of problem behaviors and well-being across adolescence into young adulthood. To this end, four univariate latent growth model (LGM) analyses were conducted ‒depressive symptoms, aggression, drug use and mental well-being‒ to establish average growth trajectories. For all measures, a quadratic growth model provided the best fit with the data, as indicated by CFI values ranging between 0.93 and 1.00, and RMSEA values between 0.02 and 0.06. Figure S1 shows the univariate growth trajectories for each behavior outcome.

Next, intercept and slope differences were examined across different rock fans subgroups. Table ​ Table2 2 shows the parameter estimates and differences between rock fan subgroups in intercept and slopes for depressive symptoms, mental well-being, aggression, and drug use. Figure ​ Figure2 2 depicts the developmental trajectories of problem behaviors across rock fans subgroups.

Mean differences between rock fans subgroups in intercept and slopes of problem behaviors and well-being trajectories

Means with the same subscript do not differ significantly from one another

1 The quadratic latent growth model for mental well-being only converged when fixing the variance of the quadratic slope factor to zero. Hence, participants did not differ from each other in their quadratic slope value

* p  < 0.05

Differences in development of depressive symptoms (panel A ), Aggression (panel B ), Drug Use (panel C ), and Mental Well-being (panel D ) across rock fans subgroups. Note. Range of scores depicted on the vertical axis: Depressive symptoms 1–3, Aggression 1–4, Drug Use 1–4, and Mental Well-being 1–10

Pop fans and popular rock fans showed a significantly lower depressive symptoms intercept compared to all-out rock fans. No other intercept differences were found. Over time, all-out rock fans showed a peak in depressive symptoms around age 17 years, that resulted from a stronger linear increase and subsequent quadratic decrease in depressive symptoms, compared to pop fans and rock/metal fans. Although less pronounced than the all-out rock fans, the popular rock fans showed a stronger increase and subsequent decrease in depressive symptoms as well, compared to pop fans and rock/metal fans.

All-out rock fans reported the lowest intercept of mental well-being compared to all other classes. Popular rock fans showed a lower intercept of well-being compared to pop fans. Moreover, both pop fans and all-out rock fans showed the steepest decrease in mental well-being compared to popular rock fans and rock/metal fans. The slopes of pop fans and all-out rock fans did not differ significantly from each other. However, because all-out rock fans started with a lower baseline/intercept of mental well-being the dip in mental well-being was most pronounced for the all-out rock fans compared to the other classes.

Rock/metal fans reported a higher intercept of aggression compared to all other classes. Only one significant difference in development of aggression between rock fans subgroups was found; all-out rock fans showed a slightly steeper quadratic decline of aggression into young adulthood compared to popular rock fans.

No intercept differences in drug use were found between rock fans subgroups. However, pop fans showed a significantly stronger linear increase in drug use compared to all other classes, that did not differ from each other. Rock/metal fans and all-out rock fans had a stronger positive quadratic slope compared to pop fans. As a result, both rock/metal fans and all-out rock fans showed a diverging developmental pattern with stronger increases in drug use into young adulthood, compared to pop fans and popular rock fans.

Problem Behaviors in Young Adulthood

For the third aim, it was examined whether problem behaviors and a lack of mental well-being persisted from adolescence into young adulthood by comparing mean levels of these measures in young adulthood (at T6) across the four different types of rock fans and non-fans. Results revealed no significant differences at T6 for depressive symptoms and mental well-being. However, drug use and level of aggression differed between classes in young adulthood. Concerning drug use, at T6 all-out rock fans reported significantly higher drug use levels compared to pop fans ( p  = 0.032). Rock/metal fans reported significantly higher drug use levels compared to popular rock fans ( p  = 0.002) and pop fans ( p  < 0.001). Rock/metal fans also reported more aggression at T6 compared to pop fans ( p  = 0.039). Finally, popular rock fans reported more aggression compared to pop fans ( p  = 0.001).

Gender Differences

Additional sensitivity analyses in MANOVAs with rock fans subgroups as independent variables, gender added as a covariate, and with intercepts, slopes and mean scores at T6 of problem behaviors and mental well-being as dependent variables, revealed virtually similar results.

Music is a highly relevant medium for adolescents and young adults. Music enhances mood, helps to develop an identity, but has also been related to adolescent problems. The literature on music and problem behaviors lacks longitudinal studies tracing a range of specific music fan groups across adolescence. This study focusses on the rock spectrum of music and uncovers different types of rock fans and non-fans, follows them from early adolescence into adulthood, and explores the development of depressive symptoms, aggression, drug use and mental well-being in these groups.

The fist aim was to investigate whether different fan groups can be identified based on preferences for not only rock music but also heavy metal and goth. It was hypothesized that at least three groups would be present: fans liking popular rock but not non-mainstream genres; fans preferring non-mainstream rock only; and fans liking all types of rock music. Results of the multivariate latent class growth curve analyses (LCGAs) largely confirm this hypothesis but also revealed a fourth group with specific music developmental patterns: adolescents disliking all kinds of rock music. Nearly half (45%) of the respondents can be characterized as pop fans, as they do not like any kind of rock music and prefer mainstream pop music. A second, large group consists of popular rock fans (33%), preferring (mainstream) rock but disliking non-mainstream genres such as goth and heavy metal. Third, rock/metal fans (15%) favor both rock and metal but are not particularly fond of goth. Last, a small group of all-out rock fans (7%) likes all three genres. Thus, rock emerges as a relevant music style discriminating between a large group of non-fans (45%) and an even larger group of three types of fans adding up to 55% of the sample. These results also indicate a difference between mainstream pop and popular rock fans on the one hand, and non-mainstream rock/metal and all-out rock fans on the other.

Music preferences seem to be most outspoken in late adolescence (see Fig. ​ Fig.1), 1 ), with preferences and dislikes for specific genres peaking at this age. Pop fans dislike rock, particularly in late adolescence; popular rock fans show a stable and slightly increasing preference for rock but strongly dislike other rock genres in late adolescence, just like pop fans. Rock/metal fans show an increasing preference for both rock and heavy metal in early adolescence, peaking in late adolescence and decreasing thereafter. This pattern is the most explicit for the all-out rock fans, demonstrating the steepest increases in early to middle adolescence, highest peaks in late adolescence and decreases into young adulthood, when compared to other fans. Several authors have referred to music preferences as a “badge” that demonstrates who you are or want to be, signaling to peers with whom you want to socialize (Frith, 1981 ; North & Hargreaves, 1999 ; Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006 ; Selfhout et al., 2009 ). These results demonstrate that this badge function of music taste may be most present and functional in late adolescence and may lose some of its significance in young adulthood. Rock/metal and all-out rock fans, to a certain extent, move back to the mainstream by no longer really adoring the rock genres that are disliked with a vengeance by mainstream pop and rock fans. In other words, differences between adolescent fans are most significant in late adolescence, but music loses some of its discriminative power in young adulthood.

The second aim was to test whether fan groups differ in the prevalence and development of depressive symptoms, aggression, drug use, and mental well-being across adolescence and into young adulthood. The third aim regarded the question whether problems and lack of mental well-being are typical adolescent phenomena or whether they carry over into adulthood. Our results provide evidence that adolescents in the non-mainstream groups of all-out rock fans and rock/metal fans indeed show more problems compared to their peers, particularly when compared to the pop fans group. Our results corroborate the conclusions of earlier qualitative and cross-sectional studies that loud, rebellious music indicates adolescent problem behaviors (Arnett, 1996 ; Lozon & Besimon, 2014 ; Trnka et al., 2018 ; Weinstein, 1991 ). However, the approach in the current study further nuances the relationship between music and problem behaviors. For example, all-out rock fans differentiate themselves across adolescence with more internalizing problem behaviors (such as, depressive symptoms and a lower degree of mental well-being), while rock/metal fans more often have more externalizing problem behaviors (such as, aggression). Both these fan groups display rapidly increasing drug use in late adolescence and early adulthood. It is reassuring though, that in young adulthood the two non-mainstream fan groups no longer show more depressive symptoms and lower levels of mental well-being than their peers in other fan groups.

More specifically, in early adolescence all-out rock fans show higher depressive symptoms rates than pop fans and popular rock fans. All-out rock fans’ depressive symptoms increase more rapidly up to age 17 than in any groups, and decrease more rapidly thereafter, implying that a peak in depressive symptoms in late adolescence is typical for this group. This peak in depressive symptoms is reversed in a dip in mental well-being that is, again, more pronounced in this group than in other groups. The all-out rock fans do not stand out regarding aggression. On the contrary, their aggression fades away more rapidly compared to, for example, popular rock fans. All-out rock fans seem to continue their drug use into adulthood. In late adolescence drug use increases sharply and in young adulthood is higher than among pop fans. Considering the entire period from early adolescence into young adulthood, the findings tentatively suggest that all-out rock fans continue to show the highest risk for problem behaviors, albeit for different types of problem behaviors in adolescence versus young adulthood. It may be that they come to terms with their inner demons when reaching adulthood and finding a more definite identity, but elevated depressive symptoms seem to translate into more drug use, a process that should be researched further.

In early adolescence, rock-metal fans already report more aggression compared to all other subgroups. Their trajectory across adolescence does not divert from other groups, implying that they keep on showing the highest scores on aggressive behavior that decreases in late adolescence and young adulthood. Still, in young adulthood their aggression levels are higher than among pop fans. And similar to the all-out rock fans group, their increasing drug use carries over into adulthood. Rock/metal fans are not particularly different from their peers regarding depressive symptoms and mental well-being.

The healthiest developmental pattern is present in the pop fans group. Their depressive symptoms and aggression follow a U-shaped trajectory and an inversely U-shaped trajectory for mental well-being. Overall, they show less depressive symptoms and aggression that the non-mainstream rock groups, and their mental well-being is higher across adolescence into young adulthood. Their drug use increases more strongly in early and mid-adolescence, but in young adulthood it is lower than in the all-out and rock/metal groups.

The popular rock fans are an in-between group. In early adolescence they do not divert much from their peers in the pop fans group with low depressive symptoms, aggression and drug use, though their mental well-being is lower. Across adolescence they show a pronounced increase in depressive symptoms, and in young adulthood they report more aggression, but their drug use remains low.

In conclusion, for many young people adolescence is a period in which depressive symptoms, aggression and drug use increase and mental well-being decreases, but these developments are most pronounced in non-mainstream fan groups: the rock/metal fans (15%) and all-out rock fans (7%). Compared to a reference group of pop fans, all-out rock fans show the highest peak in depressive symptoms and lowest dip in mental well-being. Rock/metal fans differentiate themselves in terms aggression. Both rock/metal and all-out rock fans show a pattern of developmental divergence with strong increases in drug use in late adolescence and early adulthood compared to pop-fans/and popular rock fans. These findings highlight that adolescence/young adulthood is a problematic period for non-mainstream fans and being part of these fan scenes indicates more drug use or aggression in young adulthood. On the positive site: it is reassuring that in young adulthood no remaining differences were found between pop fans and non-mainstream fans in terms of depressive symptoms and mental well-being.

A small number of longitudinal studies have tracked non-mainstream fans in adolescence and found them to be vulnerable in terms of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Bowes et al., 2015 ; Slater & Henry, 2013 ; Ter Bogt et al., 2013 , 2021 ; Young et al., 2006 , 2014 ). This study discovered that preferences for non-mainstream types of music may not only be a marker of problem behaviors in adolescence but also predict more problems in young adulthood. As such, these findings closely resemble Moffit, 1993 developmental principle that the rock/metal and all-out rock fans’ problems are not “adolescence limited” but “adolescent onset” (Moffit, 1993 ; Odgers et al., 2008 ). Most problematic remains their accelerated increase in drug use in young adulthood. Still, it is important to stress that during the transition to adulthood, for these vulnerable non-mainstream groups of rock fans, depressive symptoms and aggression decrease substantially, and mental well-being increases. The term “wild years” – the ups and downs in mood, the sensation seeking behaviors – may be most appropriate to describe their adolescence.

Strengths and Limitations

This study is characterized by several strengths. First, it was the first to follow a variety of rock music fans from early adolescence into young adulthood. Second, it connected fan development trajectories with longitudinal trajectories of a range of problem behaviors and well-being across adolescence into early adulthood. Inevitably, there were limitations to this study as well. First, in focusing on fan groups this study draws on concepts developed in the Peer Group Mediation Model (Slater & Henry, 2013 ) and Music Marker Theory (Ter Bogt et al., 2013 ). Though a key assumption of these theories is corroborated – music preferences indicate, foreshadow, and mark problems – the analytic strategy did not involve the process of peer mediation itself. Second, differences in problem behaviors across subgroups were significant but small. Small effect sizes may function as a warning to not stereotype fans. The proportion of metal/rock and all-out rock fans showing problems is higher than among pop fans or popular rock fans, by no means all of them can be characterized as “problematic”. Third, rock is an umbrella term and, as this paper shows, differences within the broad rock fan community are relevant not only in terms of music preferences themselves, but also in relation to the outcomes that were studied. That said, future research should discriminate more finely between fans, particularly within the group that emerged as “rock haters” and was subsequently labeled as pop fans in this investigation. A more complex characterization based on a larger number of music preferences might result in the discrimination of “true” pop fans and, additionally, other groups that, for example, like two other types of highly popular music, hip hop and dance. Again, a yet finer distinction might uncover larger mainstream and smaller non-mainstream hip-hop and dance fan groups. Fourth, rock music’s audience is predominantly white. By focusing on rock as a basis for the differentiation in fan groups, the resulting fan groups may be biased in terms of ethnicity. As already suggested, future studies should include a broader range of mainstream and non-mainstream types of music – R&B, hip hop, techno trance, hardhouse, classic music – and trace the development of their fans. The resulting groups can be compared to pop fans, that, again, emerged as a large group of well-integrated and non-problematic youth. Fifth, rock music is a world-wide phenomenon. Most of the studies on music and problem stem from the U.S. or a selective set of countries in Europe: Sweden, UK, and The Netherlands. It is important to replicate studies across different contexts to explore whether the meaning and effects of mainstream and non-mainstream types of music are similar in different cultural settings. Sixth, defining qualitative studies on fans (Arnett, 1996 ; Weinstein, 1991 ) have shown that non-mainstream scenes may literally be a lifeline for some members. Both the music itself and the company of like-minded young people, often facing similar problems and feelings of alienation, provide comfort and a welcoming social environment. The longitudinal analyses in this study rely on sophisticated statistical tools but were insensitive in terms of modeling the fine mechanisms through which music preferences can translate into problem behaviors or, alternatively, buffer problems. And the data that were collected did not include measures of positive effects of music listening or fan group membership. Presently no longitudinal study has disentangled positive and negative effects of belonging to non-mainstream music fan scenes. Future studies should do so.

Music is important to most young people and it is a benevolent force in their lives. Music improves mood, soothes when in trouble, energizes at parties and helps you find friends; it may be key to your own identity. But this study also uncovers that non-mainstream music preferences may indicate or foreshadow problems in adolescence and even in young adulthood. These results primarily point at negative consequences, but it should be recalled that many of these young people might have been in a more troublesome state if they had missed the music and their friends. Future studies should try to better extricate different consequences, both positive and negative, of being part of non-mainstream fan scenes.

Supplementary Information

Acknowledgements.

T.T.B. and A.B. contributed equally to the manuscript and can both be qualified as first authors.

Authors’ Contributions

T.T.B. conducted preliminary analyses and wrote substantial parts of the paper; W.W.H. wrote substantial parts of the manuscript; A.B. conducted the statistical analysis and wrote the Methods and Results parts. All authors have approved the final version of this paper.

The CONAMORE study has been financially supported by grants from the National Dutch Research Council.

Data Sharing and Declaration

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available on reasonable request by contacting T.T.B. and A.B.

Biographies

is a professor of popular music and youth culture at Utrecht University. His research interests include the role of music in the lives of adolescents and emerging adults, youth culture, substance use and problem behavior.

William W. Hale III

is an associate professor at Utrecht University. His research interests include adolescent development, adolescent depression and anxiety, and identity development.

is an assistant professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His research is aimed at understanding adolescent (identity) development from both a contextual and neurobiological perspective, with a specific interest in advanced longitudinal modelling techniques.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The authors declare no competing interests.

All procedures and study protocols were reviewed by and in accordance with the ethical standards of the Utrecht University Institutional Review Board

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants and their parents.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10964-021-01505-0.

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Creative Australia's report into the music festival sector shows how many of the country's big events are struggling

More than one-third of Australian music festivals are losing money as they face skyrocketing operational costs and dwindling younger audiences, according to a new report from Creative Australia.

Billed as the first widespread report of its kind, Soundcheck: Insights into Australia's music festival sector  delves into the cultural, social and economic impacts of Australian music festivals, and paints a clear picture of the landscape as it stood in the 2022-23 financial year.

Spanning the 535 music festivals held nationwide in that time — that's almost 1.5 festivals per day — the 116-page report reflects the scope, scale and diversity of the Australian music festival landscape.

Given the highly publicised recent struggles festivals have faced, it's timely research that looks to help Australian audiences and funding bodies understand the challenges these events face.

How much money do music festivals make?

Just 56 per cent of music festivals reported a profit in the 2022-23 financial year, with more than one third of festivals reporting a deficit and eight per cent breaking even.

The median average cost to stage a music festival is $3.3 million, and those events that do make a profit pull in a median average of $731,569 per event.

When looking at the mean average of the same data, though, that figure skyrockets to $2.6 million — confirming that some festivals are in a much better financial position and stand to gain far more than some of their contemporaries.

For instance, the highest profit for a festival surveyed for this data was $47.4 million, while the smallest profit was just $20,000.

What are the biggest challenges festivals face?

Rising operational costs had the most severe impact on almost half of festival organisers (47 per cent) — overheads like artist fees, production, suppliers, freight, transportation and insurance.

Other major barriers included a lack of funding and grants, as well as extreme weather events. Almost one third of festivals said skyrocketing insurance costs were a major challenge.

Australian live music venues' public liability insurance policies increased 10-fold in the past financial year, climbing from $20,000 per year to as much as $120,000.

One festival organiser noted that necessary event cancellation insurance costs had "pretty much doubled" since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The excess used to be like a standard commercial policy, which is like $4,000 or $5,000. Our excess for this year is $250,000."

Another organiser said navigating insurance paperwork had become an "absolute minefield" after making the tough call to cancel their festival.

"We had to wait until the morning of the show to make the final determination to cancel, otherwise there's the possibility that the insurance company could have said we could have worked out other alternatives.

"You're left with this real balancing act of, do you let your patrons know … who may have been booking accommodation, may have been getting drivers, getting babysitters, outlaying some money to attend the festival?"

The rising costs of securing police and security was another sore point. More than a quarter of festivals noted the challenges of navigating police and security requirements, and the difficulties of dealing with different government and council regulations across different states and jurisdictions.

"There's not enough consistency," said one logistics/operations worker from New South Wales.

"Whether you do an event in the metro area, or you do an event in Newcastle, or you do an event down the South Coast, or whatever the case may be, all these authorities have different expectations in regards to what they want from security and from the event. That makes it hard because some of the implications are more costs for the event promoter."

By contrast, most festivals found health, medical and liquor licensing requirements were the least challenging regulatory challenge, with around seven per cent reporting these elements had an impact.

Ongoing festival cancellations have created a vicious cycle where the more events pull the plug or lose headliners last-minute, the more hesitation it creates in the wider market — from both the industry and from punters holding off on purchasing tickets.

Who's buying festival tickets?

While music festival revenue comes from various avenues — from corporate sponsorship to hospitality services to merchandise and more — it's ticket sales that determine the ultimate feasibility of a music festival.

There is some good news on that front, with average ticket sales in 2022-23 higher than pre-COVID levels.

The average festival sold 8,116 tickets in 2018-19, which ballooned to 9,506 for 2022-23, indicating that the industry is slowly recovering from the decimating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research suggests that young people are no longer the main consumer of music festivals, nor are they attending as much as they have in the past.

The 18-24-year-old group is no longer the biggest ticket-buying demographic, with people in their mid-to-late twenties overtaking them. The younger crowd slumped from 41 per cent of all ticket buyers in 2018/19 to 27 per cent in 2022/23. 

Genre specific events faring better

The report arrives amid a feast or famine crisis for the Australian music festival scene.

There's been a growing list of festival cancellations, from major events like Splendour In The Grass , Groovin The Moo and Mona Foma , to newer players like This That, Summerground ,  Vintage Vibes , Tent Pole , Valleyways, Costal Jam and more.

Amid those reports, however, genre-focused events — such as Good Things, Knotfest, Listen Out, CMC Rocks — are still proving popular, and summer staples — like Laneway Festival, Beyond The Valley and Field Day — are adapting to current challenges with great success.

The vast majority of Australian festivals predominantly feature homegrown line-ups, with four out of five acts being Australian. The most popular genre offering was electronic music, accounting for almost a quarter of Australian festivals. Other popular genres included rock (21 per cent) country (19 per cent) and indie (17 per cent).

Georgie McClean of Creative Australia says she hopes this research will serve as both a tool for those in the industry, as well as a way to exhibit the contributions music festivals make to Australia's creative sector.

"We hope this report will help us to better understand the role and contribution of festivals within the broader creative industries as they face multiple challenges.

"To inform the future work of Music Australia, we will be undertaking further research into how Australians discover, engage with and consume music, in order to better understand the broader ecosystem that underpins live music including festivals."

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April 9, 2024

Purdue sets schedule and announces student responders for spring commencement ceremonies

Purdue University’s Spring 2024 Commencement will take place May 10-12 over eight ceremonies. Graduates will walk across the Elliott Hall of Music stage to receive their diplomas. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Small steps will soon culminate in a giant leap for Purdue’s Class of 2024 as the university prepares for eight commencement ceremonies at Elliott Hall of Music on May 10-12.

The spring 2024 graduating class will include 8,284 undergraduates, 2,323 graduate students, 210 students from professional programs and 244 students from Purdue Polytechnic’s statewide programs.

Purdue President Mung Chiang will attend all eight ceremonies and deliver the keynote speech at each. Each ceremony will also feature a student responder.

Commencement division dates and times  

• Division I — Friday, May 10, 9:30 a.m., College of Health and Human Sciences
• Division II — Friday, May 10, 2:30 p.m., College of Education and Purdue Polytechnic Institute
• Division III — Friday, May 10, 7 p.m., College of Science
• Division IV — Saturday, May 11, 9:30 a.m., College of Engineering (Civil Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Engineering Education, including Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies and Multidisciplinary Engineering; Industrial Engineering; Materials Engineering)
• Division V — Saturday, May 11, 2:30 p.m., College of Agriculture and College of Engineering (Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental and Ecological Engineering)
• Division VI — Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m., College of Engineering (Construction Engineering and Management, Chemical Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering)
• Division VII — Sunday, May 12, 9:30 a.m., Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business and College of Veterinary Medicine
• Division VIII — Sunday, May 12, 2:30 p.m., College of Pharmacy and College of Liberal Arts

The doors to Elliott Hall of Music will open 90 minutes before each ceremony, and tickets are required for entry. Each graduation candidate may request up to four tickets. Only clear bags or small clutch bags are permitted in Elliott Hall of Music, and all bags will be checked. More information can be found at  Spring Commencement FAQs . The ceremonies will be livestreamed from the  Purdue News YouTube  channel and linked on the Purdue  commencement website  before each ceremony begins. 

Student responders

• Megan Walawender of Carmel, Indiana, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Health and Human Sciences, will be the student responder in the Friday morning (Division I) ceremony.
• Paige Fulkerson of Carmel, Indiana, who is to receive a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Education, will be the student responder in the Friday afternoon (Division II) ceremony.
• Mridhula Srinivasan of Dallas, Texas, who is to receive two Bachelor of Science degrees from the College of Science, will be the student responder in the Friday evening (Division III) ceremony.
• Justice Rowe of Milo, Iowa, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Engineering, will be the student responder in the Saturday morning (Division IV) ceremony.
• Kayla Zalesny of Nipomo, California, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Agriculture, will be the student responder in the Saturday afternoon (Division V) ceremony.
• Sydney Hummel of Nolensville, Tennessee, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Engineering, will be the student responder in the Saturday evening (Division VI) ceremony.
• Amanda Hubert of Dexter, Michigan, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, will be the student responder in the Sunday morning (Division VII) ceremony.
• Ian Chen, a dual citizen of Taiwan and Canada, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Pharmacy, will be the student responder in the Sunday afternoon (Division VIII) ceremony. 

Honorary doctorates

Two individuals will receive honorary doctorates during commencement. Carolyn Woo, former CEO of Catholic Relief Services, will receive an honorary doctorate of management from the Daniels School during the Division VII ceremony. Jennifer Rumsey, chair and CEO of Cummins Inc., will receive an honorary doctorate of engineering from the College of Engineering during the Division VIII ceremony.

Woo’s ties to Purdue began in 1972, when she arrived in the U.S. from Hong Kong as a student, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics, a master’s degree in industrial administration and a doctoral degree in strategic management by 1979.

After two years in industry, Woo was recruited back to the university as a faculty member and then administrator, first as director of master’s programs in the School of Business and then as associate executive vice president for academic affairs. Under her leadership, the Krannert School of Management master’s program achieved a top 20 ranking in Businessweek.

From 1997-2011, Woo served as dean of Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame. In 2012 she became CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the U.S., serving in the role until 2016. 

Woo is recognized for her teaching, research, service and leadership through numerous awards and honorary doctorates. She was cited as one of Change magazine’s Top Forty Leaders Under Forty and, in 2013, named by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the 500 Most Powerful People on the Planet.

Woo is a frequent contributor to “Give Us This Day” and the author of two books, “Working for a Better World” and “Rising: Learning From Women’s Leadership in Catholic Ministries.”

Rumsey oversees the strategic direction, growth initiatives and global operations for the 105-year-old, Indiana-based Cummins Inc., which has more than 75,500 employees worldwide and achieved $34.1 billion in revenue in 2023.

Rumsey has focused her 25-year career on advancing technologies and bringing products to market that power customers’ success and make a positive difference in the world. She was recognized in 2020 by the Society of Women Engineers for her contributions to engineering and efforts to create environments that attract and retain more women engineers. She was inducted as a Society of Automotive Engineers fellow in 2022, and in 2023 she received the Women Business Collaborative’s CEO Excellence in Gender Equity and Diversity Award, in addition to being recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women. 

Rumsey earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1996 and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives . 

Writer: Kami Goodwin, [email protected]  

Media Contact: Trevor Peters, [email protected]  

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