Grunger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Star Wars Expanded Universe character, see Josef Grunger.
A grunger is a member of a UK youth subculture of '00s.
Contents |
[edit] Explanation
Grungers are a subculture connected by a common taste in music, clothes, shared interests and values. Like many youth subcultures, most members are under the age of 20. Greebo is often used as an often derogatory term by people not involved with the culture.[citation needed] The original use of the term greebo in the 1970s was to describe particularly dirty bikers.[citation needed] The grunger subculture does not truly have one iconic figure above all others, although the original grunge music explosion had Kurt Cobain. Krist Novoselic has expressed the view that the term came from Mark Arm.[citation needed]
[edit] Origins
Until the rise of Nu Metal in the late '90s the term "grunger" did not really exist. However with the sudden chart success in Britain of bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, young people who were not grungers themselves as well as the media invented the term to describe young people who, to various degrees, dressed like the musicians in these bands. Young people in Britain had actually been dressing in this fashion for quite some time, possibly 2 or 3 years before the Nu Metal explosion, but it was not until these bands achieved commercial success that the term came into existence.
[edit] Clothes
The most common style of Grunger dress (especially of younger Grungers) is defined by: 'skater jeans' and other baggy, hard-wearing jeans; baggy, hooded tops, often one solid colour with a bold logo/design or band logo - no zips; silver or black-coloured metal jewellery, chains etc.
Other Grunger attire (usually of older Grungers) is the same as Grunge attire from the early nineties, including torn jeans (typically hand torn, for spending the extra money to buy pre-ripped jeans is idiotic in the grunge mind) Plaid button-up shirts (remaining unbuttoned, and worn over white undershirts) with little actual jewellery, if any at all. It is becoming increasingly popular amongst grungers to wear german Bundeswehr jackets, shirts and trenchcoats. Skaters, Emos, and Punks sometimes adapt the term grunger or grungie out of ignorance, not realizing that they're categorized otherwise.
[edit] Politics
Though it is a generalization, grungers do not tend to be as politically motivated as punks.
[edit] Relations
Grungers are in many ways similar to skaters (skaters used in the sense of the specific culture that has grown up around UK skating in the past few years). In fact, 'Grungers' is sometimes used as an umbrella term for all those loosely involved in grunger-like culture, whether they skate or not. However, many who claim themselves to be Grungers are distinct from skaters - they have a 'heavier' style of music, different clothes, etc.
In many UK towns and cities grungers and the like consider themselves opposed to groups like townie/Gangstas/chavs, who differ considerably in dress, musical taste, attitude, etc (Ironically, chavs use the term grunger as an umbrella term for anyone who likes rock or metal, regardless of tastes). Also, whereas grungers tend to be middle-class, townies/chavs are usually thought of as being from the working-class; although similar styles such as Rude Boys and Kevs are not necessarily.
The types of groups and people varies very much from place to place, although used extremely loosely the term 'Grunger' or 'Townie' can be used to classify many conflicting groups and styles in UK youth culture today.
