Grunge is back, at museums
Come as you are.
Fans of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden can check out photos of the bands snapped at the height of the grunge movement at new exhibits coming to Morrison Hotel Gallery locations in New York, Los Angeles and Maui.
“Grunge: Rise of A Generation” opens March 8 in all three areas, including the SoHo spot at 116 Prince St.
Conveniently arriving 30 years after Nirvana’s first album, “Bleach,” was released in the summer of 1989, the exhibit features several shots of late frontman Kurt Cobain performing and posing.
In one shot taken at a 1993 Nirvana show, Cobain is seen flailing his long blond hair as he strums his guitar at what was “his last Nirvana concert in Los Angeles at the Forum... and my last shot on the roll,” according to photographer Henry Diltz.
Another 1993 photo, this one taken by Jesse Frohman, sees Cobain decked out in an animal-print coat and white shades sipping Evian water and clutching a cigarette with his other hand.
Cobain, who killed himself in 1994 in his Seattle home, is viewed as one of the most influential alternative rock musicians.
His Seattle-based band was one of several from the city, along with Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, that sparked the grunge era. The movement was defined by a sound that was a mix of punk and heavy mental, distorted guitars, and a dress style that shunned glam in favor of flannel shirts.
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and late Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell, who committed suicide in 2017, are also featured prominently in the exhibit.