I Heart Grunge

In the second half of 1991, Pearl Jam dropped Ten, Nirvana released Nevermind, and Soundgarden unleashed Badmotorfinger—three massive albums amongst a host of others that went on to define a little thing called grunge. Now, with the 20th anniversary of that monumental moment of feedback, flannel, and punk rock-inspired irony upon us, Gen-Xers are poised to be subsumed in a new wave of remembrances, reissues, and retrospectives of the Seattle-centric alternative-rock scene of the early ’90s and all that it encompassed. There’s the DVD debut of Dave Markey’s seminal documentary, 1991: The Year Punk Broke, which tails Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Hole, and Dinosaur Jr. on tour in Europe just as the alt-rock revolution was on the upswing. There’s also the new re-released deluxe version of Nevermind, which, in addition to the original album, features early mixes, live tracks, B-sides, and rehearsal recordings. And this month, Pearl Jam Twenty, the new career-spanning documentary from director Cameron Crowe, will air as part of the American Masters series on PBS.