The early 1990s was the brief era of Grunge – a rock music genre which eventually faded after the public grew bored with the I-despise-success posturings doled out by Adam Duritz, Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell et al . . .
By 1993 – and still a year or two away from complete self-parody – Grunge carved out a pretty decent market share of its own.
Produced by Steve Albini for maximum sonic discomfort, Nirvana‘s In Utero debuted at the top of the charts in October, while Pearl Jam‘s Vs did the same in November, despite the group’s marked refusal to do videos.
Regular videos helped the Stone Temple Pilots‘ Core sell three million copies, ditto for Smashing Pumpkins‘ three-million-selling Siamese Dream.
Plaid (tartan) flannel shirts were the livery of grunge and had every band from Seattle to Sheffield looking like a bunch of depressed lumberjacks.
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