10 Most Important Hard Rock Bands Of The 90s

When talking about the heaviest rock bands to come out of the '90s, Smashing Pumpkins is not really a shoe in for the best in the business or anything. Although they arrived more or less concurrently with the grunge scene, Billy Corgan always had one foot planted in every genre he could think of, whether it was the stadium rock sounds of Cherub Rock or the grand scope from almost everything off of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. When you venture into the deep cuts though, Corgan always had a soft spot for the heavier sides of rock.

In between the more pop friendly singles on most of these records, Corgan was always trying to push his sound into some much heavier territory. Back on their debut record, you had songs like Siva that seemed to fit somewhere between psychedelia and hard rock without really trying. That was just the tip of the iceberg though, with songs like Quiet from Siamese Dream having an almost punkish edge to it.

By the time Billy got to stretch on the next few records, these weren't just experiments anymore. Looking back on songs like Bullet With Butterfly Wings or Zero, these are just metal licks that just so happen to be played by an alternative band. So next time you hear someone slag off the Pumpkins for their pop friendly songs like Today, just throw on Jellybelly and watch their jaws hit the floor.