10 Most Underrated Albums From Legendary Hard Rock Bands

After 1994, it was no longer all that fun to be a grunge band. While classics like Stone Temple Pilots' Purple and Soundgarden's Superunknown did reasonably well at the time, the death of Kurt Cobain pretty much killed any more good will that the genre had to offer. At a time when many rock acts faded into obscurity, Pearl Jam roared back with a vengeance almost a decade later on Lightning Bolt.

Throughout most of the '00s, Pearl Jam's main studio output tended to favor more art rock tendencies, which made for challenging listens to say the least. Whereas Backspacer marked the real return to roots, Lightning Bolt is where they really came into their own as a all-out rock band, taking cues from the past like punk on Mind Your Manners and even the melodramatic sides of someone like Pink Floyd on Sirens.

For all of the back to basics approaches though, the band isn't above taking a few chances and seeing where a song goes, like the acoustic ditty Sleeping By Myself or the weird bluesy extensions going on in the back half with Let the Records Play. Even though Pearl Jam's prime may have been long past them at this point, they still had something to say after over 2 decades in the game.