I have have always wondered, what truly ended Grunge?

Was the brake up of some of the bands, the passing of Kurt Cobain?

Because, I noticed that not too many Grunge bands from the 90's, really survived the 90's, or for that matter, didn't have messy brake ups.

All Grunge really was ... loud guitars, drums and guys with deep voices singing like they are on suicide row.  Music like that still exists, it just does not dominate the charts like it did before.

My feeling is that by the time, Stone Temple Piolts, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins disbanded (for the first time!), people had moved one from Grunge.

Over commercialization, didn't help matters either.

I have have always wondered, what truly ended Grunge?

Was the brake up of some of the bands, the passing of Kurt Cobain?

Because, I noticed that not too many Grunge bands from the 90's, really survived the 90's, or for that matter, didn't have messy brake ups.


Well, it can be argued that it never completely went away. The Foo Fighters are still going strong and they are a direct link to the original "grunge" era.

But what really killed off grunge as a dominant cultural force was not so much the break-up and/or decline of the original Seattle bands (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden) as it was the next wave of wanna-be grunge bands, which were just awful.

And by the next wave of wanna-be grunge bands I mean Creed, Seven Mary Three, Tantric, Days Of The New, Staind, and possibly even Puddle Of Mudd. These were all sh*tty, sh*tty bands. They had all of the angst of the original Seattle bands without any of the musical talent or innovation.  :P

It couldn't have ended soon enough for me!
8-P

I don't think Grunge ever died, or at least in spirit.  The 90's and even the 00's media adopted the philosophy of greyness and nihilism.  Kurt Cobain might have created a monster.

Most of the grunge bands broke up and formed as Supergroups.  Audioslave was Soundgarden + RATM and Velvet Revolver was STP + Guns N Roses.  Most 'post-grunge' bands broke up and reformed again with a different name, like Alterbridge is Creed without Scott Stapp.

SM3 and DON were kind of one-hit wonders in the late 90's, though Staind is still going strong.  I like Puddle Of Mudd :), and there were some post-grunge bands that I thought were good.  Collective Soul was one of them, though they might fall in the alt-rock genre rather than post-grunge.

Does anyone feel that the term "alternative" changed it's meaning in the 00's?  I know the term "alternative" was made in the 80's and meant bands like Depeche Mode, though any kid in the 90's would be confused why.  In the 00's, it was used to classify emo bands.

It couldn't have ended soon enough for me!
8-P


I thought Grunge was suppose to cater people around your age at the time, or so I have heard.

Bands like Creed, probally didn't help much, either.

Bands like Creed, probally didn't help much, either.




Creed was basically Pearl Jam with Christian overtones.  They kind of ruined themselves since Stapp became an alcoholic.

Creed was basically Pearl Jam with Christian overtones.  They kind of ruined themselves since Stapp became an alcoholic.


Agreed!

All Grunge really was ... loud guitars, drums and guys with deep voices singing like they are on suicide row.  Music like that still exists, it just does not dominate the charts like it did before.

Actually Grunge Music(1991-1995/1996 style) never dominated the billboard charts the way late 90's teen-pop did or 2003-mid 2008 rap music did. When Grunge was hot for that 4-5 year period that I just mentioned stuff like Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Montelll Jordan, Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, or Whitney Houston would be #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

My feeling is that by the time, Stone Temple Piolts, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins disbanded (for the first time!), people had moved one from Grunge.

Over commercialization, didn't help matters either.
Probably the over commercialization that you are talking was probably done by MTV. I don;t remember grunge dominating Top 40 radio.

Probably the over commercialization that you are talking was probably done by MTV. I don;t remember grunge dominating Top 40 radio.


MTV did over commercialize grunge, and did help to end it, big time.

MTV did over commercialize grunge, and did help to end it, big time.
I just had basic TV(channels 2, 4,5, 7, 9, 11, and 13)when grunge was popular so I really didn't experience MTV 's overexposure of grunge. I got cable in Christmas of 1996.

  Watch this clip from the excellent doc "Hype!" to understand part of the reason "grunge" collapsed.  This really makes me blush.  Folks I think we've been had...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-iURh_L2lg&feature=related

  Warning:  Some salty language!

Actually Grunge Music(1991-1995/1996 style) never dominated the billboard charts the way late 90's teen-pop did or 2003-mid 2008 rap music did. When Grunge was hot for that 4-5 year period that I just mentioned stuff like Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, Montelll Jordan, Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, or Whitney Houston would be #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.


Keep in mind that the Billboard Hot 100 methodology throughout much of the 90s was flawed.  Throughout most of the decade, a song could only show up on the Hot 100 if it had a physical singles and that counted for a sizable portion of it's chart performance.  Physical singles were dying throughout the 90s and many of the most popular songs of the decade never got #1 as a result.  Look at Goo Goo Dolls "Iris" : number one most played radio song for 18 weeks (a record) off a 3x Platinum album yet it only got up to #9.  Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn" was #1 on airplay for 8 weeks yet only got #42 on the Hot 100.  To get on the subject of Grunge, Pearl Jam, whose song "Spin The Black Circle" got #18 while their far, far more famous song "Jeremy" only got up to #79 despite winning Best Video at the MTV Video Music Awards and being on an album that sold 13 million copies. 

Country suffered from this methodology too, as Garth Brooks may have multiple 10 million + selling albums, yet never got a Top 40 hit until the decade was almost over.  The methodology was revised in late 1998 when it became a "Songs Chart" rather than a "Singles Chart." 

Creed was basically Pearl Jam with Christian overtones.  They kind of ruined themselves since Stapp became an alcoholic.


Holy spirits?
:D

Holy spirits?
:D


lol. 

Creed was like Styper, if they were dressed in flannel, and had a douchebag of a singer, who just happened to an alcoholic.

;D

2010. seriously! i think it's just starting to die out.

2010. seriously! i think it's just starting to die out.
In a related response to your last post I noticed a band like "Nickleback' their latest songs are not getting the High Billboard Hot 100 rankings in the top 10 that they were getting before. I was just looking at "wikipedia" for "Nickleback dicography" last night because I don't see Nickleback songs high on the Hot 100 or hear about "Nickleback" the way I used too. Of course Nickleback's song are still getting high rankings on either the "Mainstream Rock Chart" or "Modern Rock chart" on those respective billboard rock charts.

Creed was like Styper, if they were dressed in flannel, and had a douchebag of a singer, who just happened to an alcoholic.

;D
I used to compare "Creed" to the 80's rock band "Journey" back when "Creed" was popular back in 2000-2001. I mean Creed was stripped down grunge rock where as "Journey" was using a stripped down "Classic Rock sound". I think Scoot Stapp's(Creed) vocal style is kinda similar to Steve Perry's(Journey) too.

I used to compare "Creed" to the 80's rock band "Journey" back when "Creed" was popular back in 2000-2001. I mean Creed was stripped down grunge rock where as "Journey" was using a stripped down "Classic Rock sound". I think Scoot Stapp's(Creed) vocal style is kinda similar to Steve Perry's(Journey) too.


But Journey is soooooo much better!

;D

But Journey is soooooo much better!

;D
Well "Open Arms" by "Journey" is better than any song that "Creed" did.

Well "Open Arms" by "Journey" is better than any song that "Creed" did.


Agree!

I thought Grunge was suppose to cater people around your age at the time, or so I have heard.
Not aiming this at Max, but some people just couldn't handle the change. In the snap of a finger it went from everyone being happy go lucky listening to Slaughter, Warrant, MC Hammer,etc. to everyone wearing flannel shirts while listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden. Some people simply froze in time and couldn't adapt. To add insult to injury, this all happened overnight. MTV and other media outlets pushed grunge harder than they pushed MJ in 82. Grunge wasn't just music....it was a way of life and virtually forced on the public. Now some of the artists from that scene were amazing, but it always felt fabricated to a certain degree.

When rich girls started shopping in thrift stores for flannel shirts in 92, I knew the scene was getting the final nail in its coffin and I finally understood why Cobain, Cornell, and a few others were so against the movement even though they in essence started it. It had become satire at that point, and it had only been going on for about a year. After that, it simply ran on fumes until 94 when Cobain killed himself and the last big hit of the era was Black Hole Sun(summer of 94). Some people like to act like it continued on, but grunge's lifespan was late 91-mid 94. It just felt longer.

Hip Hop had been slowly rising since the 80s, and once grunge was out of the way, it exploded and is still a dominating factor to this very day. Its backlash is about 15 years overdue.


It was definitely an interesting time to be alive, and I'm glad I got to experience it. I doubt we see anything else like it in our lifetime.

^^^ I'd actually say that grunge completely died around 96 or at the very latest early 97. Although the biggest and most influential grunge bands didn't do a hell of a lot after 1994, the whole alternative rock thing was big through the next few years with bands such as Collective Soul, Live, Bush, Seven Mary Three, Silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Smashing Pumpkins. It is true that for the most part, some of these "grunge bands" were its genre's equivalent of what Warrant or Winger were to hair metal, however they remained popular throughout the mid-90s.

I find it ironic and even a little amusing (don't get me wrong, I love 90s alternative rock) that the whole grunge movement was a backlash against hair metal from the 80s becoming so watered-down and un-original, yet after a few years the same exact thing happened to grunge. MTV pushed it just as hard, the same posers were into it, and it just got bloated.

Not aiming this at Max, but some people just couldn't handle the change. In the snap of a finger it went from everyone being happy go lucky listening to Slaughter, Warrant, MC Hammer,etc. to everyone wearing flannel shirts while listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden. Some people simply froze in time and couldn't adapt. To add insult to injury, this all happened overnight. MTV and other media outlets pushed grunge harder than they pushed MJ in 82. Grunge wasn't just music....it was a way of life and virtually forced on the public. Now some of the artists from that scene were amazing, but it always felt fabricated to a certain degree.

When rich girls started shopping in thrift stores for flannel shirts in 92, I knew the scene was getting the final nail in its coffin and I finally understood why Cobain, Cornell, and a few others were so against the movement even though they in essence started it. It had become satire at that point, and it had only been going on for about a year. After that, it simply ran on fumes until 94 when Cobain killed himself and the last big hit of the era was Black Hole Sun(summer of 94). Some people like to act like it continued on, but grunge's lifespan was late 91-mid 94. It just felt longer.

Hip Hop had been slowly rising since the 80s, and once grunge was out of the way, it exploded and is still a dominating factor to this very day. Its backlash is about 15 years overdue.


It was definitely an interesting time to be alive, and I'm glad I got to experience it. I doubt we see anything else like it in our lifetime.
actually Electro-pop is more popular than Hip-Hop now. Grunge won't be backlashed ever, its was just too much of a serious trend for that. I mean 70's Classic Rock was not hated in the 80;'s I don;t think.

Never say never.

I find it ironic and even a little amusing (don't get me wrong, I love 90s alternative rock) that the whole grunge movement was a backlash against hair metal from the 80s becoming so watered-down and un-original, yet after a few years the same exact thing happened to grunge. MTV pushed it just as hard, the same posers were into it, and it just got bloated.
Hipsters ruin everything. Anything that's even remotely interesting will be ruined once they get their hands on it. M.I.A. is my favorite artist, and I have been to several of her concerts years ago. She's really intense onstage, and feeds of the energy from the crowd that used to consist of hardcore fans. When Paper Planes exploded, she became the in thing and it just totally killed the whole vibe. I went to one show after that was a hit and the crowd consisted of a bunch of rich kids who knew one song. The crowd was totally dead until she played that and then they all clapped. She obviously wasn't as in to the performance either. I'll probably never go to another one of her shows.


I remember those types as well back then. Wore a Def Leppard shirt on Monday, a Nirvana shirt on Tuesday, and flannel shirts for the next two years.

Back in 94, my cousin Cory went from acting normal to wearing pants down to his ankles and talking like Snoop Doggy Dogg. Was a huge insult to my intelligence, and that crap actually ostracized him from the entire family. Couple years later he started acting normal again but the damage was done. I always wondered if trying to be something he wasn't was really worth it.

Everything was all fine and dandy until NSYNC came along and crashed the party

I liked the end of Grunge.  I don't mind music with loud guitars, but most Grunge music to me sounded like a bunch of depressed people singing like they are on suicide row.