IN UNISOuNd: Smells like something from a 90’s Chart Topper.
So after I finished the Gen Y time machine from the card board boxes, tin foil, a coat hanger and the entrails from an old transistor radio, I thought this machine would be the perfect way to visit my childhood again. I stepped inside and powered on the contraption, flicked the switch... And electrocuted myself.
The reason I wanted to visit that point in my life was this: A huge reason I decided to become a musician was the artistic influence that I allowed myself through the gamma waves of the radio. I remember non-stop rock being played on the BBC and there was always a point where I found myself stuck in the middle of a revolutionary pop culture. A culture we all came to recognise at the ‘Grunge Movement’.
Our world’s alternative music is taking a storm from when the style was first introduced into the population. Good things take time, right? And to boot, there isn’t a muso in the world who hasn’t heard the critically acclaimed MTV’s No#1 song from the 90’s- Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit”
The alternative anthem that has been recognised throughout the world has placed a huge imprint on the modern music culture and artistic influence. The trend still continues to slowly grow into newer forms since its dawn. As per usual, when a well known artist who writes and releases a brainwashing song dies from mysterious circumstances, the work becomes even more famous. This means a growing fan base, and leads to more copies sold.
However, using Nirvana to state this fact is just pure example. Grunge wasn’t all 90’s. The trend happened to have originated from Aberdeen, Seattle somewhere between 1985/86. Aberdeen collaborated the trend because the population there was very small, an isolated town from the rest of America. The town received their music trends relatively late, seeing as they only had one little record store, where material could have been obtained 2 years after its broadcast. This was before the time of Napster and Pirate Bay, possibly even the Internet! So, getting a hard copy was the only way to really collect musical works from bands. The youth there decided to create a trend that was of dirty and mediocre sound (which well reflected the town’s “grungy” atmosphere).
It actually took 15 years for Grunge to become a poetic craze. But then GenY2K came around. It’s been said that the sudden downfall could have been from corporate power, corruption, and mainstreaming within the music industries terms of ‘Fashion’.
Kobain influenced the young adults who heard him speak to act upon what they felt, and to form expressional words of poetry. I understand that to some, Grunge can describe it as “Angsty Depressing Crap”, but if you bypass the heavily distorted guitar and ear blowing drum beats, and just focus onto the emotion behind the words, you get some deep and meaningful stuff.
Personal Opinion: The era may be over and done with but the remnants remain. Grunge was, and still is, a beautiful style and a force to be worked, shaped, moulded and adapted by a generation’s mood.
Load up your guns and bring your friends.