10 Grunge Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die

Most rock veterans tend to look back on the '90s with rose colored glasses. Compared to the neon colored craziness of what was going down in the '80s, the amount of new genres seemed to be nearly endless as the final decade of the millennium raced to the finish, with Britpop, shoegaze, pop punk, and nu metal each having a somewhat equal spot at the table. If you had to distill the genre to one sound though, it would have to be grunge.

Emerging out of the Pacific Northwest right after the hair metal acts laughed themselves out of the Sunset Strip, this kind of throwback to hearty rock and roll was just the ticket for those who had been burned by the commercialization of what was happening on MTV. Although not many bands sounded like one another, they each felt like they were part of the same musical revolution.

As with all genres though, there is a deliberate pecking order for the best of the best. From the also-rans to the workhorses of the genre, the short blip of creativity between the late '80s and 1994 gave us a slew of classics that are still seeing their effects ripple to this day. This wasn't just some mindless music...this was the start of the oncoming revolution. Here we are now...entertain us.

For as much awesome music came out of the grunge scene, it did come at the expense of a few tragedies. I mean, you don't have a genre who's main calling card is depression and not expect the artists themselves to actually have some problems, right? Though we did lose icons like Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley along the way, the real tragedy of the scene came at the expense of Andy Wood.

Compared to the more introverted frontmen coming down the pipeline, Andy was every bit a star from the moment he came across the stage with Mother Love Bone. From front to back, what we got used to on Apple became one of the best kept secrets in grunge, having just as much in common with the classic '70s rock as it did with the funkier accentuations of something like the Red Hot Chili Peppers from around the same time.

That wasn't enough to keep Wood from his heroin habit though, which ultimately claimed his life and caused the band to fold into Pearl Jam once they found a new singer in Eddie Vedder. Though the guys still like to pull out a handful of Love Bone tunes in concert every now and again, nothing can compare to that little nugget of joy that faded before we were ready for it to end.