The best 90s grunge bands

In the early 90s, a dirty and rebellious sound emerged from the dark streets of Seattle. The new genre would revolutionize the music scene and become the soundtrack of an entire generation. Grunge was an outlet for world-weariness and frustration, the voice of Generation X – musical rebellion with a deliberately unsightly appearance as an antithesis of slick mainstream rock.

1. Soundgarden – Pioneers of the Seattle Sound

Grunge already left a mark in the second half of the 80s, when a burgeoning underground scene developed in Seattle. Soundgarden are regarded as one of the most influential early Grunge bands, as they helped to develop the unmistakable style that would become known as the Seattle sound. Their most successful song was “Black Hole Sun”. Fun fact: Singer Chris Cornell claims to have written the song in just 15 minutes.

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun

2. The Melvins – childhood friends

The Melvins were another band that helped define the grunge sound. One of their big fans was a certain Kurt Cobain, who also helped out as a roadie and even auditioned as a guitarist. He failed his audition, as he was too nervous to remember the songs. However, the Melvins’ drummer Dale Crover, who had become good friends with Kurt Cobain, later helped Nirvana make their first studio recordings in 1988 and played a live show on the same day. The intro of the Melvins song “Honey Bucket” is synonymous with the spirit of grunge.

Melvins – Honey Bucket

3. Nirvana and the breakthrough of grunge

While we’re on the subject: The grunge sound had its major breakthrough when Nirvana – with Kurt Cobain as singer and guitarist (!) – released the iconic single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on September 10^th, 1991. The album “Nevermind” stormed the US album charts just a few months later and even knocked none other than Michael Jackson – the King of Pop – from the top spot. The band cultivated an anti-star image: At an awards ceremony, Cobain spat on a piano, thinking it belonged to Axl Rose. Unfortunately, it was Elton John’s. The music establishment was not amused.

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Offical Music Video)

4. Pearl Jam

Alongside Nirvana, the American band Pearl Jam helped popularize grunge in the early 90s. This band also has roots in the Seattle scene. Seemingly endless tours and a worldwide grunge boom were a testament to the band’s rapidly increasing popularity. The debut album “Ten” was also released in 1991 and by 2013, it had sold 13 million copies. While songs like “Alive” and “Even Flow” were successful, the single “Jeremy”, which was inspired by the story of a bullying victim, was the biggest banger. The band around singer and guitarist Eddie Vedder is the only one of the big Seattle groups of the 90s that continues to exist, produce, and tour to this day.

Pearl Jam – Jeremy (1991)

5. Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains also came straight out of Seattle, the epicentre of grunge. As the grunge wave took off, they benefitted from being featured on a film promo soundtrack alongside several other bands from Seattle. The following album “Dirt” reached number 6 in the US charts – despite (or because of?) the rather gloomy lyrics. Alice in Chains went on to release many other songs and played live with the who is who of rock, indie, and grunge. There probably isn’t a single festival this grunge, indie, and rock band hasn’t played at.

Alice In Chains – Dirt

6. Mudhoney

Seattle wasn’t done yet. Interestingly, Mudhoney was founded on Halloween Day in 1987. As early as 1988, they defined the sound that would later become known as grunge. Before Nirvana’s breakthrough, they were the signature act of the Sub Pop label. Singer Mark Arm, guitarist Steve Turner and their bandmates had a slightly harder sound than other contemporary bands, which was a bit more difficult to sell. Mudhoney is still active with a new line-up and continues to release new albums regularly. The band’s most successful album is 1992’s “Piece of Cake”, which sold more than 150,000 copies.

Mudhoney – Take Me There – Piece of Cake 1992

7. Stone Temple Pilots

In the early 90s, Stone Temple Pilots – also referred to as STP – from San Diego in southern California were one of the most important grunge bands besides Nirvana and Pearl Jam. And they really took off. Their first five albums sold more than 17 million copies in total. In addition, STP had 15 top ten singles in the Billboard Rock Charts, six of which reached number one. And this success didn’t go unrecognized: In 1994, they received a Grammy award for “Best Hard Rock Performance” for the song “Plush”.

Stone Temple Pilots – Plush

8. Silverchair

Now it gets a bit weird. Silverchair, which were considered a grunge band in their early years, did NOT come from Seattle. Unbelievable, but true. As a matter of fact, the band is from Australia. Silverchair didn’t want to limit themselves to riding the grunge wave, but rather thought of themselves as an Alternative Rock band. In 1995, they had their first chart hit with the album “Frogstomp”. They later referred to “Tomorrow” as “mellow post-grunge rock music”. In 2011, the band announced their breakup, at least for the time being. In their statement, they said that they were going on “indefinite hibernation”.

Silverchair – Tomorrow – US-Version

9. Temple of the Dog

Temple of the Dog is another proof that all musicians of the grunge era somehow seemed to know each other. In addition to Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, the band included Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, as well as Jeff Ament. The explanation is easy. Following the death of his friend Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone, Chris Cornell had written two sounds that didn’t fit the Soundgarden style. To record the tracks, he relied on good friends from the scene. Temple of the Dog first played live on November 13^th, 1990 in Seattle. It would remain the band’s only live performance with the full line-up.

Temple Of The Dog – Hunger Strike

10. Foo Fighters

Founded by two former Nirvana members – drummer and singer Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear – after Kurt Cobain’s death, the Foo Fighters stayed true to the unconventional grunge and rock sound. Meanwhile, the music of these unstoppable workaholics (especially Dave Grohl) is often referred to as post-grunge. This cool video for “Learn to Fly” features 1,000 musicians:

Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly – Rockin‘ 1000

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