Using
the sludgy, murky sound of the Stooges and Black Sabbath as a foundation, grunge
was a hybrid of heavy metal and punk. Though the guitars were straight from
early '70s metal, the aesthetic of grunge was far from metal. Both the lyrical
approach and musical attack of grunge were adopted from punk, particularly the
independent ideals of early '80s American hardcore. The first wave of grunge
bands -- Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden -- were heavier than the second,
which began with Nirvana. Nirvana was more melodic than their predecessors and
they also had signature stop-start dynamics, which became a genre convention
nearly as recognizable as fuzzy, distorted guitars. After Nirvana crossed over
into the mainstream, grunge lost many of its independent and punk connections
and became the most popular style of hard rock in the '90s.
Grunge
