10 Most Underrated Grunge Bands Of All Time
2. Failure
L.A’s Failure experienced the dream start for any alternative band of the era, with their first record being produced by Pixies/Nirvana collaborator Steve Albini. Only, in Failure’s case, the stripped back style of the former Big Black man wasn’t to their taste. Debut record Comfort is a raw affair which they quickly rejected (it’s actually pretty great, the grind of “Macaque” and drive of sub-2 minute “Princess” particular highlights).
They went their own way on self produced sophomore effort Magnified. It’s an album drenched in gloomy bss and chiming, razor sharp guitar riffs like the catchy if sinister “Undone” and the epic closer “Small Crimes”, which gave a taste of the band’s future.
Failure returned with big ideas on the successful Fantastic Planet, which produced a minor hit in “Stuck On You” and saw the band embrace a space rock sound that they’d cultivate for the next few years.
They diverge from anything truly resembling grunge here but Failure were a band with big ideas and an unwillingness to do things any other way, a completely distinctive act with two superb (and often underrated) records that fit seamlessly into the genre, and an admirably divergent act beyond that.