Soft grunge (music)

Precursors

Grunge and emo have long been intertwined. Squirrel Bait were influential upon both genres.^[13] Grunge frontmen Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain noted early emo works as favourites or direct influences.^[14][15] Early 1990s Seattle bands, Seaweed and Sunny Day Real Estate, have both been noted by critics as merging elements of emo and grunge.^[16][17] In an extract written for Amy Fleisher Madden's book Negatives: A Photographic Archive of Emo (1996-2006), Matt Pryor vocalist of 1990s emo band the Get Up Kids noted much of the second-wave of emo, and especially his own band, as influenced by Nirvana.^[18] Punknews noted Mineral as merging post-grunge and emo.^[19]

2007–2012: Origins

Soft grunge began in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when bands involved in Pennsylvania's fourth-wave emo scene began to incorporate 1990s alternative rock influences. This included Balance and Composure, Superheaven and Title Fight. The earliest of these was Balance and Composure, who had been pursuing the sound since their 2007 formation. In a 2026 interview with PopMatters, the band's vocalist Jon Simmons said he devised the fusion while listening to Jimmy Eat World's song "Table for Glasses" (1999), which he believed recalled rock music more than conventional emo. Many of these Pennsylvania bands would file share, which led to other bands being introduced to Balance and Composure's influences. Superheaven and Title Fight pivoted to soft grunge on their 2012 releases Floral Green and The Difference in Good and Bad Dreams.^[1]

2012–2014: First-wave

Following Floral Green's release, Title Fight became soft grunge's forefront act.^[20] The album was widely influential, inspiring many bands to persue a similar sound. Many of these bands were signed to Run for Cover Records a label soon renowned for the grunge influence of its artists.^[21] Around this time, the first wave of bands in the genre emerged. In the United States this included Turnover, Citizen and Seahaven. The United Kingdom also developed a large soft grunge scene, fronted by Basement, Headroom and Hindsights.^[1] Often, albums were produced by Will Yip.^[22] Citizen's debut album Youth (2013) was particularly influential amongst 2010s young people, particularly on Tumblr. Its sound was more masculune than other bands, particularly through the use of more hardcore-inspired vocals.^[2] Some groups in this early era of the genre were made up of former easycore musicians, who shifted their sound into soft grunge. This included Citizen and In This for Fun who became Basement.^[4]

On Attack on Memory (2012), indie rock band Cloud Nothings shifted into the genre.^[23] Record Weekly credited Wavves as "gap-bridgers" between traditional grunge and soft grunge, particularly on their songs" Nine Is God" (2013) "Help Is on the Way" (2021).^[24] The Fader also noted their 2015 song "Heavy Metal Detox" as an example of the genre.^[25] At the same time, Narrow Head, Nevermind Me and Cloakroom merged elements of shoegaze with soft grunge, while Drug Church and Endless Heights merged it with melodic hardcore.^[1]

Swim into the Sound writer Taylor Grimes noted 2014 as "the peak of the soft grunge explosion".^[26]

2015: Developments

Title Fight's third album Hyperview pushed their sound more atmosopheric, in a way that bordered on shoegaze.^[1] Turnover's second album Peripheral Vision merged the genre with elements of dream pop.^[6] Its guitar tones maligned distortion and created a calmer mood than was normal for the genre.^[2] The album reached number 14 on the Billboard independent albums chart^[27] and was widely influential. Movements vocalist Patrick Miranda stated in a 2025 interview that "Every band wanted to sound like Title Fight Floral Green. Every local band... until Turnover put out Peripheral Vision and then it was like the whole scene flipped".^[28] In 2015, Ox-Fanzine writer, Tim Masson noted Superheaven's second album Ours Is Chrome as "one of the most important alternative rock—or, if you prefer, emo-grunge-rock—albums of recent times", noting that they "progressed... to the point where they themselves can be considered a benchmark for others".^[29]

That year, many North American Defend Pop Punk Era acts shifted their sound in favor of soft grunge, becoming one of the most prominent sounds in the pop punk scene during the mid-2010s.^[4] One such band was Major League, who pivoted to soft grunge on their second album There’s Nothing Wrong With Me (2014).^[30] Diamond Youth incorporated elements of it on their debut album Nothing Matters (2015),^[31] as did Kagoule.^[32] Stereogum writer Ian Cohen described "the sound of popular punk" in the mid-2010s as being a "Warped Tour traditionalism, soft-grunge, emo revival, and indie-leaning pop-punk", particularly citing pop-punk band the Wonder Years's tour in support of their album The Greatest Generation as being "a time capsule" of the time, due to its openers being the soft grunge band Citizen, emo revival band Modern Baseball and pop-punk band Real Friends.^[33]

2016–2019: Decline and second-wave

In 2016, the first wave of soft grunge declined, with the disbandments of Superheaven and Hindsights and the slowing activity of Title Fight.^[1] That year, some prominent pioneers of the genre began to shift their sound closer to pop rock, particularly Balance and Composure on Light We Made and Basement on Promise Everything,^[34] with Citizen also taking a more commericial sound on As You Please (2017).^[35] In a 2017 article for The Alternative, writer Eli Enis said that still playing soft grunge seemed "like a stale idea".^[36]

A second-wave of the genre began to take shape that year, with American groups Microwave, Movements and Fiddlehead, and the French band Paerish. Amongst this wave, its fusion with shoegaze became increasingly common, especially following the release of Narrow Head's debut album Satisfaction.^[1] Other acts in the genre from this time included Culture Abuse,^[5] Muskets,^[37] Milk Teeth,^[38] Stay Inside,^[39] Wallflower,^[40] Bloody Knees^[41] and Teenage Wrist.^[9]

Soft grunge grew a sizeable scene in Indonesia, including Bitter Colour,^[9] Barefood, Collapse and Fernie Sue.^[42] Celebrithink writer Ahmad Sabar Santoso describe soft grunge as being "typical" sound for a bands based in Yogyakarta.^[43] A 2019 article by the Alternative said "Indonesia is doing [soft grunge] better than any country on earth", citing Backyard and Enamore as examples.^[44] By 2023, the Indonesian soft grunge scene was increasingly leaning into indie rock.^[9]

2020–present: Third-wave

During the 2020s, soft grunge was repopularized by artist signed to New Morality Zine, including, Downward, Trauma Ray, cursetheknife and ASkySoBlack, as well as other bands Modern Color, Soul Blind and Gleemer.^[45] This wave was particularly prominent in Texas, where Narrow Head were forefront. Many bands in the state were signed to Sunday Drive Records, such as Glare and Leaving Time.^[46] One Step Closer, who were previously a forefront band in 2020s melodic hardcore, shifted their sound to soft grunge on their second album All You Embrace (2024).^[47]

Soft grunge bands Basement and Superheaven experienced a surge in popularity in the 2020s through viral songs on TikTok. During the emo revival, Superheaven had not been one of the more commercially successful in the genre, however following their TikTok success, their song "Youngest Daughter" (2013) reached number three on the Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs chart.^[48] During this time Superheaven, Balance and Composure and Basement reformed.^[1]