10 Most Underrated Rock Bands Of The 90s

Towards the end of the decade, we were all getting familiar with the new wave of adult alternative that was sweeping the nation. Since this was an offshoot of what the kings of the genre brought to the scene though, there were a lot of skeptics that were questioning the legitimacy of the likes of Matchbox 20 over what people like Soundgarden were doing just a few years earlier. Then again, The Cranberries had been carving out their place in the crowd for years.

Going all the way back to the early '90s, the Cranberries could arguably be considered one of the progenitors of adult alternative, having a lot of tasteful instrumentation in between the more angry alternative moments. And that doesn't mean that you couldn't tell when they were angry though, with Zombie being one of the most caustic criticisms of abuse there is.

In an era that was also dominated with many women rockers rising to the forefront, you weren't going to mistake Dolores O'Riordan for anyone else, having an amazing breathy tone that rose above even the more abrasive music that crept in from time to time. In their old age though, they managed to successfully transition into something a lot more mellow, with songs that felt more adult contemporary but no less pertinent. Now that Dolores is no longer with us, it's about time to check back up on the band that helped plant the seeds of adult alternative.