Were.those in the business calling it "grunge" in the '90's?

KV4053

https://youtu.be/KRK6c7uXvJE

I seem to recall that only the media used the term. Bitch seems to own it in this video

tempo_n_groove

Edit Bitch to Butch, lol.

KV4053

tempo_n_groove said:

Edit Bitch to Butch, lol.

Hahahaha
Auto Correct 

HesCalledDyer

Awww man! I was hoping it was his evil twin brother, Bitch Vug.

DeLukin

That's really interesting - I always wondered what was making those sounds in the breakdown of Drain You. Now I know it was Kurt's squeaky toys, LOL.

I think so much great music was happining during the early 90's that labelling genres and sub-genres became very important for marketers who were searching for their key selling demographics. "Grunge," to me, though was less a style of music and more of an attitude - I was into metal prior to being exposed to the rise of 90's alternative and I didn't relate to that music at all - I wasn't a hard partier, didn't get laid a lot, and didn't worship satan so there wasn't much there for me. 90's alternative was a revelation, not only because you could find harder music with tons of variety, but the themes that ran throughout the music - alienation, frustration, heartbreak, political activism, etc. struck a social chord in a way that metal never could. Artists even looked like me and my friends (ie, no spandex, makeup, or hairspray) which made the music even more relatable. And from the perspective of someone learning to play guitar in those days, alternative music was MUCH more interesting than metal - especially for those of us who couldn't afford a huge Marshall stack, which seemed to be the requirement for being taken seriously! Eddie mentioned in the Stern interview about Waiting for Stevie being about finding your Tribe through music. That resonated with me because that's exactly what happened in my case.

I don't think I ever used the term "Grunge" in the 90's - if you would have asked me my favorite kind of music it would have been "alternative" which encompassed everything not mainstream rock and pop.

Anyway, I think it's complicated. There was a term used back then called the "Seattle Sound" that I liked a lot. If you listen to the Singles soundtrack that was it in a nutshell. Lots of variety in the music but listen to the relatable and darker themes. "Grunge" may have been a way to expand that to a larger pool of bands trying to copy that sound for the purposes of marketing but the one thing that 90's alternative music taught me was to not trust labels.

tempo_n_groove

DeLukin said:

That's really interesting - I always wondered what was making those sounds in the breakdown of Drain You. Now I know it was Kurt's squeaky toys, LOL.

I think so much great music was happining during the early 90's that labelling genres and sub-genres became very important for marketers who were searching for their key selling demographics. "Grunge," to me, though was less a style of music and more of an attitude - I was into metal prior to being exposed to the rise of 90's alternative and I didn't relate to that music at all - I wasn't a hard partier, didn't get laid a lot, and didn't worship satan so there wasn't much there for me. 90's alternative was a revelation, not only because you could find harder music with tons of variety, but the themes that ran throughout the music - alienation, frustration, heartbreak, political activism, etc. struck a social chord in a way that metal never could. Artists even looked like me and my friends (ie, no spandex, makeup, or hairspray) which made the music even more relatable. And from the perspective of someone learning to play guitar in those days, alternative music was MUCH more interesting than metal - especially for those of us who couldn't afford a huge Marshall stack, which seemed to be the requirement for being taken seriously! Eddie mentioned in the Stern interview about Waiting for Stevie being about finding your Tribe through music. That resonated with me because that's exactly what happened in my case.

I don't think I ever used the term "Grunge" in the 90's - if you would have asked me my favorite kind of music it would have been "alternative" which encompassed everything not mainstream rock and pop.

Anyway, I think it's complicated. There was a term used back then called the "Seattle Sound" that I liked a lot. If you listen to the Singles soundtrack that was it in a nutshell. Lots of variety in the music but listen to the relatable and darker themes. "Grunge" may have been a way to expand that to a larger pool of bands trying to copy that sound for the purposes of marketing but the one thing that 90's alternative music taught me was to not trust labels.

This.  Everything had to have a label to it, Grunge, Industrial, Sludge, pop punk, SoCal punk, etc.  Then one day someone came up with the phrase "Alternative".  That was the perfect description considering most of us ran the gamut of music types and hated labeling everything.

Blame corporate for the labels instead of embracing a general wording which I believe, we the people adapted to.

2-feign-reluctance

I worked at a music shop from 1994-2002 and we never had a grunge section. Rock and Alt Rock though. I’ve always loved alternative. Best fitting. Grunge still sounds so fucking dumb to me.