Last school year, I started off with an overview of the 90s fashion, as it was coming back into the trend. So, to go back to my roots, I am starting off the 2023-24 school year with another, except this time I am doing the Grunge movement and the history behind it.
Grunge is considered to be from Seattle, Washington. The grunge movement originated in the 1980s. A nickname that emerged for grunge is the ‘Seattle Sound’, which this nickname helped the subculture grow, not only into a style choice but also a music genre. The independent record label, Sub Pop, which was based in Seattle, is credited for the rapid promotion of Grunge. Rock musicians just starting out and couldn’t afford recording studios couldn’t produce the clean sound they wanted. So instead, they would crank up the volume which led to the “dirty” recordings.
The music industry that was promoting this new genre described it as grunge, which is used as an adjective, to describe something that is dirty or offensive, hence people calling it a “dirty” recording. During the early days, the music was a mix of heavy metal and punk rock. The signature sounds are contorted electric guitars, heavy bass, and drums. The word’s definition, of the genre, was seen as lionhearted and unconventional. It defied the music industry’s status quo as the lyrics and sound in the songs were viewed as angsty and dark, portraying the feeling of being misunderstood. These themes in the songs spoke to a huge audience and ended up igniting the grunge era.
As more grunge artists popped up, the underground music scene was gaining momentum, and fast. By the early ‘90s, the grunge scene was so popular that it was no longer a subgenre; it was mainstream. Many people think of Nirvana as the main band that helped ignite the era (or commonly Kurt Cobain). Other bands also helped this become mainstream at the time including Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Melvins, Mudhoney, and Mother Love Bones. Outside the U.S., bands like Radiohead and Bush climbed the charts as well. The rise of these bands helped Grunge music become more widely listened to and more popular as one of the most listened-to genres of rock music. Towards the end of the era, the sound included indie rock influences in addition to punk and heavy metal. This is where the subgenre, Post Grunge, emerges. The bands that promoted this subgenre are Nickelback, 3 Doors Down, Collective Soul, Everclear, Foo Fighters, Hoobastank, Godsmack, Incubus, Creed, and Third Eye Blind. What makes Grunge music so popular is that it came at the end of the century. Many of the bands broke up or stopped making albums in the ‘90s, which triggered a lot of nostalgia. Kurt Cobain’s death on April 5, 1994, caused the entire movement to mourn. And yet, the integration of Grunge into pop culture helped another subculture grow; alternative music!
Then throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, fans began to copy the style of the band idols they saw on stage. At first, the look was casual. Some describe it as a slacker fashion or as a slouch style. At the beginning of the era, the fashion tilted toward the punk rock side, embracing the daring and brave-faced persona of rebels. This contrasted with the shiny, bright, and colorful aspect of the ‘80s, while Grunge embraced the darker, fringe aesthetic. This includes black clothing, mohawks, piercings, tattoos, chains, cut-off, sleeves, fishnets, studded belts, and leather jackets.
As the movement went along, it evolved. The ‘90s grunge was known for the faded, ripped, frayed, and occasionally wrinkled threads of the disheveled look. Some of the fashion aspects that are associated with this are denim jackets, ripped jeans, Converse, Doc Martens, and more lace-up, combat-style boots. More go-tos for the look were beanies, bandanas, oversized shirts, baggy sweaters, Birkenstocks and sandals. Courtney Love (the wife of Kurt Cobain) was a huge inspiration for the women’s Grunge style. The lumberjack look was a huge inspiration for the men’s look. Flannels, whether worn tied around the waist or worn unbuttoned with graphic tees on underneath. The lumberjack look was a huge staple in the Grunge look due to the origin of the culture; Washington state. Washington state is known for the lumber industry, like most of the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. With the abundance of flannels, and heavy-duty boots around in shops, it was easy for people to get their hands on. They started off by buying in thrift stores to save money, and then they moved on to other stores. At the beginning of the movement, the notion was to spend as little money on clothes as possible. Then top fashion designers started integrating the style into their own. The modern Grunge was very similar to the one from the past. Today, the Grunge look is usually associated with ripped and faded denim, baggy shirts, pants, and sweaters. It is basically the modern copy and paste of the style.
Despite many people not knowing the background of Grunge and how it came out, it is still a very popular style, not only in fashion but also in music. The style is still very popular today and you can little bits of it everywhere. Either in the new music and the styles coming out, if you look, you will see it.
