60 Fun Facts About 90s Grunge

Alongside Seattle, which Washington state capital was a hub of early grunge?

Bruce Pavitt started the Sub Pop fanzine there while at Evergreen State College, and Cobain lived there for years.

Which Seattle indie label, founded 1986, released early Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney records?

Pavitt started it as a fanzine called Subterranean Pop while at Evergreen State College; the label later sold a 49% stake to Warner in 1995.

The 1986 Seattle-scene compilation Deep Six was the first release on which label?

Only 2,000 copies were pressed; the record featured Green River, Soundgarden, Melvins, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard and the U-Men.

Which 1984 Seattle band split into Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, making it a precursor to Pearl Jam?

The name was most strongly associated with the Green River Killer, whose case dominated Washington headlines at the time.

What was Mother Love Bone's debut album, released shortly after frontman Andrew Wood died in 1990?

Wood was 24; his death led directly to Temple of the Dog and, indirectly, to Pearl Jam.

Temple of the Dog was conceived by which singer as a tribute to Andrew Wood?

Cornell had been Wood's roommate; he started writing the tribute songs while touring Europe days after the funeral.

Which Temple of the Dog song became a duet between the band's frontman and a then-unknown Eddie Vedder?

Vedder was in Seattle to audition for the band that became Pearl Jam and stepped in during a rehearsal to sing the low parts.

Before settling on Pearl Jam, the band briefly went by the name of which NBA player?

Their debut album Ten is named after his jersey number.

Pearl Jam's debut album Ten was released in August 1991 on which label?

It came out a month before Nevermind but took longer to catch on, eventually producing the hits Alive, Even Flow and Jeremy.

Pearl Jam's Jeremy was inspired by a newspaper article about a 15-year-old boy in which state?

Jeremy Wade Delle of Richardson, Texas, shot himself in front of his English class in January 1991; the video won four MTV VMAs in 1993.

Pearl Jam's second album Vs. set a record in 1993 by selling roughly how many copies in its first week?

It outsold the rest of the Billboard top ten combined that week, a record that stood until Garth Brooks' Double Live in 1998.

Which company did Pearl Jam go to war with in 1994, testifying before a congressional subcommittee?

The band boycotted Ticketmaster venues for years afterward, even after the Justice Department dropped its case.

Eddie Vedder was working what job in San Diego when he got the demo tape that led to Pearl Jam?

He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, and the lyrics to what became Alive came to him in the water.

Which ex-Chili Peppers drummer gave the Pearl Jam demo to his basketball buddy Eddie Vedder?

Irons later joined Pearl Jam himself as drummer in the mid-90s.

Nirvana formed in 1987 in which small Washington town?

Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic met at Aberdeen High School; the Melvins rehearsed nearby.

Nirvana's debut single, the first Sub Pop Singles Club release in 1988, was a cover of which song?

The original was by Dutch band Shocking Blue; the subscription club mailed a new single to members every month.

The recording budget printed on the sleeve of Nirvana's debut album Bleach was how much?

Jason Everman paid the bill and got a credit on the album even though he never played on it.

Which drummer played on most of Bleach before Dave Grohl joined Nirvana in 1990?

Buzz Osborne of the Melvins introduced Grohl to the band after Grohl's D.C. group Scream broke up.

Dave Grohl was drumming for which Washington, D.C. punk band before it broke up and he joined Nirvana?

He joined Scream at 17, replacing Kent Stax.

Who produced Nevermind?

Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt suggested him; the band liked his work with Killdozer, and the album was cut at Sound City for $65,000.

Nevermind reached number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1992 by displacing which album?

The album has since sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

The baby on the cover of Nevermind is swimming toward what?

Four-month-old Spencer Elden was photographed by Kirk Weddle at a pool for babies after stock footage proved too expensive.

Kathleen Hanna, who wrote the phrase 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on Cobain's wall, sang for which riot grrrl band?

Hanna meant the deodorant Teen Spirit; Cobain took it as a revolutionary slogan and didn't learn about the product until months after the single came out.

Nirvana feared Come as You Are's riff resembled Eighties, a 1984 song by which English band?

The band nearly released In Bloom instead; a rumoured lawsuit never materialised.

Which famously blunt engineer recorded Nirvana's In Utero in two weeks at Pachyderm Studio in Minnesota?

The whole thing cost about $25,000; the band later had Scott Litt remix Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies.

Nirvana's MTV Unplugged set was taped in November 1993 at which studio?

Cobain asked for stargazer lilies, black candles and a chandelier; when the producer said it sounded like a funeral, he agreed.

Which band's Cris and Curt Kirkwood joined Nirvana on stage during the MTV Unplugged taping?

MTV had wanted bigger names like Eddie Vedder or Tori Amos as guests.

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love were married in February 1992 on a beach where?

Their daughter Frances Bean was born that August, with Michael Stipe as her godfather.

Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home on April 8, 1994, in which Seattle neighbourhood?

Weeks earlier Love had found him unconscious in a Rome hotel room after an overdose.

Who played the one guitar part Dave Grohl didn't on the first Foo Fighters album?

The whole record took about six days; Grohl then hired the rhythm section of Sunny Day Real Estate to tour it.

Soundgarden took its name from what?

A Sound Garden stands on NOAA property beside Magnuson Park; Cornell originally drummed and sang at the same time.

Soundgarden became the first grunge band to sign to a major label when it joined which company in 1988?

Their SST debut Ultramega OK still earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990.

Which 1994 Soundgarden album yielded the Grammy-winning singles Spoonman and Black Hole Sun?

Spoonman's video features Artis the Spoonman, a real Seattle street performer who also played spoons on the track.

Which Soundgarden drummer joined Pearl Jam in 1998 and stayed until 2025?

Cameron had earlier played in Skin Yard, one of the bands on the Deep Six compilation.

Soundgarden's singer died in a hotel in which city in May 2017, hours after a Fox Theatre show?

He had also fronted Audioslave and co-wrote You Know My Name, the theme to Casino Royale.

What was the local glam metal band that gave Layne Staley his first gig as vocalist called?

Diamond Lie was Jerry Cantrell's band and Gypsy Rose was Cantrell and Mike Starr's; the Alice N' Chains spelling was chosen to calm parents worried about the bondage reference.

Which single from the 1990 album Facelift broke Alice in Chains on MTV and mainstream rock radio?

Facelift eventually peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 in mid-1991.

Jerry Cantrell wrote Rooster about whom?

Rooster was Jerry Cantrell Sr.'s childhood nickname; the song appeared on 1992's Dirt.

Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies (1994) was the first what to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?

It was recorded in about seven days and sold over 141,000 copies in its first week.

Layne Staley died in April 2002 at what age?

He had largely withdrawn from public life after 1998, having also sung with the supergroup Mad Season.

Stone Temple Pilots formed in 1989 in which city, far from Seattle?

They played as Swing and then Mighty Joe Young before a bluesman's prior claim to that name forced a change; the initials STP came from motor oil stickers.

Stone Temple Pilots won their only Grammy, in 1994, for which song?

The award was Best Hard Rock Performance, for a track from the 1992 debut Core.

Mudhoney, formed on New Year's Day 1988, is named after a film by which director?

Their debut single Touch Me I'm Sick and the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP were the records Bruce Pavitt said put Sub Pop on the map.

Which real band's members play Matt Dillon's bandmates in fictional Seattle group Citizen Dick in Singles (1992)?

Most of Dillon's wardrobe actually belonged to bassist Jeff Ament, and Citizen Dick's Touch Me I'm Dick parodies a Mudhoney single.

Screaming Trees, whose 'Nearly Lost You' was on the Singles soundtrack, formed in 1984 in which small Washington town?

The band rehearsed at the Conner family's video rental store; singer Mark Lanegan died in 2022.

Hole's Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, how long after Kurt Cobain was found dead?

The album went platinum within a year; bassist Kristen Pfaff died two months after its release.

The Melvins, a key influence on Kurt Cobain, named themselves after what?

Melvins drummer Dale Crover played on Nirvana's first demo, and Cobain said the Melvins were the first live show he ever saw.

Bush, whose 1994 debut Sixteen Stone went six-times platinum in the US, formed in which city?

Gavin Rossdale had wanted to sign with 4AD, home of the Pixies and Cocteau Twins.

Silverchair's members were how old when their debut album Frogstomp was released in March 1995?

They had formed as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, and Frogstomp went to number one in Australia.

Seattle's Candlebox, of Far Behind fame, signed to which label after an eight-song EP?

Their self-titled 1993 debut went quadruple platinum, though purists filed them under post-grunge.

Marc Jacobs was dismissed from which fashion house after his 1992 'grunge' collection?

Courtney Love said she and Cobain burned the pieces Jacobs sent them.

In one of his last interviews, Kurt Cobain credited which Sub Pop cofounder with coining the term 'grunge'?

The word itself was slang for dirt or something repugnant, which the bands wore as a badge.

What is Doug Pray's 1996 documentary about the Pacific Northwest grunge scene called?

It premiered at Sundance and Sub Pop released the soundtrack, including a box of coloured 7-inch vinyl.

Pearl Jam released its 1994 album Vitalogy first in which format, two weeks ahead of CD and cassette?

The LP sold 34,000 copies in its first week, a SoundScan-era vinyl record that stood until Jack White's Lazaretto in 2014.

Which newspaper printed a fake list of grunge slang in the 'grunge speak hoax'?

The paper had compared the 'grunging of America' to the mass-marketing of punk, disco and hip-hop.

Which magazine nicknamed Seattle 'the new Liverpool' after grunge broke through?

Major labels then signed most prominent Seattle bands while a second wave of bands moved to the city.

Mudhoney's 1988 debut EP Superfuzz Bigmuff is named after what?

The Univox Super-Fuzz and the Big Muff; Bruce Pavitt called the record the one that put Sub Pop on the map.

Which Boss pedal was key to Kurt Cobain's quiet-loud-quiet songwriting approach?

Cobain also used the Small Clone chorus on Come As You Are, as did Screaming Trees on Nearly Lost You.

Which magazine, art directed by David Carson, is a famous example of 'grunge typography'?

The term grunge typography was applied to the experimental design style outside music.

Which Green River EP got the first recorded 'grunge' tag for a Seattle band, in a 1988 Sub Pop catalog?

Pavitt's blurb promised 'gritty vocals, roaring Marshall amps'.