Nirvana and the Grunge Movement

Introduction to the Grunge Movement
What started out as a small underground phenomenon in Seattle, Washington, radically changed the face of popular mainstream music as we know it today. Unlike the startled faces of teens when Michael J. Fox played his face-melting solo in Back To The Future, heavily distorted and amplified electric guitars captured the hearts of the late 80s and early 90s teenage culture. This unadulterated type of music called "grunge" would soon sweep across the nation on mainstream radio, giving rise to an already growing trend of tangible teen angst. The causes for this radical movement, however, are widely discussed and often numerous. This paper will attempt to discuss in detail some of the probable sparks that ignited the grunge rock fire as well as the impetuses behind the grunge movement.

A Brief History of the Grunge Movement
Before exploring the possibilities of the grunge movement, the history of grunge must be unpacked. As a deviation from the popular big hair 80s bands, a new movement began to stir in the small venues of Seattle, Washington. Because popular bands did not regularly tour the Seattle area, Seattle was prone to housing derivative garage bands trying to "make it" (Benner). When the cultures of metal and punk collided, the grunge style of music began to take shape. Heavy distortion, grinding rhythms and angry vocals began to dominate the underground scene of Seattle. What was once a small yet lively music scene turned into an enormous mecca for rock music.As the 1990s began to roll around, grunge music was beginning to make noise in the music world. Bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney were becoming not only local favorites but national favorites as well. When record labels such as Seattle's Sub Pop Records came about, the "good" Seattle bands began to get snatched up by the recording companies (Azerrad). Fueled by college radio and money hungry labels, grunge music literally began to change the face of rock music overnight. When Nirvana's smash hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" went on the air, the whole rock world was turned completely upside down. Young adults and teens alike flocked to the frenzied sound of Generation X as it consumed popular radio broadcasts. Intense record label and media promotion caused many of these underground bands to become extremely trendy, over and against what many of them had originally intended. In the words of Mudhoney's Mark Arm, "Everybody loves us/Everybody loves our town/That's why I'm thinking of leaving it/Don't believe in it now...It's so overblown."

A Look into the Grunge Movement "Anthem"
Now that a history of grunge music has been unpacked, the difficult and somewhat arduous task on developing the reasons behind the grunge movement begins. Before we dive into uncovering the meaning and reasoning behind the grunge style of music, let's discuss the lyrics of arguably the most famous song of the grunge era, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

Load up on guns and bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's over-bored and self-assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
Yeah, hey, yay

I'm worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
Yeah, hey, yay

And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it's hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido

A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial

Let those words sink in for a moment. It is no wonder that this song was chosen as the anthem of the grunge movement. On a broad scale, this song entails all the striking issues that face every teenager: acceptance, self-worth, sex, and the like. It is riddled with apathy and hewn with sarcasm. As Kurt Cobain put it himself, "The entire song is made up of contradictory ideas. It's just making fun of the thought of having a revolution. But it's a nice thought." (Lucyinthesky) In a personal view, I find that Cobain is struggling with something deeper than mere sarcasm and thoughts of anti-revolution. Cobain is struggling one of the most postulated and debated questions of all time: "Who am I?" In the tag of the song, Cobain puts together a string of phrases that details his state:

A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido

This is such a convoluted message packed into 8 tiny words. Cobain is struggling with who he is as a person. He cannot decide whether he is a mix of something, a freak of some sort or even a person at all. He sums it all up as his "libido", a term popularized by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung that describes the creative and sexual energy that makes up an individual (libido). In the end, the lyrics come down to this: "I don't know who I am, so I guess what I am will have to do."

The Emotional Side of Grunge
Now we come to part of the motivation behind the grunge movement: a search for personal identity and acceptance. As humans, we need community. We thrive off of community. And when we can't find a community that accepts us, we go and create our own community. This drive for identity and acceptance is correlated to the type of community that we most love and adore. For those that strive to be identified as wealthy, only the best of the best can be had. For those that strive to be identified as pious, moralism rules and reigns. For those that strive to be identified as rebels, disorderly conduct and mischievousness are home. As much as our individualistic society would hate to admit it, we need community. We are slaves to community. The grunge movement is nothing more than an apathetic attempt to form an apathetic community, and what better way to create an apathetic community than to center it on an apathetic sound. As teens begin to grow up and become aware that parents and authorities are not always perfect, they start to question and assess what truly holds value. They have an uncanny perception of hypocrisy in others, yet they forget that they themselves are hypocrites as well. Because of their lack of self-awareness, they begin to detract and move away from the fundamental teachings of their childhood and look to "discover" what is out in the world. Often in their search, they become part of a community with similar struggles, questions and anxieties. Hence you have the birth of the grunge movement: a community cased around disgruntled wanderers trying to make sense of the world around them. In light of the grunge movement, apathy became the foundation of the grunge community.

The Technological Side of Grunge
In a very real sense, increases in technology and communication allowed the grunge movement to ignite in the mainstream. Apart from emotional foundations and realizations, technology had been rapidly increasing during the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the invention of Microsoft and Apple in the late 70s, computers began to become popular among American citizens. The 1980s era began what is known today as the "Computer Age" (1980s). The cell phone was also beginning to emerge in the 1980s, giving rise to a more instant form of communication. This sense of instant communication made emotional inquiries much more visible and transparent than ever before, thus brewing a community of grunge lovers much than larger any previous underground movement. Exacerbated by the wide appeal and promotion on college radio stations, the grunge movement had all the momentum to move from a local phenomenon to a national phenomenon - and it did just that.

Grunge and Autonomy
The topic of autonomy is widely associated with being American. In a culture that praises individualism and self-actualization, it is no wonder that autonomy is seen as crucial to identity. Autonomy can be defined as "an idea that is generally understood to refer to the capacity to be one's own person, to live one's life according to reasons and motives that are taken as one's own and not the product of manipulative or distorting external forces." (Christman) The idea of autonomy is also prevalent in the under workings of the grunge movement. Because the grunge movement housed a completely different sound than prior music movements, autonomy was a foundational concept. Here is the kicker though - while autonomy is quite obvious and apparent in the grunge movement, ambiguity about autonomy runs rampant as well. Cobain embraces autonomy by denying autonomy. As Cobain proclaims (in regards to the hit song "Smells Like Teen Spirit"), "I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band- or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard." (Lucyinthesky)

It is here that we encounter the heart of the grunge movement. By simultaneously embracing and denying autonomy, the grunge movement birthed a new type of autonomy commonly referred to as apathy. It is quite interesting to find that by detracting and removing themselves (referring to the followers of the grunge movement) from the laws and norms of society, they themselves created new laws and norms for a new society. In essence, by attempting to establish themselves as different from the rest of the world, they became just like the rest of the world. This brings us back to the question and assumption of autonomy. If by trying to be autonomous we fundamentally fall into another set of presuppositions, then is autonomy something that can actually be grasped and achieved? At the root of autonomy is the nature of the human will - the innate ability as human beings to chose and do as we please. However, the human will is not an infinite will. Rather, it is a finite will with very real, finite limitations. For example, I can purposefully choose to wear any shirt in my closet - a necessary act of the human will. However, I cannot purposefully choose to wear any shirt that is not in my closet - a necessary boundary of the finite human will. What we are left with, then, is a type of determinism that shapes our ability to exercise our will. The idea of determinism cannot be escaped. You either have man as the sovereign determiner of the universe, nature as the sovereign determiner of the universe, or an infinite being that is the sovereign determiner of the universe. It is no surprise, then, that Solomon can so wisely assert in Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

As we further assess autonomy, can one truly assert his propensity to be completely autonomous? As seen by the nature of the finite human will and the inescapable idea of determinism, complete autonomy is only an illusion of the human mind. Individuality can be assumed because of our ability to create, but autonomy cannot be proposed in the sense of being human. Chasing after autonomy is like chasing after the wind: it will never be caught. There will always be boundaries to being completely autonomous because we are finite in nature. Even though it was not completely realized, the grunge movement made an attempt on autonomy that is still affecting the music world today. Like Bob Dylan's controversial electrically amplified performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, the grunge movement sparked a flame that set the music world on fire. Music that had dared to different was now being aired on popular radio stations all over the country. The repercussions of this statement of autonomy are being felt even now with the enormous popularity and praise of the pop star Lady Gaga.

The Desperation of Grunge
The desperate cries heard from within the lyrics of grunge music are loud and clear. An example of the disparity and displeasure with life can be found within Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun".

In my eyes, in disposed,
In disguise as no one knows
Hides the face Lies
The snake, the sun
In my disgrace
Boiling heat, Summer stench
'Neath the black
The sky looks dead
Call my name
Through the cream
And I'll hear you
Scream again

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come

Stuttering
Cold and damp
Steal the warm wind
Tired friend
Times are gone
For honest men

And sometimes
Far too long
For snakes
In my shoes
A-walking sleep
And my youth
I pray to keep
Heaven send, Hell away
No one sings
Like you anymore

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come

Hang my head
Drown my fear
Till you all just
Disappear

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain

Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come

As one feels the vibe from this song, desperation and despair seem to be the only possible conclusions. However, the recurring grunge theme of apathy rears its head again in this song. When asked about this song, Chris Cornell (the lead singer of Soundgarden) responded, "It's funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none. The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn't have an understanding of it after I wrote it. I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across." (KERRANG!) This cannot simply be the case, though. Lyrics embedded with supposed nothingness must contain some sort of meaning. After all, nothingness has some meaning (or else the word could be Aramaic for all we'd know). Cornell evens admits this when asked about the line: "Times are gone for good men." In response to this line in "Black Hole Sun", Cornell asserts: "It's really difficult for a person to create their own life and their own freedom. It's going to become more and more difficult, and it's going to create more and more disillusioned people who become dishonest and angry and are willing to fuck the next guy to get what they want. There's so much stepping on the backs of other people in our profession. We've been so lucky that we've never had to do that. Part of it was because of our own tenacity, and part of it was because we were lucky." (Foege)

Apathy: Where It All Comes Together
Until now, I have been beating home the point that the grunge movement was a conglomerate of emotional, technological and psychological impetuses. As a final and overarching impetus, I would like to suggest that the success of apathy is the driving force behind the grunge movement. Wikipedia gives an excellent definition of apathy: "Apathy (also called impassivity or perfunctoriness) is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest or concern to emotional, social, or physical life." (Wikipedia) I honestly do not know if I can come up with a better interpretation and/or explanation of the grunge movement. As one views the lyrics and lifestyles of those intimately involved with the grunge movement, one cannot help but think that apathy has riddled the whole premise of the movement. For example, let's look back at the chorus of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

These four lines of words have apathy written all over them, especially "Here we are now - entertain us". Instead of exemplifying self motivation, Cobain blandly says "Alright, I'm here. Entertain me if you wish. I don't really care." Apparently to Cobain, this sense of apathy is quite "contagious" as well. Why apathy? There could be many reasons for why apathy was the preferred monument for the grunge movement, but I believe that apathy drove the grunge movement because it gave the people an illusion of individual and moral freedom. Rebellion entails and alludes to some sort of moral consequence. Revolution is filled with uncomfortable and negative connotations. But apathy straddles the fence on everything. Apathy gives you a false sense of freedom to do whatever you please, how you please, and when you please without any of the later consequences. In more profound and blunt terms, apathy was the justification for the motives behind the grunge movement.

Concluding Remarks
The grunge movement was monumental in establishing an alternative form of rock music on the mainstream radio. Fueled by a mixture of emotional, technological, psychological and apathetic values, grunge sparked a flame that is still burning in rock music today. As generations come and go, new and different "virtues" appear and disappear. Apathy was a strong "virtue" of Generation X, and it is made evident by the immense popularity of the grunge movement. Generation Y has embraced the Epicurean philosophy of "eat, drink and be merry" as a prime "virtue", and it has been made evident by the rise of hip-hop and rap music. The "virtue" of Generation Z will doubtless be different than that of the previous generation with its music readily following suit.

Works Cited
"1980s History including Popular Culture, Prices, Events, Technology and Inventions." Where People, History and Memories Join Together from The People History Site. Web. 10 Apr. 2010.

"Apathy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.

Azzerad, M. "WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY NETWORK /WNCLN." Western North Carolina Library Network. 16 Apr. 1992. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.

Benner, Melissa. "The History of Grunge." Welcome to Penn State York. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

Christman, John. "Autonomy in Moral and Political Philosophy ()." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 11 Aug. 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2010.

Foege, Alec. "THE END OF INNOCENCE." Unofficial SG Homepage: Articles: Rolling Stone, January 12, 1995. 12 Jan. 1995. Web. 01 May 2010.

KERRANG! "GARDENER'S QUESTION TIME." Unofficial SG Homepage: Articles: KERRANG!, March 1, 1997. 1 Mar. 1997. Web. 01 May 2010.

"libido." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 02 May. 2010.

Lucyinthesky. "Famous Musical Pieces: Smells Like Teen Spirit - Rock & Roll." Smells Like Teen Spirit. Web. 23 Mar. 2010.