10 Best Grunge Guitarists

For as much great grunge music was emerging from Seattle, plenty of great alternative musicians were coming from other parts of the world. While the Northwest was known as the hub for everything awesome about the ‘90s scene, one of the unsung heroes of the grunge era ended up coming from the city of Chicago.

Instead of being the brooding guitarist caricature, Billy Corgan always felt like a classic rock guitarist trapped in an alternative rock band. Though his work with the Smashing Pumpkins was absolutely stellar, his guitar prowess was on a different plane. Opting to go for a songwriter approach to his craft, Corgan would tastefully place in his guitar lines, which ranged from the crunch of a song like “Quiet” to the strumming beauty of “Tonight Tonight.”

Some of these lines may have seemed simple on the surface, but once you pulled back the layers of distortion, you’d find that each note was exactly where it needed to be. It’s not necessarily giving Van Halen a run for his money, but it’s impossible to deny the hypnotic melody of “Today” or the absolute bombast of “Cherub Rock.” With everything mapped out perfectly across the band’s ‘90s output, Billy Corgan is definitely one of rock’s greatest musical minds using minimalism to the fullest extent.