Although most grunge bands had disbanded or faded from view by the late 1990s, they influenced modern rock music, as their lyrics brought socially conscious issues into pop culture and added introspection and an exploration of what it means to be true to oneself. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, labeled by Time as 'the John Lennon of the swinging Northwest', struggled with an addiction to heroin before his suicide in 1994. During the mid-to-late 1990s, many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. Several factors contributed to grunge's decline in prominence. The success of these bands boosted the popularity of alternative rock and made grunge the most popular form of rock music at the time. Grunge was commercially successful in the early-to-mid-1990s due to releases such as Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Alice in Chains' Dirt, and Stone Temple Pilots' Core. By the early 1990s, its popularity had spread, with grunge bands appearing in California, then emerging in other parts of the United States and in Australia, building strong followings and signing major record deals. The owners of Sub Pop marketed the style shrewdly, encouraging the media to describe it as 'grunge' the style became known as a hybrid of punk and metal. The early grunge movement revolved around Seattle's independent record label Sub Pop and the region's underground music scene. Lyrics are typically angst-filled and introspective, often addressing themes such as social alienation, self-doubt, abuse, neglect, betrayal, social and emotional isolation, addiction, psychological trauma and a desire for freedom. Grunge also incorporates influences from indie rock bands such as Sonic Youth. Like these genres, grunge typically uses electric guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, but without punk's structure and speed. Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. American rock band Nirvana (pictured in 1992) are the most commercially successful band of the genre, having sold over 27 million albums in the United States.

Pearl reference pure music city