10 Perfect Albums That Will Make You Love Alternative Rock

In the wake of the grunge revolution, the last thing that you could aspire to be was a rock star. Since the hair metal scene had gotten way too stupid to take seriously anymore, the order of the day was all about stripping things back to the kind of music that could move you rather than the macho frontman in the middle of the stage. In between bands like Stone Temple Pilots though, Billy Corgan managed to have it both ways on Siamese Dream.

Produced with the mad genius Butch Vig, this is what the alternative movement would sound like if it were to make a sprawling concept record. Though there's no overarching story here or anything, the entire runtime feels like the best rock album that the '70s never put out, taking the crunch of heavier acts like Black Sabbath and sprinkling in some of the most pop friendly melodies of the decade. While there are definitely some light weight songs like Disarm and Today, the subject matter is anything but happy, most of them dealing with depression and having suicidal thoughts.

As you dig deeper into this record, you get to see every single facet of Corgan's influences, whether that be the punk thrashiness of something like Quiet or the lush beauty on songs like Mayonaise and Soma. There was no way that Billy was going to single handedly save rock and roll, but for this one album, he was the kind of frontman that he had always dreamed of being.