Grunge: Disillusioned Generation X
- Music History Hall
- 6 hours ago
- 1 min read
Grunge
As the country entered the 1990s, the new generation coming up was distinctly different and more cynical than previous generations. They expressed themselves through a new music coming out of Seattle called Grunge.
The end of the American Dream. This new generation was disillusioned. They had grown up with the idea of the American Dream, but soon realized as they reached adulthood that the dream was not going to come true for them.
They witnessed the end of the Cold War and the rise of unbridled capitalism as they entered adulthood. They were the first generation to grow up with the divorced parents and working mothers of the 1970s and were "latch-key" kids.
A recession ushered in the 1990s with high unemployment, low wages, and few opportunities. After adjusting for inflation, the average American worker in 1992 brought home less per week than in 1979.
The gray, bleak, rainy environment of the Pacific Northwest was the perfect place for Generation X to birth a music that blended punk rock and heavy metal. The music was tinged with the depression and angst of a generation on the edge.
Riot Grrrl was another music that bubbled up at this time. It combined feminism, punk music, and politics. The young women of Generation X discussed serious issues in their music, including sexual abuse, the patriarchy, and female empowerment.
The Grunge movement started to die out after the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
