10 Obscure Grunge Albums You Need To Listen To

While they eventually became known for bouncy pop hits and, later, soft rock, Welsh-Japanese three piece Feeder started off as a part of the smalltime British grunge scene. Their first album, especially, gained the band positive comparisons to Smashing Pumpkins, and though it didn’t see the band break the mainstream, it’s filled with good stuff.

It kicks off with three particularly noisy tracks, “Polythene Girl”, “My Perfect Day” and “Cement”. The latter, particularly, is a minor bubblegum grunge smash, with singer Grant Nicholas’ melodic but brittle vocals pushed pleasingly to breaking point.

The record also features “Stereo World”, still one of the band’s best, a cleverly structured track which switches from Feeder at their most discordant to a swelling, triumphant chorus that makes great use of Nicholas’ impressive range. They wear their influences on their sleeve but know precisely the music they want to make, and do it with polish, energy, and songcraft.

They’d break through a while later with a song about a brand new car; here, though, they sound like a young band having a blast, and it’s an ageless, approachable record.