10 Perfect Post Grunge Albums In Rock Music History
9. Yourself Or Someone Like You - Matchbox Twenty
Along with the buttrock tendencies of a lot of rock and roll at the time, the entire grunge aesthetic was starting to get way too squeaky clean to take seriously anymore. As much as someone like Gavin Rossdale may have seemed like the ideal grunge frontman, the cover shoots for these bands made them look like the boy band version of what grunge used to be. And it looked like we were going to be in for a similar experience when Matchbox Twenty arrived, with a bit of a soft rock twist.
Compared to the blatant cash grabs that came from other parts of the rock scene, Yourself or Someone Like You is a step above most of their contemporaries, almost like they took bits and pieces of the adult alternative scene and mixed it in with the traditional grunge tropes of the time. From the first note he sings, Rob Thomas definitely has listened to some Pearl Jam back in the day, but his approach seems to be more in line with someone like Michael Stipe in his delivery.
Even for as soft as this could sound next to someone like Mudhoney, there's some genuinely great moments to come out of this project, like the acoustic jam 3AM or the more confident strut of Real World. While this was a sign of a pretty steep drop off for alternative rock, it doesn't have to be all bad when you cash in.