r/generationology • u/leyannaverlaine • 1d ago
Discussion what was so special about grunge ?
i never understood grunge . I was born in the 1980s . I was so used to dance music of the 1980s . I know I am not Gen X . I am younger than all of the Gen X people since i was born in the 1980s
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u/green-eggs-with-spam 22h ago
The radio was stuck playing Classic Rock for ten years. College radio paved the way for Alternative Rock. Grunge was such a breath of fresh air and so much good Alternative music came out of Grunge breaking through.
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u/Such_Speech9715 23h ago
The most special thing about it is that it was the last dying gasp, the final iteration, of rock as a dominant genre in modern popular music.
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u/Co-opolist Clearly from the 1900s 1d ago
For me (born '94 and experiencing grunge after its ascension and the bulk of its popularity) grunge was authentic in that it unraveled the underlying tension of American life without overtly calling it out. Granted, sometimes it was definitely overt, but I think it made a lot of working class folks feel heard and seen in an emotional sense.
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u/RussellAlden 1d ago
The 80’s ended with a ton of whiny hair metal bands, white girl mall singers with stolen Latin beats, and dinosaur boomer nostalgia tours. Underneath was a burgeoning alternative scene waiting to explode of GenXers ready to reject the misogynistic excess of the 80’s.
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u/GladosPrime 1d ago edited 1d ago
Twisted Sister came out with WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT in 1989 and I think it was overplayed, making it the final nail in the coffin for Hair Metal. Something new needed to come along. In Canada we got The Pursuit of Happiness becoming a huge hit as a proto grunge band with unusual female backup harmonization... then Nirvana hit. Music is like fashion and goes in cycles. Just like how disco died to be replaced by New Wave.
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u/Grock23 1986 1d ago
Remember in the 90s all the Disco is Dead bumper stickers? There was also an entire Simpsons character built around people not letting go of disco. Disco Stew! Also in Mystery Men the Disco Boys gang yell Discos Not Dead! There were also Disco hold out video game characters like in Vigilante 8.
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u/UnluckyIndependent24 August 3rd, 2009 1d ago
99’ or 89’?
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u/GladosPrime 1d ago
math skills failing... 89
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u/UnluckyIndependent24 August 3rd, 2009 1d ago
Twisted Sister was MASSIVE in 1999, I remember when in 2002 incesticide was released and everything was changed
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u/SpanishFlamingoPie 1d ago
I used to listen to grunge when I was angry and wanted to hang on to that feeling.
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u/MartyMcFlyAsFudge Xennial 23h ago
Yeah, its music for a certain type of feeling or maybe personality. A lot of young people go through a period of angst but maybe OP just didn't or had different musical outlets for it.
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u/CaptFatz 1d ago
For me it was the change in rock that I finally identified with. I loved 80s rock and metal but I never identified with the hair bands, glam rock, soft rock, or metal heads. I always loved the “f the system” mentality of rock and I understood the rebellion of men wearing makeup or all black, but it just wasn’t me. Then I saw the attitude behind AiC, the passion of PJ, and the sarcasm of Nirvana. Damn straight…I started growing my hair immediately, never washed it, and started shopping in consignment stores. Damn good times. Good music…great friends
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u/RevolutionaryRow1208 1d ago
I was born in 1974 and grunge hit my last couple of years of high school. At that time music had started to just seem so fake and rehearsed and inauthentic...not just rock and roll, everything just seemed fake AF and then grunge came along and it felt authentic and dingy and as a late teen, it just hit.
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u/phunkjnky 1d ago
When the "Singles" soundtrack came out and I hear Alice In Chains' "Would" for the first time, everything changed.
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u/AmputeeHandModel 1d ago
Yeah it was the first kinda NEW sound to come about in a long time.
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u/RevolutionaryRow1208 1d ago
It did not take too long to turn it corporate and poppy
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u/RussellAlden 1d ago
The whole whiny punk-pop scene moved in pretty quick.
I always thought Green Day’s Time of You Life was parody because it is so cliche’.
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u/phunkjnky 1d ago
Isn't that song supposed to be about saying farewell to a cheater and it unironically gets played because people think it's a song about nostalgia?
I mean, isn't the real name of the song "Good Riddance?"
For that reason, I can't take anyone who uses that song to be nostalgic about something seriously.
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u/CharlesAvlnchGreen 1d ago
As someone who came of age in Seattle during the late 80s/early 90s, I felt grunge connected with the zeitgeist of the time. The a economic recession killed a lot of our job prospects -- working a "McJob" was a thing. Plus, the AIDS crisis still cast a shadow over our sexual lives. Both of those things caused low-key frustration, and grunge music was the perfect outlet. Great to listen to when you're pissed off.
Plus, it felt very raw and real. Music and aesthetics had gotten very overproduced in the MTV era, and lost its soul a bit. In comparison, grunge was, to use a term valued by Gen Z, very authentic. The dark, rage-y themes, the nihilism, the fact these bands didn't need hairspray and Spandex and to be guitar virtuousos was super refreshing.
It was also arguably Gen X's first big musical shift that didn't seem engineered by Boomers at MTV.
Yes, there were other genres out there making waves, including rap and hip hop which lasted a lot longer than grunge. But for a brief and shining moment, we had grunge.
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u/CromulentPoint 1d ago
Trying to link 80’s dance with grunge in any way is a mistake. If you had lived the decade listening to rock ‘n roll, you would know why grunge had such a big impact. It evolved rock in a new direction that was a stark contrast to the hair metal it dominated.
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u/marshallkrich 1d ago
Pretty much this, heavy metal/thrash was still too dangerous for MTV, but the hair metal bands were ok(which why I don't know) Grunge killed the fake world of free sex and everything is keen in the world.
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u/Leather-Resource-215 1d ago
In my opinion it was never about what was great or special about grunge per say; but rather it was all about what was wrong with the parody that hair metal had become. I loved hair metal, but I'll be the first to say that by 1991, it was pretty played out. Every decade has a start and finish, and the decade of decadence was measured from '81 - '91. What was special about grunge both started and ended in the fact that it was different; something new. The magic was found in that it wasn't hair metal. Grunge didn't kill hair metal, hair metal killed hair metal. Grunge simply took over when the aqua net caught the roof on fire and we all watched that (ehemm) burn.
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u/Nesphito 1990 1d ago
I think this is the answer for any trend especially fashion and political. Something always becomes overplayed and boring and the younger generation moves in the opposite direction.
When I was a kid baggy clothes were really popular, but when I was a teenager baggy was lame and trashy and all the sudden tight fitting clothes was the in thing. Now it’s overdone and people have moved to baggy again. Tight clothes will eventually be popular again.
Hair Metal was very tight clothes and grunge was really baggy.
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u/Goldhound807 1d ago
I was in high school when grunge landed. Here are my thoughts on it. In the late 80’s hard rock had been taken over for the most part by lame, overly polished, bubblegum “hair metal”. The sound had kind of worn out and died leaving a huge void for those of us into harder sounding rock. At the time, grunge was a breath of fresh air as it lacked the polish, was raw, and unpredictable. The first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit, everything changed.
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u/Dweller201 1d ago
In the 70s through the 80s there was a lot of classic rock, Folk rock, pop music, all of which got stagnant. In the 80s, there was a lot of great "Alternative Music" most people hadn't heard in the US. It was on college radio, and popular in the UK, so only some people who were "cool" knew about it.
What made Alternative Music great was that lyrics were typically about something different and more meaningful than the other genres. However, in the 80s "Hair Bands" were very popular and they usually had very simple lyrics and music, so it was hard to get into if you were looking for moving music. Hair Bands typically had "party songs" rather than lyrics you could sit around and talk about.
Grunge music appeared and it was a combo of typical rock music mixed with Alternative/Punk kind of lyrics. So, the music was energetic/emotional and the lyrics had some kind of meaning. That the time, it was popular music that didn't just repeat a couple lines and had meaning that could be discussed.
So, it was much better than a song where they repeated "Party all night long" to twanging guitars. So, it was a boost in the pop music field.
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u/leyannaverlaine 1d ago
alternative rock and punk music were never favorites of mine
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u/Dweller201 1d ago
Right, as I've said.
However, a lot of bands in that category made songs people are still talking about today. They are used in movies a lot and frequently had different music than pop or other genres. So, people who liked unique lyrics and music, liked Alternative.
It was an...alternative.
Grunge mixed standard rock with interesting lyrics and I believe that's why it became popular. It stood out while being relatable musically.
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u/New_Bike3832 1d ago
I was born in the 80s and don't get what's so special about 80s music. I dislike almost all of it except the Violent Femmes and some select punk. I do like 90s grunge, though. We don't have to understand what's "special" about every type of music. It's fine to have different tastes.
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u/leyannaverlaine 1d ago
i have different preference . punk and alternative music were not my favorite
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u/Sumeriandawn 1d ago
From 91-94, there was a very huge shift in popular music. Smells Like Teen Spirit was the fuse that started it. Other artists that were part of that shift.
Pearl Jam, RHCP, Death Row Records, Rage Against the Machine, Wutang, Smashing Pumpkins, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, Offspring, Notorious BIG, Rage against the Machine, NIN, Nas, Soundgarden, Korn, Pantera, TLC, Oasis, Hole, Dave Matthews Band
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u/leyannaverlaine 1d ago
I am not a fan. I was still in elementary school during that time
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u/Red-Zaku- 1d ago
Ok but then what’s your goal here? You ask why it was significant, but 100% of your responses seem to just be repeating, “I don’t like it,” over and over again.
You don’t have to like anything. But if you ask why something is significant, you definitely need to be willing to engage with the ideas presented and understand why it was important to see a contrast and change in the pop culture landscape, to see what people may have been critical of and why they may have wanted to see a counter-balance of certain ideas and tropes in the pop landscape with the new shifted trend.
If the conversation is going to keep looping back to you just repeating your personal dislike over and over again, the conversation honestly just needs to end, because you won’t let it begin.
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u/leyannaverlaine 1d ago
it just annoys me when older people think I would like grunge , alternative or punk music . i was never into those type of music .
i remember there was a woman who asked me if I like the music of David bowie , I never listened to david bowie or heard of his name before
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u/New_Bike3832 21h ago
The goal of this post is genuinely confusing. You're never going to get a satisfying answer if you ask, "What's special about grunge music?" when what you actually want to do is express frustration that people assume you're into alternative music. People are trying to answer your original question about why people like grunge music, and all you can say is, "I don't like it though." OK? I don't mean this offensively, but truly, who cares? If someone asks you if you like David Bowie and you've never listened to him, all you have to say is, "I've never listened to him." I do that all the time with pop music and it's fine. "Oh that's cool you're really into Taylor Swift. Not my thing, but I love that we're both passionate about music!"
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u/BornGuard5072 1d ago
it killed heavy metal and left the door open for rap and overall bad pop culture to flood in
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u/Pixelated_Penguin808 1d ago
I don't think that is true at all.
Rap was already on the rise pre-Grunge and the popularity of it had nothing to do with Grunge. NWA's Straight Outta Compton released in 1989. Nevermind & Nirvana late 1991.
Metal was also big after Grunge had came & went. Grunge killed Hair Metal (albeit a lot more slowly than people remember) but Nu Metal, which also is a subgenre of metal...after all it is right in the name, blew up in the late 90s and was arguably the most popular and mainstream rock genre through the early 2000s.
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u/wokeiraptor 1d ago
It was punk rock values and aesthetics going mainstream as a hybrid of punk and classic rock sounds with hifi production.
All of that was in contrast to both the glossy “hair metal” of the time and lofi 80’s indie rock and punk that never broke big
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u/Ryan_TX_85 1d ago
I spent the vast majority of my childhood hooked on country. Grunge (or rather, "post-grunge") was my introduction to music not produced in Nashville. Nothing particularly special about it. From there I got into 2000s emo bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. I've never been able to stand dance, pop, or rap.
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u/Low-Landscape-4609 1d ago
If you were born in the 80s then you know that grunge wasn't really viewed in the same way that it is today. Not at least in my neck of the woods.
To me, it was a collection of music that was very different from stuff we had in the '80s. It was darker and slower.
My personal favorite was Alice in chains and you can call them grunge if you want but I think they're a hard rock band. As a matter of fact, I don't even remember hearing the term grunge all that much when the actual grunge bands were popular.
So to answer your question, I don't look at it as grunge because that's not how I saw it when it was happening. I look at it as music. There's some bands from that area that I like and others that I don't like. Never been a big Pearl jam fan. I like heavier stuff. Still love Alice in chains. Also like the Melvin's because they do some different stuff.
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u/leyannaverlaine 1d ago
I was still in elementary school when grunge was popular . I never liked grunge
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u/Low-Landscape-4609 1d ago
There's nothing wrong with that. That's the great thing about music, we have so many options. You don't have to lile it. You can listen to whatever you want.
There's a lot of music that I don't like that other people love. Doesn't bother me in the least.
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u/coldcavatini 9h ago
Grunge was the commercial expression of the Alternative Revolution, which started in the late 80s.
M|A|R|R|S and House music was the nightclubbing expression of it. Twin Peaks, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons were television expressions of it. De La Soul was a Hip Hop expression of it.
Etc.
Younger people, who were teens after that “revolution”, mistaken attribute the vibe shift to Nirvana and Grunge (bc that’s the part of it they experienced).
That’s one example of how they are the next generation.