10 Albums That Created Grunge Music

10. Pixies - Doolittle

Pixies may be the group most famously linked to kickstarting grunge, and it’s easy to hear why. Most importantly, it’s the dynamic. While Pixies probably didn’t pioneer songs that went from tense, quiet verses to ear splitting choruses, they’re the band most associated with it, and most dramatically inclined grunge acts took their cues.

They take this to the extreme on “Tame”, wherein Frank Black spends the verses muttering and whispering his dark fairytale before screaming his lungs out on the single word chorus. On closer “Gouge Away”, he adopts a gentle lure which turns into a sickly snarl.

Indeed Black himself is a major influence on the likes of Cobain and even Courtney Love; he found a way to roar without going full death metal, staying melodic no matter how vicious his performance. Coupled with Kim Deal’s melodic bass playing, Pixies retained a dark beauty however weird they became.

Perhaps most notable, though, was the ear for something radio friendly. Grunge was from the off a remarkably commercial proposition; it shifted units. Pixies knew how to keep the label sweet, throwing in a “Wave Of Mutilation” for every “Crackity Jones”, and the grunge acts that flourished did the same.