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Grunge music is a sub-genre of rock music that formed in the late 1980s in and around Seattle, Washington. Grunge was the combination of various styles of rock music, especially punk, heavy metal, and hard rock. Early bands in the genre such as Green River, Skin Yard, and the Melvins gave way to Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden which all reached national notoriety in the early to mid-1990s. Distorted guitars and wailing vocals evolved into smart songwriting, skillful musicianship, Grammy awards, and for Nirvana and Pearl Jam, acceptance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The items in this collection consist of Seattle grunge music ephemera collected by The Seattle Public Library staff. The ephemera includes concert notices and reviews, record reviews, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden fan club newsletters, general articles written about Seattle grunge artists, record labels—specifically Sub Pop—recording studios, and the Seattle grunge scene. The majority of materials are newspaper clippings and magazine articles.
Items are arranged in folders, alphabetized by musical group and subject heading. Items in each folder are in chronological order.
The items in the Seattle grunge collection were extracted from the Seattle Music and Arts file folders and scrapbooks located in the Arts, Literature and Recreation Department at the Central Library. This collection includes several hundred uncatalogued folders and 42 scrapbooks on a variety of topics and genres.
Music CDs, concert DVDs, and books created by and written about Seattle grunge music groups and individuals are located throughout the library system. All of them are discoverable in the catalog by searching under the subject heading: Grunge music – Washington (State) – Seattle.
Some of the items included in this collection are photocopies. In many cases, originals copies of the same periodicals are also available at the Central Library. They can be found by searching the periodical title in the library catalog and checking the availability details to determine the floor where they are held.
Collection is open and available for use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[ITEM DESCRIPTION], Seattle grunge collection. Seattle Public Library, Seattle, WA.
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