Released on Atlantic in 1993, Houdini is the fifth album – and major-label debut – by sludge metal/grungers Melvins. Join us, then, as we list the ten best grunge albums these are the ones we feel accurately depicts the wide variety of the bands thrown under its eclectic umbrella. The latter would also become a universal term that many bands lumped in with it would quickly come to hate, including Korn, Slipknot and Deftones. They would influence the terrible post-grunge movement, which included Creed, Nickelback and Bush and the controversial nu-metal scene. Nonetheless, the amount of influence these bands would have is immeasurable. Stetson remembers the local bands not regarding themselves or their style as grunge and found the term to be slightly offensive to their work. In 2014, Seattle-based musician Jeff Stetson recounted visiting the port in the late ’80s and early ’90s as a touring musician. Former Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd has stated that he “hates the word” and hates “being associated with it”. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains all criticised the term, preferring to be called “rock and roll” bands. The irony of the genre/movement/whatever you want to call it is that many of the Seattle bands, some of whom had been friends for years, were dismissive of the label. The success of albums and bands such as these reached dizzying heights making grunge the zeitgeist of rock music at the time. Nirvana’s Nevermind in 1991, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger in the same year, Alice in Chains’ Dirt a year later in 1992, along with Stone Temple Pilots record Core would become defining works of this patchwork of bands. Some of these bands would build strong followings and sign to major labels, pulling the scene from Seattle and placing it in front of every avid consumer of the ubiquitous MTV.Ĭritically and commercially, the genre reached its peak in the early to mid-1990s. Grunge bands like the aforementioned Hole sprung up in California, as they did with The Smashing Pumpkins in Chicago and also further afield in places such as Australia. In the wake of this, in the early ’90s, its popularity had spread far outside the confines of Washington state.
In terms of the name grunge taking on a life of its own, this can be essentially put down to the success of the bands and the shrewd marketing of Sub Pop. The latter of these can perhaps find its root in the music of the ’60s the bands were inspired by. So, typically, the scene’s lyrical themes were dark and introspective and included themes of alienation, abuse, neglect, betrayal, trauma and a desire for self-determination. Grunge, it is worth noting, was also associated with Gen-X. The bands who would become retrospectively associated with the scene took their cues from various artists such as The Beatles, Black Flag and Sonic Youth. It has since been characterised by distorted electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Regardless of the term’s provenance, what we now know as grunge fused elements of punk rock, hardcore punk, heavy, thrash and sludge metal to create a loose-fitting umbrella term for a wide variety of bands.