While the height of grunge music was some 30 years ago, many still find the genre fascinating because it was so unpredictable. It came out of nowhere. Thanks to a bunch of disillusioned but dedicated young people in the Pacific Northwest, the sounds bubbled and coalesced and created not only something cohesive but something contagious.
Grunge produced bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. It introduced us to people like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and Chris Cornell. The music was heavy, the lyrics poetic and often full of despair, and the amalgamation of it all was an incredible ride that lasted about a decade.
So, what happened? Well, grunge music, many say, died with Cobain, when he passed away in 1994 at the age of 27. With that, the world shifted, and new musical stars were discovered and promoted. Below, we wanted to explore four songs that mark the death of grunge, one of the most fascinating sounds in the history of modern music.
“About A Girl” by Nirvana from MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)
How could a musical performance be like a painting? Well, if you need evidence of one that is just that, look no further than Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged show. Recorded in 1993 and released months after Cobain’s death, it’s as if Leonardo da Vinci conceived of the whole thing and composed the room like a canvas. Sadly, this also might be the last great grunge work. Cobain is both so beautiful and so fragile. So, while the live unplugged album is emblematic of grunge’s greatness, it also signals its forthcoming demise.
“Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)” by Backstreet Boys from Backstreet Boys (1996)
There’s no getting around it: grunge music was often sad. Combine its general vibe with the result of the bloody East Coast-West Coast rap battle, and music fans by the late 1990s were looking for songs free of drama and depression. Enter: boy bands. First on the scene were the Backstreet Boys, who released their single, “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” on their 1996 self-titled album. Could anything have been more different than Nirvana? What a monumental cultural shift. Of course, there would be many more boy bands to come, too, including *NSYNC and 98 Degrees.
“…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears from …Baby One More Time (1998)
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke. And where there are boy bands, there are pop starlets. In the late 1990s, solo female pop stars were seemingly popping up out of nowhere. From Christina Aguilera to Mandy Moore to, perhaps, the most popular, Britney Spears. When grunge was at the center of the zeitgeist, people like Courtney Love were the talk of the town. But in the latter half of the 1990s, names like Britney Spears dominated the charts. Known for her flirty hits like “…Baby One More Time”, the gal with the southern charm was a shooting star.
“The General” by Dispatch from Bang Bang (1998)
As the 1990s were ending, the rise of the internet was becoming a very real thing. By the turn of the 21st century, most people had home computers, and many even had laptops. For many young music fans, that meant file-sharing sources like Napster. Around 2000, many Napster users were looking for bands like Dispatch, O.A.R., Guster, or even deep acoustic cuts from Dave Matthews. The jam bands were rising to the forefront of the music-loving consciousness. People sought songs like “The General,” about a gruff, weathered military leader who has lost his urge to fight. They were pleasant songs, and the world needed that then.
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