10 Perfect Grunge Albums With No Bad Songs

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.