[7] By the early 1990s, its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals.

Grunge was commercially successful in the early-to-mid-1990s due to releases such as Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Alice in Chains' Dirt, and Stone Temple Pilots' Core.

Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, they influenced modern rock music, as their lyrics brought socially conscious issues into pop culture[9] and added introspection and an exploration of what it means to be true to oneself.

Seattle music journalist Charles R. Cross defines "grunge" as distortion-filled, down-tuned and riff-based rock that uses loud electric guitar feedback and heavy, "ponderous" basslines to support its song melodies.

This approach was chosen both to counter the "slick" elegant sound of the then-predominant mainstream rock and because grunge artists wanted to mirror the "ugliness" they saw around them and shine a light on unseen "depths and depravity" of the real world.

They used primarily offset guitars because at the time they were unpopular enough to offer a new image as opposed to more frequently seen Gibson Les Pauls or Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster used by mainstream pop & rock bands.

"[40] Wah was also used by the Screaming Trees, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr.[42] Grunge guitarists played loud, with Kurt Cobain's early guitar sound coming from an unusual set-up of four 800 watt PA system power amplifiers.

[70] The grunge singing style was similar to the "outburst" of loud, heavily distorted electric guitar in tone and delivery; Kurt Cobain used a "gruff, slurred articulation and gritty timbre" and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam made use of a "wide, powerful vibrato" to show his "depth of expression.

[82] The topics of grunge lyrics–homelessness, suicide, rape,[77] "broken homes, drug addiction and self-loathing"–contrasted sharply to the glam metal lyrics of bands like Poison, which described "life in the fast lane",[83] partying, and hedonism.

"[105] The style did not evolve out of a conscious attempt to create an appealing fashion; music journalist Charles R. Cross said, "[Nirvana frontman] Kurt Cobain was just too lazy to shampoo", and Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman said, "This [clothing] is cheap, it's durable, and it's kind of timeless.

[113] Vogue stated in 2014 that "Cobain pulled liberally from both ends of a woman's and a man's wardrobe, and his Seattle thrift-store look ran the gamut of masculine lumberjack workwear and 40s-by-way-of-70s feminine dresses.

[106] In the same year, Vogue did a spread called "Grunge & Glory" with fashion photographer Steven Meisel who shot supermodels Kristen McMenamy, Naomi Campbell, and Nadja Auermann in a savanna landscape wearing grunge-styled clothing.

[123] However, "dressing grunge is no longer a badge of authenticity, though: the signifiers of rebellion (Dr Martens boots, tartan shirts) are omnipotent on the high street", says Lynette Nylander, deputy editor of i-D magazine.

"[125] A 2014 book stated that whereas in the 1980s, people used the "stimulant" cocaine to socialize and "... celebrate good times", in the 1990s grunge scene, the "depressant" heroin was used to "retreat" into a "cocoon" and be "... sheltered from a harsh and unforgiving world which offered ... few prospects for ... change or hope.

[132] Regarding graphic design and images, a common feature of grunge bands was the use of "lo-fi" (low fidelity) and deliberately unconventional album covers, for example presenting intentionally murky or miscolored photography, collage or distressed lettering.

Peterson's black and white, uncropped, and sometimes blurry shots of the underground Pacific Northwest music scene's members playing and jamming, wearing their characteristic everyday clothes, were used by Sub Pop to promote its Seattle bands.

Grunge lit is an Australian literary genre of fictional or semi-autobiographical writing in the early 1990s about young adults living in an "inner cit[y]" "... world of disintegrating futures where the only relief from ... boredom was through a nihilistic pursuit of sex, violence, drugs and alcohol".

[149] Riot Grrrl pioneer and Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna was the source for the name of Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit", a reference to a deodorant marketed specifically to young women.

[150][151] Notable women instrumentalists include the bassists D'arcy Wretzky and Melissa Auf der Maur from the Smashing Pumpkins, and drummers Patty Schemel of Hole and Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland.

[83][177] Several Australian bands, including the Scientists, Cosmic Psychos and Feedtime, are cited as precursors to grunge, their music influencing the Seattle scene through the college radio broadcasts of Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman and members of Mudhoney on KCMU.

[184] Black Sabbath's 1971 album Master of Reality in particular has been noted as a key influence on grunge, largely in part due to the sound, as a result of guitarist Tony Iommi down-tuning his guitar a step and a half.

[171] The "idlers of Generation X [were] trying to forestall the dread day of corporate enrollment" and embrace the "cult of the loser"; indeed Nirvana's 1991 song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" "opens with Cobain intoning 'It's fun to lose.

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.

[37] 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.

[37] 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, Beasts of Bourbon, feedtime, Cosmic Psychos and Lubricated Goat.

[246] In the book Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, Chuck Klosterman wrote, "Bush was a good band who just happened to signal the beginning of the end; ultimately, they would become the grunge Warrant".

These post-grunge artists were criticized for their commercialized sound as well as their "worldview built around the comforts of community and romantic relationships", as opposed to grunge's lyrical exploration of "troubling issues such as suicide, societal hypocrisy and drug addiction.

In 2006, Rolling Stone writer Brian Hiatt described Pearl Jam as having "spent much of the past decade deliberately tearing apart their own fame", but noted the band had nevertheless developed a loyal concert following akin to that of the Grateful Dead.

[309] Media outlets also began referring to a revival of the grunge sound around the mid-2010s, with the label being given to bands such as Title Fight,[310][311] InCrest,[citation needed] Fangclub,[312] Code Orange,[311] My Ticket Home,[313][314] Citizen,[315] Milk Teeth[316] and Muskets,[317][318][319] some of which have been described as merging the genre with emo.

"[23] Paste magazine's Michael Danaher states that the grunge "movement changed the course of rock 'n' roll, bringing ... tales of abuse and depression" and socially conscious issues" into pop culture.