In The Process

Writing a question….writing a question….how to write a question? The subculture I have chosen is Grunge and the topic…The Local and the Global. Both the Hype documentary and the VH1 news special on Grunge portray this Grunge movement in a very similar way, in fact I was disappointed when I didn’t get anything much new out of the latter.

It appears that Grunge music arose in Seattle for particular reasons. The VH1 documentary listed geographic isolation, economic despair and the bad weather as reasons why the disgruntled youth produced this new music. Like many new subcultures Grunge arose out of boredom. Also what probably contributed a lot was that bands never toured as far down as Seattle. If the kids wanted music, they had to play it themselves. There were very few venues, it was all do-it-yourself, and nobody was worried about success. Or at least that’s the impression that I’m getting.

What makes Grunge so interesting to me is how quickly the “mainstream” (how on earth am I going to go about defining what that is?) appropriated the elements of the Grunge subculture, particularly in popular fashion. When Nirvana’s Nevermind shot to number one on the music charts and Grunge became ‘popular’, how did that affect the Seattle scene, especially with the aversion to success/no selling out, independent aesthetic of the music? Dick Hebdige’s article on subculture and style looks at style/fashion and its importance within a subculture. Which is interesting in Grunge as it seems the style was more important to those listening to the music rather than the ones playing it. This is particularly relevant when looking at the signifying aspects of Grunge, flannel shirts for example.

‘Sub Pop records’ is a highly integral part of the Grunge movement. As an independent label co-founded by Jonathon Poneman and Bruce Pavitt, Sub pop records was right in the thick of it, even helping create this ‘hype’. There seems to have been mixed feelings over this record label. Some say that it helped small bands record their music and get it out there for the world to hear. Others see it as a money-hungry enterprise that slapped a label on Seattle bands in order to cash in on the craze.

When thinking about media coverage of the Grunge phenomenon you can’t go past the attention lavished on Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Not only his musical talent but also his private life, marriage, child and drug habits were covered by newspapers and magazines. Perhaps looking into Cobain’s relationship with the media and how that contributed to the shifting identity of the Seattle music scene would be interesting.

So how to phrase this essay topic? Grunge, scene theory, Seattle, Sub Pop, Kurt Cobain, the media… where/how do these fit together? This is going somewhere I’m sure. I can now see the benefits of having to write your own essay topic. It really makes you think.

Quotes of interest:
“The bands that stuck it out did it because they really, really, really enjoyed playing their music. And that was really only positive reinforcement they got.”
Jack Endino (Skin Yard) Record Producer

“I think every community has their pools of talent, it’s just a matter of being able to take on the responsibility of marketing.”
Jonathon Poneman, Bruce Pavitt co-founders sub pop

“Nirvana didn’t go to the Mainstream, the mainstream came to nirvana”
Kirst Novoselic

TIL NEXT TIME! (tomorrow)

Reminder to self – listen to…Mudhoney, TAD, Screaming Trees, Green River