Its death started in 1994 when Kurt Cobain died. From there it withered away quickly over the next two or three years. Most of the big grunge bands were broken up by 1996/1997 - the only really big one that survived was Pearl Jam and they were already moving beyond grunge.. Alternative Rock took over in those years until the end of the decade(Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Radiohead, Garbage, Foo Fighters, some truly great bands, plus there was a movement of 'lighter' alternative acts like Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Everclear, Goo Goo Dolls, etc, a movement that produced some good albums but in hindsight was the start of the watered down modern rock genre of today) and female solo acts(Tori Amos, Alanis Morrisette, Fiona Apple).