10 Perfect Grunge Rock Albums Of The 90s

No musical genre really exists in a vacuum. While stuff like the punk revolution may have completely blindsided people in the '70s, there were plenty of bands that were trying to push the boundaries of what their sound could do years before people like the Ramones came along. Trends can come and go, but by the start of the '90s, the rock scene was about to be dominated by one big word: GRUNGE.

Amidst the alternative boom that was happening with acts like the Pixies and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the focus of the entire rock scene moved to the rainy city of Seattle, where the music seemed much more authentic than what was going on everywhere else. That doesn't mean that only Seattlites will populate this list though. Outside of its breeding ground, some of the best grunge records ended up coming from anyone who considered themselves on the fringes of the rock scene, always making records that were alternative in name but grunge at their core.

When most bands were looking to strut their stuff on MTV, these are the records that made people want to focus on the music again. It was dirty, grimy, and all around disgusting in places, and yet there was always something that made you want to revisit it again and again.

For as many bands were put into the category of grunge back in the day, there was never a clear indication of what it was. While it would be easy to say that grunge musicians just happened to come from Seattle, the sounds of people like the Melvins weren't all that similar to Pearl Jam when you really got down to specifics. If you wanted a clear definition of what grunge sounded like though, Superfuzz Bigmuff should be your reference point.

Coming right before a majority of the heavy hitters broke into the mainstream, Mudhoney has the core ethos of what constitutes grunge on this snack sized EP. Featuring the classic Touch Me I'm Sick, most of these songs have that grimy feel that reminds you of Seattle when you hear it, as if the whole thing is being recorded out of some dude's basement on a rainy day.

What it might lack in technical proficiency Mark Arm definitely makes up for with his vocals, which seem to fit somewhere between bits and pieces of melodic phrases and the hardcore sounds of punk that was still the calling card for any of the non-poser set in Seattle. Is this the most pleasant listening experience of the decade? Absolutely not, but when you're talking about the genesis of grunge, this is as close as you can get to what the city sounded like.