Primary Stylistic Influences:
- Grunge, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal, Southern Rock
Secondary Stylistic Influences:
Post-grunge is a derivative of Grunge music that became popular in the late '90s. The genre is primarily marked by its use of the apathetic, droning vocals, downtuned guitars and Hard Rock/Punk aesthetics commonly associated with Grunge, but also removing the unusual structures and prog-like time signatures that Grunge artists such as The Melvins were also known for, then slowing it down but not to the level of doom metal. In other words, taking, running-with and exploiting the more commercially viable qualities of Grunge while watering down its oddity and offending harshness. Yeah, this genre doesn't go over well with the underground music scene. Its popularity has occasionally caused it to receive blame for Alternative Rock to becoming more banal, and losing its experimental qualities. Not to mention the genre's existence has lead to numerous bands previously snatched up by major labels after Nirvana's breakthrough being unceremoniously dumpednote .
The genre has been known to use the rock-like compositions and structure often rejected by their predecessors in Grunge, modernized with brooding lyrics. In this sense, the movement could be considered (ironically) the Spiritual Successor to Hair Metal, whose pop beats and polished production brought heavy rock to a widespread audience (Post-grunge is also well known for its "soul-searching" ballads). Ironically, many post-grunge bands take more influence from Poison, Cinderella and Whitesnake than Nirvana; post-grunge players generally think of the old grunge-greats as idols/heroes rather than influences, with more of an interest in stylistic emulation over artistic aspiration (the subtle difference between a direct or indirect influence from grunge can affect how well-received a post-grunge band is, both critically and to their audience). Post-Grunge tends to focus more on lyrical structure than music, often the opposite stance of early grunge artists. Though the genre is rooted primarily in Alternative Rock, make no mistake: Post-grunge was tailor-made for the mainstream, and is what helped Alternative become rooted as 'Mainstream' music. note In essence, it took no influence from what Grunge was, but took every influence from what Grunge became: a commercial darling.
The rise of Post-grunge has gone to dominate and even embed itself in the standardly recognized sound of hard rock as most people can hear, creating the assumption that Post-grunge is, along with Emo and Pop punk, the only form of modern rock. This has had the flip-side effect of some of the more straight-forward, contemporary rock groups note being lumped in with post-grunge, despite largely having no alternative qualities in their rocknote . There is a bit of cross-over involved as well: Saliva, Shinedown, 3 Doors Down and Daughtry like to dabble in/pay tribute to "regular" hard rock when they can, adding to this confusion. It seems the only way to escape this is to play very old-fashioned retro-rock, such as Garage Rock revival, new Blues Rock, neo-psychedelia, traditional-metal revival, or modernized Power Pop.
After dominating rock music in the '90s and '00s, post-grunge eventually wore out its welcome in The New '10s. The electronic dance craze practically wiped out post-grunge's hold on the radio overnight. Few new bands are playing post-grunge, moving onto Alternative Rock or Pop Rock. The post-grunge bands that didn't sing about Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll are still charting well on Mainstream Rock radio (usually because they added elements of other genres into their music), but everyone else is firmly Deader Than Disco.
Bands typified as Post-grunge: First-wave Post-grunge:
- Bush (occasionally considered genuine grunge, but this is highly controversial)
- Candlebox
- Collective Soul
- Creed (one of the more infamous examples)
- Days of the New (a mostly acoustic band, sounding a bit close to Alice in Chains in acoustic mode)
- Dog's Eye View
- Everclear
- Foo Fighters (ironic, considering the band's origins; easily one of the most beloved examples on this list)
- Foo Fighters (1995)
- Incubus (Started off as a funk metal band and have later shifted into Alternative Rock proper with recent albums. The post grunge is only really their black sheep hits)
- The Goo Goo Dolls (as a result of a Black Sheep Hit ["Name"] on their 5th album which in turn set off a Genre Shift. The rest of those first 5 albums are closer to the music of The Replacements)
- Live
- Matchbox Twenty
- Our Lady Peace
- Seven Mary Three
- Silverchair (especially on second and third albums; first album could be considered straight up grunge, later work is more experimental)
- Stone Temple Pilots (debatable if they were the first example or just a radio-friendly form of proper grunge)
- Pearl Jam (also debatable since they were a straightforward Grunge band when they started, but some of their music from the late 90s onward can lean towards this for some)
- System of a Down: Very respected band, hailing from California with more political lyrics than most of the genre. It's hard to group them in any genre, but their 1998 debut contained some Alternative Metal material paired with Serj Tankian's heavier voice.
- Tonic (first album; they later became "adult alternative")
- 3 Doors Down
- 12 Stones
- 32 Leaves
- American Hi-Fi
- Aranda (on their second album, "Stop the World")
- Art of Dying
- The Calling
- Cavo (their song "Champagne" was a number one hit on rock radio in 2009).
- Dark New Day
- Daughtry (widely recognized as one of the heaviest things to come out of American Idol)
- Default
- Finger Eleven (best known for the hits "One Thing" and "Paralyzer.")
- Fuel
- Hinder
- Hoobastank
- Jet Black Stare
- Lifehouse
- My Darkest Days
- Nickelback (easily the most successful, yet hated example)
- Papa Roach (later work)
- Pop Evil (earlier work, though they've since embraced a more metal-influenced sound)
- PuddleOfMudd
- Rev Theory
- Saliva (bordering on nu-metal)
- Sixx:A.M. (a rock trio featuring Nikki Sixx; their sound is far removed from that of Sixx's former band)
- Stereomud
- Tantric (with a heavier emphasis on acoustic guitars than most bands)
- Theory Of A Deadman
- The Veer Union
- 10 Years (an Ensemble Dark Horse that is one of the most Tool influenced of the lot, also considered Progressive Metal)
- Adelitas Way
- Alter Bridge (made of Creed minus Scott Stapp, and much more respected than their parent group. Possibly the only post-grunge band in existence who overlaps with progressive rock and speed metal).
- Audioslave (Which is Chris Cornell with Rage Against the Machine backing him.)
- Breaking Benjamin (one of the more well received bands belonging to the genre, still enjoying success well into The New '10s)
- Burn Halo
- Chevelle (most obvious example of the Tool influence within Alt-metal/post-grunge)
- Cold
- Crossfade
- Dark New Day (best known for their hit song "Brother;" featured members of Sevendust and Stereomud, and was significantly more grunge-influenced than their parent projects).
- Cryoshell (Mixed with Symphonic Metal , and they have a definite Evanescence influence )
- Decyfer Down
- Drowning Pool (third album onward)
- The Exies
- Filter (crosses over with Industrial Metal)
- Flyleaf (a rare female-fronted example of such).
- Godsmack (most obvious example of the Alice in Chains influence within Alt-metal/post-grunge)
- Guano Apes
- Halestorm (like Flyleaf, they have a female lead singer).
- Kilgore
- Lostprophets (overlaps with Post-Hardcore)
- Presence ( their first album was straight Nu Metal. They switched to this still for their second and final album)
- Onesidezero (another Tool influenced band)
- Pop Evil
- Red ( Mixed with Symphonic Metal)
- Seether
- Sevendust (not always, but a lot of their more radio-friendly material leans towards this)
- Shinedown (varies by the Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness for which genre they fit in more. Probably the Post-Grunge band with the most Soundgarden influence)
- Sick Puppies
- Skillet (Which is also one of the most famous examples of Christian Rock)
- Smile Empty Soul (arguably the most respected example)
- SOiL (not coincidentally, their original singer Ryan McCombs went on to join Drowning Pool and play on their third album)
- Staind (initially nu-metal, then switched to post-grunge after the success of "It's Been Awhile". Their latest album however, is a complete return to their nu-metal roots.)
- Stone Sour (Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor occasionally lapses into this genre when singing melodically)
- Taproot (have had run-ins with the nu-metal label)
- Thousand Foot Krutch (as of War of Change, earlier work is Nu Metal)
- Three Days Grace (later work showcases their post-grunge/alternative side more)
- Trapt (one of the only bands who fall under this and Nu Metal simultaneously)
- Tremonti (less Post-Grunge / Alternative Metal, more Post-Grunge Thrash Metal, and one of the consistently heaviest of Post-Grunge bands)
Here's a way to pass the time: count how many of these bands:
- Come from California, the southern US, or western Canada.
- There's a good reason for the last one: Nickelback is from Vancouver, and Chad Kroeger loves seeking out bands that sound similar to his own so he can sign them (in the hopes of "bringing back rock n' roll").
- Insist on being called straight-rock, Alternative Rock, or "real" grunge.
- Either have a vocal hatedom that decries them as "buttrock", or are (more charitably) viewed as middle-of-the-road, comfort-food rock.
- Have been called Christian Rock at some point. Bonus points if they actually did start out as a Christian rock band (Skillet and Switchfoot are two examples).
- Has a sizable amount of single-word-title songs.
- Have a member with a Kurt Cobain-like shaggy hair cut and goatee combo.
- Chad Kroeger actually seemed to evolve into it. When Nickelback first came around, his hair was very long and he had a beard.
- Jon Foreman from Switchfoot also evolved into it due to pressure from record executives to look edgier. When the band started, Foreman had short, spiked hair with very little gruff. Foreman has had the same look since 2003.
- Took a more Hair Metal-oriented turn in the mid-to-late 2000s (due primarily to acts like Hinder, Saving Abel, and Rev Theory, who mixed the two genres and became quite successful as a result).
- Sing like Eddie Vedder or (with some bands) Kurt Cobain. Or in light of this, claim their vocalizations were influenced by Jim Morrison.
- This has been known to reach Flanderization levels: sounding like Nirvana means Suddenly SHOUTING! during the chorus in between Perishing Alt-Rock Voice, sounding like Pearl Jam means groaning and mumbling.
- Have major radio success
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- Additionally, has at least one song that's all over Top 40 radio and another that's all over rock radio.
- Was huge in their heyday and now plays small clubs and bars.
- Were all over the airwaves in '00s but airplay today is limited to "adult contemporary" or "adult alternative" radio.
- Are blamed for having "killed rock music".
- You've heard a softer Signature Song of on the radio lately? (possibly an acoustic ballad)