Chris Cornell, lead singer of the band Soundgarden, was an influential songwriter in grunge music. Photograph by Ken Settle. Reproduced by permission.

"Grungy" is a slang word that means dirty, old, and beat-up. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the word became "grunge" and was used to describe a new kind of rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) music and style of dress that was emerging in Seattle, Washington. The term "grunge" was originally used to describe the loud, jarring electric guitar (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) of rock bands such as Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, because their guitar was fuzzy and raw, not "clean" and clear. However, the word was soon used to describe the shaggy hair, ragged jeans, thrift-shop flannel shirts, and combat boots worn by the musicians and their fans. It also came to be used...