The ‘insouciants’ - those free from caring - are often the knuckleheads and goofballs who can be smart, funny and driven, and therefore the ones who change shit up exactly because they don’t give a shit. Like the people in the photos here. They remade music as we know it. I think the sardonic and flippant side of grunge is often overlooked in the mythologies - after all ‘grunge’ was even coined by that master of dry wit and double entendres, Mark Arm, singer of Green River and Mudhoney fame. Self deprecation was constantly invoked, just as long as it was in the service  of “World Domination,” as Sub Pop put on an early shirt. Grunge was a complex, messy story of contradictions and busted cliches - no one size fits all. 

For this first drop in the Charles Peterson Grunge Years NFT collection, I wanted to focus the theme on the lighter side of grunge mythology. Unguarded moments often show us at our humanistic best, and I think that’s what comes through here - Charles Peterson.

Charles Peterson Grunge Years NFT collection - Insouciants

Mother Love Bone, Seattle, 1988. This was pretty typical for an early photo shoot. A handful of serious and then. mostly mugging, which of course, in the course of time becomes the best. The ones that really show the personality of each individual versus trying to fit into some rigid mold of “group photo.” I don’t recall what the joke was - I do recall Jeff was being far too serious about the whole thing, and looking back and what I know now, my lighting setup was beyond amateur. Good times. - Charles Peterson

Mother Love Bone: 111 Alaskan Way loft, Seattle, 1988

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