(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / Press)
Sun 1 March 2026 7:00, UK
Where’s all the grunge music gone?
These days, trying to pin down the genre of a band is like trying to remember the coffee order of your most pedantic friend, all ‘post and ‘wave’ and three sugars with no foam. Back in the 1990s, the only genres Nirvana were splicing together were grunge and rock, while also utilising pop melodies to the best of their ability, which disseminated the allure of their sound with greater urgency to the angsty Gen X crowds looking for something to believe in. The scuzz was surrounded by a fresh and exciting level of buzz.
Nirvana’s discography provided challenging, rollicking music that was simultaneously easy to digest, the kind of music you could thrash your head to while still hearing all the composite parts dancing together in unity, working overtime to braid a raw, if somewhat dirty, sonic explosion. The band was as much a great purveyor of the MTV generation of music as it was a symptom of the underground scenes it crawled out from. These spaces haven’t disappeared, so where are they now and who is soundtracking the murky nights spent stuck to the corners of a dungeon bar, or hedging your bets on a tinnitus diagnosis just to feel the sludgy vibrations of the bass on the amp up close?
Really, the ladies are doing the heavy-lifting in this department. Brooklyn’s Trophy Wife, fronted by the incredible McKenzie Iazzetta, are raging with great sex appeal, while same-city residents Jobber have taken the genre apart to rearrange it in their own way. Louisiana band Cashier are getting frictive with the fuzz, while Her New Knife have introduced the internet generation to the grime and grace of grunge, and Texas underground legends Trauma Ray offer a sprawling sonic centrepiece.
Read on for our full host of recommendations below.
Five new artists for fans of Nirvana: The Far Out New Music Newsletter
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