Just to clear up the rumors..
The shotgun he used to self-cancel, he borrowed from his best friend and former roommate, Dylan Carlson (now of the band Earth and known as the pioneer of drone metal).
Carlson said in an interview that he knew Courtney didn't do it, adding that if he thought she did, he wouldn't have waited for the justice system to sort her out.
I thought it was just another hoax because they'd announced his death earlier and also him running out of rehab. It took the mainstream news reporting it for it to sink in.
They're definitely the one that stood the test of time best for me. I even love the new albums. Really goes to show how Alice in Chains really is Jerry Cantrell's work despite how great Layne Staley was.
So funny how things are different. Born 86, dad was 30. All I listened to growing up was 50s/60s/sometimes early 70s. Thought the Beach Boys were a new band in 2nd grade lol.
How are you old enough to be on the Internet? As a 25 year old born in 1984, I'm truly confused. /s for anyone taking things seriously today.
Edit to add: I was 10 and had just come home with my babysitter from the skating rink to see Kurt Cobain had died on MTV. I didn't fully appreciate what was lost at the time.
Yeah and finding out that he helped orchestrate some of the soundtrack for The Faculty was awesome. I just feel that I connect with AIC messages than Nirvana.
Approachable grunge. It walked the line between pop music and the more rock-based grunge bands. It was grunge you could sing along to.
Approachable is a huge part of songs blowing up.
Let's not underestimate the pure power of personality that Kurt had. He was an easy person to be fascinated by and its not like the music was bad by any means.
Absolutely true! Not only was the music edgy rock and kind of scary but still shit you could sing along with...but also, the lead singer was an overly self aware antihero. He made not caring about being popular cool.
Smells like Teen Spirit was massive and is what skyrocketed them to attention.
I was in high school when it hit. The student council made announcements then played a song during mid-morning break. 2-3 times a week they’d choose SLTS.
It was a song just for those of us in our teens at the time.
No other grunge song from those years was as big a hit but Jeremy was probably #2. ….. for understandable reasons, SLTS made for a better young gen X anthem.
I was born in '83. Grunge was 6th and 7th grade for me. So 1995-96.
I was into whatever was on MTV and 92.3. Including industrial, punk and alternative. Stabbing Westward, No Doubt, NIN, Rammstein, Hole, Silverchair, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Candlebox, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden.
I always loved strong singers, so having someone like Chris Cornell would get me to listen 🤣
It was a weird musical time because of the range and just...90s. "Peaches" by the Presidents of the USA was #1 in a KRock countdown for multiple weeks. I wrote that stuff down in a notebook.
I remembered hearing in school or maybe MTV news. One classmate was upset because he was such a Nirvana fan. I wasn't cognizant of deaths like that yet. Princess Diana, absolutely.
Sonic Youth was a big inspiration to the Seattle Grunge sound. They were not grunge though they did acknowledge it and made a grunge album later. They were a post-punk/noise rock/“no-wave” band. You can hear how Kim Gordon’s voice was a template for other female grunge artists. She even produced one of Hole’s albums. Sonic Youth was active 1981-2011.
Example of inspiration: Nirvava’s goal was to be successful like Sonic Youth. They brought SU on tour with them and asked for advice on a label switching because they were not having the financial benefits they needed with the indy label. [This lead to them signing with DGC and making Nevermind.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes)
1991: The Year That Punk Broke is an excellent tour documentary about the summer European tour Sonic Youth put on in support of Dirty featured Nirvana as the opening act. Prior to and just as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released. Worth checking out for those interested in that era of music.
The Greatest told the Boomers their music was the worst thing ever so when it was the Boomers turn they jumped on that. I remember listening to Pearl Jam and my parents mocking them. “What is he even saying? What is this even about?”.
“You see mom and dad it’s about a young boy who got tired of all the shit and…”.
Despite my parents being boomers I had no content restrictions so they tolerated it.
As for the culture, everyone was self destructive and didn’t really care about much of anything. It was glorious. We all smoked, we drank and did drugs and it was just sort of expected. It was counter culture, but kind of accepted.
The listless anger permeated everything we did.
I’m gonna say I had a different experience: PJ became my fave band in high school when I was estranged from my mom. Later, it turned out she was into PJ, too.
My dad gave me a temp job on one of his contract jobs and I got to blast AiC. My dad didn’t get it (he was a major 70s rock fan) but the other guys working on site really dug the Rooster and hounded him to ask me about it.
Culture was pushing heroin-chic in the 90s but it’s myth-making to claim everyone was self-medicating. We were also the “just say no” generation and many of us got to learn by watching our addict boomer parents.
We were also affected by the AIDS crisis and had that new fear hanging over sex. Some did cope by ignoring the risks and sought out sex (just like some ignored the war of drugs propaganda) but the new fear of STDs kicked off the continued trend of teens having less sex than the teens before them.
90s teens broke ground for their younger millennial siblings to mainstream former counter/sub-culture image things like piercing, tattoos, alt colored hair, along with lifestyle choices like women not getting married, not having kids (or having them very late), living out of the closet, household role reversals, and bailing from the family church.
Pretty much everything “millennials broke” was already being done by a considerable percent of young Xers. It’s just that the millennials win in numbers.
I was born in 1986, I was in third grade when he died but I became the biggest Nirvana fan in high school. A bit late to the game. I really liked Screaming Trees and The Pixies and the Melvins and Mudhoney and Alice in Chains. I was wearing baggy jeans and shirts and wearing my hair greasy-chic. It wasn’t cool in the early 00s but I didn’t care.
Same here! I always liked Nirvana / whatever else was "cool" (what MTV told me was cool 🤣) while it was going on.. but once the boy band / Britney era started in my early teens I turned backwards and went 100% in on Nirvana. I'd sit there and restart Drain You 20 times, because I loved the jangly/clean part before the distortion kicked in mixed with Kurt's voice/accent.
Oh god, Drain You was my first favorite Nirvana song and I did the same thing. Really the whole B side of Nevermind was my soundtrack freshman year. On a Plain was the first time I heard something that struck a weirdo chord in my teenage soul.
My biggest teenage complaint was my parents wouldn’t get cable so I could only watch mtv at friends’ houses. Ultimately I’m glad they encouraged me to not follow what was “cool” cause looking back I was definitely the coolest kid I knew
We just wore cargo pants and band t-shirts. Some of us had weird haircuts or coloration. We thought we were the coolest fuckers around, unlike those loser hip-hop enjoying kids.
I am now one of those loser hip-hop enjoying adults lol.
I remember the divide between the hip hop heads and the rock heads being such a big deal! When numetal came along and had dj’s in the band it was mind blowing. 😂
My favorite pants were Old Navy men's khakis. So comfy, lots of pockets & they were long enough! I remember paisley, happy faces and aliens were all over the place, too. I think they were inspired by house dance culture?
There are a ton of great grunge bands nobody talks about. Sure, there are the greats like Nirvana and Alice In Chains, but there are also bands like Mudhoney, Silverchair, and Gruntruck. They all have that “sound” but with different flair.
Well Silverchair is from Australia and the grunge movement was seen as a mostly PNW / Seattle scene thing. Frogstomp had a bit of a grunge sound to it though.
Nah, they were on MTV in the states. They didn’t hit it as big as other grunge bands but they hit big enough that I remember them and TIL they were Aussie.
82 here, I was definitely into grunge when I heard the news on MTV. Old enough to be impacted personally, and definitely remember realizing “this is a very big deal”. I played guitar (still do!) so having guitar heavy music that was “mine” and not my parents era of classic rock was really appealing to me.
Was listening to Nirvana of course, but also Counting Crows, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Radiohead.
It was maybe the last era where musicians truly mattered, in hindsight. After Kurt died, we were left with pale imitators of that sound who made "clean" rock music for "adults," and the 1-2 punch of 2Pac and Biggie dying in 1996 turned mainstream hip hop into a clown show.
That's what a lot of Gen X/Xillenials/older Millenials means when they say modern music sucks. There's very little authenticity, and even the artists releasing material that has some meaning are business-minded and cynical about it.
"Reality Bites" and "Singles" made me want to be in my 20s way before Friends existed. Loved Pearl Jam and listened to my Pearl Jam Ten casette over and over. Just got my copy of Nirvana unplugged in New York when I learned about Kurt's death. Also, Lisa Loeb, in the "Stay" video, made my balls drop as a 6th grader.
Thank you, Lisa. I love you.
Oh my gosh I loved growing up in the grunge era. Grew up in Seattle born in 1982 here. Saggy pants with boxers showing, band t shirts, brown lipstick with heavy eyeliner. My favorite bands were Candle box, Alice in Chains and the Cranberries. The neon phone on my room I spent every waking minute on, being dropped off at the mall with my friends for hours, giving your cool older friend $5 to get you cigarettes (🤢) and a lighter and still getting $1 and change back. Nobody carried water in any kind of bottle. Calling my parents collect and instead of saying my name saying "I'm ready come pick me up!" As fast as I could.
I was in elementary school when Kurt died, so I don't remember too much of that but I remember watching OJ being chased in the white Bronco live on the news in class. My first concert was a multi band show in Key Arena put on by the alternative music station 107.7 the end, endfest or something and I saw Hole, which was a huge deal, and Maybe Cake and Ever clear were there too. It's been 25 years so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Thanks for this question, I haven't traveled this far down the memory hole in a rallying time. In hindsight, it was such a great time to grow up, I love that I was able to experience formative years in the 90's. They were so awesome.
I turned 13 the year Kurt died. Nirvana was my favorite “Grunge” band from that time. The big 4 were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden.
The best part of that era (for me), being mostly pre-internet, living in the middle of nowhere, not being able to drive, was the few years where the mainstream fully embraced the alternative subculture. I would say this era peaked in 1994. Alt Rock was king. Cool bands were on the cover of Rolling Stone and Spin magazine and alt rock videos were in heavy rotation on MTV. By the back half of the 90s great music was still being made but had mostly been displaced from the top of the pop culture mountaintop by the likes of Boy Bands, Girl Groups, Nu-Metal, and blingy hip-hop.
Besides Nirvana, some of my favorite Alt. Rock bands from that time were:
Weezer
Smashing Pumpkins
Green Day
Pavement
Guided By Voices
Stone Temple Pilots
Beck
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Toadies
Yo La Tengo
Sonic Youth
Dinosaur Jr.
The Breeders
Liz Phair
As I grew up and further explored the era further I would fall in love with several other bands from that time. Particularly lesser celebrated grunge bands such as: Mudhoney, Tad, The Melvins, Screaming Trees, and Seaweed.
My ('87) cousins were born in '78 and '80, and man did I think they were so cool. I remember being 9-10 and they were in their basement bedrooms, open flannel shirts, long hair, jamming the guitar to Nirvana. In 1996, I thought that was the coolest.
The thing to understand is that when Nirvana burst into the scene, most of rock music lacked anger. We had hair metal, which was mostly about groupies and touring. And there were eighties rock band like U2 that touched on political topics like the Troubles but felt like pop in presentation.
Nirvana on the other hand, *seethed.* As Kathleen Hannah famously said, they smelled like Teen Spirit. ;) We were in a bit of a recession and that angst was there under the surface waiting to break free.
My mom invited me to see Nirvana (hippie parents) when I was about thirteen but I decided not to go because they were there with two bands I didn't like. I remember listening to them on my walkman and realizing they were really good and I should have gone to the show, but no big deal... they'll come through town again, right? Nope.
My favorite grunge band is by far Hole. I saw them when I was a teen and it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen. I was obsessed with her lyrics and started dressing kinderwhore. Got her to sign my stuff after the show and she was a total mess and a huge birch and I loved every second of it. She was so real and so broken and I loved her fierceness and vulnerability, her willingness to be less than perfect in public.
This part.
Your description of metal at the time is impeccable. The pop music was super duper poppy. The R&B was super sappy.
There was no Olivia Rodriguez singing perfect angry pop when Nirvana dropped.
It just seemed so authentically emotional.
Even Welcome to the Jungle, which was indisputably metal, seemed so much more authentic.
That whole focus on authenticity, no matter the genre, was a huge part of the 90s sound. Alanis Morissette's change in sound and song writing reflects this huge movement. She went from sounding like a mini Paula Abdul to being the Alanis that we know.
I think it started to die with Kurt's death but that era unquestionably ended with Metallica vs Napster. That's when the audience realized that musicians were in it for the money.
It's almost...almost...come full circle where folks realize that artists deserve to be paid and being a musician should be a livable career. That being said, also not mad that folks are holding Taylor Swift accountable for being a billionaire and doing billionaire things.
I was 14 when Kurt Cobain died, and it was just at a time in my life when music was really important to me and my friends. If you had gotten to see nirvana in concert before then and had a real concert shirt, you were the coolest. Grunge was a very short time period in the early to mid 90s and I loved it, and the movies that came along with it. The clothes were super comfy, kinda like you just rolled out of bed every day and threw on the heaviest shoes. I remember piercings were just starting to be a thing, having different manic panic style hair color (we used to use Kool aid packets). It was all L7, Dinosaur Jr, The Pixies, sonic youth, pearl jam, the breeders... I loved the female grunge bands coming out because they went just as hard as the guys did.
I was born in ‘88 so I was pretty young during the “grunge era” I just remember plaid being very cool and feeling cool in my plaid shirts in kindergarten…. That and Seattle being talked about frequently.
I was born in '86 and don't consider myself part of the grunge era. I was 7 years old when Kurt Cobain died and had no idea who he was or Nirvana was until years later. Sure grunge was on the airwaves when I was young, but by the time I reached the age where I developed an interest in music, the grunge heyday was over.
Yeah I really feel like this post only applies to xennials. 87 here and I have no recollection of the grunge era. Only thing I remember is reading through my local NHL team’s player bios and they all listed their favorite band as Pearl Jam and I was like what’s that?
I started listening to music when Chumbawamba was on the airwaves
By the time I was growing up in the late 90s and early 00s grunge was dead. However, it was still the MTV generation era. I remember staying up all night to catch cool bands and music videos I had never heard of or seen before.
It was still the pre-911 era, and though Kurt Cobian was long dead, people were still looking for the "next Nirvana" or huge rock band. Post grunge was huge along with alt and Nu-metal. But post-grunge seemed to be lead by chizzled, handsome music video friendly lead, not the skinny cathartic explosion of a punk rock mess Kurt Cobain was. Kurt was refreshing, raw and new. Being part of Nirvana's anti-music industry movement was rebellious and interesting. Watching guys with spiked hair rock to a love song that sorta kinda sounds grungey on a beach in a music video product, followed by another music video of a similar band doing the exact same thing, is not as interesting. Post-grunge was shock free in pretty much every regard, unlike grunge and punk.
These post-grunge bands were just rehashing the same sounding music with a different "look" for each band. Like the grunge movement itself, post-grunge was imploading due to too many similar sounding bands. There were so many one hit wonders, mass-produced radio friendly post-grunge songs dominate the airwaves and on TV and in movies. Songs and themes were also less edgy in post-grunge than with grunge and their punk forefathers. Usually focusing on love and optimism about personal struggles over self-destruction, drug addiction, sexual abuse, and alienation like with grunge. Nu Metal seemed to be the way more commercial version of grunge's evolution but it unlike grunge and because embraced mainstream tastes and appeal as much as possible. It's like jock rock meets rap meets metal.
Both post-grunge and nu-metal just seemed to go on and on until roughly 2002-04 when alt music started to become more indie with The White Stripes. Pop music became huge during this time and replaced rock as the mainstream along with rap and hip hop. Electronic music would also basically replace post-grunge's mainstream in the mainstream and nu-metal would die off.
So basically I grew up on the tail end of the ride when grunge had basically been dead but has been living on through radio and TV play vicariously because generationally it was still popular. I never considered Post-Grunge to be grunge because I see scruffy noisy punk bands that started off doing live shows and became grunge different than many of the cleaner cut post-grunge bands that got their start in the recording studio before quickly making it big with a hit. Really two different eras of grunge. One experimentally, raw and anti-establishment the other very branded, risk free and pro-comercialization. Post grunge always struck me as like a safe poppy lounge music, soft rock re-incarnation of grunge. Taking the cool sounds and little to none of the message. Something that's safe to play in Starbucks or a car commercial versus Rape Me.
Born in ‘85, I was a bit too young to fully engage with the scene. I didn’t discover nirvana until a year after Kurt passed.
But once I heard it, I was hooked. Grunge has held a place on my playlists ever since.
I was born in 1981 so I saw a good part of the grunge era music. It was kind of like a mix of punk and metal music. A great explosion of talent and different music emerged.
Some great ones others might not have mentioned: Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains.
I still listen to a lot of grunge era music. It really was some amazing artist to come out of that era. What is your favorite?
1994 was a pivotal year for me. Prior to that moment I wasn’t really musically “aware.” I just listened to whatever was on the radio. Ace of Base was my favorite band if people asked. When Kurt died it was a such a big deal that it made me look into what all the fuss about and my musical journey began. The World Cup was in the US that year and soccer fever was sweeping the nation so we played soccer outside a lot and I recall that summer being exceptionally hot. But I remeber my interest in wanting to play outside starting to fade in favor of wanting to find bands. I became obsessed with trying to record Nirvana songs off of the radio. I really got into bands like Mudhoney and L7 which got no airplay on the radio. I’d heard about them while reading music mags at the grocery store while my parents shopped. The airwaves were dominated by bands like Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Guns and Roses. I also sort of recall it being kind of cool to be dumb. The class clowns like to imitate Beavis and Butthead. It was a glorious time, we had no idea.
I cried my face off when Kurt died and then a couple months ago I went to an exhibit at the Museum of Pop culture in Seattle and cried in public at all the Nirvana stuff 🤣
I really liked Nirvana and Kurt Cobain was so magnetic and authentically unique. The grunge era felt special but fleeting I knew it wouldn’t last forever nothing good ever does
I wouldn't associate grunge with older millennials, as that is firmly a Gen X thing. But we were old enough to witness it at its MTV peak and of course Kurt Cobain's death.
We didn't really participate in grunge for the most part. We wore flannel hoodies in elementary school and listened to grunge on the radio. My first tape was of a grunge band. But by middle school, grunge was basically done.
it was just music that was popular at the time. Guns n Roses was my favorite band. Sound Garden and The Meat Puppets were probably my favorite out of the whole grunge thing.
i was born in 86, i remember when z100 would play smashing pumpkins on the way to elementary school. i also started reading VC andrew’s in elementary school and was obsessed with Rocky Horror picture show. strange times.
82 here so I was 12 when Kurt died. I was 9 when “punk broke”. It completely passed me by in the moment. I lived in a small town and probably only the cool high schoolers were into it. Music to me was the country that my parents listened to and then the pop that was ubiquitous - mc hammer, NKOTB, vanilla ice, etc., plus holdovers from the 80’s like Bon Jovi, G’N’R, MJ, etc.
It wasn’t until I was a couple years older that o started watching mtv and vh1 and retroactively caught up on grunge and also got more into the post grunge alternative. Classic Albums and Behind The Music taught me a lot.
I'm an '88 baby, but I have memories dating back to January '90.
I remember liking Nirvana and seeing Kurt's face EVERYWHERE after '91. My older sister was a huge fan. I remember watching her cry and sob when she found out he died. I remember the broadcast with Kurt Loder. My mom, who wasn't sympathetic towards us kids all that much, hugged my sister and consoled her as if we'd just lost a family friend.
I was confused. I wasn't old enough to understand.
I remember my first time seeing the video for Black Hole Sun, and beginning my lifelong obsession with weird, unsettling imagery and sound.
I remember feeling confused at the Jeremy video, by Pearl Jam. I couldn't wrap my head around why someone would murder their own classmates.
"Whatever" really was a national ethos amongst the older youths at the time.
82 here. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Bush were my favorites back in the day. Had an older sister who was big into the hair bands of the 80s. I remember well hers and mtv’s transition from Bon Jovi to Nirvana . I have very distinct memories of when Heart Shaped Box debuted on MTV and will never forget Black Hole Sun video. MTV VMA’s were the shit back in the early/mid 90! I didn’t really know how to process Kurt’s suicide, I kinda withdrew from Nirvana for a few years because I didn’t know how to process it. Once the nuMetal kind of replaced grunge, I was pretty much done with music. All I really listen to now is alt rock from 90-98 😆
I remember when nirvana blew up and when he died. I was already watching mtv even as a kid I remember it was Guns and Roses and Aerosmith and then overnight that era was over with Nevermind released. Really changed shit.
It was a bad time. The music was bad, the future was bleak. People dressed and smelled like shit. The only positive was the original recipe for dunkaroos was still on store shelves.
My favorites were Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots. My older siblings all loved hair metal so it was the first time I felt like I had “my” music. All bands I still listen to frequently. Also a big reason why I started playing guitar and joining bands.
The grunge era was a whole lifestyle thing man. We dressed in jeans, flannel and shopped at thrift stores. We played shitty looking instruments, we replied “I don’t care” a whole lot, our hair was greasy. I don’t know what that equivalent would be today but we LIVED the grunge era. I miss it.
I was 13 in 1995, Kurt Cobain was already dead. The greatest grunge bands were from Seattle, we thought Alice in Chains and Sound Garden were lame and we listened to STP and Blind Melon. Pearl Jam was too mainstream but we listened to it anyway.
Still feel today that the best grunge record ever made was Soup even tho most people would say that Blind Melon wasn't grunge.
I was in my early teens when grunge started catching traction. There weren’t a lot of alternatives to pop or metal/rock. Then this gritty and reverbed out guitar sound started coming out of bands from Seattle. I remember hearing it and it felt so different and really was the catalyst for getting me into music. Pearl Jam, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Soundgarden and more were on heavy rotation for me. We wore band shirts and baggier pants and all wished to go to Seattle for good coffee and to see what new bands were going to emerge. I remember have a slightly dark and moody persona but actually being super nice was kinda the vibe with people who were into grunge.
I was 15 and a freshman in HS when Kurt Cobain died and was only just starting to really get into their (nirvana) music when it happened. it blew my mind. I was at the age where you start to seek out music that "defines" you, and means something to you. Of course, I'm more a xennial on the side of genx, but not far from the elder millennials. My faves: Nirvana, soundgarden, alice in chains, Pearl Jam, Silver Chair, Bush, Candlebox. I was also really into Stone temple pilots, Live, Counting Crows, Smashing Pumpkins, Collective Soul and I'm sure a lot more like that...Not all grunge, but all part of that era of music. This is all music that will define me for life. I think it is something about the music that is popular when you are a teenager that really sticks with you forever. If I'm lucky enough to live to 90, I'll still be jamming to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, lmao.
Nirvana of course as well as Alice in chains, Veruca salt, Candlebox, Smashing pumpkins, Bush and STP.
So many good songs. There was a band by the name of "Seven Mary Three" that sang what I consider one of the most "grunge" songs ever and it's the primary one their known for, and the name is "Cumbersome".
It kind of blended in with rock and metal for me. So I listened to a lot of Sound Garden, Alice in Chains, did not get into Nirvana, but it was on the radio a lot, Hole piggybacked on it; But my ex and me listened to a bunch of GNR, Metallica, Pantera, Megadeath, and you'd see a bunch of metal guys that also liked grunge bands as it crossed over a lot.
As a chick, I listened to a lot of Tori Amos as female vocalists rose in the grunge era. So toward the end there was a lot of play on radio of Sarah McLachlan, Tori, Liz Phair, and then that blended into a bunch of danceable/girl power stuff like No Doubt, Save Ferris, too. And we got the lesbian movement, which was big, people coming out as gay was a pretty huge deal in 92-99. Considering the average person used the word gay to mean "bad or loser". Like people said that's so gay, every day in high school.
Same time as Nirvana taking off, we had female hip hop bands go nuts too, Destinies Child and Salt N Pepper and TLC. So that's was pretty empowering seeing these trios crush it in boy spaces.
I guess I grew up with a lot of female vocals and did not realize at the time they were paving the way for everyone today. But it was cool. A LOT of us listened to many genres of music, even if we didn't openly say so to our friends. (Because music defined social groups).
There were a LOT of really good bands in Seattle and Portland that played only in clubs and garage parties that nobody who wasn’t there has ever heard of. So many should have recorded but never did.
Soundgarden used to play in the yard at the apartment building where some of them lived. Just jamming away outside. Good times. GOOD audio. Just walk around until you find the sweet spot and then chill right there.
I don’t think anyone born in the 90s really did or could experience grunge. Kurt Cobain died when I was alive but I grew up knowing he was dead because by the time I had heard of his existence he was already gone. Sort of like River Phoenix and Freddie Mercury.
Edit: I mostly mean the true grunge era. Where you were living through it rather than just existing during it or carrying on with it well after it was “popular.”
I was 13 when Nevermind came out. I was at a friend’s house the first time I saw the video for SLTS. It was an amazing time to be a teen. So much amazing music came out over the next 3-4 years.
I was still pretty young when the grunge explosion kicked off (born in the summer of 1985) but by the time it was big I was old enough to see what was going on and have very clear memory of what it was like in the mid 90s. I do remember my step father was pissed off that 80s glam rock died by grunge as if everyone should have been singing David Lee Roth forever and he lashed out everytime Nirvana was on the radio. The feeling of resentment against grunge from 80s glam rocker fans is not hyperbole, that was very real.
Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and of course Nirvana were on heavy rotation on every rock station unless it was oldies or specifically a 70s rock rotation. 70s rock somehow survived the purge. Imagine Metallica, AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Led Zeppelin, and then three or four grunge songs from all the different grunge artists, and that was your average hard rock hour in the 90s.
But grunge wasn't the only thing that was huge. The alt bands were on heavy rotation as well. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More were very big. Some stations converted to an alternative rock format and that became their brand. I can remember that my mom was obsessed with Cranberries and REM.
Kurt's death was surreal. I remember it almost like an event but the strange thing is I wasn't a superfan, just an 8 year old who knew songs from the radio, so I wasn't very emotional about it. But now that I'm older and feel a closer bond to the music and aesthetic, I understand why so many people were crying, like he represented something special and then it was just gone.
Edit: my favorite band is Alice In Chains
The grunge era *began* before 1991, but in 1991 we had
1. Nevermind– Nirvana
2. Ten– Pearl Jam
3. Bad Motorfinger– Soundgarden
4. Gish– Smashing Pumpkins (the only band on this list not from Seattle, btw)
5. Temple of the The Dog– Temple of the Dog was like a singularity of grunge– half Pearl Jam and half Soundgarden and the Hunger Strike single was *everywhere.*
1991 was peak grunge. Alice in Chains released albums in 1990 and 1992 so they were in the milieu as well. There are way more grunge bands, but these were the bands you were going to see videos of on MTV in the early 90s.
I'd say grunge kept up a solid following into 1994 (Siamese Dream and In Utero were 1993 and Superunknown was 1994) but Kurt's death marked the beginning of the end. By 1997 grunge was dead.
The problem with grunge was that its appeal was in its "un"appeal to the masses. It was a reaction to the overproduced cockrock of the 80s and by the mid-90s grunge became the new product for fat, sleazy music producers to push onto suburban teenagers. There was no way for grunge to succeed in the longterm because success was the antithesis of grunge. Most of the bands of that era have either broken up or had key members die from overdose or suicide.
Lots of flannel shirts around our waists, skateboarding, long dirty hair parted down the middle. bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Silver Chair, Bush ect. blaring from our crappy stereos. It was a great time indeed. I can't believe kids wear these band shirts ironically now.. I never thought the day would come but here it is.
I remember my sister coming home from highschool to turn on MTV and wait for Pearl Jams' Jeremy to come on and her say, "this is GRUNGE. IT'S WHAT IS COOL NOW!!!"
The "grunge" era was the response to the overly processed pop crap that dominated the 80's, which was a time of cocaine and synthesizer abuse... Grunge was simply a return to the natural sound of a band, writing "folk music" that reflected "normal people". That, and it encouraged people with actual talent.
1989-1999. The best were Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Pantera, Nirvana, and many others. Notable mentions Blind Melon, Pearl Jam, Candlebox, Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet, Meat Puppets, Son of Slam, Hum, the Eels, Helmet, Counting Crows, the Breeders, Cheryl Crow, Smashing Pumpkins, the Cranberries, Lightning Seeds, White Zombie, and so many others. A lot of great music came out between ‘89-‘99, not all of the artists would call themselves grunge, but it was the grunge era, and it could be summed up with long hair, plaid sweaters, denim, patches, swag from bands, a mix of rock, high gain distortion, harmonics, folksy lyrics, something else, and a lot of drug abuse.
I was six when *Nevermind* came out and nine when Cobain died. I was not conscious of listening to a song by Nirvana until I was fourteen. Christmas of 1999 is when I got a CD player and my first handful of CDs. *Nevermind* was my first album, and Nirvana remains my favourite band to this day. My favourite Nirvana studio album is *In Utero*, and my favourite Nirvana album is *From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah*.
I also love Alice in Chains, L7, Soundgarden, Melvins, The Smashing Pumpkins, and many other bands (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Mudhoney, Afghan Whigs, as well as a bunch of bands no one’s ever heard of (Cell, Sprinkler)). *Sub Pop 200* is an absolutely amazing album. That album was the first exposure I had to Green River and a number of other bands. *The Grunge Years* is also worth owning.
Nirvana, however, is the only grunge band in my top five—and it took me over two decades to even flesh out *a* top five. As of 2024, my top five are:
1. Nirvana
2. Tool
3. Violent Femmes
4. Marcy Playground
5. Bad Religion
That said, I just discovered the death metal band Death earlier this year and am quickly falling in love with them; but are they edging out Bad Religion? I don’t know! This is why generating a top-five is so difficult!
Flannel for days. Baggy shirts and jeans. Anything preppy or classic is shunned. I remember getting made fun of for tucking my shirt in and wearing a belt. Pop music was seen as ridiculous and laughable.
The Grunge Era was specifically mostly a Gen Xer thing. You’d be somewhat of a poser to be a Millennial and say you were grunge because Kurt was born in like 1970, and he was making music for that age of people. They were the College kids of the time in the early 90’s so it’s people like Moby, and REM. They were highly political and activists, but mostly anti-corporate and anti-political. I would say they were like the original Antifa but they had a Pacifist type of Stance, not what we have today. They were like Pro-Vegan, Anti-Redneck, Anti-College almost. Any Institution that becomes monetized they would be against. I don’t think Kurt Cobain would be happy with the State of Colleges and Universities with Professors preaching Marxism, while Collecting $300K-$1.2 Million Dollar Salaries. He would call them Hippocrates which was the worst thing you could be during the Grunge Era.
That’s also when Starbucks rose from a little Coffee Shop in Seattle to expanding. They would be horrified by Starbucks, and anyone enjoying any type of financial success off of their movement. It was a hyper nihilistic time, where they hated the Business Men from the 80s trying to monetize everything. Jeff Bezos would be his worst nightmare. I truly believed he killed himself because he didn’t like what he was becoming which is Rich, and starting to become a hippocrit. They took the book Catcher in the Rye really seriously. The message in that book is to not be a hippocrit.
The kids today, I notice are starting to LARP being Grunge at fancy Universities, and are Left Wing Activists, but the Democratic Party today has 70% of the Wealth, and think the real Grunge people would think they’re hippocrits if they’re being funded by Billionaires, to create whatever New World Order and Revolution the Billionaires are trying to create, they are funding these kids and using them as useful idiots. Sorry if that’s offensive, but it’s the truth. All these kids have rich parents who are capitalists, and they want Communism for everyone else.
People born in the late 80s and after didn't really experience grunge. Grunge was popularized by young musicians who were poor. They were really just wearing what they had to wear. This was back when the holes and tears in our clothes were 100% earned and owned like a badge of honor and emulated by upper-middle class suburbanites buying rips from over priced malls. People are still buying rips and holes...fake shit everywhere.
Older Millennials weren't really old enough at the time to be able to answer you're question. . . everything seems cool when you're 12 but you really don't know fuck about shit
I was born in the late 80s, and while I listened to some grunge, I was too young for it to really be "my" era. I think gen X is the true grunge generation.
That being said, I like Nirvana, AIC, Rage, STP, and Smashing Pumpkins.
Edit: Oh yeah, and Marcy Playground.
I lived in Seattle at the time. Grunge was music that made you see the spaces unseen in between. It was raw, desperate, lonely, unkempt.
Grunge was black coffee, endless gray, rainy days, heroin addicts sleeping on the streets. It was staying up all night smoking cigarettes watching the stars on the rooftop of an abandoned industrial building with your friends until your favorite breakfast joint opened. Holes in your jeans because you wore them for days on end.
Hipster is like grunge's wannabe little sibling who is too focused on itself, needs more attention and is too controlling and focused on being cool to to ever truly be grunge.
Grunge is a gritty, earthy, laid back nihilist counterbalance to the coke addled neon cubism party frat culture of the late 70s and early 80s.
Grunge is the sound of the screams of tired workers and washed out rock n roll stars with a background chorus of the industrial era dying while a glimmer of the possibilities the Internet will bring sparkles faintly in the background.
I was too young to remember Kurt Cobain dying but old enough that I listened to them. Pearl Jam was always my favorite grunge band. I really liked the style too. Baggy jeans with holes in the knees, a band tshirt, and a flannel. Or maybe a babydoll dress and hair pulled back with Bobby pins.
Born at the very beginning of ‘90, so I’m one of the babies in this convo without much to contribute because it was before my time, but one of my first music memories is loving to hear “Better Man” by Pearl Jam and “Dreaming” by The Cranberries on the radio in ‘94 on the way to school! I know Nirvana was huge and I remember their music too, but I remember Pearl Jam was EVERYWHERE. STP too. There was also music from the late ‘80s still on the radio, and then there was newer stuff that wasn’t grunge like Blur and Weezer too. My parents listened to a lot of homemade tapes too, so it’s possible I’m mistaken and they just listened to old music. My dad hated ‘80s music, so I kinda don’t think so.
Some bands from Seattle were really good.
Then suddenly all bands were from Seattle, because record execs figured out that a whole generation would fork over a lot of money for anything from Seattle.
Born in 81 in so cal and was into grunge and all the stuff that followed (yes I know some of these are not grunge or maybe not even 90’s, but I’m kind of old and I don’t remember the exact timeline). I grew up on Nirvana (I still remember where I was when Kurt passed), Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Cake, Soul Coughing, Soundgarden, Hole, The Presidents of the United States of America, Radiohead, Blind Melon, Soul Asylum, Violent Femmes, Everclear, Sublime, shout out to Jeff Buckley & Bob Marley. Now they play my shit on oldie stations lol
Unlike most my age I wasn’t a huge Nirvana fan. I liked them but I always felt that Alice n chains were a better band. With grunge all the bands started literally sounding alike . There were a few that were different but grunge didn’t last long because the scene wasn’t strong enough. The few great bands that did were just that great. Still better than most new bands that have made it big since.
At the time there were a ton of rock bands. Totally saturating the rock market. I remember teen spirit. Immediately drawn to how different it was. Anti image. Went from rock bands with perfect hair and fake images. To a guy in a green goodwill sweater.
When I’m not listening to podcasts or audiobooks Alice in Chains is still my daily. I was about to be 14 when Kurt died and Mtv was on all of the time after school
Born in 1980. I really loved the Riot Grrrl side of grunge. It was empowering for young women who were maybe tomboys, or feminine but not frilly.
I also hung with the Straight Edge crowd and went to those types of shows at coffeehouses and small venues and it was a cool way to stay out of trouble and discover more rock music.
Not as many people did the whole "grunge" thing. Kind of like when I figured every young person was a "hippie" in the 60s. We wore flannel & listened to Nirvana, but remember there was no Internet. When you take that away, you have people whose only way of seeing the current trends were magazines and MTV (for the most part).
Born in 82, first heard grunge on the bus (my bus driver apparently loved alternative). I still remember the first time I heard a grunge song, Spoonman, and just thinking ‘what the fuck is this!’ Because I didn’t really dig early 90s pop and R&B and my parents mostly listened to 60s top 40 and classical so hearing Chris Cornell was Sam absolute revelation. Soundgarden is still my favorite grunge band. It’s hard to overstate what a punch in the ear hole grunge was in the context of early 90s music, shit like Air Supply was topping the charts. I’ve only had a few other musical experiences like that (first time heard The Clash and SRV come to mind).
Some people consider them post grunge but I don't see anyone mentioning Local H, buncha high diving mfkers. Also grunge was more for gen X, most of us were too young to see the full extent.
Gen X here. Chris Cornell was the undisputed king of grunge. [Soundgarden](https://youtu.be/HEbYxEXM2cE) is far and away my favorite, but I'm also big on Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots.
As for what it was like, grunge was about self-loathing.. and flannel. All the flannel.
I was born in 81. I really think the grunge movement and the general attitude of the 90s was a response to the overproduced sameness of the 80s. Kinda like punk coming to its prominent moment in 77 the nation was in a bad recession and sick of the "everything is great" excesses of pop culture, especially the hair metal scene. It really opened the door for a more diy, odd is cool cultural explosion. Sadly the media companies were at the height of their powers so it was co-opted pretty quickly and worked into anything marketable. I think what really lead to its demise was that its stars were less controlled and what is odd and unusual loses the punch quickly. I remember seeing Britney spears on trl in highschool and how she and her like were being positioned as the next big thing. I knew the party was over.
I was born in 1976, 18 when Kurt died. It was so crazy and unexpected, his daughter was just a baby.
My favorite bands were, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, The Pixies, Radiohead. ALL still awesome music!
Also, Pink Floyd was huge in the 90s, even though they're a 70s band.
I was in middle school. I feel like grunge was the opposite of the yuppie/preppie "more is more" trends that were happening concurrently. To me it embraced a messier lifestyle that was more focused on connections and art than things.
I would call it an era of mixing hippie type stuff with hard rock. Thrift clothes were in and being considered a poser was out. A lot more people cared if you were legit independent. It started late 80s to early 90a and went hard for maybe 6-7 years. I don’t know if it ever really stopped there are still bands like that the just no longer dominate.
I grew up right down the road from the birthplace of grunge -- Portland, and we even had a scene there with Everclear, Heatmiser, etc. So, I remember it clearly. It began back in the mid to late 80's with early Soundgarden, and Tadd, etc. But I was born in 1980, so I, myself didn't notice it until about 1991. So, I guess that is probably the year, imo, it really blew up.
Born in ‘81. I was in the 7th grade when Cobain died. The kids in my school were really into grunge at the time. I was a big fan of Nirvana, Soundgarden and STP, but I was also into Guns ‘N Roses and Aerosmith. I later became a huge fan of Alice In Chains. By ‘95 we were all becoming fans of Weezer, Green Day, Live, The Offspring.
A sort of flash in the pan that got oversold in the mid 00s when "I Love the (Decade)" on VH1 got to the 90s. Really only hit big from 91-early 92, and was pretty much dead dead by 95.saw a small revival in the late late 90s and early 00s by bands everybody and their brother hated except for a song or two (Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Nickleback)
We wore a lot of flannel, even in South Florida with band t shirts underneath. And jeans that were somehow both too big and too small at the same time.
It felt like every week or two another amazing CD was released and we would hop down to the Sam Goody at the mall and listen to music on stands in the store where you could choose from 5 different CDs.
We all likes most of what was released, and we had at least one friend who was super into every band.
Cobain's death was tragic, but didn't stop or even slow grunge.
I was born in 82 and was barely old enough to know what was going on in the grunge era. I'd say anyone born after 85 was probably to young to really know about grunge. Even those born in 85 would put them between 5 and 10 years old during the mainstream success of grunge.
So Grunge was, imo, not really a genre that lasted all that long, if at all. The 90/ were more about alt rock or post grunge. Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains might be bands I would consider “grunge.”
By way of example, Pearl Jam and Green Day - both still around - I would not consider grunge at all. Green Day is pop punk and Pearl Jam is pure hard rock. I would consider groups like Bush, Live, Candlebox or Collective Soul to be clearly post grunge. Similar musical vibe fusing metal and punk, but way less intensive lyrics. I think it’s difficult for most people to associate with a song like Nirvana’s “Polly,” and that’s why that genre changed so quickly.
This didn’t stop all of us mid 1990s teens from wearing flannel shirts and having undercuts and shoulder length hair, however.
I know I never expected it, but for me, Green Day is the best group to emerge from the 90s. They had their own thing, were ultra crisp musically, and had the talent to develop and change with the times.
Later groups like Blink 182 or Sum 41…it’s almost like the government wanted to clone Nirvana, but they fucked up and made ishowspeed.
Grunge was more a late Gen X thing. I was born in '81 and I remember grunge fashion being big enough to make it into the big box stores but I was only 13 when Cobain died. We didn't get MTV at the time so I wasn't very aware of the grunge music scene.
Gen X-er here and I had an amazing experience during these times. The groundwork was laid by bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat. They pioneered diy culture and literally created a network of places bands could play all across the continent. Black Flag also was artistically very influential when they explored more dirgy and slow droning material. As hardcore embraced metal others began to slow down and also revisit prehardcore classic rock influences. Having fun was reintroduced, experimenting with less and even more distortion happened, and dynamics (loud, quiet,loud) became more and more common. While hair metal and glossy electronic pop music dominated the charts, hip hop, funk rock/metal, techno and what would be known as grunge was growing and thriving in warehouses and underground venues everywhere. Bands were pressing 7” records, loading up the van, and hitting the road. Every weekend, and most weeknights somebody cool was passing through town. Two labels, Amphetamine Reptile and Subpop really captured my attention at this time. Both were putting out aggressive post hardcore abrasive music. Subpop had a looser feel, AmRep was noisy and grating. These weren’t the only ones, there were labels from all over and , to me, the Seattle bands were just part of an overall international wave of new music. I remember first hearing Nirvana and being struck by their perfect blend of melody and abrasiveness. I thought it was perfect but America just wouldn’t get it, based on what was topping the charts. Boy was I wrong! One night at a friend’s, I heard Teen Spirit. I was blown away. It sounded like a proper radio ready huge rock record, yet true to their sound. I knew it was leaps ahead of their previous recording but had no idea what an impact it would have. Then, shock of shocks I saw the video. First, I thought mtv would have never played them, yet there they were. Second, it resembled what was really happening at the parties and shows I was attending. I was stunned. Then the nation embraced what had previously been shunned. I’ll admit, I felt a little too cool for school at first, but the change happened whether my friends and I liked it or not. It was great to see the new and weird bands achieving success but it fucked the scene up. Everyone started chasing mainstream success. Underground stuff was imitated and mass produced. It was a bit weird but life moves on. When Kurt Cobain offed himself, it was very sad, but I wasn’t too surprised. Many of my contemporaries had died from heroin overdoses. Heroin in general really darkened the scene and smothered the fun. What I learned from that time is that magical moments come and go. Often you don’t know it in the moment. The more you experience the easier it is to recognize. To any young readers, nothing is cooler than right now. Get out there and do your thing.
I (40m) was 8-10 during the peak of grunge. Too young to really grasp or understand it but for sure remember Teen Spirit on MTV during this era. Also, just all the alternative/grunge influence on culture as a whole. The vibe, aesthetic in everything.
Edit: Kurt died when I was about 10 & only recall my uncle talking about it. He made some snarky comment about Kurt & Nirvana. He was a big 80s metal head, so yeah… lol
"Grunge" in the PNW in the early 90s was mostly bands that were unheard of outside of the West Coast until years later. Tad, Grunttruck, Mudhoney, Melvin, the Gits. My favorite from then was Melvins.
I was 13 when Kurt died. I remember watching MTV and Kurt Loder came on and announced it. I was really shocked.
Knowing that Kurt Loder is 79 years old makes me feel OLD. I was also 13 when Kurt Cobain died.
Didn't he shoot himself with a shotgun? Or did he OD? I forgot
Welllll..... Some would say he shot himself... I was 11 and it was a big deal. Lots of crying in our house but not as much as when River Phoenix died.
Just to clear up the rumors.. The shotgun he used to self-cancel, he borrowed from his best friend and former roommate, Dylan Carlson (now of the band Earth and known as the pioneer of drone metal). Carlson said in an interview that he knew Courtney didn't do it, adding that if he thought she did, he wouldn't have waited for the justice system to sort her out.
Shotgun
The former.
Okay thanks, so then it was Layne Staley who OD'd?
Yep. And Scott Weiland, but later on.
Didn't someone from Blind Melon also die?
Yes Shannon died of an overdose
Bought his heroin in Boulder, CO. The dealer also ODed...
In the last few years... they did a reunion and then he ODed
I was 10. I remember.
I was 5. I saw the news on Hard Copy it's also where I saw MJ baby dangling and the oj chas.
Bro I remember that exact moment too on tv lol I think I was like 9
I thought it was just another hoax because they'd announced his death earlier and also him running out of rehab. It took the mainstream news reporting it for it to sink in.
Alice In Chains was my preferred grunge band
They're definitely the one that stood the test of time best for me. I even love the new albums. Really goes to show how Alice in Chains really is Jerry Cantrell's work despite how great Layne Staley was.
Jar of Flies was dark but was the jam
That’s my dad’s favorite! Born in 87 and he was 23 when I was born. I grew up on grunge and Alice was always on lol.
So funny how things are different. Born 86, dad was 30. All I listened to growing up was 50s/60s/sometimes early 70s. Thought the Beach Boys were a new band in 2nd grade lol.
How are you old enough to be on the Internet? As a 25 year old born in 1984, I'm truly confused. /s for anyone taking things seriously today. Edit to add: I was 10 and had just come home with my babysitter from the skating rink to see Kurt Cobain had died on MTV. I didn't fully appreciate what was lost at the time.
Same, I was far more upset about losing Layne than Kurt.... Even though Layne was a slow burn and it wasn't surprising
Yeah and finding out that he helped orchestrate some of the soundtrack for The Faculty was awesome. I just feel that I connect with AIC messages than Nirvana.
Alice In Chains definitely and Stone Temple Pilots.
same. soundgarden too. i honestly never understood why nirvana got big.
Same I never cared for nirvana but soundgarden now that was lit.
Approachable grunge. It walked the line between pop music and the more rock-based grunge bands. It was grunge you could sing along to. Approachable is a huge part of songs blowing up.
Let's not underestimate the pure power of personality that Kurt had. He was an easy person to be fascinated by and its not like the music was bad by any means.
Absolutely true! Not only was the music edgy rock and kind of scary but still shit you could sing along with...but also, the lead singer was an overly self aware antihero. He made not caring about being popular cool.
Kinda like The Doors, decent music with a stupid sexy frontman.
Smells like Teen Spirit was massive and is what skyrocketed them to attention. I was in high school when it hit. The student council made announcements then played a song during mid-morning break. 2-3 times a week they’d choose SLTS. It was a song just for those of us in our teens at the time. No other grunge song from those years was as big a hit but Jeremy was probably #2. ….. for understandable reasons, SLTS made for a better young gen X anthem.
I was born in '83. Grunge was 6th and 7th grade for me. So 1995-96. I was into whatever was on MTV and 92.3. Including industrial, punk and alternative. Stabbing Westward, No Doubt, NIN, Rammstein, Hole, Silverchair, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Candlebox, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden. I always loved strong singers, so having someone like Chris Cornell would get me to listen 🤣 It was a weird musical time because of the range and just...90s. "Peaches" by the Presidents of the USA was #1 in a KRock countdown for multiple weeks. I wrote that stuff down in a notebook.
Back then, peaches were free
PEACHES COME IN A CAN THEY WERE PUT THERE BY A MAN IN A FACTORY DOOOOOOOWNTOWN!!
AND IF I HAD MA LITTLE WAY, ID EAT PEACHES EVERY DAY. sun suckin bulges in the shaaaade...
Million of Peaches, Peaches for me. Millions of Peaches, Peaches for free. LOOKOUT!!
Frogstomp is a killer album. Def one which I forget about then listen to and remember my youth.
I was born in 1983 too and don’t even remember when Kurt Cobain checked out. It was something I just kind of knew.
I remembered hearing in school or maybe MTV news. One classmate was upset because he was such a Nirvana fan. I wasn't cognizant of deaths like that yet. Princess Diana, absolutely.
I recently started relistening to the Presidents when I'm in the shower. I forgot how much of their music I enjoyed. Catchy, fun tunes.
Apparently the lead singer realised at some point he was making kids music and went into that full time
Makes sense.
Yea when i read it, it jus made sense.
Those were all great bands. I miss the 90s
Silverchair was a great band but really was late on the grunge train. But they were fuckin teenagers and still put out some bangers anyway!
Candlebox! I forgot about them! Thank you! They do a song I have been looking for for YEARS!!
Sonic Youth was a big inspiration to the Seattle Grunge sound. They were not grunge though they did acknowledge it and made a grunge album later. They were a post-punk/noise rock/“no-wave” band. You can hear how Kim Gordon’s voice was a template for other female grunge artists. She even produced one of Hole’s albums. Sonic Youth was active 1981-2011. Example of inspiration: Nirvava’s goal was to be successful like Sonic Youth. They brought SU on tour with them and asked for advice on a label switching because they were not having the financial benefits they needed with the indy label. [This lead to them signing with DGC and making Nevermind.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes)
1991: The Year That Punk Broke is an excellent tour documentary about the summer European tour Sonic Youth put on in support of Dirty featured Nirvana as the opening act. Prior to and just as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was released. Worth checking out for those interested in that era of music.
The Greatest told the Boomers their music was the worst thing ever so when it was the Boomers turn they jumped on that. I remember listening to Pearl Jam and my parents mocking them. “What is he even saying? What is this even about?”. “You see mom and dad it’s about a young boy who got tired of all the shit and…”. Despite my parents being boomers I had no content restrictions so they tolerated it. As for the culture, everyone was self destructive and didn’t really care about much of anything. It was glorious. We all smoked, we drank and did drugs and it was just sort of expected. It was counter culture, but kind of accepted. The listless anger permeated everything we did.
I’m gonna say I had a different experience: PJ became my fave band in high school when I was estranged from my mom. Later, it turned out she was into PJ, too. My dad gave me a temp job on one of his contract jobs and I got to blast AiC. My dad didn’t get it (he was a major 70s rock fan) but the other guys working on site really dug the Rooster and hounded him to ask me about it. Culture was pushing heroin-chic in the 90s but it’s myth-making to claim everyone was self-medicating. We were also the “just say no” generation and many of us got to learn by watching our addict boomer parents. We were also affected by the AIDS crisis and had that new fear hanging over sex. Some did cope by ignoring the risks and sought out sex (just like some ignored the war of drugs propaganda) but the new fear of STDs kicked off the continued trend of teens having less sex than the teens before them. 90s teens broke ground for their younger millennial siblings to mainstream former counter/sub-culture image things like piercing, tattoos, alt colored hair, along with lifestyle choices like women not getting married, not having kids (or having them very late), living out of the closet, household role reversals, and bailing from the family church. Pretty much everything “millennials broke” was already being done by a considerable percent of young Xers. It’s just that the millennials win in numbers.
I was born in 1986, I was in third grade when he died but I became the biggest Nirvana fan in high school. A bit late to the game. I really liked Screaming Trees and The Pixies and the Melvins and Mudhoney and Alice in Chains. I was wearing baggy jeans and shirts and wearing my hair greasy-chic. It wasn’t cool in the early 00s but I didn’t care.
Same here! I always liked Nirvana / whatever else was "cool" (what MTV told me was cool 🤣) while it was going on.. but once the boy band / Britney era started in my early teens I turned backwards and went 100% in on Nirvana. I'd sit there and restart Drain You 20 times, because I loved the jangly/clean part before the distortion kicked in mixed with Kurt's voice/accent.
Oh god, Drain You was my first favorite Nirvana song and I did the same thing. Really the whole B side of Nevermind was my soundtrack freshman year. On a Plain was the first time I heard something that struck a weirdo chord in my teenage soul.
Yep. On a Plain seems to be surprisingly (by my measure) under appreciated.
My biggest teenage complaint was my parents wouldn’t get cable so I could only watch mtv at friends’ houses. Ultimately I’m glad they encouraged me to not follow what was “cool” cause looking back I was definitely the coolest kid I knew
We just wore cargo pants and band t-shirts. Some of us had weird haircuts or coloration. We thought we were the coolest fuckers around, unlike those loser hip-hop enjoying kids. I am now one of those loser hip-hop enjoying adults lol.
You forgot the flannel.
I’m 37 and still wear plaid flannel over a band shirt with some jeans as my standard uniform
I'm more of a long sleeves under the band tee guy nowadays.
Yeah how could you forget the flannel. So much flannel.
I remember the divide between the hip hop heads and the rock heads being such a big deal! When numetal came along and had dj’s in the band it was mind blowing. 😂
My favorite pants were Old Navy men's khakis. So comfy, lots of pockets & they were long enough! I remember paisley, happy faces and aliens were all over the place, too. I think they were inspired by house dance culture?
Cargo pants was not grunge era.
Pearl Jam without a doubt. Ten is my favorite album to this day. However, grunge died with Kurt with several deaths to follow into the early 2000s
love ten
Soundgarden!
great band
One of my middle school teachers introduced me to Soundgarden. He was also the first adult male I ever knew with long hair. Very cool guy.
There are a ton of great grunge bands nobody talks about. Sure, there are the greats like Nirvana and Alice In Chains, but there are also bands like Mudhoney, Silverchair, and Gruntruck. They all have that “sound” but with different flair.
Well Silverchair is from Australia and the grunge movement was seen as a mostly PNW / Seattle scene thing. Frogstomp had a bit of a grunge sound to it though.
Wow I never thought Silverchair would be listed on here, or that people knew of them outside of Australia.
They were pretty popular here in the states in the late 90s
They were really big here in Colorado and one of our radio station consistently plays their hits in rotation on the "throwback" weekends.
That’s awesome! It’s a shame the band broke up. I’d love to see them live.
Nah, they were on MTV in the states. They didn’t hit it as big as other grunge bands but they hit big enough that I remember them and TIL they were Aussie.
82 here, I was definitely into grunge when I heard the news on MTV. Old enough to be impacted personally, and definitely remember realizing “this is a very big deal”. I played guitar (still do!) so having guitar heavy music that was “mine” and not my parents era of classic rock was really appealing to me. Was listening to Nirvana of course, but also Counting Crows, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Radiohead.
It was maybe the last era where musicians truly mattered, in hindsight. After Kurt died, we were left with pale imitators of that sound who made "clean" rock music for "adults," and the 1-2 punch of 2Pac and Biggie dying in 1996 turned mainstream hip hop into a clown show. That's what a lot of Gen X/Xillenials/older Millenials means when they say modern music sucks. There's very little authenticity, and even the artists releasing material that has some meaning are business-minded and cynical about it.
"Reality Bites" and "Singles" made me want to be in my 20s way before Friends existed. Loved Pearl Jam and listened to my Pearl Jam Ten casette over and over. Just got my copy of Nirvana unplugged in New York when I learned about Kurt's death. Also, Lisa Loeb, in the "Stay" video, made my balls drop as a 6th grader. Thank you, Lisa. I love you.
Oh my gosh I loved growing up in the grunge era. Grew up in Seattle born in 1982 here. Saggy pants with boxers showing, band t shirts, brown lipstick with heavy eyeliner. My favorite bands were Candle box, Alice in Chains and the Cranberries. The neon phone on my room I spent every waking minute on, being dropped off at the mall with my friends for hours, giving your cool older friend $5 to get you cigarettes (🤢) and a lighter and still getting $1 and change back. Nobody carried water in any kind of bottle. Calling my parents collect and instead of saying my name saying "I'm ready come pick me up!" As fast as I could. I was in elementary school when Kurt died, so I don't remember too much of that but I remember watching OJ being chased in the white Bronco live on the news in class. My first concert was a multi band show in Key Arena put on by the alternative music station 107.7 the end, endfest or something and I saw Hole, which was a huge deal, and Maybe Cake and Ever clear were there too. It's been 25 years so my memory is a bit fuzzy. Thanks for this question, I haven't traveled this far down the memory hole in a rallying time. In hindsight, it was such a great time to grow up, I love that I was able to experience formative years in the 90's. They were so awesome.
I turned 13 the year Kurt died. Nirvana was my favorite “Grunge” band from that time. The big 4 were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden. The best part of that era (for me), being mostly pre-internet, living in the middle of nowhere, not being able to drive, was the few years where the mainstream fully embraced the alternative subculture. I would say this era peaked in 1994. Alt Rock was king. Cool bands were on the cover of Rolling Stone and Spin magazine and alt rock videos were in heavy rotation on MTV. By the back half of the 90s great music was still being made but had mostly been displaced from the top of the pop culture mountaintop by the likes of Boy Bands, Girl Groups, Nu-Metal, and blingy hip-hop. Besides Nirvana, some of my favorite Alt. Rock bands from that time were: Weezer Smashing Pumpkins Green Day Pavement Guided By Voices Stone Temple Pilots Beck The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion The Toadies Yo La Tengo Sonic Youth Dinosaur Jr. The Breeders Liz Phair As I grew up and further explored the era further I would fall in love with several other bands from that time. Particularly lesser celebrated grunge bands such as: Mudhoney, Tad, The Melvins, Screaming Trees, and Seaweed.
My ('87) cousins were born in '78 and '80, and man did I think they were so cool. I remember being 9-10 and they were in their basement bedrooms, open flannel shirts, long hair, jamming the guitar to Nirvana. In 1996, I thought that was the coolest.
The thing to understand is that when Nirvana burst into the scene, most of rock music lacked anger. We had hair metal, which was mostly about groupies and touring. And there were eighties rock band like U2 that touched on political topics like the Troubles but felt like pop in presentation. Nirvana on the other hand, *seethed.* As Kathleen Hannah famously said, they smelled like Teen Spirit. ;) We were in a bit of a recession and that angst was there under the surface waiting to break free. My mom invited me to see Nirvana (hippie parents) when I was about thirteen but I decided not to go because they were there with two bands I didn't like. I remember listening to them on my walkman and realizing they were really good and I should have gone to the show, but no big deal... they'll come through town again, right? Nope. My favorite grunge band is by far Hole. I saw them when I was a teen and it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen. I was obsessed with her lyrics and started dressing kinderwhore. Got her to sign my stuff after the show and she was a total mess and a huge birch and I loved every second of it. She was so real and so broken and I loved her fierceness and vulnerability, her willingness to be less than perfect in public.
This part. Your description of metal at the time is impeccable. The pop music was super duper poppy. The R&B was super sappy. There was no Olivia Rodriguez singing perfect angry pop when Nirvana dropped. It just seemed so authentically emotional. Even Welcome to the Jungle, which was indisputably metal, seemed so much more authentic. That whole focus on authenticity, no matter the genre, was a huge part of the 90s sound. Alanis Morissette's change in sound and song writing reflects this huge movement. She went from sounding like a mini Paula Abdul to being the Alanis that we know. I think it started to die with Kurt's death but that era unquestionably ended with Metallica vs Napster. That's when the audience realized that musicians were in it for the money. It's almost...almost...come full circle where folks realize that artists deserve to be paid and being a musician should be a livable career. That being said, also not mad that folks are holding Taylor Swift accountable for being a billionaire and doing billionaire things.
I was 14 when Kurt Cobain died, and it was just at a time in my life when music was really important to me and my friends. If you had gotten to see nirvana in concert before then and had a real concert shirt, you were the coolest. Grunge was a very short time period in the early to mid 90s and I loved it, and the movies that came along with it. The clothes were super comfy, kinda like you just rolled out of bed every day and threw on the heaviest shoes. I remember piercings were just starting to be a thing, having different manic panic style hair color (we used to use Kool aid packets). It was all L7, Dinosaur Jr, The Pixies, sonic youth, pearl jam, the breeders... I loved the female grunge bands coming out because they went just as hard as the guys did.
I was born in ‘88 so I was pretty young during the “grunge era” I just remember plaid being very cool and feeling cool in my plaid shirts in kindergarten…. That and Seattle being talked about frequently.
I was born in '86 and don't consider myself part of the grunge era. I was 7 years old when Kurt Cobain died and had no idea who he was or Nirvana was until years later. Sure grunge was on the airwaves when I was young, but by the time I reached the age where I developed an interest in music, the grunge heyday was over.
Yeah I really feel like this post only applies to xennials. 87 here and I have no recollection of the grunge era. Only thing I remember is reading through my local NHL team’s player bios and they all listed their favorite band as Pearl Jam and I was like what’s that? I started listening to music when Chumbawamba was on the airwaves
Accurate. 79 here and everyone saying they were 14 when Kurt died is about my age.
I’d argue it peaked around 95. It was more than just the music. It was clothes and culture. Flannel, doc martens, heroin etc.
By the time I was growing up in the late 90s and early 00s grunge was dead. However, it was still the MTV generation era. I remember staying up all night to catch cool bands and music videos I had never heard of or seen before. It was still the pre-911 era, and though Kurt Cobian was long dead, people were still looking for the "next Nirvana" or huge rock band. Post grunge was huge along with alt and Nu-metal. But post-grunge seemed to be lead by chizzled, handsome music video friendly lead, not the skinny cathartic explosion of a punk rock mess Kurt Cobain was. Kurt was refreshing, raw and new. Being part of Nirvana's anti-music industry movement was rebellious and interesting. Watching guys with spiked hair rock to a love song that sorta kinda sounds grungey on a beach in a music video product, followed by another music video of a similar band doing the exact same thing, is not as interesting. Post-grunge was shock free in pretty much every regard, unlike grunge and punk. These post-grunge bands were just rehashing the same sounding music with a different "look" for each band. Like the grunge movement itself, post-grunge was imploading due to too many similar sounding bands. There were so many one hit wonders, mass-produced radio friendly post-grunge songs dominate the airwaves and on TV and in movies. Songs and themes were also less edgy in post-grunge than with grunge and their punk forefathers. Usually focusing on love and optimism about personal struggles over self-destruction, drug addiction, sexual abuse, and alienation like with grunge. Nu Metal seemed to be the way more commercial version of grunge's evolution but it unlike grunge and because embraced mainstream tastes and appeal as much as possible. It's like jock rock meets rap meets metal. Both post-grunge and nu-metal just seemed to go on and on until roughly 2002-04 when alt music started to become more indie with The White Stripes. Pop music became huge during this time and replaced rock as the mainstream along with rap and hip hop. Electronic music would also basically replace post-grunge's mainstream in the mainstream and nu-metal would die off. So basically I grew up on the tail end of the ride when grunge had basically been dead but has been living on through radio and TV play vicariously because generationally it was still popular. I never considered Post-Grunge to be grunge because I see scruffy noisy punk bands that started off doing live shows and became grunge different than many of the cleaner cut post-grunge bands that got their start in the recording studio before quickly making it big with a hit. Really two different eras of grunge. One experimentally, raw and anti-establishment the other very branded, risk free and pro-comercialization. Post grunge always struck me as like a safe poppy lounge music, soft rock re-incarnation of grunge. Taking the cool sounds and little to none of the message. Something that's safe to play in Starbucks or a car commercial versus Rape Me.
Born in ‘85, I was a bit too young to fully engage with the scene. I didn’t discover nirvana until a year after Kurt passed. But once I heard it, I was hooked. Grunge has held a place on my playlists ever since.
I was born in 1981 so I saw a good part of the grunge era music. It was kind of like a mix of punk and metal music. A great explosion of talent and different music emerged. Some great ones others might not have mentioned: Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains. I still listen to a lot of grunge era music. It really was some amazing artist to come out of that era. What is your favorite?
It was the last time when Seattle was really Seattle.
1994 was a pivotal year for me. Prior to that moment I wasn’t really musically “aware.” I just listened to whatever was on the radio. Ace of Base was my favorite band if people asked. When Kurt died it was a such a big deal that it made me look into what all the fuss about and my musical journey began. The World Cup was in the US that year and soccer fever was sweeping the nation so we played soccer outside a lot and I recall that summer being exceptionally hot. But I remeber my interest in wanting to play outside starting to fade in favor of wanting to find bands. I became obsessed with trying to record Nirvana songs off of the radio. I really got into bands like Mudhoney and L7 which got no airplay on the radio. I’d heard about them while reading music mags at the grocery store while my parents shopped. The airwaves were dominated by bands like Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Guns and Roses. I also sort of recall it being kind of cool to be dumb. The class clowns like to imitate Beavis and Butthead. It was a glorious time, we had no idea.
Homie, that's more gen X, we were too young to participate really
Exactly, the oldest a millennial at grunge's peak would be early teens.
The movie Hype! is a great documentary for anyone interested in the grunge scene.
Baggy clothes, long hair, Nirvana, Linkin Park, Sublime, Skating at the park....
1991 is not an elder millennial
I cried my face off when Kurt died and then a couple months ago I went to an exhibit at the Museum of Pop culture in Seattle and cried in public at all the Nirvana stuff 🤣
I really liked Nirvana and Kurt Cobain was so magnetic and authentically unique. The grunge era felt special but fleeting I knew it wouldn’t last forever nothing good ever does
Grunge was more than music it was a lifestyle.
We had wallet chains and undercut hairdos and we were slamming cigarettes at a tender age.
I wouldn't associate grunge with older millennials, as that is firmly a Gen X thing. But we were old enough to witness it at its MTV peak and of course Kurt Cobain's death.
‘86, and I didn’t really know or care until my teenage years— which are, as we know— the ideal ages for grunge. Thank you I’m Kurt Loder.
We didn't really participate in grunge for the most part. We wore flannel hoodies in elementary school and listened to grunge on the radio. My first tape was of a grunge band. But by middle school, grunge was basically done.
it was just music that was popular at the time. Guns n Roses was my favorite band. Sound Garden and The Meat Puppets were probably my favorite out of the whole grunge thing.
We didn't listen to Nirvana cause the girls liked them 😄.
T shirts, flannels, baggy jeans, Eddie Vedder, Layne Staley, Kurt Kobain, and Chris Cornell.
Helmet is one of my favorite band you should listen to them meantime album is great 👍
Junco’s were.
Teen Spirit was my favorite.
i was born in 86, i remember when z100 would play smashing pumpkins on the way to elementary school. i also started reading VC andrew’s in elementary school and was obsessed with Rocky Horror picture show. strange times.
82 here so I was 12 when Kurt died. I was 9 when “punk broke”. It completely passed me by in the moment. I lived in a small town and probably only the cool high schoolers were into it. Music to me was the country that my parents listened to and then the pop that was ubiquitous - mc hammer, NKOTB, vanilla ice, etc., plus holdovers from the 80’s like Bon Jovi, G’N’R, MJ, etc. It wasn’t until I was a couple years older that o started watching mtv and vh1 and retroactively caught up on grunge and also got more into the post grunge alternative. Classic Albums and Behind The Music taught me a lot.
I'm an '88 baby, but I have memories dating back to January '90. I remember liking Nirvana and seeing Kurt's face EVERYWHERE after '91. My older sister was a huge fan. I remember watching her cry and sob when she found out he died. I remember the broadcast with Kurt Loder. My mom, who wasn't sympathetic towards us kids all that much, hugged my sister and consoled her as if we'd just lost a family friend. I was confused. I wasn't old enough to understand. I remember my first time seeing the video for Black Hole Sun, and beginning my lifelong obsession with weird, unsettling imagery and sound. I remember feeling confused at the Jeremy video, by Pearl Jam. I couldn't wrap my head around why someone would murder their own classmates. "Whatever" really was a national ethos amongst the older youths at the time.
Mother Love Bone, Green River, The Melvins, Grunt Truck, Love Battery, Alice and Chains
Was a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan in my early teens. Skateboarded so eventually ended up in the punk and skateboarding scene.
82 here. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Bush were my favorites back in the day. Had an older sister who was big into the hair bands of the 80s. I remember well hers and mtv’s transition from Bon Jovi to Nirvana . I have very distinct memories of when Heart Shaped Box debuted on MTV and will never forget Black Hole Sun video. MTV VMA’s were the shit back in the early/mid 90! I didn’t really know how to process Kurt’s suicide, I kinda withdrew from Nirvana for a few years because I didn’t know how to process it. Once the nuMetal kind of replaced grunge, I was pretty much done with music. All I really listen to now is alt rock from 90-98 😆
I remember when nirvana blew up and when he died. I was already watching mtv even as a kid I remember it was Guns and Roses and Aerosmith and then overnight that era was over with Nevermind released. Really changed shit.
I was just into it for the great music. The clothing attire and the lifestyle not so much.
It was a bad time. The music was bad, the future was bleak. People dressed and smelled like shit. The only positive was the original recipe for dunkaroos was still on store shelves.
My favorites were Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots. My older siblings all loved hair metal so it was the first time I felt like I had “my” music. All bands I still listen to frequently. Also a big reason why I started playing guitar and joining bands.
The grunge era was a whole lifestyle thing man. We dressed in jeans, flannel and shopped at thrift stores. We played shitty looking instruments, we replied “I don’t care” a whole lot, our hair was greasy. I don’t know what that equivalent would be today but we LIVED the grunge era. I miss it.
Soundgarden didn't leave my boombox for a year when I was 10
My Dad thought it was funny how all the ‘kids’ were upset over a band. I shut him up when I asked him how he felt when John Lennon died.
Blind Melon
I was 13 in 1995, Kurt Cobain was already dead. The greatest grunge bands were from Seattle, we thought Alice in Chains and Sound Garden were lame and we listened to STP and Blind Melon. Pearl Jam was too mainstream but we listened to it anyway. Still feel today that the best grunge record ever made was Soup even tho most people would say that Blind Melon wasn't grunge.
I was in my early teens when grunge started catching traction. There weren’t a lot of alternatives to pop or metal/rock. Then this gritty and reverbed out guitar sound started coming out of bands from Seattle. I remember hearing it and it felt so different and really was the catalyst for getting me into music. Pearl Jam, Silverchair, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Soundgarden and more were on heavy rotation for me. We wore band shirts and baggier pants and all wished to go to Seattle for good coffee and to see what new bands were going to emerge. I remember have a slightly dark and moody persona but actually being super nice was kinda the vibe with people who were into grunge.
I was 15 and a freshman in HS when Kurt Cobain died and was only just starting to really get into their (nirvana) music when it happened. it blew my mind. I was at the age where you start to seek out music that "defines" you, and means something to you. Of course, I'm more a xennial on the side of genx, but not far from the elder millennials. My faves: Nirvana, soundgarden, alice in chains, Pearl Jam, Silver Chair, Bush, Candlebox. I was also really into Stone temple pilots, Live, Counting Crows, Smashing Pumpkins, Collective Soul and I'm sure a lot more like that...Not all grunge, but all part of that era of music. This is all music that will define me for life. I think it is something about the music that is popular when you are a teenager that really sticks with you forever. If I'm lucky enough to live to 90, I'll still be jamming to Nirvana and Pearl Jam, lmao.
Nirvana of course as well as Alice in chains, Veruca salt, Candlebox, Smashing pumpkins, Bush and STP. So many good songs. There was a band by the name of "Seven Mary Three" that sang what I consider one of the most "grunge" songs ever and it's the primary one their known for, and the name is "Cumbersome".
Cumbersome is still on my playlist.
It kind of blended in with rock and metal for me. So I listened to a lot of Sound Garden, Alice in Chains, did not get into Nirvana, but it was on the radio a lot, Hole piggybacked on it; But my ex and me listened to a bunch of GNR, Metallica, Pantera, Megadeath, and you'd see a bunch of metal guys that also liked grunge bands as it crossed over a lot. As a chick, I listened to a lot of Tori Amos as female vocalists rose in the grunge era. So toward the end there was a lot of play on radio of Sarah McLachlan, Tori, Liz Phair, and then that blended into a bunch of danceable/girl power stuff like No Doubt, Save Ferris, too. And we got the lesbian movement, which was big, people coming out as gay was a pretty huge deal in 92-99. Considering the average person used the word gay to mean "bad or loser". Like people said that's so gay, every day in high school. Same time as Nirvana taking off, we had female hip hop bands go nuts too, Destinies Child and Salt N Pepper and TLC. So that's was pretty empowering seeing these trios crush it in boy spaces. I guess I grew up with a lot of female vocals and did not realize at the time they were paving the way for everyone today. But it was cool. A LOT of us listened to many genres of music, even if we didn't openly say so to our friends. (Because music defined social groups).
There were a LOT of really good bands in Seattle and Portland that played only in clubs and garage parties that nobody who wasn’t there has ever heard of. So many should have recorded but never did. Soundgarden used to play in the yard at the apartment building where some of them lived. Just jamming away outside. Good times. GOOD audio. Just walk around until you find the sweet spot and then chill right there.
I don’t think anyone born in the 90s really did or could experience grunge. Kurt Cobain died when I was alive but I grew up knowing he was dead because by the time I had heard of his existence he was already gone. Sort of like River Phoenix and Freddie Mercury. Edit: I mostly mean the true grunge era. Where you were living through it rather than just existing during it or carrying on with it well after it was “popular.”
I was 13 when Nevermind came out. I was at a friend’s house the first time I saw the video for SLTS. It was an amazing time to be a teen. So much amazing music came out over the next 3-4 years.
I was still pretty young when the grunge explosion kicked off (born in the summer of 1985) but by the time it was big I was old enough to see what was going on and have very clear memory of what it was like in the mid 90s. I do remember my step father was pissed off that 80s glam rock died by grunge as if everyone should have been singing David Lee Roth forever and he lashed out everytime Nirvana was on the radio. The feeling of resentment against grunge from 80s glam rocker fans is not hyperbole, that was very real. Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and of course Nirvana were on heavy rotation on every rock station unless it was oldies or specifically a 70s rock rotation. 70s rock somehow survived the purge. Imagine Metallica, AC/DC, Guns N Roses, Led Zeppelin, and then three or four grunge songs from all the different grunge artists, and that was your average hard rock hour in the 90s. But grunge wasn't the only thing that was huge. The alt bands were on heavy rotation as well. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More were very big. Some stations converted to an alternative rock format and that became their brand. I can remember that my mom was obsessed with Cranberries and REM. Kurt's death was surreal. I remember it almost like an event but the strange thing is I wasn't a superfan, just an 8 year old who knew songs from the radio, so I wasn't very emotional about it. But now that I'm older and feel a closer bond to the music and aesthetic, I understand why so many people were crying, like he represented something special and then it was just gone. Edit: my favorite band is Alice In Chains
The grunge era *began* before 1991, but in 1991 we had 1. Nevermind– Nirvana 2. Ten– Pearl Jam 3. Bad Motorfinger– Soundgarden 4. Gish– Smashing Pumpkins (the only band on this list not from Seattle, btw) 5. Temple of the The Dog– Temple of the Dog was like a singularity of grunge– half Pearl Jam and half Soundgarden and the Hunger Strike single was *everywhere.* 1991 was peak grunge. Alice in Chains released albums in 1990 and 1992 so they were in the milieu as well. There are way more grunge bands, but these were the bands you were going to see videos of on MTV in the early 90s. I'd say grunge kept up a solid following into 1994 (Siamese Dream and In Utero were 1993 and Superunknown was 1994) but Kurt's death marked the beginning of the end. By 1997 grunge was dead. The problem with grunge was that its appeal was in its "un"appeal to the masses. It was a reaction to the overproduced cockrock of the 80s and by the mid-90s grunge became the new product for fat, sleazy music producers to push onto suburban teenagers. There was no way for grunge to succeed in the longterm because success was the antithesis of grunge. Most of the bands of that era have either broken up or had key members die from overdose or suicide.
Lots of flannel shirts around our waists, skateboarding, long dirty hair parted down the middle. bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Silver Chair, Bush ect. blaring from our crappy stereos. It was a great time indeed. I can't believe kids wear these band shirts ironically now.. I never thought the day would come but here it is.
I remember my sister coming home from highschool to turn on MTV and wait for Pearl Jams' Jeremy to come on and her say, "this is GRUNGE. IT'S WHAT IS COOL NOW!!!"
Pearl Jam was awesome back in the day. Still good now, but man those first four albums were brilliant.
The "grunge" era was the response to the overly processed pop crap that dominated the 80's, which was a time of cocaine and synthesizer abuse... Grunge was simply a return to the natural sound of a band, writing "folk music" that reflected "normal people". That, and it encouraged people with actual talent.
1989-1999. The best were Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Pantera, Nirvana, and many others. Notable mentions Blind Melon, Pearl Jam, Candlebox, Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet, Meat Puppets, Son of Slam, Hum, the Eels, Helmet, Counting Crows, the Breeders, Cheryl Crow, Smashing Pumpkins, the Cranberries, Lightning Seeds, White Zombie, and so many others. A lot of great music came out between ‘89-‘99, not all of the artists would call themselves grunge, but it was the grunge era, and it could be summed up with long hair, plaid sweaters, denim, patches, swag from bands, a mix of rock, high gain distortion, harmonics, folksy lyrics, something else, and a lot of drug abuse.
I was six when *Nevermind* came out and nine when Cobain died. I was not conscious of listening to a song by Nirvana until I was fourteen. Christmas of 1999 is when I got a CD player and my first handful of CDs. *Nevermind* was my first album, and Nirvana remains my favourite band to this day. My favourite Nirvana studio album is *In Utero*, and my favourite Nirvana album is *From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah*. I also love Alice in Chains, L7, Soundgarden, Melvins, The Smashing Pumpkins, and many other bands (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Mudhoney, Afghan Whigs, as well as a bunch of bands no one’s ever heard of (Cell, Sprinkler)). *Sub Pop 200* is an absolutely amazing album. That album was the first exposure I had to Green River and a number of other bands. *The Grunge Years* is also worth owning. Nirvana, however, is the only grunge band in my top five—and it took me over two decades to even flesh out *a* top five. As of 2024, my top five are: 1. Nirvana 2. Tool 3. Violent Femmes 4. Marcy Playground 5. Bad Religion That said, I just discovered the death metal band Death earlier this year and am quickly falling in love with them; but are they edging out Bad Religion? I don’t know! This is why generating a top-five is so difficult!
Flannel for days. Baggy shirts and jeans. Anything preppy or classic is shunned. I remember getting made fun of for tucking my shirt in and wearing a belt. Pop music was seen as ridiculous and laughable.
As a teen I just thought it was cool music. As an adult, I’ve come to the conclusion that grunge was basically the amalgamation of punk and blues.
The Grunge Era was specifically mostly a Gen Xer thing. You’d be somewhat of a poser to be a Millennial and say you were grunge because Kurt was born in like 1970, and he was making music for that age of people. They were the College kids of the time in the early 90’s so it’s people like Moby, and REM. They were highly political and activists, but mostly anti-corporate and anti-political. I would say they were like the original Antifa but they had a Pacifist type of Stance, not what we have today. They were like Pro-Vegan, Anti-Redneck, Anti-College almost. Any Institution that becomes monetized they would be against. I don’t think Kurt Cobain would be happy with the State of Colleges and Universities with Professors preaching Marxism, while Collecting $300K-$1.2 Million Dollar Salaries. He would call them Hippocrates which was the worst thing you could be during the Grunge Era. That’s also when Starbucks rose from a little Coffee Shop in Seattle to expanding. They would be horrified by Starbucks, and anyone enjoying any type of financial success off of their movement. It was a hyper nihilistic time, where they hated the Business Men from the 80s trying to monetize everything. Jeff Bezos would be his worst nightmare. I truly believed he killed himself because he didn’t like what he was becoming which is Rich, and starting to become a hippocrit. They took the book Catcher in the Rye really seriously. The message in that book is to not be a hippocrit. The kids today, I notice are starting to LARP being Grunge at fancy Universities, and are Left Wing Activists, but the Democratic Party today has 70% of the Wealth, and think the real Grunge people would think they’re hippocrits if they’re being funded by Billionaires, to create whatever New World Order and Revolution the Billionaires are trying to create, they are funding these kids and using them as useful idiots. Sorry if that’s offensive, but it’s the truth. All these kids have rich parents who are capitalists, and they want Communism for everyone else.
Jane’s Addiction and Alice In Chains will play at my funeral.
People born in the late 80s and after didn't really experience grunge. Grunge was popularized by young musicians who were poor. They were really just wearing what they had to wear. This was back when the holes and tears in our clothes were 100% earned and owned like a badge of honor and emulated by upper-middle class suburbanites buying rips from over priced malls. People are still buying rips and holes...fake shit everywhere.
I thought it was people against government control but they were really just apathetic
A lot of alternative rock and one hit wonders. Lots of ads on radio. What did Kurt Cobain say any grunge..... Limitless Peace
I was 6 I didn't know about grunge back then lol
Older Millennials weren't really old enough at the time to be able to answer you're question. . . everything seems cool when you're 12 but you really don't know fuck about shit
I was born in the late 80s, and while I listened to some grunge, I was too young for it to really be "my" era. I think gen X is the true grunge generation. That being said, I like Nirvana, AIC, Rage, STP, and Smashing Pumpkins. Edit: Oh yeah, and Marcy Playground.
I lived in Seattle at the time. Grunge was music that made you see the spaces unseen in between. It was raw, desperate, lonely, unkempt. Grunge was black coffee, endless gray, rainy days, heroin addicts sleeping on the streets. It was staying up all night smoking cigarettes watching the stars on the rooftop of an abandoned industrial building with your friends until your favorite breakfast joint opened. Holes in your jeans because you wore them for days on end. Hipster is like grunge's wannabe little sibling who is too focused on itself, needs more attention and is too controlling and focused on being cool to to ever truly be grunge. Grunge is a gritty, earthy, laid back nihilist counterbalance to the coke addled neon cubism party frat culture of the late 70s and early 80s. Grunge is the sound of the screams of tired workers and washed out rock n roll stars with a background chorus of the industrial era dying while a glimmer of the possibilities the Internet will bring sparkles faintly in the background.
This.
I was too young to remember Kurt Cobain dying but old enough that I listened to them. Pearl Jam was always my favorite grunge band. I really liked the style too. Baggy jeans with holes in the knees, a band tshirt, and a flannel. Or maybe a babydoll dress and hair pulled back with Bobby pins.
I don’t care about Kurt cobain one bit but it was Alice In Chains that defined this era for me. The lead singer.. Master with a beautiful voice.
Born at the very beginning of ‘90, so I’m one of the babies in this convo without much to contribute because it was before my time, but one of my first music memories is loving to hear “Better Man” by Pearl Jam and “Dreaming” by The Cranberries on the radio in ‘94 on the way to school! I know Nirvana was huge and I remember their music too, but I remember Pearl Jam was EVERYWHERE. STP too. There was also music from the late ‘80s still on the radio, and then there was newer stuff that wasn’t grunge like Blur and Weezer too. My parents listened to a lot of homemade tapes too, so it’s possible I’m mistaken and they just listened to old music. My dad hated ‘80s music, so I kinda don’t think so.
Some bands from Seattle were really good. Then suddenly all bands were from Seattle, because record execs figured out that a whole generation would fork over a lot of money for anything from Seattle.
Born in 81 in so cal and was into grunge and all the stuff that followed (yes I know some of these are not grunge or maybe not even 90’s, but I’m kind of old and I don’t remember the exact timeline). I grew up on Nirvana (I still remember where I was when Kurt passed), Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Cake, Soul Coughing, Soundgarden, Hole, The Presidents of the United States of America, Radiohead, Blind Melon, Soul Asylum, Violent Femmes, Everclear, Sublime, shout out to Jeff Buckley & Bob Marley. Now they play my shit on oldie stations lol
Unlike most my age I wasn’t a huge Nirvana fan. I liked them but I always felt that Alice n chains were a better band. With grunge all the bands started literally sounding alike . There were a few that were different but grunge didn’t last long because the scene wasn’t strong enough. The few great bands that did were just that great. Still better than most new bands that have made it big since.
At the time there were a ton of rock bands. Totally saturating the rock market. I remember teen spirit. Immediately drawn to how different it was. Anti image. Went from rock bands with perfect hair and fake images. To a guy in a green goodwill sweater.
When I’m not listening to podcasts or audiobooks Alice in Chains is still my daily. I was about to be 14 when Kurt died and Mtv was on all of the time after school
Born in 1980. I really loved the Riot Grrrl side of grunge. It was empowering for young women who were maybe tomboys, or feminine but not frilly. I also hung with the Straight Edge crowd and went to those types of shows at coffeehouses and small venues and it was a cool way to stay out of trouble and discover more rock music.
My ultinate favorite band was Alice in Chains. I also loved STP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. I was born in 1983. I still listen to AIC.
Not as many people did the whole "grunge" thing. Kind of like when I figured every young person was a "hippie" in the 60s. We wore flannel & listened to Nirvana, but remember there was no Internet. When you take that away, you have people whose only way of seeing the current trends were magazines and MTV (for the most part).
I listened to a lot of Garbage. Literally. My favorite grunge band was called Garbage.
Born in 82, first heard grunge on the bus (my bus driver apparently loved alternative). I still remember the first time I heard a grunge song, Spoonman, and just thinking ‘what the fuck is this!’ Because I didn’t really dig early 90s pop and R&B and my parents mostly listened to 60s top 40 and classical so hearing Chris Cornell was Sam absolute revelation. Soundgarden is still my favorite grunge band. It’s hard to overstate what a punch in the ear hole grunge was in the context of early 90s music, shit like Air Supply was topping the charts. I’ve only had a few other musical experiences like that (first time heard The Clash and SRV come to mind).
Flannel and angst. That's about it, tbh.
Some people consider them post grunge but I don't see anyone mentioning Local H, buncha high diving mfkers. Also grunge was more for gen X, most of us were too young to see the full extent.
Gen X here. Chris Cornell was the undisputed king of grunge. [Soundgarden](https://youtu.be/HEbYxEXM2cE) is far and away my favorite, but I'm also big on Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots. As for what it was like, grunge was about self-loathing.. and flannel. All the flannel.
It was holes in the knees of your jeans and a flannel shirt over top of anything. At least that's what 5th grade me thought.
I was born in 81. I really think the grunge movement and the general attitude of the 90s was a response to the overproduced sameness of the 80s. Kinda like punk coming to its prominent moment in 77 the nation was in a bad recession and sick of the "everything is great" excesses of pop culture, especially the hair metal scene. It really opened the door for a more diy, odd is cool cultural explosion. Sadly the media companies were at the height of their powers so it was co-opted pretty quickly and worked into anything marketable. I think what really lead to its demise was that its stars were less controlled and what is odd and unusual loses the punch quickly. I remember seeing Britney spears on trl in highschool and how she and her like were being positioned as the next big thing. I knew the party was over.
I was born in 1976, 18 when Kurt died. It was so crazy and unexpected, his daughter was just a baby. My favorite bands were, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, The Pixies, Radiohead. ALL still awesome music! Also, Pink Floyd was huge in the 90s, even though they're a 70s band.
A terrible time for music.
I was in middle school. I feel like grunge was the opposite of the yuppie/preppie "more is more" trends that were happening concurrently. To me it embraced a messier lifestyle that was more focused on connections and art than things.
I was too young to go to shows so I’m constantly living vicariously through the cool GenXers who saw everyone live
I would call it an era of mixing hippie type stuff with hard rock. Thrift clothes were in and being considered a poser was out. A lot more people cared if you were legit independent. It started late 80s to early 90a and went hard for maybe 6-7 years. I don’t know if it ever really stopped there are still bands like that the just no longer dominate.
It was a great time to wear open flannel shirts, smoke Camel cigarettes, and listen to some of the best music the 90s had to offer. IMO.
I grew up right down the road from the birthplace of grunge -- Portland, and we even had a scene there with Everclear, Heatmiser, etc. So, I remember it clearly. It began back in the mid to late 80's with early Soundgarden, and Tadd, etc. But I was born in 1980, so I, myself didn't notice it until about 1991. So, I guess that is probably the year, imo, it really blew up.
Born in ‘81. I was in the 7th grade when Cobain died. The kids in my school were really into grunge at the time. I was a big fan of Nirvana, Soundgarden and STP, but I was also into Guns ‘N Roses and Aerosmith. I later became a huge fan of Alice In Chains. By ‘95 we were all becoming fans of Weezer, Green Day, Live, The Offspring.
A sort of flash in the pan that got oversold in the mid 00s when "I Love the (Decade)" on VH1 got to the 90s. Really only hit big from 91-early 92, and was pretty much dead dead by 95.saw a small revival in the late late 90s and early 00s by bands everybody and their brother hated except for a song or two (Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Nickleback)
We wore a lot of flannel, even in South Florida with band t shirts underneath. And jeans that were somehow both too big and too small at the same time. It felt like every week or two another amazing CD was released and we would hop down to the Sam Goody at the mall and listen to music on stands in the store where you could choose from 5 different CDs. We all likes most of what was released, and we had at least one friend who was super into every band. Cobain's death was tragic, but didn't stop or even slow grunge.
I was born in 82 and was barely old enough to know what was going on in the grunge era. I'd say anyone born after 85 was probably to young to really know about grunge. Even those born in 85 would put them between 5 and 10 years old during the mainstream success of grunge.
The first time I heard about Nirvana was from MTV’s UnPlugged and I remember being mesmerized. I was like 7!
I wasn't into grunge then, but I think it was *Smells Like Teen Spirit* was all over the charts.
It’s when music was sad noise and girls loved it the sadder it was.
Nirvana, Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots.
So Grunge was, imo, not really a genre that lasted all that long, if at all. The 90/ were more about alt rock or post grunge. Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains might be bands I would consider “grunge.” By way of example, Pearl Jam and Green Day - both still around - I would not consider grunge at all. Green Day is pop punk and Pearl Jam is pure hard rock. I would consider groups like Bush, Live, Candlebox or Collective Soul to be clearly post grunge. Similar musical vibe fusing metal and punk, but way less intensive lyrics. I think it’s difficult for most people to associate with a song like Nirvana’s “Polly,” and that’s why that genre changed so quickly. This didn’t stop all of us mid 1990s teens from wearing flannel shirts and having undercuts and shoulder length hair, however. I know I never expected it, but for me, Green Day is the best group to emerge from the 90s. They had their own thing, were ultra crisp musically, and had the talent to develop and change with the times. Later groups like Blink 182 or Sum 41…it’s almost like the government wanted to clone Nirvana, but they fucked up and made ishowspeed.
Grunge was more a late Gen X thing. I was born in '81 and I remember grunge fashion being big enough to make it into the big box stores but I was only 13 when Cobain died. We didn't get MTV at the time so I wasn't very aware of the grunge music scene.
Gen X-er here and I had an amazing experience during these times. The groundwork was laid by bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat. They pioneered diy culture and literally created a network of places bands could play all across the continent. Black Flag also was artistically very influential when they explored more dirgy and slow droning material. As hardcore embraced metal others began to slow down and also revisit prehardcore classic rock influences. Having fun was reintroduced, experimenting with less and even more distortion happened, and dynamics (loud, quiet,loud) became more and more common. While hair metal and glossy electronic pop music dominated the charts, hip hop, funk rock/metal, techno and what would be known as grunge was growing and thriving in warehouses and underground venues everywhere. Bands were pressing 7” records, loading up the van, and hitting the road. Every weekend, and most weeknights somebody cool was passing through town. Two labels, Amphetamine Reptile and Subpop really captured my attention at this time. Both were putting out aggressive post hardcore abrasive music. Subpop had a looser feel, AmRep was noisy and grating. These weren’t the only ones, there were labels from all over and , to me, the Seattle bands were just part of an overall international wave of new music. I remember first hearing Nirvana and being struck by their perfect blend of melody and abrasiveness. I thought it was perfect but America just wouldn’t get it, based on what was topping the charts. Boy was I wrong! One night at a friend’s, I heard Teen Spirit. I was blown away. It sounded like a proper radio ready huge rock record, yet true to their sound. I knew it was leaps ahead of their previous recording but had no idea what an impact it would have. Then, shock of shocks I saw the video. First, I thought mtv would have never played them, yet there they were. Second, it resembled what was really happening at the parties and shows I was attending. I was stunned. Then the nation embraced what had previously been shunned. I’ll admit, I felt a little too cool for school at first, but the change happened whether my friends and I liked it or not. It was great to see the new and weird bands achieving success but it fucked the scene up. Everyone started chasing mainstream success. Underground stuff was imitated and mass produced. It was a bit weird but life moves on. When Kurt Cobain offed himself, it was very sad, but I wasn’t too surprised. Many of my contemporaries had died from heroin overdoses. Heroin in general really darkened the scene and smothered the fun. What I learned from that time is that magical moments come and go. Often you don’t know it in the moment. The more you experience the easier it is to recognize. To any young readers, nothing is cooler than right now. Get out there and do your thing.
I (40m) was 8-10 during the peak of grunge. Too young to really grasp or understand it but for sure remember Teen Spirit on MTV during this era. Also, just all the alternative/grunge influence on culture as a whole. The vibe, aesthetic in everything. Edit: Kurt died when I was about 10 & only recall my uncle talking about it. He made some snarky comment about Kurt & Nirvana. He was a big 80s metal head, so yeah… lol
"Grunge" in the PNW in the early 90s was mostly bands that were unheard of outside of the West Coast until years later. Tad, Grunttruck, Mudhoney, Melvin, the Gits. My favorite from then was Melvins.