Thoughts on Grunge
I heard “pretty noose” for the first time in years the other day, and I remembered grunge. Somehow it was clear that Down on the Upside was to be the end of grunge. Dare I say that Ultramega OK was the beginning of grunge. Soundgarden always the consummate barometer. Grunge is so dead that the spell check on my computer refuses to acknowledge it ever existed.
The thing about grunge, beyond the flannel and the old jeans and the grime and the bassy fuzz, was that the end was always in sight. None of this “immortal rock”, “eternal metal”, or “punk will never die.” Grunge was meant to fade from the very beginning.
Sure I’m speaking from sentimentality more than anything else, but I was drawn to grunge in 1990 (other than it was the thing to be) because it shunned the ersatz largess and mediocrity of firehouse, cinderella, winger, etc. And because it innately severed itself from the inevitable mustangification (think corvette) its days were, by definition, numbered.