In response to a statement made in the “
Grunge” node.
It is often asserted that the
grunge subculture died in the mid nineties, a victim of waning interest after the death of
Kurt Cobain. This, however is a vast misconception made by the mtv viewing public of
America who believe that if they no longer support a
trend it has ceased to exist.
One can observe the groundwork for grunge music being laid in the late nineteen seventies by bands such as
Led Zeppelin,
Black Sabbath, and
Neil Young;
hard rock or
proto-punk artists whose revolutionary musical styling would be the major influence for the sound to come. Evolving from the morass that is the seventies came
punk rock and
heavy metal that would find a
moot point that would become Grunge.
This middle ground would be characterized by the irregular and
chaotic melodies of metal and a modified version of punk’s
musical and
lyrical method. The first wave, featuring bands like
Mudhoney,
Green River, and
Soundgarden, were noticeably harder than their second generation counter parts. A true subculture, very few of these bands rose to the status of “
popular”.
The subculture position was shattered when
Nirvana became the first grunge band to the main stream. The second coming of grunge was in full effect, separated by its older brother by the softer, more melodic rhythms. The interest increased, angst ridden teens in flannel and torn jeans now populated the schools and street corners of America. Bands such as
Soundgarden and
Pearl Jam exploded to biblical proportions.
The media domination of grunge came to a violent halt with the infamous suicide of
Nirvana front man
Kurt Cobain. Thus the grunge movement was pronounced dead by popular culture and the mindless
minions of radio and tv latched onto the next big trend. However, this was untrue. Even to this day the grunge scene is
alive and well, as a subculture from whence it came. Bands such as
Angel Bitch and
Praying Violently continue to attend to the legacy of the style, banging out sloppy, uneven, and beautiful grunge music.
I write this 10 minutes before attending a show of local Grunge bands, further proof the validity of this statement.