books/essays about grunge

[stip]

A friend of mine is teaching a class on the idea of 'cool' and he's structuring the course around major trends decade by decade. A lot of the class will be on music. He asked me if there are any key books or essays on grunge. Are there?

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Has anyone read this? Seems to come up in quite a few searches.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1550228773

[Birds in Hell]

Has anyone read this? Seems to come up in quite a few searches.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1550228773

This is excellent.

I'm not sure it'll be exactly what your friend will be after, it's an oral history of the scene, but I think it's superior to the more recent, and seemingly more well-received, 'Everybody Loves Our Town' by Mark Yarm which does the exact same thing just not quite as well (for my money, anyway).

[William Bloke]

I really enjoyed this book, both its substance and the author's style. A great read (and would seem to suit your friend's purpose, if you assume that "alternative" somehow equates at least a bit to "cool").

[Jorge]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

[lowlight79]

Everybody loves our town was a pretty boring read. it does give alot of info, but more like a dictionary then an interesting book.

[VinylGuy]

Grunge is dead is awesome...I love the Screaming Trees and Truly chapters.

[stip]

to clarify, he's not just looking for biography. He is looking for books/essays that touch on grunge as a cultural phenomena (authentic or manufactured) as much as anything else.


thank you for the suggestions so far

[CitizenByron]

while it's kurt cobain focused. the heavier than heaven book was pretty good. the rest and i've read a bunch over the years tended to lack and real journalistic credibility and more the work of populist hacks. no real analysis, more gossip.

[McParadigm]

He is looking for books/essays that touch on grunge as a cultural phenomena (authentic or manufactured) as much as anything else.

Authentically Manufactured would be a pretty good title for such a book.

[harmless]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

Holy shit, that article is pessimistic.

I thought it was good until it started praising the Foo Fighters for "brightness" and "grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

[bada]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

Holy shit, that article is pessimistic.

I thought it was good until it started praising the Foo Fighters for "brightness" and "grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Yeah the problem is grunge isn't a real sub genre. Most bands that one might put under that moniker don't really have much in common. So saying grunge has no shelf life is kinda dumb because it was never a real thing. The term grunge never really mattered. Those bands were different degrees on the rock dial. Calling them alt rock seems more appropriate. Unless you wanna say that the alt rock late 80s early 90s Seattle scene is called grunge in which case it would be pretty unlikely for it to continue forever unless the expectation is that every band in that geographic location is forever required to pick one of the big four bands from that era and do their impression.

[Jorge]

"grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Trascending grunge?

[malice]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

Holy shit, that article is pessimistic.

I thought it was good until it started praising the Foo Fighters for "brightness" and "grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Yeah the problem is grunge isn't a real sub genre. Most bands that one might put under that moniker don't really have much in common. So saying grunge has no shelf life is kinda dumb because it was never a real thing. The term grunge never really mattered. Those bands were different degrees on the rock dial. Calling them alt rock seems more appropriate. Unless you wanna say that the alt rock late 80s early 90s Seattle scene is called grunge in which case it would be pretty unlikely for it to continue forever unless the expectation is that every band in that geographic location is forever required to pick one of the big four bands from that era and do their impression.

this

[warehouse]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

Holy shit, that article is pessimistic.

I thought it was good until it started praising the Foo Fighters for "brightness" and "grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Yeah the problem is grunge isn't a real sub genre. Most bands that one might put under that moniker don't really have much in common. So saying grunge has no shelf life is kinda dumb because it was never a real thing. The term grunge never really mattered. Those bands were different degrees on the rock dial. Calling them alt rock seems more appropriate. Unless you wanna say that the alt rock late 80s early 90s Seattle scene is called grunge in which case it would be pretty unlikely for it to continue forever unless the expectation is that every band in that geographic location is forever required to pick one of the big four bands from that era and do their impression.

i was about to say, "grunge" is more location based. alt rock or pop punk is probably what i think as "cool" music genres of the early/mid 90s.

[harmless]

"grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Trascending grunge?

Oh, OK. Yeah; not like "transcendent grunge" (how I was reading it). I'm just not really sure how FF "transcend grunge" except to be more poppy and watered-down. But maybe it means that they managed to be a legitimate "event" all these years later. Or something else.

[harmless]

Did Grunge Really Matter?
http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-grun ... er,105354/

Holy shit, that article is pessimistic.

I thought it was good until it started praising the Foo Fighters for "brightness" and "grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Yeah the problem is grunge isn't a real sub genre. Most bands that one might put under that moniker don't really have much in common. So saying grunge has no shelf life is kinda dumb because it was never a real thing. The term grunge never really mattered. Those bands were different degrees on the rock dial. Calling them alt rock seems more appropriate. Unless you wanna say that the alt rock late 80s early 90s Seattle scene is called grunge in which case it would be pretty unlikely for it to continue forever unless the expectation is that every band in that geographic location is forever required to pick one of the big four bands from that era and do their impression.

this

Yep. I just thought the article offered scant evidence that the movement had no good influence on anything, or even that it was required to. I get that it became "commercialised" and all the bands assimilated into a "movement" that may or may not have been recognised by the bands themselves, but that's not the bands' fault; in a way, the media killed it.

[malice]

I completely agree with the idea that the media killed it- regardless of what it was called.although the word 'grunge' was held in special contempt, as I'm sure everyone knows. I remember being especially put off when i started seeing commercials for grunge fashions... it was rather antithetical to the whole idea of being alternate anything...

also, I haven't read the article yet but will, i was mainly agreeing with what bada posted.

[Fuzzcharger]

"grunge transcendence" (what's that?).

Trascending grunge?

Sometimes the answer is right in front of you.

[super nintendo chalmers]

It's not a book, but Hype! should be all they need.

Yarms book is good too. What little I read of it.