Is Grunge Metal?

Hello all,

One question that has been festering in my brain is whether grunge should be classified as a sub-genre of metal or is it a unique genre of its own or something else altogether?

I suppose we should define what has been accepted as grunge. First, grunge is usually defined as originating in Seattle with bands having a particular look where they look like unwashed miscreants who refused any sort of theatrics in their music or stage shows. Second, lyrically the grunge movement relied more on thoughtful, deeper meaning than previous "heavy" music that preceded it. There was a large emphasis on angst. Finally, the sound is much "simpler" than "traditional" heavy metal which often relied on complicated melodies and guitar solos. That is the general consensus about grunge.

Here lies the problem. That definition is complete bullshit.

The main issue with grunge is that it was clearly a creation of the music industry to explain the music scene in Seattle that was exploding. The bands that were included in the genre were so diverse that lumping them all into the same genre is just lazy. There is no way that Soundgarden and Mudhoney could be included in the same genre, right? Clearly bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains have more leaning toward heavy metal whereas bands like Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and The Melvins were more inspired by punk. To take it one step further, bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were inspired by metal, rock, punk, and early-alternative rock.

Even though there are many issues with the way that bands were incorporated into the grunge genre, it does not take away that many of these bands were/are amazing artists that have put out many fantastic albums. Whether you agree that they should be classified as metal or not, most of these albums have a heavy vibe to them.

For the sake of this blog, I will classify grunge as a sub-genre of metal . . . with some reservation. On the other hand, many have argued that grunge is simply a sub-genre of punk. Those people may be right, but I disagree. On a separate note, I also feel as though punk could be classified as a sub-genre of metal, but that's a separate post.

This isn't meant to be the end of the discussion, but the beginning of an open-ended debate. What do you think?

For your listening pleasure, I have attached three music clips.

As always, thanks for reading,
Marty Sabin