10 Most Underrated Grunge Bands Of All Time
5. Screaming Trees
As vocalist Mark Lanegan has carved out his status as an elder statesman of rock, Screaming Trees’ legacy has steadily grown, but they’re a band that still receives limited airplay even as they’re venerated as grunge pioneers.
Their first few albums on SST are pleasingly lo-fi, with an energetic live sound that often sees Lanegan’s vocals competing with Gary Lee Conner’s expressive guitar work. Tracks like “Straight Out To Any Place” and “Girl Behind The Mask” pack a ton of ideas into short run times, with the latter particularly exhibiting the theatricality of work to come.
Unlike a lot of their contemporaries, the gloss of a major deal arguably improved their sound, with 1992’s Sweet Oblivion placing Lanegan front and centre to add a sense of scale to tracks like “Nearly Lost You” and the swooningly romantic “No One Knows”.
The music would soften over time, as so many bands do, but Screaming Trees had an ear for melody and a boldness that meant they’d never linger in one exciting but slightly limiting subculture for a whole career.