Grunge Rock
Emerging from Seattle, WA in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this groundbreaking and influential music genre owed as much to punk and indie rock as it did to Southern blue and heavy metal. Characterized by sludgy guitar riffs, bleak lyrics and feedback galore, grunge was born on the backs of several influential Pacific Northwest bands that developed their distorted and anarchic sound in response to the overly commercialized glam rock populating US airwaves. With the seemingly overnight success of Nirvana in 1991, other Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains broke through to enormous critical and commercial success. Grunge quickly became a dominant cultural force that continues to inspire music, film, and fashion today.
Major Bands
* '''Mother Love Bone'''. Though active for only two years due to lead singer Andrew Wood's untimely death in 1990, MLB proved hugely influential on the emerging Seattle rock scene. Two of it's members, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, would later go on to form Pearl Jam.
* '''Mudhoney'''. One of the elder statesmen of the Seattle scene, Mudhoney's early recordings on Sub Pop laid down a foundation for the fuzzed-out sound that later bands would make famous. One of the most enduring bands to come out of Seattle, they've released eight studio albums and curated an edition of the UK festival All Tomorrow's Parties.
* '''Nirvana'''. As the reluctant superstars of a homegrown scene, Kurt Cobain, Kurt Novoselic and Dave Grohl forged ahead with an abrasive sound and punk ethos on ''Bleach'', ''Nevermind'' and ''In Utero''. In Kurt Cobain, who struggled with his fame amid rumors of drug abuse, took his own life on April 5, 1994.
* '''Alice in Chains'''. Formed by vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Contrell in 1987, Alice in Chains mined the gloomy Seattle scene for inspiration, and incorporated acoustic and heavy metal elements into their intense, often emotionally charged songs. Plagued by Layne Staley's drug abuse, Alice in Chains were frequently on hiatus. Staley died of a drug overdose in April 2002.
* '''Melvins'''. Another hugely influential band on the early Seattle scene, the Melvins mixed sludgy guitars, slow rhythms and general punk weirdness into a subversive blend of rock and roll that has garnered them critical acclaim for over fifteen years.
* '''Soundgarden'''. Although they were the first grunge band to sign to a major label, Soundgarden didn't achieve major success until Nirvana broke through with ''Nevermind''. Relying as much on singer Chris Cornell's incredible vocal range as they did on experimentation with Indian and Eastern musical styles, Soundgarden blended ethereal melodies with heavy metal riffs to create an influential style
* '''Pearl Jam'''. Though initially criticized and accused of jumping in on the grunge craze, Pearl Jam has deep roots in the Seattle scene. Their 1991 debut album, ''Ten'', gave grunge one of it's greatest anthems in "Jeremy," and the following tour solidified their status as a band that needed to be experienced live.
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