What is "Grunge"? Really.

detuned wrote:

The point I was trying to make was that as a musical "style", grunge never really existed...it was just a marketing term made up by record labels.

Aren't they all?

candlemass wrote:

detuned wrote:

The point I was trying to make was that as a musical "style", grunge never really existed...it was just a marketing term made up by record labels.

Aren't they all?

Yes, but some terms are at least semi-descriptive of what it sounds like.

Perhaps, but this is no different than goth, alternative, glam....

as of now, is it grunge is still in mainstream? what i mean is compared to late 90's?

I think Grunge is defined as much by themes, emotions and attitude as much as by its sound. Certainly, all the bands labeled as "Grunge" were very different... AIC, Pearl Jam, Soundgarten, Nirvana, etc. But, that is true of any musical label. Certainly, all "heavy metal" bands have very different sounds. I think what categorized many of these bands as "grunge" was the fact their music covered a more somber subject matter... it was definitely not "party" easy going music for the most part.

I think what someone else mentioned here is true... pretty much all label tend to be marketing tools. It odes not diminish the quality of the bands mentioned here, though. I think Nirvana and Pearl Jam are great bands, regadless of lable. The only problem with Grunge is that suddenly many crappy bands began to be lumped under teh same label. But the same is true of any other movement. There are alot of crappy bands labeled as metal, or punk, or southern rock too.

grunge was coined by Mark Arm(of mudhoney and green river), who is a true musician not looking for money, so its not really a commercial label.

Onkel Ben wrote:

grunge was coined by Mark Arm(of mudhoney and green river), who is a true musician not looking for money, so its not really a commercial label.

nice! well, grunge is actually a sub-genre which makes us stimulate hehehe! lols

The term Grunge always confused me because the first time I'd ever heard it to describe a band was in reference to Sonic Youth in like 1988 or so. We didn't think of it as a distinct genre but more like a vague catch-all used to refer to certain punk or harder alternative bands. Then Nirvana came along, and, okay, that fit fine but then you started hearing about it being synonymous with "the Seattle sound" and from then on it was like Grunge meant "band from Seattle". I seem to recall someone once trying to stuff Queensryche into that box, too.

That was a weird time. My friends and I used to dress in flannel shirts a lot back then but when Grunge hit the national media suddenly started telling us that we got that idea from Seattle, which was interesting because we'd never been to Seattle or anywhere near that part of the country. All that time we'd just thought we were dressing like that because the shirts were comfortable and weren't too obnoxious to look at.

grunge rocks!

Notice with the exception of maybe Soundgarden the singers are all similar.

Troublezone wrote:

I don't know about the others but AIC was a heavy rock/metal band.

xyz wrote:

I'd still say Alice In Chains and Soundgarden were metal. They wrote some heavy stuff.

I always thought of AIC as metal as well and I'm glad others agree with me (I remember Eyesore trying to correct me on that but that didn't change my mind any). Love AIC's first two albums, Soundgarden, and the first Pearl Jam album (to be fair I never heard the other albums) and I liked some Nirvana (though I believe they are one of the most overrated bands in history). I never really knew what exactly grunge was but now in hindsight (my magical butt) I do see that it was just a movement and not a genre. I do remember that at the time, any band from Seattle was called grunge (even Queensryche which really puzzled me).

hen8 wrote:

grunge rocks!

are u mad ?!

^ no dude. i am not mad, i am happy were changing idea's here in our beloved forum! hehehe.

I think the term "Grunge" came about as a combination of what was being called the "Seattle Sound" and how the bands looked. These new bands (at the time) were wearing torn sneakers, flannel shirts, hadn't shaved, had mussed hair and could care less how they looked which was a direct contrast to the previous reign of bands where image was just as important as the music or more.

These bands all looked plain, ragged, rough around the edges, etc..."grungy"...

It's like "Glam"...a word describing both a sound AND a look...look at Poison, LA Guns, T-Rex, Slade, Britny Fox, etc...all got slapped w/ the "Glam" tag, but they all sound a little different from each other.

hen8 wrote:

^ no dude. i am not mad, i am happy were changing idea's here in our beloved forum! hehehe.

Long Live Grunge!!!!!!

Addy wrote:

hen8 wrote:

^ no dude. i am not mad, i am happy were changing idea's here in our beloved forum! hehehe.

Long Live Grunge!!!!!!

and the Load albums!

^ long live SAMAHANG ILOKANO .. hehehe!!

what is grunge...?

not something I listen too......

mr.electric39 wrote:

what is grunge...?

not something I listen too......

I do from time to time...some are good and some are like wth?

And Troublezone Just one Load album all Reload is good for is a coaster...

In all honesty, all of the bands labeled "Grunge" here are solid Rock bands...nothing wrong with that even if we can't get into it.

^ yah your right sir.!

detuned wrote:

candlemass wrote:

detuned wrote:

The point I was trying to make was that as a musical "style", grunge never really existed...it was just a marketing term made up by record labels.

Aren't they all?

Yes, but some terms are at least semi-descriptive of what it sounds like.

heavy metal sound like heavy metal? Does rock sound like rocks? I guess country does sound like country.

Actually, the term grunge does semi-descrive the musical trend. The music in this movement typically borrowed some from 70's hard rock, but the pace was slowed down and the sound was heavier. It is indeed "grungy"

What is grunge really?

Plain and simple - it's just heavy metal mixed with alternative music. It's a hybrid of the two.

In the 80s alternative rock was referred to as 'new wave'. Not to be confused with synthpop mind you.

Synthpop bands like Depeche Mode and A-Ha were often wrongly referred to as 'new wave', when in reality they were synthpop.

New wave acts of the 80s were bands like Psychelic Furs and Talking Heads. Later this type of music was called 'alternative' in the beginning part of the 90s.


So ... grunge is a hybrid of alternative and metal.

Bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains (both) were into metal as well as new wave music. So it was really an inevitable hybrid of music that was destined to come to pass sooner or later.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of grunge (though I do like Nirvana). However, I like new wave in it's purest forms. And of course I love heavy metal.

Well, I'm really liking the new Alice In Chains album "Black Gives Way To Blue" anyway, whatever kind of music it is.

SAHB Healer wrote:

Well, I'm really liking the new Alice In Chains album "Black Gives Way To Blue" anyway, whatever kind of music it is.

It's actually a lot better than I thought it was gonna be.

It's still not quite my cup of tea, but I can totally understand why people like yourself are getting into it. It's just that I never was a fan to begin with.

To me, it's grunge. But there's nothing wrong with that either.