This is the illusionist, in which I, Helen Zoltzman, dress in mismatched layers of language

to look artfully disheveled.

Coming up in today's show, we have talked about invented languages before on the illusionist,

but not like this one, if you're a 90s kid into grunge music or a fan of pranks, this

story is for you.

There are a few swears in this episode, so be ready to add them to a sweary scrapbook.

On with the show.

I was the lucky recipient of a telephone call from the New York Times in the early 90s when

they were writing a huge piece on Seattle, and they wanted to focus on the grunge lexicon.

They wanted terms and phrases and words that we all used in the music scene that you would,

words that you would, and phrases that you would only know if you are part of the

Seattle music scene.

On the 15th of November 1992, the New York Times printed an article entitled Grunge,

a Success Story, about how Grunge had become the latest big thing, from subculture to

mass culture as the article put it.

In the preceding couple of years, the Seattle music scene had been co-opted by the mainstream,

and by this point, record labels were putting stickers on album covers saying Seattle, just

a couple of weeks before the New York Times article, Mark Jacobs caused a stir in the fashion

industry when he showed his Grunge collection for Perielis, after which he both won an award,

and was fired.

Vogue printed a Grunge and glory fashion spread, and Kurt Cobain was photograph wearing

a t-shirt printed with Grunge's dead, in case you were wondering whether everyone was pleased

...