Editing Grunge (section)

===1985–1991: Early development and rise in popularity===
[[File:Green River (1980s Sub Pop promo photo).jpg|thumb|left|Seattle grunge pioneers [[Green River (band)|Green River]]]]
In 1985, the band [[Green River (band)|Green River]] released their debut EP ''[[Come on Down (EP)|Come on Down]]'', which is cited by many as being the first grunge record.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Come on Down'' Review |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=come-on-down-mw0000109467|pure_url=yes}} |website=[[AllMusic]] |last=Torreano |first=Bradley |access-date=September 22, 2024}}</ref> Another seminal release in the development of grunge was the ''[[Deep Six (album)|Deep Six]]'' compilation, released by [[C/Z Records]] in 1986. The record featured multiple tracks by six bands: Green River, [[Soundgarden]], [[Melvins]], [[Malfunkshun]], [[Skin Yard]], and the U-Men. For many of them it was their first appearance on record. The artists had "a mostly heavy, aggressive sound that melded the slower tempos of heavy metal with the intensity of hardcore". The recording process was low-budget; each band was given four hours of studio time. As Jack Endino recalled, "People just said, 'Well, what kind of music is this? This isn't metal, it's not punk, What is it?' ... People went 'Eureka! These bands all have something in common.'"<ref name="Azerrad419" /> Later that year [[Bruce Pavitt]] released the ''[[Sub Pop 100]]'' compilation and Green River's ''[[Dry As a Bone]]'' EP as part of his new label, Sub Pop. An early Sub Pop catalog described the Green River EP as "ultra-loose GRUNGE that destroyed the morals of a generation".<ref name="Azerrad420">Azerrad (2001), p. 420.</ref> Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, inspired by other regional music scenes in music history, worked to ensure that their label projected a "Seattle sound", reinforced by a similar style of production and album packaging. While music writer [[Michael Azerrad]] acknowledged that early grunge bands like Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and Tad had disparate sounds, he noted "to the objective observer, there were some distinct similarities."<ref>Azerrad (2001), pp. 436–37.</ref>
[[File:Deep Six ad - The Rocket (1986).jpg|thumb|Advertisement for grunge compilation ''[[Deep Six (album)|Deep Six]]'', featured in ''[[The Rocket (music magazine)|The Rocket]]'', April 1, 1986]]
Early grunge concerts were sparsely attended (many by fewer than a dozen people) but Sub Pop photographer [[Charles Peterson (photographer)|Charles Peterson]]'s pictures helped create the impression that such concerts were major events.<ref>Azerrad (2001), pp. 421–22.</ref> Mudhoney, which was formed by former members of Green River, served as the flagship band of Sub Pop during their entire time with the label and spearheaded the Seattle grunge movement.<ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 411.</ref> Other record labels in the Pacific Northwest that helped promote grunge included C/Z Records, [[Estrus Records]], EMpTy Records and [[PopLlama Records]].<ref name="Hype" /> In 1988 Mudhoney released their debut album ''[[Superfuzz Bigmuff]]'', which Bruce Pavitt called "the record that really put Sub Pop on the map," and of its impact said: "It really announced to the world that there was a new style of rock and roll being made in this very obscure city that most people had never heard of."<ref>{{cite web   |url=https://medium.com/vnyl-on-vinyl/firstspin-sub-pop-co-founder-bruce-pavitt-8245424be824| title=#FirstSpin: Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt|work=Medium|date=April 7, 2015}}</ref> 

Grunge attracted media attention in the United Kingdom after Pavitt and Poneman asked journalist [[Everett True]] from the British magazine ''[[Melody Maker]]'' to write an article on the local music scene. This exposure helped to make grunge known outside of the local area during the late 1980s and drew more people to local shows.<ref name="Hype" /> The appeal of grunge to the music press was that it "promised the return to a notion of a regional, authorial vision for [[American rock]]".<ref>Lyons, James. ''Selling Seattle: Representing Contemporary Urban America''. Wallflower, 2004. {{ISBN|1-903364-96-5}}. pp. 128–29.</ref> Grunge's popularity in the [[underground music]] scene was such that bands began to move to Seattle and approximate the look and sound of the original grunge bands. Mudhoney's Steve Turner said, "It was really bad. Pretend bands were popping up here, things weren't coming from where we were coming from."<ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 449.</ref> As a reaction, many grunge bands diversified their sound, with Nirvana and Tad in particular creating more melodic songs.<ref>Azerrad (2001), p. 450.</ref> Dawn Anderson of the Seattle fanzine ''Backlash'' recalled that by 1990 many locals had tired of the hype surrounding the Seattle scene and hoped that media exposure had dissipated.<ref name="Hype" /> In a 1991 article, Mark Arm commented that "It was pretty funny when all the Seattle hype started, because there had been really good bands in Seattle for a long time who couldn't put out albums because they didn't have an outlet for it. Bands like [[Malfunkshun]] and [[10 Minute Warning]], who were amazing."<ref>{{cite news|title=Seattle's Mudhoney turns isolation into oppurtunity|first=Greg|last=Kot|work=Chicago Tribune|page=72|date=September 5, 1991}}</ref>

Chris Dubrow from ''[[The Guardian]]'' states that in the late 1980s, Australia's "sticky-floored ... alternative pub scene" in seedy inner-city areas produced grunge bands with "raw and awkward energy" such as [[the Scientists]], [[X (Australian band)|X]], [[Beasts of Bourbon]], [[feedtime]], [[Cosmic Psychos]] and [[Lubricated Goat]].<ref name="Dubrow">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/australia-culture-blog/2014/apr/07/australia-grunge-nirvana |title=Nirvana had nothing on Australia's Lubricated Goat |last=Dubrow |first=Chris|date=April 7, 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=February 8, 2017 }}</ref> Dubrow said "Cobain ... admitted the Australian wave was a big influence" on his music.<ref name="Dubrow" /> Everett True states that "[t]here's more of an argument to be had for grunge beginning in Australia with the Scientists and their scrawny punk ilk."<ref name="ReferenceA">True, Everett. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/aug/24/grunge-myths-nirvana-kurt-cobain "Ten Myths about Grunge, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain"]. ''The Guardian''. August 24, 2011</ref>

Grunge bands had made inroads to the musical mainstream in the late 1980s. Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label when they joined the roster of [[A&M Records]] in 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-soundgarden/172326555/|title=Hometown bands are making big waves elsewhere|first=Gillian|last=G. Garr|work=The News Tribune|page=80|date=August 28, 1988}}</ref> Soundgarden, along with other major label signings [[Alice in Chains]] and [[Mother Love Bone]], performed "okay" with their initial major label releases, according to Jack Endino.<ref name="Hype" /> [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]], originally from [[Aberdeen, Washington]], was also courted by major labels, while releasing its first album ''[[Bleach (Nirvana album)|Bleach]]'' in 1989. Nirvana got signed by [[Geffen Records]] in 1990.

Alice in Chains signed with [[Columbia Records]] in 1989,<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Sola|first1=David|title=Alice in Chains: The Untold Story|date=August 4, 2015|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=978-1250048073|pages=323–324}}</ref> and their debut album, ''[[Facelift (album)|Facelift]]'', was released on August 21, 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vh1.com/news/8881ep/alice-in-chains-facelift-album-facts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522193316/https://www.vh1.com/news/8881ep/alice-in-chains-facelift-album-facts|url-status=live|archive-date=May 22, 2022|title=Alice in Chains' Facelift: 25 Album Facts|publisher=VH1|date=August 21, 2015|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> The album's second single, "[[Man in the Box]]", was released in January 1991, spent 20 weeks on the Top 20 of [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'s [[Mainstream Rock (chart)|Mainstream Rock]] chart and its music video received heavy rotation on MTV.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sonymusic.com:80/artists/AliceInChains/bio.html |title=Alice In Chains Timeline |website=SonyMusic.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991007164204/http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/AliceInChains/bio.html |archive-date=October 7, 1999 |url-status=dead |access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/alice-in-chains/chart-history/rtt/ |title=Man In The Box Chart History |magazine=Billboard |access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> ''Facelift'' became the first album from the grunge movement to be certified gold by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] (RIAA) on September 11, 1991,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-in-chains-facelift/|title=How Alice in Chains Bridged Rock Eras With 'Facelift'|publisher=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=August 21, 2015|access-date=December 6, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116064308/http://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-in-chains-facelift/|archive-date=November 16, 2017}}</ref> for selling over 500,000 copies.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&ar=Alice+in+Chains&ti=Facelift#search_section |title=Alice in Chains (Facelift) – RIAA |website=Recording Industry Association of America}}</ref>