10 Perfect Grunge Albums With No Bad Songs
Starting to feel like a rat in a cage? We have the solution.
During the 1980s, snake hipped glam rockers stalked the arenas and big venues of rock music. They dominated the charts with giant guitar solos and even larger hair dos. This music was all about looking 'cool' and scoring babes; the only substance to it, was the cocaine powdering every other nose in the game. The underground's answer to this vacuous scene was grunge.
There is no definitive sound to grunge. It's a sub genre as loosely defined as new wave, post punk or even rock itself. The dark and sinister doom of Soundgarden and the blues rock inspired energy of Pearl Jam, are miles apart, audibly. But, an ethos of sincerity, anti-establishment sentiment and a DIY approach to making music, connects them.
The grunge scene of the late '80s and early '90s was a time of raucous angst, moody loneliness and an outcast mentality. But, this was exactly what the youth wanted after a decade of self-aggrandising rockers, who were more occupied with hedonism then artistic expression.
Although the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, has come to symbolise the death of grunge - at least as a mainstream fad - the genre continued to develop throughout the later part of the '90s. Many of its defining characteristics are present in contemporary acts today.
With awkward frontmen, ripped jeans, and a sh*t tone of feedback, this is a selection of the finest albums grunge has to offer.
10. Houdini - Melvins (1993)
Grunge metal, alternative sludge, grludge? call it what you will, this album is dirty perfection.
The Melvins got together in 1983 and through the '80s were experimenting with an alternative form of heavy metal inspired punk. They are considered one of the god fathers of grunge, influencing the early sound of the bands that took the genre global. Indeed, frontman Buzz Osborne, introduced Dave Grohl to Kurt Cobain.
Even Buzz Osborne's name gives a fairly good indication as to what the Melvins are going to sound like. The buzzing feedback of their guitars, rings through your head long after the songs have stopped. He also happens to share a similar last name with a certain Prince of Darkness; you can't be an Osborne without dipping your toe in the realm of heavy rock it seems.
It's impressive these guys managed to persuade a major label to put this album out. There's nothing mainstream about it, it's the extreme end of alternative rock. The guitars don't so much rip through you, rather, they beat you down with oppressively sludgy chord progressions - punctuated every so often by hacksaw guitar riffs.
Osborne attributes the label's willingness to go along with this sound, to the success of Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was even signed on to lend a hand at producing, but this was during the throws of his addiction, and he was eventually fired.