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Prior to its popularity, grunge was listened to mostly by those who played the music. Bands would play at clubs with very few people in attendance, most of which were from other performing bands. Others who listened to the music in those early days were often people who were "just trying to get out of the rain" as many attendants would claim. As bands began to issue albums, independent labels became the key catalysts in bringing the music to the local public. Many of the more successful bands of the era were associated with Seattle's Sub Pop record label, though several other independent Seattle-area labels gained recognition, including Olympia labels Kill Rock Stars and K Records. Other record labels in the Pacific Northwest that helped promote grunge included EMpTy Records, Estrus Records, C/Z Records, and PopLlama Records.[8][9]Sub Pop took their initial step towards popularizing grunge with the Sub Pop Singles Club, a subscription service that would allow subscribers to receive singles by local bands on a monthly basis by mail. This increased grunge's following locally, and allowed Sub Pop to become a powerful company in the local scene. According to Sub Pop founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, grunge's popularity began to flourish after a journalist from the British magazine Melody Maker was asked by them to write an article on the local music scene. This helped to make grunge known outside of the local area during the late 1980s, giving the genre its first major spurt of popularity.[10] Mudhoney is often credited as having been the biggest commercial success for grunge during this time, and was the most successful grunge band until the end of the 80s.[11] Still, grunge would not become a huge national phenomenon

Nirvana's Nevermind album coverNirvana is generally credited for breaking the genre into the popular consciousness in 1991. The popularity of Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit", from the album Nevermind, surprised the entire music industry. The album became a #1 hit around much of the world, and paved the way for more bands, including, most popularly, Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam, in fact, had released their debut album Ten a month earlier in August 1991, but album sales only picked up after the success of Nirvana. For many audiences then and later, grunge came to be almost totally associated with these two bands and their punky, rebellious attitude towards mainstream mores as well as cultural and social institutions. Other popular Seattle-based bands (most notably Alice in Chains and Soundgarden) would also become extremely successful. Some bands from other regions, such as Stone Temple Pilots from San Diego, Australia's Silverchair, and Great Britain's Bush also became popular.[12]Mostgrunge fans and music critics believe that grunge emerged as a popular genre and was embraced by mainstream audiences in reaction to the declining popularity of hair metal. Hair metal bands, such as Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Warrant, had been dominating the charts during the despite being looked down upon by most critics. Hair metal was known for macho (some critics have said misogynist) lyrics, anthemic riffs, and a perceived lack of social consciousness, especially in the race to attract mainstream audiences. These aspects were popular during the 1980s, but they began to have the opposite effect on audiences towards the end of the decade. Grunge, however, sharply contrasted to hair metal; its lyrics avoided machismo and used a simpler style similar to punk. With a viable alternative to hair metal realized by the public, the popularity of hair metal began to die off as the popularity of grunge began to rise.

Grunge fans in the Pacific Northwest believed that the media gave excessive importance to the clothing worn by grunge musicians and fans, along with other aspects of the local culture. Clothing commonly worn by grunge fans in the Northwest in its early years was a blend of the punk aesthetic with the typical outdoorsy clothing (most notably flannel shirts) of the region. The "fashion" did not evolve out of a conscious attempt to create an appealing fashion, but due to the inexpensiveness of such clothes and the warmth that they provided for the cold climate of the region. The media, rather than focusing on the music, would give this fashion a heavy amount of exposure. In the early 1990s, the fashion industry marketed "grunge fashion" to a widespread audience, charging relatively high prices for clothing that they assumed to be popular in the grunge scene. Similarly, the media would view grunge as a whole culture, assuming it to be Generation X's attempt to create a culture similar to the hippie counterculture of the previous generation. Rather than focus on the music, much of the media focused on other superficial aspects of the musicians and fans. An interesting case of this superficiality backfiring on the media was the grunge speak hoax, which caused The New York Times to print a fake list of slang terms that supposedly were used in the grunge scene. This was later proven to be a prank by Sub Pop's Megan Jasper. The excesses of this media hype would also be documented

Pearl Jam's Ten album coverWhile such superficiality bothered Seattle-area grunge fans, most grunge musicians from the area continued to dress in the way that they had prior to popularity. Some musicians from outside the region also began to dress similarly. In the rock world, expensive, designer clothing was shunned in favor of less elaborate clothing; some common items worn included flannel, jeans, boots, and Converse sneakers. Many young fans outside of the region embraced this style for its simple defiance of the norms of the era's popular culture, which was seen by many of them as corporate-dominated and superficial. In England, youth who dressed in this fashion were sometimes called grungers, while the term grungies was often used in the United States. Traditional rock and roll ostentatiousness became offensive to many rock music fans, inspiring an anti-fashion trend. Oddly, this attitude helped the fashion industry push their "grunge fashion" line, turning the fans' defiance to fashion against them. As a result, many grunge fans dropped the "traditional" grunge fashion soon after having embraced it; the industry stopped marketing it shortly afterwards.

Many notable events happened during the "grunge era" of music that may not have happened had grunge never become popular. Alternative rock, previously heard mostly in local clubs, on college radio, and on independent record labels, became popular in the mainstream as major record labels sought out more previously obscure music styles to sell to the public. The traveling festival Lollapalooza came about as a result of this, with grunge being a major part of the 1992 and 1993 events. In the media's spotlight, grunge became part of the pop culture, most notably being a major part of the 1992 film Singles, which featured several grunge bands. Nirvana and Sonic Youth would star in a documentary film that same year, 1991: The Year Punk Broke.

Riot grrrl, another hardcore punk offshoot that came into being in Western Washington (and was thus often seen as the feminine equivalent of grunge), became well known from the media coverage of the local scene. With such punk derivative genres becoming popular, punk itself was able to make a revival, as bands such as Green Day and The Offspring became chart-topping successes. Independent record labels, which used to rarely have success on level with major labels, were able to sell albums with equal or similar success as the major labels (most notably in the cases of Sub Pop and Epitaph Records).Soundgarden's Superunknown album coverHeroin use amongst grunge musicians was also a serious problem for the continuation of some grunge bands. Andrew Wood's death from an overdose in 1990 was the first major tragedy for the grunge scene, bringing an end to Mother Love Bone. Kurt Cobain's use of heroin is believed to have contributed to his death (though whether or not it did was never confirmed)The deaths of Kristen Pfaff of Hole and Layne Staley of Alice in Chains in 1994 and 2002, respectively, were also caused by heroin overdoses. It is believed by many that grunge effectively began its decline when Cobain died in Interestingly, Cobain had often been photographed wearing t-shirts stating that "Grunge is Dead."For many fans of the genre, it wasn't until the pioneering band Soundgarden disbanded in that they finally conceded grunge's time in the mainstream was over. Over the next few years grunge's mainstream popularity quickly came to an end. Many grunge bands have continued recording and touring with more limited success, including, most significantly, Pearl Jam. Bands like Pearl Jam also have adapted their style to the ever-changing music world. Grunge music still has its followers, and many of them still express their fandom over the Internet. Grunge's mainstream following still shows some continuation in the popularity of Nirvana's post-break-up releases; the previously unreleased song "You Know You're Right" became a chart topping hit

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