10 Great Rock Music Acts Who Were Too Far Ahead Of Their Time

10. Mudhoney

When grunge went global in early '90s, the acts who propelled the gritty subgenre to stardom found themselves immortalised in music history. Surely then, a band who innovated this world-shattering genre years ahead of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains are to be celebrated as international megastars as well. Sadly for Mudhoney, that isn’t how it worked out.

Although Mudhoney didn’t officially form until 1988, founding members Mark Arm and Steve Turner had been intermittently working together since 1978. Joined by former Bundle of Hiss drummer Dan Peters upon their formation, Mudhoney hit the ground running with a debut EP in October 1988. Released via the synonymous grunge label, Sub Pop, ‘Superfuzz Bigmuff’ was a commercial catastrophe upon release. Even by the standards of then-underground Sub Pop, the EP sold poorly, and it didn’t chart in the UK until as late as 2008. In retrospect though, this EP has been acknowledged as an essential release in American rock history alongside Mudhoney’s second album, ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge’ (1991).

It’s difficult to see why Mudhoney never hit the same levels of fame as their Sub Pop label partners. Evidently, they paved a way for other acts to walk, only to be overtaken by them while they were trying to navigate it. Mudhoney are hardly failures though, having sold 500,000 albums to date. But, compared to Nirvana who sold 30 million for ‘Nevermind’ alone, Mudhoney’s legacy is obviously and tragically overlooked to this day.