AboutCaleb Expertise I'm happy to help you with suggesting bands to listen to, or resolving questions about the history of punk. I end up telling most people to listen to the Velvet Underground - definitely check them out of you haven't yet.
Question Do you think grunge is an actual music genre that has definite musical characteristics or just a musical movement. I ask because so many bands that are considered to be grunge sound so different, like Pearl Jam sounds very different from Mudhoney.
Answer Well it's a musical movement, but the same goes for punk. I define "rock n roll" as one genre (distinct from blues, country, jazz, hip hop etc - though sometimes these boundaries are blurred)... whereas the different styles within rock are quite fluid.
You can call a band grunge because they were from Seattle in the 80s and sat somewhere in between punk and metal, or you can call a band grunge because they sounded like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Nirvana in the early 90s, or you can call a band post-grunge cos they sound like a more commercial (and, generally speaking, worse) version in the late 90s or 00s.
Similar to how you can call a band punk because they came around at the start of the second wave of rock n roll, or cos they play rebellious, simple, loud, political rock, or because they have a "punk attitude", or because they try to fit into the punk scene.
So - i wouldn't call grunge a genre, but it's as distinct as punk, British Invasion, progressive rock, Madchester, indie, Britpop, or psychedelia. (you'll note that half of those were styles, and half musical scenes. i did this on purpose to show how sometimes a style is associated strongly with a particular time and place... as is the case with grunge).
