Grunge
Grunge is a rock style that emerged in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s, combining punk’s rawness with heavy metal’s distorted guitars and weight.
Seattle music scene: A network of musicians, venues, labels, and audiences that shaped Seattle’s popular music. Grunge grew from this city-centered community of bands and independent venues.
Punk rock: A rock genre built around concise songs, forceful performance, and opposition to musical polish or convention. Its directness and DIY ethos gave grunge a model for raw, unvarnished rock.
Nirvana: An American rock band whose 1991 album Nevermind brought grunge to a global audience. The band’s breakthrough made grunge a defining sound of early-1990s popular music.
Alternative rock in the 1990s: The commercially prominent range of guitar-based alternative music released during the 1990s. Grunge’s success helped move alternative rock from subculture into the center of popular music.
Sub Pop: An independent record label founded in Seattle that released influential early grunge records. Its recordings and promotion helped make Seattle bands visible beyond the Pacific Northwest.
Heavy metal: A rock genre characterized by amplified distortion, prominent guitar riffs, and forceful rhythms. Its weight and guitar sonorities supply the other major strand in grunge’s hybrid sound.
Pearl Jam: A Seattle rock band formed in 1990, known for its debut album Ten and enduring career. Its arena-scale success showed that grunge could support a sound distinct from Nirvana’s.
1990s fashion: Clothing styles that became prominent during the 1990s across youth and mainstream culture. Grunge-associated flannel, denim, and thrifted clothing became widely adopted beyond the music scene.
Green River: A Seattle rock band whose members helped establish the sound and personnel of grunge. Its early releases joined punk energy to heavy guitar riffs before grunge became mainstream.
Guitar distortion: An altered electric-guitar signal produced by clipping or other nonlinear effects. Grunge uses dense distortion to make guitar parts sound abrasive and heavy.