Music as Identity - Part 7 - Grunge

I remember distinctly my introduction to the grunge genre. It was during the musical vacuum of my year of studying abroad. A friend of my roommate and I sent over Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana saying it was all the rage. We listened to it and really liked it, so it joined the rotation with the other few tapes we brought over with us. It was not until I came back that I started to realize how popular these guys really got. Before coming back I had not lost taste for the music from overexposure because this tape was our only exposure.

When I got back, everyone was listening to it and there was a whole other group of bands and albums to discover. Now this goes back to the point of my musical taste being influenced by those around me. Coming back to the states, I came into a new circle of friends who I worked with in the cafeteria who listened to this type of music. So I jumped in and started buying CD's by Pearl Jamb, Temple of the Dog, Mother Love Bone, and Nirvana.

It's interesting because looking back because it was really one of the few times I listened to music that was not under the umbrella of New Wave or Electronica. I listened to rock and classic rock at different times in my life, but I was never passionate about the music enough to go out and buy bunches of albums. It was also odd because I am not a fan of heavy metal and bands like Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails tend to border on that style (hard and loud). Though the style is still quite different.

Only two more components left of this series. Miscellaneous and the summation.