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Teenage Angst Has Paid Off Well:
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Grunge and Social Revolution
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Michael
O’Neill
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4/14/2014
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People
sometimes define periods of American history by the music that was popular at
the time. The 1920’s are to this day referred to as the “Jazz Age;” the 1970’s
are remembered for disco. Perhaps most notably, the early 1990’s are recognized
by many as the glory days of grunge, as a new and exciting brand of alternative
music that shook the mainstream. During this time, youth were growing more and
more agitated with the older generations as the government floundered under
President George H.W. Bush, falling deeper and deeper into a recession between
1990 and 1992. [1] Americans showed their
desire for change as Democratic candidate Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the
1992 election, with third-party candidate Ross Perot managing to grab nineteen
percent of the popular vote. [2]
Clearly, the American public wanted something different. Simultaneously, the
plastic music of the 1980’s had grown stale, making the time ripe for a new
genre of music to come along. These factors combined to set the stage for the
rise of grunge music, which used apathetic lyrics and an organic sound to
connect with disillusioned young people across the nation.
Starting
in late 1991, grunge music began to explode in popularity, growing out of a
Seattle-based scene and eventually sustaining a presence in pop culture for a
few brief yet substantial years.[3]
Not only did it change music, however, it also created a youth-based social
movement, the effects of which helped reshape various aspects of American
society. Most tangibly, grunge re-shaped rock music, movies, and fashion.
Besides this, the grunge era generated a new youth counter-culture, provided an
outlet for new political ideals to be broadcast to a large audience, and
increased the gap between Generation X and the Baby Boomers.
Before
analyzing grunge as a musical proclamation, it is necessary to briefly examine
the rock music popular in the years preceding its peak, to which it was largely
a response of. For the most part, rock music in the 1980’s was dominated by a
more accessible form of heavy metal known as ‘pop metal.’[4]
The genre was characterized by melodic hooks, quick tempos, flashy guitar
playing, and clean production values. Notable artists who fell under this genre
included Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and perhaps most prominently, Van Halen.[5]
The other sub-genre of rock to see mainstream success during this time was
arena rock, pushed forward by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and U2.[6] By
the beginning of the decade, punk music had experienced a decline in
popularity, with the leaders of the movement branching out into different
varieties of rock.[7] Soon, alternative-leaning
‘post-punk’ groups such as The Smiths and The Cure began to receive both
critical and commercial acclaim in the UK, while only seeing minor success
stateside.[8]
Even
before the eighties wrapped up, many music listeners were craving a new sound,
one drastically different from the over-the-top glam metal and arena rock
scenes that were still extremely popular. Into this role stepped grunge, a
combination of several different genres that would take hold of a generation of
exasperated youth. Britannica identifies grunge music as a distinguishable
sub-genre of rock “combining guitar distortion, anguished vocals, and
heartfelt, angst-ridden lyrics.”[9]
Though debate over usage of the term exists, grunge is somewhat of a catch-all
term for most of the alternative rock bands to gain popularity during the early
1990’s, though most shared at least a few musical characteristics. Due to this
broad definition, a considerable amount of variation exists among the various
grunge artists, each drawing different degrees of influence from the assorted
sub-genres of rock that came before them. Typically, grunge bands employed a
combination of punk rock and heavy metal, utilizing punk’s rebellious spirit
and heavy metal’s tendency for catchy hooks and powerful guitar riffs.[10]
Some groups, most notably Soundgarden, also drew inspiration from the hard rock
of the seventies.[11] Nirvana front man and
grunge kingpin Kurt Cobain was influenced by everybody from rock trailblazers
The Beatles, to college rock giants like The Pixies and R.E.M., to more
conventional classic rockers such as Aerosmith and Cheap Trick.[12]
Based on this extensive variety, grunge was a wide-ranging genre that took
ideas from numerous types of rock music and pooled them into a refreshing sound
that would soon spark a social revolution.
