Remember last year when we celebrated 50 years of heavy metal to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Black Sabbath's debut album? In the first installment, we discussed who really invented heavy metal. We're doing something a similar again, but this time it's all about grunge.

Grunge didn't start in a particular year, and as many know, it was a long and slow build before it became a mainstream style of rock music. The year it really blew up was 1991, after the release of Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and, of course, Nirvana's Nevermind.

But before "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Alice in Chains' Dirt, there was a collection of bands forming in the Pacific Northwest from the late 1970s through the first half of the 1980s that were primarily punk rock, but each did something a little differently — from Melvins to the U-Men to TAD.

We're launching a new video series dubbed "30 Years of Grunge" to commemorate these enormous releases, the events that led up to them and what happened to the scene after it blew up. Episode 1 — "Who Invented Grunge?" — focuses on the key players who pioneered the scene in and around Seattle, and how it started to build and become more solidified.

You'll hear stories told by the characters who lived it themselves — Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil and drummer Matt Cameron, Melvins' frontman Buzz Osborne, Mother Love Bone's Greg Gilmore, renowned artist manager Susan Silver, co-founder and President of Sub Pop Records Jonathan Poneman, radio personality and former MTV host Matt Pinfield, Spotify's Allison Hagendorf, Seattle-based radio personality Cathy Faulkner and photographer Charles Peterson.

Watch the first episode below.

30 Years of Grunge - Who Invented Grunge?

12 Bands Considered Pioneers of Grunge

They kickstarted a new genre.

More From