10 Albums That Created Grunge Music

Neil Young saw grunge coming decades prior, and changed his style completely in readiness. By 1978, Young had been a major star for a decade, and felt that his star was falling. But instead of sulking or digging his heels like so many increasingly irrelevant rockers, he listened to what was going on around him and reinvented himself.

The result was Rust Never Sleeps. An album recorded on the road, it eases listeners in with "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", a particularly mournful example of his folky style. When Crazy Horse join the party, though, things kick up a notch. “Powderfinger” suddenly drenches the country-rock sound in heavy guitars and twisting melodies.

The wry “Welfare Mothers” hits an even heavier note, with a vicious but simultaneously arena ready sound that Pearl Jam (who covered and played with Young) especially would latch onto.

It’s the finale, though - "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" - that truly set the template. From the distorted bass to the morbid lyrics, the simplicity and profundity all in one place, to the brief, choked solo, it’s ten years or more ahead of its time. It gained infamy when Kurt Cobain quoted it in his suicide note, but the legacy of the song itself is something to be proud of.