Grunge

S1, E7: On April 5, 1994, Kurt Cobain pressed a shotgun to his chest and pulled the trigger extinguishing the life of one of rock’s most enigmatic but tortured geniuses and symbolically ending the storybook reign of grunge. In Episode 7 of Metal Evolution: The Series, Sam explores grunge, a.k.a. the Seattle Sound, from a decidedly fresher approach, inspiring two fundamental questions: “Why did grunge polarize the Metal community?” and “What are the true roots of grunge?” While grunge was enjoying its meteoric rise, replacing the MTV face of Metal that was glam with its own brand of telegenic, easy to digest “rebellion,” diehards within the Metal community struggled to adjust. We’ll explore how fans and musicians felt a profound sense of disillusionment with the ascent of grunge, alienated by its lyrical obsession with depression and endless self-examination, and suspicious of the flannel-wearing façade that was deemed antithetical to the ethos of Metal. At the same time, there were other metallers who felt a connection with grunge—legends like Geddy Lee and Sabbath’s Bill Ward discuss their admiration for the Seattle Sound, and how they incorporated elements of grunge into their own music and in doing so, shed light on a profound irony that was at play. We’ll also reveal why the leaders of grunge were publicly shunning their Metal roots, preferring to advance the dubious notion that their music was an offspring of the American punk movement. But, through plain-spoken dialogue with Sam Dunn, surviving purveyors of grunge like Kim Thayil, Jerry Cantrell and Thurston Moore, will, for the first time ever, “come out of the closet,” and own up to the enormous debt—technically, viscerally and aesthetically—they owe to Metal giants like Led Zeppelin, Blue Öyster Cult and Black Sabbath. In Episode 7, the history of grunge will be rewritten.