Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound)
is a genre of indie rock
inspired by hardcore punk, heavy
metal, and alternative
rock. It became commercially successful in the late 1980s and early
1990s, peaking in mainstream popularity between 1991 and 1994. Bands from
cities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, such as Seattle,
Washington, Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, created grunge and
later made it popular with mainstream audiences. The genre is closely
associated with Generation X in the US, since it was popularized in tandem
with the rise in popularity of the generation's name. The popularity of
grunge was one of the earliest phenomena that distinguished the popular
music of the 1990s from that of the 1980s..
