Grunge Culture Essay -- Cultural Skater Grungy Essays

Grunge Culture Skaters. They are the typical representation of the grunge culture of the ‘90s. Extremely wide pants, pockets that go to the back of their knees, extravagant piercings, intricate tattoos, and twenty-fourth century hair dos are just part of the looks that these so called â€Å"grungy people† are made of. Or at least they were when the grunge phenomenon started. With the death of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, the grunge movement seems to have slowed down and even—as some say—disappeared from the main stream pop culture. As we all know, those commercial creations often come and go without us even noticing them. But grunge, I think, has moved to a different direction, one that can trick us into thinking it is gone. Grunge is still among our youngsters, and that is for sure; it is just not as noticeable as is used to be. But, what is exactly grunge and what direction is it taking? First, let us define what grunge is and where it comes from. Grunge as defined by web encyclopedia alt.culture is the cumulative influences of punk and ‘70s heavy metal (plus rain, coffee, cheap, potent beer, and occasionally heroin), a cohort of Seattle bands developed a soulful hard rock variant that was instrumental to alternative music’s early-‘90s move underground (altculture. com). Among the bands included in the definition Nirvana would be mainly the one that made this phenomenon popular. Released in 1991, Nevermind—a record by an obscure band working in a genre considered as hopelessly uncommercial—launched the grunge phenomenon and marked an era of unprecedented exposure for alternative acts. Then other bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Candlebox followed the trail that Nirvana started in the grunge w... ...congregations of grunge believers. This is where the most amateur alternative bands debut and discover their little local fame. Obviously, most of them don’t make it to the top. Our society is still very commercially oriented and the grunge phenomenon is not as large as to promote all but very few bands to be the representatives of the movement. So, go ahead; open your eyes and discover that grunge is not gone as it seems, it is still among us. Even though it may be wearing new costumes or listening to a different style of music, it is still the same. It is that counter-current movement that kids of new generations want to embrace as their liberty flag. It is that non-conformist dilemma, the spark that lights the fire of those who believe that mainstream society is not the only one. Grunge is still around, maybe not as popular as before, but stronger than ever.