10 Best Grunge Albums You Need To Hear
5. Singles Soundtrack
It's curious how one of the greatest grunge albums to come out of the genre didn't even come from a band in particular. Beginning in the mind of director Cameron Crowe, the movie Singles was to be set in Seattle and feature some of the greatest music to come out of the local scene. While the movie has since fallen by the wayside, the soundtrack has become a cultural touchstone for anyone interested in grunge.
This compilation album is a great blend of music from an array of different bands, with everyone from Mother Love Bone to the Screaming Trees turning up. The flow of the record is a balanced amalgamation of what the grunge sound is, from the punk of Mudhoney's "Overblown" to the acoustic beauty of Chris Cornell's "Seasons" to the psychedelic headtrip of the Smashing Pumpkins's "Drown." To push the eclecticism even further, artists of old like Jimi Hendrix and Paul Westerberg are featured, showing how grunge was truly pulling from the best of what came before them.
After the movie initially was rejected, the rise of the grunge titans gave the soundtrack a fantastic shelf life. The essential time capsule of what the streets of Seattle really sounded like.