SEATTLE — Nearly 35 years ago, a distorted, drum-heavy sound erupted from the Pacific Northwest — and changed the world.
Grunge was born in Seattle, but how did a new genre of music explode out of a relatively unknown music city?
KIRO 7 spoke with the people who helped define it: Megan Jasper, CEO of Sub Pop Records; Martin Douglas, KEXP reporter and host of Kurt Cobain 50; Linda Derschang, owner of Linda’s Tavern — famously dubbed “the grunge Cheers”; and Jacob McMurray, chief collections and exhibitions officer at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).
“It was emotionally fierce,” Jasper said. “Electric, alive. Raw and fun.”
Grunge’s sound was unapologetic — a mix of punk rock, heavy metal and psychedelic influences, according to Douglas. Its look? Unconcerned. Its mindset? Unimpressed.
“That’s what you wore,” McMurray said. “You know, it’s cold here.”
But when Nirvana’s Nevermind displaced Michael Jackson from the top of the Billboard charts in 1991, Seattle’s underground scene went global.
“I remember thinking: ‘this is going to do really, really well,’” Jasper recalled. “When the biggest bands in the world are coming from one city, that’s a statement. Something’s happening.”
Within a few short years, Seattle’s grunge counterculture had taken over radio airwaves, magazine covers and even fashion runways.
“There were cameras everywhere you went,” Jasper said. “Music journalists and record labels were signing every band in town. It felt like a light switch.”
By the early ’90s, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were all releasing albums and touring at once — a creative explosion that cemented Seattle’s place in music history.
“The music spoke to a lot of us,” Jasper said. “And it resonated with everybody.”
From small clubs to global stages
In the late 1980s and early ’90s, local venues like the Moore Theatre, El Corazon, the Paramount and the Crocodile hosted early performances by bands who would soon become household names.
“When bands would play, they’d hope somebody was going to spot them,” Derschang said.
Even college radio was a catalyst. Douglas credits the University of Washington’s KCMU (now KEXP) for breaking new artists long before they hit MTV.
“Whatever was cool, happening, weird and compelling — there was likely a DJ here playing it,” he said.
Independent label Sub Pop Records, led by Jasper, gave many of those artists their start. Under a $600 contract, the label famously signed Nirvana — a decision that would forever alter the label, and the city, itself.
“At that point, Sub Pop was just looking for something that ruled,” Jasper said.
Watch the full special above to learn more.
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