"Grunge" is an era or aesthetic. They Seattle bands *did* have a shared attitude and personality. The bands individually had their own sounds and styles, but there was a distinctive perspective that they had in common. The Seattle guys within the scene were too close to it to see the similarities, but in the early 90s we all knew that they had that aesthetic in common and were different from any LA, NYC, Chicago bands, etc.
Great video! 1) Nirvana 2) Pearl Jam 3) Alice in Chains 4) Soundgarden 5) Stone Temple Pilots. Grunge is Rock. I don't know what else to say. I just its the artistic aspect.
Nirvana gets elevated a bit. But they were the most important of all of those bands like it or not. They get elevated a bit because of Kurt's tragic end in his prime that immortalized him. We never got to see what else he would do or see him grow older. As far as the musical chops of Nirvana it would probably rank last overall of the big four Seattle bands.
1. Alice In Chains 2. Nirvana 3. Pearl Jam 4. Soundgarden AIC get over the top for me on the strength of Jar of Flies, which borders on being in my top 50. Nirvana and Pearl Jam are really super close for me, as I like both the Nevermind/In Utero and Ten/Vs. pairs roughly as much, but I’ll use the best half of Incesticide and the 6 covers from Unplugged as the tiebreaker to put Nirvana slightly ahead. For my 5th band, I’ll throw in Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream is definitely grunge to me, and that’s another one in or at least close to my top 50).
1. Alice in Chains 2. Soundgarden 3. Stone Temple Pilots 4. Nirvana/Pearl Jam I always really liked Mother Love Bone and actually prefer them to Pearl Jam, but since the remnants of the band went onto form Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder as their lead vocalist they deserve a higher spot, the problem is that although I personally find Nirvana less boring to listen to than Pearl Jam, there are also at least a handful of examples of Nirvana plagiarising chords from songs from other bands, first example Polly and On The Streets by The 4-Skins, second Aneurysm and An Invitation by Fang, third is Come As You Are and Eighties by Killing Joke (though the riff goes back to Hollow Hills by Bauhaus, possibly Jumping Someone Else's Train by The Cure or Baby Come Back by The Equals) fourth is Been a Son and Don't Walk Away by Zebra, fifth is Breed and Run Chicken Run by Link Wray (though the riff also sounds similar to Potential Suicide by Wipers at the start who came later than Link) and finally sixth is Smells Like Teen Spirit and Daughters of the Northern Coast by Australian Crawl (though there are also similarities to Boston's More Than a Feeling which is even earlier). The point is that Nirvana copycatting riffs from other bands would usually get them out of the top 4 but based on merit and impact I'm willing to tie them with Pearl Jam! Just found the 3 listed above Pearl Jam and Nirvana to be overall technically if not vocally better and more interesting in terms of sound and delivery. Not that Pearl Jam don't have a somewhat interesting sound, it's that I find their delivery too predictable.
My ranking is the same as Joe's: 1. AIC 2. Pearl Jam 3. Soundgarden 4. Nirvana I would put Screaming Trees for my #5, for sure. Mark Lanegan is one of my favorite songwriters from the 90s.
i never really like unplugged. it's their pandering to commercialism set. it was a game changer in the sense that the general public hopped on board. not that there's anything wrong with that, but if never hear their versions of Man Who Sold the World or Where Did You Sleep Last Night again, I'd be fine.
4. Nirvana 3. Pearl Jam 2. Soundgarden 1. Alice In Chains Very hard for me to choose between Pearl Jam & Soundgarden for 2nd and 3rd, I would probably call it a tie. Loved Nirvana when they came out but I still listen to the other 3 and I don't listen to Nirvana anymore. If we call Dinosaur Jr grunge they would be 5th, but if it is limited to Seattle it would be Screaming Trees for me even tho L7 had a couple of good albums. Not really a fan of Mudhoney tho Suck Me Dry is a cool song. Mother Love Bone unfortunately didn't make enough music.
i would say dinosaur jr provided a part of the blueprint for grunge along with Neil young, and underground punk and metal bands. Sonic Youth and pixies were also very influential on 90's alternative in general.
Sonic Youth and Pixies were big influences on Nirvana. Unfortunately, Pixies split b4 they had a chance to cash in on the $$$ coming the way of alternative artists. Another influential but sometimes forgotten 80s underground act were Husker Du. First of these type of bands that signed to a major but like Pixies split up b4 they were able to cash in on the $$$ to be made in the 90s.
My top 4 are: 4- Nirvana 3- Soundgarden 2- Pearl Jam 1- Alice In Chains As for the extra idk... I wouldn't consider Smashing Pumpkins grunge outside of Gish so they're out; Dinosaur Jr I don't think is grunge because they're not only one of the progenitors for this music but they also are a little too different I feel to fit in, even with their sound being what it is, they're kind of in their own spot...I think it has to be Stone Temple Pilots, and although I'm not the biggest fan I mean I don't see who else could take the cake.
Love all 4 but I gotta say 4. Pearl Jam 3. Nirvana 2. Soundgarden 1. Alice In Chains Both the metal aspects and influences of AIC and Soundgarden, plus their respective front men make them amongst my favorite bands ever. Serious power and emotion from those two fallen legends Layne and Chris, RIP
I’m definitely with Joe, AIC I believe is the embodiment of “Grunge” and they had the amazing catalog to back it up. I think my list would be 1. AIC 2. Soundgarden 3. Pearl Jam 4. Nirvana And maybe an HM to Core by STP but it’s really only that album that’s of that Grunge nature.
If they have to be from Seattle and grunge, these are my favourites: 5. Nirvana 4. Soundgarden, Screaming Trees 3. Green River, Mad Season, Mother Love Bone, Temple Of The Dog 2. Alice In Chains 1. PEARL JAM(Not just the best grunge band but also one of the greatest bands of all time).
5. Skin yard (If you don't know them check him out great band) They're one of the grandfathers of grunge 4. nirvana (teenage me would have put them at number one lol) 3. Soundgarden 2. Pearl Jam 1. Alice in chains.. No one compares to them and they are still doing music and sounding damn good
Honorable Mention : Nirvana 5. Mudhoney 4. Soundgarden 3. Screaming Trees 2. Alice In Chains 1. Pearl Jam I have to go with Pearl Jamin the top spot based on the amount of diverse and engaging music the band has provided over the years, Alice in Chains was my personal favorite back in the day and I think they are still producing quality music with the addition of William Duvall. Screaming Trees I really enjoyed even though they could not get it together as a band. Lanegan is a great vocalist and I really liked how they approached their sound and songwriting. Soundgarden is pretty solid band but really only had 3 albums that I really liked and still revisit today on a regular basis. Louder than Love, Down on the Upside and the perfect Badmotorfinger. Mudhoney has always been a solid band that really pays ed the way for the bands but just never put together that "great album." I enjoy Nirvana but I never felt they ever earned the accolades that everyone buried them in. In the end I feel Grohl was a much better so writer and musician than Kurt Cobain. One last note as much as I love Temple of the Dog I really revisit Mad Season's Above much more. Great topic guys!
If you are talking about grunge artistically, you have to include Melvins and Mudhoney. And if you are talking about grunge commercially, you have to include Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins. Some people might include more obscure bands like Jesus Lizard or the 80's indie bands like Dinosaur Jr.
Same. I'm amazed at the first guy who claims Soundgarden were "one note." I found that an astonishing choice of words. Down on the Upside sounds like it was written by a completely different band than the one which wrote Louder Than Love.
@@tobetrayafriend Anyone who says Soundgarden are "one note" hasn't listened to more than their top 5 singles, which is most people. Soundgarden is by far the most experimental and musically diverse Seattle group.
1. Nirvana: really the band that has been (together with Bach) the most formative and fundamental musical influence in my own life. For many years in my youth I listened to barely anything else, and it's still my comfort music when nothing else would "hit the spot". 2. Alice in Chains 3. Pearl Jam 4. Soundgarden Edit: It'll take me a few days to settle on a 5th spot, but I'll go with Mudhoney for the moment. They really nailed the dirt/noise/lo-fi aesthetic.
@@SpaceCattttt It really felt like leading a double life. I remember my piano teacher asking me what kind of music I'd listen to at home and I said: nothing. She was so entrenched in the world of classical music (for reference: she didn't even know who Mickey Mouse was), I don't think she would have been able to cope. Sometimes I played her little pieces I had composed, and when it felt too modern to her, she looked at me as if I had desecrated her piano.
Agreed. It is not even close. No other grunge band ever produced an album with the intense darkness of Dirt or the self titled. Plus the sad gorgeous Jar of Flies.
I always saw grunge as a mix of heavy metal, hard-core punk, noise rock and more traditional hard rock. Some bands embraced each core element more than others (Nirvana were more hardcore/noise; Pearl Jam more hard rock; Alice in Chains and Soundgarden more metal) but all grunge bands had elements of those genres meshed into their sound. My ranking would be: 1. Nirvana 2. Alice in Chains 3. Pearl Jam 4. Soundgarden
I just watched the L7 documentary Pretend We're Dead. Kram brought them up and I think that they're a worthy mention as a 5th member. Good band. The female-led groups of that time kinda go hand in hand with grunge IMO. Great idea for a video, gents.
If u asked me this back in ‘95 when Pearl Jam and Radiohead were my favourite bands, I would have said; One. Pearl jam Two. Soundgarden Three. Alice in chains Four. Nirvana In 2021. Eddie’s voice now wears on me pretty fast. Alice in Chains music has stood the test of time better than the others. Dirt is my favourite album of the 90’s. One. Alice in chains Two. Soundgarden Three. Pearl jam Four. Nirvana Fifth band would be STP. I’ll slot them in at #3 between Soundgarden and pearl jam.
Yes, Eddie is amazing but after decades of listening to him I can't really pretend I love his voice anymore. Meanwhile Alice in Chains has DEFINITELY stood the test of time and become - by far - one of the best and most unique acts of the 90s. And their voices never get old.
At the time I totally ignored STP, the media had them as a sort of copycat fakers image. But, a couple of years ago I gave them a go and their 2nd album is absolutely brilliant. The band pretty much stood the test of time and clearly were not fakers.
Nirvana is tops because Kurt Cobain had a rare gift for melody (people like Paul McCartney and Neil Young back me up on this.) It's Cobain's songwriting that broke open the grunge scene and turned it into a national (and international) phenomenon. Yes, the other grunge bands would've eventually "broken through" even without Nevermind's success, but I don't think they would've generated quite the same amount of buzz that made grunge a worldwide thing. I've always struggled with how to rank the other 3 of Seattle's "Big 4." Nowadays, I go with Alice In Chains but there've been times in my life when Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were my 2nd choice.
Soundgarden is the best grunge band to me, cause they were there from the beginning (see: the Deep Six comp), they brought a level of musical complexity (odd times, songwriting twists, etc), and just wrote the best songs, period. From there it's AiC>Nirvana>>>>>>Pearl Jam. Not a Pearl Jam guy, and they were only really a grunge band for a few years. Really, I'd put Mudhoney in the Big Four. Smashing Pumpkins and Dino Jr and those bands don't count to me (although I love both those bands, probably just as much or more than Soundgarden).
Thank you for say that Pearl Jam isn't a grunge band. I though I was the only one. They have always been just a rock band that happened to come from Seattle
1) Nirvana 5) Hole 2) Alice in Chains 3) Sound Garden 4) Pearl Jam First off, I think grunge was more in connection to the PNW as a local, than it was a style of music, like the Manchester Scene. Bands outside sounded a bit like Manchester, but they weren't from there. And it's obvious that bands like STP road the coattails of grunge, so they were poser grunge at best. Seattle was a rainy backwater port town back in the day. In the winter it gets dark at 3:30 and there are days it rains all week. Dark, sludgy power chords like this were birthed in the PNW. I remember the first time I heard Nirvana, I was 16 hanging at my GF's apartment on Broadway on Capitol Hill. The album was Bleach, and I was completely blown away. Nothing I heard before sounded that unique and raw the first time I listen to it - and they sounded so much like the city at that time, far before Microsoft and Google coders would come drive property values up and change everything. I love Alice in Chains, but my issue with them is that they started out as a hair metal band, not too concerned with anything in Seattle, they had high hopes of going to LA like Duff, and making it big. They even wanted to name their band Alice 'n Chains, like Guns 'n Roses. Facelift sounded like some of the metal bands of the day. It took them a while to come into their own, but once they did " holy fuck " they were wicked. Sound Garden represented Seattle before Nirvana came on the scene. Pearl Jam was the most radio friendly, but most of their hits were on TEN. And you're forgetting Hole. I mean, if you want to talk about a band from the region that deserves a 5th place, that sold out arenas and had huge hits and were consistent, don't forget these ladies. Definitely my number 5. If you look at the PNW scene during that time, there were allot more punk bands than anything else. You also had the riot grrrrl scene in Olympia, Wa and Portland had some great bands. I feel like punk indie was what the PNW was mostly about: Mudhoney, Melvins, The Gits, 7 Year Bitch, Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, etc. So we were listening to those bands and Nirvana kinda carried that torch more than the others.
1. Dinosaur Jr 2. Nirvana 3. Pearl Jam 4. Mudhoney 5. Screaming Trees 6. Soundgarden 7. Alice In Chains I guess Afghan Whigs don't have anything to do with grunge. If we count them in, I would rank them up there in the 3rd spot
Was hoping someone would rank Afghan Whigs somehow, really for me it was 1. Nirvana, 2. Afghan Whigs, 3. Screaming Trees and 4. probably Mudhoney, more because Mudhoney shows were fun and Soundgarden just really bored me seeing them live both times despite good records. 5. TAD…really TAD should be higher.
All I know is when I am in that place where I am upset, or sad or mad, None of them do it for me except Nirvana. There's a real pain in Kurt's screams that the other bands ( while still great in their own rights) just can't replicate. Also none of the other 3 Seattle bands had a singer who played guitar while he sang ( I realize Cornell and Vedder play guitar) but Kurt just poured everything into his singing and playing that was just so real and raw. I find it hard to explain, oh well, nevermind.
1. Nirvana (I was into punk, so i could relate to them the most). 2. Pearl Jam 3. Soundgarden . I only have a big 3, could never get into Alice in Chains, so they would have to be number 4.
In terms of where grunge came from, let's bow our heads and take a moment to celebrate SST Records, who had Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees and obv Black Flag (and many more!) on their roster. And then they released Soundgarden's first album.
1. Pearl Jam - Extensive body of work. 2. Nirvana - Two good albums and a great live album. 3. Soundgarden - 4. Alice in Chains 5th - Helmet - Grunge before its time. Excellent "Betty" album.
My ranking is: 4. Soundgarden 3. Alice In Chains 2. Pearl Jam 1. Nirvana I'd say my fifth is Mudhoney, I love them a lot. I also really love L7 but I don't know if I ever considered them grunge. It does make sense though when I really think about it. I also love Dinosaur Jr. but I always considered them more godfathers of grunge like bands like Hüsker Dü (who is an all time favorite band of mine). Would love to see a Hüsker Dü album ranking someday (hint, hint). 🙂
You guys are really giving me the urge to compile a top 100 favorite artists list, which I have a feeling might be a lot easier to do than put my 100 favorite albums in order.
That's what I thought until I tried to actually do it! The problem is there's never enough room to include everyone who deserves to be included. You end up trying to fit 100 names into your top 50. It's frustrating.
@@AbbeyRoadkill1 I could imagine it getting most tricky in particularly even artist matchups involving one where I know their entire studio output vs. one where I only know their 3 or 4 most popular albums. I guess we’ll see how it works out.
I can only make it to 35 before i run into all the grunge-ish bands i do not like at all. 1. Alice in chains 2. Nirvana 3. Audioslave 4. Chout (formerly had band named Skorned) 5. Stone temple pilots 6. Downface 7. Superheaven (formerly called Daylight) 8. Pearl jam 9. Mad season 10. Live 11. Days of the new 12. Screaming Trees 13. Bush 14. Silverchair 15. Soundgarden 16. Smashing Pumpkins 17. Sprinkler 18. Temple of the dogs 19. Candlebox 20. Send no flowers 21. Coffin Break 22. Soul asylum 23. Foo fighters 24. Seven mary three 25. Truly 26. Ugly Kid Joe 27. Moist 28. Sponge 29. Blind melon 30. Brother Cane 31. Wool 32. Dinosaur Jr. 33. L7 34. Seaweed 35. Veruca Salt
1. Alice In Chains 2. Nirvana 3. Pearl Jam 4. Sound Garden My 5th would be STP, which I definitely consider a grunge band. Particularly early on. Agree about grunge being a mixture of classic rock, metal and punk, with a rebellious attitude. Often the specific clothing style, ripped baggy jeans, flannel, but also leather and more classic rock styles. Usually the vocals dip into what they’re calling “yarling” these days. The Pixies and Neil Young really wrote the blueprint for what became grunge, but were more musically diverse overall.
For me 4. Nirvana 3. Alice in Chains 2. Pearl Jam 1. Soundgarden And for a 5th, if I were to choose outside of seattle then Stone Temple Pilots, but if not then its either Screaming Trees or Skinyard.
of the big 4 1. alice in chains 2. soundgarden 3. pearl jam 4. nirvana but i would also include STP for my personal so my list would be 1. AIC 2 and 3 could be either/or soundgarden or STP 4. Pearl Jam 5. Nirvana
No doubt for my n°1 : Alice in chains. Their music resonnates with me way more than the three others... its darkness, its sound, its incredible atmosphere... (them bones, the rooster a.o.)... then it is a little harder, probably pearl jam n°2 but unlike you guys, I didn't really adore their evolution after VS. I enjoy it, but not as much as ten and VS. Then nirvana at n°3 : eventhough I don't really like Bleach and they got only two other albums, there are some really good stuff in those 2. Then soundgarden at n°4. I never really got very far with them... maybe I should try again. But one particularity that those 4 bands share : incredibly charismatic and gifted singers!!! Kurt Cobain was maybe the less "gifted" one, but he had an indeniable presence and style... and for the three others : Vedder, Layne and Cornell are amongst the greatest singers of all times. That is a very imprtant part of the grunge strenght I think. It really gives their songs a higher dimension.
5. Nirvana 4. Stone Temple Pilots 3. Pearl Jam 2. Soundgarden 1. Alice In Chains Also love the Melvins, but they’re definitely Metal, just Grunge-related.
Yup. His tastes seem to lean towards more melodic music, and in the past I feel like he's said he doesn't really like metal that much, so I think there's something else going on here other than the music.
@@tiagoduarte7560 precisely. That's why it's puzzling. Joe likes melodic, pop leaning music, but he seems to like metal way more than Jason so I can understand him putting AIC and Soundgarden ahead of Nirvana. But with Jason it makes no sense on a musical level. Oh well. He remains an enigma wrapped in a mystery.
1. Alice In Chains Beautifully dark! 2. Soundgarden Such unique riffs and Chris Cornells' voice! 3. Nirvana Kurt Cobain is the singularly most talented songwriter of anybody in these four bands. 4. Pearl Jam Didnt like a single thing they did after Ten.
I think I pretty much agree with all of that. Alice in Chains had the ability to create an atmospheric dirge, beautiful melodies and harmonies that stirred painfully crushing emotion that could simultaneously be uplifting and cathartic, not only across their albums and body of work, but sometimes in one song (e.g. Rain When I Die, Man in a Box, Bleed the Freak, I Stay Away). Layne Staley is perhaps the most underrated rock vocalist of all time. I adore AIC, I would only rank them behind The Beatles and Led Zeppelin of my all time favourite bands. Nirvana had a great singer songwriter in Cobain, and I always enjoy listening to them. But they don't make me feel anything beyond a superficial level, and certainly don't make me think. Soundgarden: I loved when I was a teenager. Cornell's voice soars like a Robert Plant or Roger Daltrey. But in my mid 30s I do struggle to listen to them for long before getting a bit bored. It's not that the songs are individually boring but they get a bit repetitive listening to them one after another. I agree pretty much on what you said about Pearl Jam. I think there's an argument to be made that Ten is the best album any of these 4 bands produced. It's an incredible record. I own 4 other Pearl Jam albums (Vs, Vitology, No Code, Riot Act) and couldn't tell you the name of a single song off them. They're just so meh. Not bad, just completely forgettable. Vedder's voice is superb (all of these frontmen have got great voices) but he sounds bored himself, like he can't be arsed. There's no fire or electricity like you get in Alive or Jeremy.
Thank you for a great set of shows this week. Love your channel. I love all of these bands so just my own preference 1. Alice in Chains 2. Nirvana 3. Soundgarden 4. Pearl Jam For the extra band Dinosaur JR would be my 5th if not counting them as grunge then I would go with Melvins
I always assumed Grunge referred to the sound of big wall of sound overdriven guitars. Pearl Jam always sounded like Corporate Grunge to me, as Joe says Soundgarden/Cornell captured a lot of authentic Sabbath in their sound. On another note, Richard Thompson albums/songs would make a great episode.
Grunge refers to off key notes whether by voice and or by the sound. Where it just doesnt quite sound good. But yet they make it sounds good somehow. Back before grunge you would have been deemed a bad musician making music that hurts the ears in a sense that isn't not beautiful.
@@janpoelkamp4229 yeah incesticide good....but if I'm looking for space on my player it's the first Nirvana album I don't mind deleting out of all of them....that includes the many outcesticides.... not saying I don't love it btw
Ranking the albums is the way I would go. Facelift is my #1, Louder Than Love #2, Apple by Mother Love Bone #3, Nevermind and Ten tied for 4th. After that, it's just certain songs off of different albums. But those 5 albums I can listen to front to back for the most part. And actually maybe you could switch 2 and 3 around?
I know that STP were kicking around San Diego for years as Mighty Joe Young before grunge broke, but they were roundly dismissed as being a major label plant, packaging grunge for a wider audience when "Sex Type Thing" came out as their first single in January 1993, some 15 months after he release of Nevermind / Badmotorfinger, with Weiland pulling *very* Vedderesque facepulls in the video... That's not to say that they weren't talented, and that they didn't redeem themselves with subsequent albums, but I think that grunge was the foot in the door that helped them launch their career in... alternative glam-punk?
Rock fans from the grunge era tend to look down upon STP. But, personally speaking, I think they were a good band. Borrowed a bit from the Seattle sound, glam rock and power pop and made a great blend. But not quite a grunge act, strictly speaking
When considering the output of nirvana should always keep in mind the unreleased stuff that later came out on the box set and other various records as that material comprises nearly as much as the official releases and arguably much is of similar quality to that which was on their well known albums.
Great point....I have pretty much everything by Nirvana for a reason...their demos and studio session stuff are outstanding....even the silly experimental things intrigue.... Beans anyone?😂...I remember being surprised they existed when trawling through tapes in a shop....the outsesticide tapes have so many gems of super quality and they inspired me to start making music even more than the main albums.
1. Pearl Jam 2. Nirvana 3. Soundgarden 4. Alice in Chains And then Dinosaur Jr. for me. Dinosaur Jr. would be above both Soundgarden and Alice in Chains if they were the rules!
Love 'em all. Too different to really rank, but here's the order in which I came to the bands: 1. Nirvana (the punk and pop aspects, plus Kurt's natural charisma, drew me in) 2. Pearl Jam (the stadium rock band of the bunch, the "safe" grunge (later alt rock) band) 3. Soundgarden (the Led Zep of grunge, best voice in grunge, handsomest front man) 4. Alice in Chains (the coolest, darkest band of the bunch, love those harmonies!) 5. Screaming Trees (definitely grunge, I like Sweet Oblivion and Dust best, Uncle Anesthesia is pretty good too)
For the “Big 4” it’s definitely changed for me over the years. Nirvana was a solid lock at #1 back in the day, but as I’ve gotten older, I think I’d go: 1. Pearl Jam 2. Alice In Chains 3. Nirvana 4. Soundgarden Love Screaming Trees as the #5. However, a band that none of the guys mentioned that wasn’t necessarily grunge, but was definitely of the slacker 90’s aesthetic, was Pavement. Loved that band!
Don't really think about these bands as the "big 4" of grunge except if I'm isolating grunge to Seattle. Though there are of course other grunge bands, the following six bands I would collectively mention if someone wanted me to define grunge. And here's my ranking: 1. Soundgarden 2. Nirvana 3. Smashing Pumpkins 4. Alice in Chains 5. Stone Temple Pilots 6. Pearl Jam List subject to revision. I like all these bands, typically STP and Pearl Jam less so though I only listened to Tiny Music and Yield for the first time a few weeks ago. The short-term effect of which was STP climbed up a spot!
Omg. Nirvana for the win…way above the others. I was there, living in Portland. Used to see Nirvana at the Satyricon with ten people there. They defined Grunge, homemade introverted garage music made in the gray rainy depressing NW. Everything else was far more self-conscious and hasn’t proven to be as lasting or have such a strong effect in changing the direction of music. Best alt band of the era was Nomeansno.
I always seem to lean more into the metal side of music and Alice in chains and Soundgarden have those elements if I was going to add a 5th it would be the Melvins, Buzz was a massive influence on the scene in Seattle From Kurt to Kim from soundgarden, Melvins also help create sludgemetal so Mastodon and Baroness might not be the way they are if not for the Melvins there really hard to categorize their influence is big to that scene, also want to make mention of Tad probably the heaviest of the grunge bands of those Tad riffs are just punishing and pound you to the ground. But i would say Husker Du is the spiritual forefather of this type of music I wanna give them credit as well. Here's my ranking good show guys. 1. Alice In chains 2. Soundgarden 3. Pearl Jam 4. Nirvana
1. AIC miles in front not even in the same contest 2. Soundgarden 3. Pearl Jam/Nirvana tie. Early PJ outstanding, nirvana not enough work completed but better overall STP & L7 honourary mentions
I would say STP maybe classifies as grunge, but Smashing Pumpkins probably not. They really fit more with like the My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth flavor of alternative rock -- kind of shoegazey at times. They got heavier later, but when Gish and SIamese Dream were out, I never really considered them "grunge". My ranking is probably: 1. Pearl Jam. Even though they're probably the least grungy grunge band, they probably have the deepest catalog and the most consistency. 2. Soundgarden 3. Nirvana. Probably a toss-up between Soundgarden and Nirvana, but Nirvana only released 3 albums and only two of them are good. 4. Alice in Chains. I liked Dirt when it came out, but as a whole, they never really did it for me. A bit too close to metal for my liking. Screaming Trees are a good option for a 5th. Outside of Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan is probably the guy from that scene who's maintained the most musical relevance through today.
Okay let this sink in: go put a lesser known song of Nirvanas catalog on; lets say On a Plain, Scentless Apprentice... whatever and tell me afterwards that those songs does not simply destroys anything the other 3 bands ever released. I know its subjective but Nirvana was on a completely whole other level in terms of songwriting and originality. Fuck sake Pearl Jams output the last 20 years have been utter shit tbh. and Soundgarden could come off as another led zeppelin knock off. Don't get me wrong i like all four bands very much but in terms of legacy, Nirvanas music will be known and loved for generations to come.
I'm with you. For me personally Nirvana is number 1 on the strength of the brilliant In Utero. It's the album that stands out above anything else from this era. I agree, Nirvana will stand the test of time after the others are more or less forgotten. I don't mind the other 3 bands but only in small doses. Well actually I can't stand Pearl Jam at all. I tried after the recent Listography ranking video but there was nothing there for me at all. Nirvana had the great songs plus the kind of timeless grit and attitude that gave bands like VU or Stooges their longevity. The other three never had the cultural impact Nirvana had, not even close. Oh and I despise Corgan's Pumpkins - overwrought overbaked dreck - I'm not sure I loathe anyone else from the grunge era as much as Corgan. STP never meant anything to me at all.
1. Screaming Trees. I was always in love with Mark Lanegan's voice and Sweet Oblivion and Dust are two of my favourite albums of all time. 2. Nirvana 3. Soundgarden 4. Pearl Jam 5. Alice in Chains This ranking is really difficult, and it could all change on a different day. It's complicated by how good or not I thought each band were live, how much I (over)played the albums back then, and how much I go back to them over the years. I get how Nirvana's output seems slight but I can't forget the excitement around them at the time, which was actually building quite a bit before Nevermind came out. (Bleach was well-liked among people I know but when they released Sliver the next year it was all, oh what's going on here then?) Then the album completely exceeded expectations. Basically everyone I know who was into metal, indie or punk at the time united around Nevermind. Of course since then it's become something else, another set-in-stone 'classic' to be displayed in a museum - worshipped or dismissed; just another rockproduct. Pearl Jam were easily the best live for me, but also have descended into a kind of middle-of-the road politeness I can't get excited about any more. But they've released a lot of albums in comparison to the others so it's not really fair to judge them on..well..fading away as opposed to burning out. If I were to put listen to an album of one of these bands today, right now, it would be..Soundgarden. I think. But not yet because I haven't had breakfast.
@@pabloimireia No Not a great number 1 a band that never became popular. you never saw them on any magazine rankings list and today Hot Topic and Spencers doesn't sell there shirts.
1. Nirvana - because it's not just Nevermind for me...it's the songs on Incesticide...and the Unplugged album 2. Pearl Jam - because they have more good songs than any of the others 3. Alice In Chains - edges out Soundgarden due to the Jar of Flies album 4. Soundgarden 5. Bob Mould of Husker Du and Sugar fame, because Nirvana borrowed from the Pixies what the Pixies borrowed from Bob and Husker Du...also, because his album releases from 1987 thru 1993 are all unstoppable.
Never cared for pearl jam much. Ten was a good album. Soundgarden was one I got into with superuknown. But as I got older I really enjoyed their older stuff. Alice in chains is amazing. Can't think of anything they did with Layne that wasn't great. Nirvana is just all around amazing. Even though nevermind gets too much airplay sometimes.
I was just listening to "Dirt" this past week. I probably listen to it like once a year. Same with "Facelift" and bits and pieces of the others. I keep waiting for the moment where I might think "Wow this hasn't aged that well." Never happens. It's the reverse.
@@Twotontessie I totally disagree, I feel like most 90's rock hasn't aged well at all. It's sounds so dated now, and feels gimmicky. The whining and self moaning of most songs gets old super fast. I actually prefer the upbeat nature of 80's hair Metal.
to gain the grunge moniker i think the band would have to come from the pacific northwest if not seattle , btw . i dont know if i could say screaming trees are a grunge band either , to me they just didnt have the aesthetic but on their last couple albums , mark lanegans solo material fit better under the grunge header , imo.
I am deeply connected to Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. It's really hard to choose between them, but I can reluctantly put Soundgarden at number three. Alice in Chains and Nirvana are essentially tied, so my number one and two rankings could change by the day or even hour. I'll arbitrarily put Nirvana at number one for this moment. I've never been more than a casual with Pearl Jam, so their ranking at number four is my easiest choice. I am going to go outside the box with my honorary number five and pick Monster Magnet. They're generally considered stoner rock, but I don't think that disqualifies them. They were making Sabbath/ Stooges/ Hawkwind inspired sludge, much of it tuned down, in the same era as these other bands, with Tab and Spine of God coming out in 91 and Superjudge in 93. If I were to rank them in this mix they would be fighting for the one spot alongside Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
I used the word "grunge" way before the 90's. To me, The Replacements and the Band sounded grungy. As did "Exile on Main Street"... to me the term "Grunge" meant messy and uncontrolled but ended up sounding great.
I don't think Grunge is a bad term. Rather than defining it as a music genera, I like to think of it more as a term describing a scene rebelling against the slick and sleazy 80s where Gordon Gekko was king, and male rockers in pantyhose and lipstick had become mainstream. Grunge was inspired by the youth culture of the late 60s and 70s, both in terms of style, drug use and political views like freedom from corporate slavery, anti-materialism and environmentalism. In essence it was alternative hard rock inspired by the analoge sounds of the 60s and 70s coupled with the DIY-mantra of punk and underground music. In many ways, grunge was over the minute it became mainstream and the the big four became MTV darlings. Kurt became the poster child for underdogs and nerds, while Eddie became a symbol of a new born masculinity with his raspy voice and woodsman clothing - all a kick in the lacking balls of the sleazy hair metal sellouts. In many ways it was like the punk explosion of the late 1970s. It was over before it had begun, and the popularity of the original bands soon faded, but the attitudes and style lived on in New Wave and Post-Punk. In such a context one might claim that "real" grunge happened in the late 1980s with bands like Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Melvins, Nirvana, Skin Yard and others. When the big labels entered in the early 90s the music became more polished and less grungy with a more artificial alternative sound. The Grunge bands were hugely influential and during the second wave, when the big four became big on MTV, you could hear the grunge sound being incorporated into more mellow alternative rock bands like Counting Crows, Blind Melon and Crash Test Dummies (to mention a few). But despite all the anti-establishment energy present in it's beginning, the commercial forces won and grunge soon morphed into radio-friendly soft rock by Matchbox Twenty, Creed, Nickelback and the likes... I've never been a big fan of any alternative music movement. Although I support much of the political views in alternative culture, I tend not to like music played by people who thinks music theory, technique and practicing is optional, and mostly play to support a bad drug habit. Grunge exploded on MTV when I was 15, so I went all in and bought most of the albums when they came out. But to be honest, I haven't listened to any of them since the mid 1990s, and the best I can say about them is that when I sold my blue vinyl copy of Nirvana's Bleach I made back all the money I had spent on grunge albums in total and then some...
I'm kind of the opposite of you. I loved MTV and exciting rock stars. Yes it was superficial and exploitative, but it was fun and made things exciting if you didn't dig deep. I liked rock stars to play the part, and make music as fun as possible. Actually, it was good to have both flavors to be honest. Nothing wrong with deep thoughts either.
@@michaelhassler7446 Good for you! Different tastes and opinions is the spice of life! I didn't mind MTV. Before the Internet it was about the only place I could discover new music, and I rarely missed an episode of Headbanger's Ball.
What is "grunge?" Good question. Can't easily define it, but it's the crossroads where the fans of punk rock met the fans of Black Sabbath and the fans of the Who & Led Zeppelin and Crazy-Horsed-Neil Young and decided to make a sound that rose to that level of noise, that darkness, that aggression and that power that their forbears had created. It couldn't last.
1. Pearl Jam- they have transcended "grunge" and become one of the greatest bands of all time in my opinion in the genre of alternative. They have far more quality albums than any of the others, and their sound has matured past the angsty feel of grunge. 2. Soundgarden- They made great music that perfectly encapsulates feelings of sadness, anger, etc. Chris Cornell is the best singer I've ever heard, and there's no better band to listen to than Soundgarden when you're feeling down. They do suffer from a lack of variety in their sound though. 3. Nirvana- I'm not a huge fan of the super distorted aggressive punk sound of much Nirvana's music, but that really doesn't matter when you consider how great of a songwriter Kurt Cobain was. Come as You Are, Lithium, and All Apologies stand out to me as masterpieces. 4. Alice in Chains- Not a bad band at all, but they just stand out the least out of these four to me. Jerry Cantrell is super underrated as a musician and I think he is what made AIC a great band, no offense to Layne Staley. They do have a somewhat more mature sound than Nirvana or Soundgarden, and they have continued to release albums after Layne Staley's death, but their music just isn't as good as Pearl Jam in my opinion. "Would?" is the only AIC song that really stands out to me as a masterpiece.
HUM were American shoegaze, not grunge. They are integral to that particular subgenre.They put out 3 excellent albums as well as side projects like Centaur and National Skyline which are also very good.
It's funny with both Nirvana and Pearl jam, I never listen to them or really think much about them but whenever I hear them I always think it's great. Alice in chains and Soundgarden are always great, listening or otherwise, their music I have a real connection with. Case in point, I just heard Word wide suicide the other day and it's fantastic... Nirvana are a little too simple perhaps, you kind of know their songs inside and out after a couple of listenings, I really don't know what it is tbh, maybe if history were different had they recorded more albums they probably would develop their style.
The only bands i would say could somehow be linked to this thing called "grunge" are Mudhoney and the Melvins. I am a huge fan of PJ, Nirvana & Alice & Chains. This being called grunge doens't apply to any of these 4 bands, specially Soundgarden. They were not only the best band to come out of Seattle but one of the best bands in rock ever, I recommend anyone to listen their albums and also their B-sides, they are insanely good. I found it strange anyone saying Superunknown being "popular comercial" due BHS and Spoonman. That album is dark as f* with a bunch of amazing songs that only them could put together!!
I'd definitely be on a more pre-1991 scenario when it comes to grunge... I don't hate grunge, but I am more interested in the bands that influenced it. So, my top 5 would be: 5 - Green River 4 - Dinosaur Jr. 3 - Mudhoney 2 - Soundgarden 1 - Melvins (more because of their influence, despite they weren't a grunge band per se)... With Nirvana on the top, I think.
1. Soundgarden 2. Nirvana 3. Pearl Jam 4. Alice In Chains Soundgarden wins, but I don't really love them a lot, just more than the others. Nirvana probably would have rose to #1 if they had lasted longer, but with so few records they can't go any higher for me. Grunge was never my thing, but I was happy when it displaced hair metal.
What else have Hum done?! A brilliant album called Downward is Heavenward followed by 20-some years of silence, then one of the greatest surprise comebacks ever with last year's crushing shoegaze masterpiece Inlet. Do give them a listen!
Honestly IMHO Screaming Trees and Melvin’s were the greatest Washington state bands of this era with Soundgarden coming in third, far greater than Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains
My Top-10 1 Stone Temple Pilots 2 Alice In Chains 3 Nirvana 4 Soundgarden 5 Mudhoney 6 The Smashing Pumpkins 7 Pearl Jam 8 Melvins 9 Screaming Trees 10 Silverchair
Alice In Chains all day long. Their music’s lasted a lot better than the work of the other 3 ( Nirvana and Soundgarden’s greatness has eroded slightly with time in my opinion, and any appeal Pearl Jam had for me has been spread way too thin over a prolific but not necessarily evolving body of work to the point where “Ten” will be forever be the albatross around their neck). AIC just wrote better songs, played better and have had longer lasting impact than the others..“Dirt” is THE grunge ( and I hate that word but it’s now ingrained in the rock culture lexicon thank you mainstream media) album....and Staley for me remains the defining , haunting voice of that era.
"Grunge" is an era or aesthetic. They Seattle bands *did* have a shared attitude and personality. The bands individually had their own sounds and styles, but there was a distinctive perspective that they had in common. The Seattle guys within the scene were too close to it to see the similarities, but in the early 90s we all knew that they had that aesthetic in common and were different from any LA, NYC, Chicago bands, etc.
1. AIC
2. Pearl Jam
3. Sound Garden/Nirvana tie(can't decide between these 2)
Great video! 1) Nirvana 2) Pearl Jam 3) Alice in Chains 4) Soundgarden 5) Stone Temple Pilots. Grunge is Rock. I don't know what else to say. I just its the artistic aspect.
Nirvana gets elevated a bit. But they were the most important of all of those bands like it or not.
They get elevated a bit because of Kurt's tragic end in his prime that immortalized him. We never got to see what else he would do or see him grow older. As far as the musical chops of Nirvana it would probably rank last overall of the big four Seattle bands.
1. Alice In Chains
2. Nirvana
3. Pearl Jam
4. Soundgarden
AIC get over the top for me on the strength of Jar of Flies, which borders on being in my top 50. Nirvana and Pearl Jam are really super close for me, as I like both the Nevermind/In Utero and Ten/Vs. pairs roughly as much, but I’ll use the best half of Incesticide and the 6 covers from Unplugged as the tiebreaker to put Nirvana slightly ahead. For my 5th band, I’ll throw in Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream is definitely grunge to me, and that’s another one in or at least close to my top 50).
1. Alice in Chains
2. Soundgarden
3. Stone Temple Pilots
4. Nirvana/Pearl Jam
I always really liked Mother Love Bone and actually prefer them to Pearl Jam, but since the remnants of the band went onto form Pearl Jam with Eddie Vedder as their lead vocalist they deserve a higher spot, the problem is that although I personally find Nirvana less boring to listen to than Pearl Jam, there are also at least a handful of examples of Nirvana plagiarising chords from songs from other bands, first example Polly and On The Streets by The 4-Skins, second Aneurysm and An Invitation by Fang, third is Come As You Are and Eighties by Killing Joke (though the riff goes back to Hollow Hills by Bauhaus, possibly Jumping Someone Else's Train by The Cure or Baby Come Back by The Equals) fourth is Been a Son and Don't Walk Away by Zebra, fifth is Breed and Run Chicken Run by Link Wray (though the riff also sounds similar to Potential Suicide by Wipers at the start who came later than Link) and finally sixth is Smells Like Teen Spirit and Daughters of the Northern Coast by Australian Crawl (though there are also similarities to Boston's More Than a Feeling which is even earlier).
The point is that Nirvana copycatting riffs from other bands would usually get them out of the top 4 but based on merit and impact I'm willing to tie them with Pearl Jam! Just found the 3 listed above Pearl Jam and Nirvana to be overall technically if not vocally better and more interesting in terms of sound and delivery. Not that Pearl Jam don't have a somewhat interesting sound, it's that I find their delivery too predictable.
My ranking is the same as Joe's:
1. AIC
2. Pearl Jam
3. Soundgarden
4. Nirvana
I would put Screaming Trees for my #5, for sure. Mark Lanegan is one of my favorite songwriters from the 90s.
I think to underestimate the impact of Nirvanas unplugged album does them a huge disservice....that was a game changer
i never really like unplugged. it's their pandering to commercialism set. it was a game changer in the sense that the general public hopped on board. not that there's anything wrong with that, but if never hear their versions of Man Who Sold the World or Where Did You Sleep Last Night again, I'd be fine.
@@shoogerkane can't disagree more...each to their own opinion...but I'd argue many more see it's value than deride it
4. Nirvana
3. Pearl Jam
2. Soundgarden
1. Alice In Chains
Very hard for me to choose between Pearl Jam & Soundgarden for 2nd and 3rd, I would probably call it a tie. Loved Nirvana when they came out but I still listen to the other 3 and I don't listen to Nirvana anymore. If we call Dinosaur Jr grunge they would be 5th, but if it is limited to Seattle it would be Screaming Trees for me even tho L7 had a couple of good albums. Not really a fan of Mudhoney tho Suck Me Dry is a cool song. Mother Love Bone unfortunately didn't make enough music.
Eddie Vedder has the worst voice of the four.
@@geomitche8Are you on crack?!?!? His voice is significantly better than Kurt’s
i would say dinosaur jr provided a part of the blueprint for grunge along with Neil young, and underground punk and metal bands. Sonic Youth and pixies were also very influential on 90's alternative in general.
Sonic Youth and Pixies were big influences on Nirvana. Unfortunately, Pixies split b4 they had a chance to cash in on the $$$ coming the way of alternative artists. Another influential but sometimes forgotten 80s underground act were Husker Du. First of these type of bands that signed to a major but like Pixies split up b4 they were able to cash in on the $$$ to be made in the 90s.
You would have to mention Mudhoney. They were around in the mid - eighties, and were directly helpful in getting Nirvana signed.
Mudhoney was mentioned.
Impossible to rank grunge bands without Mudhoney.
Mudhoney get points for being pioneers of the Seattle sound, but they lacked the songwriting ability to make it big
Sure but they weren’t nearly as big, hence the title
My top 4 are:
4- Nirvana
3- Soundgarden
2- Pearl Jam
1- Alice In Chains
As for the extra idk... I wouldn't consider Smashing Pumpkins grunge outside of Gish so they're out; Dinosaur Jr I don't think is grunge because they're not only one of the progenitors for this music but they also are a little too different I feel to fit in, even with their sound being what it is, they're kind of in their own spot...I think it has to be Stone Temple Pilots, and although I'm not the biggest fan I mean I don't see who else could take the cake.
Love all 4 but I gotta say
4. Pearl Jam
3. Nirvana
2. Soundgarden
1. Alice In Chains
Both the metal aspects and influences of AIC and Soundgarden, plus their respective front men make them amongst my favorite bands ever. Serious power and emotion from those two fallen legends Layne and Chris, RIP
I agree 💯
I’m definitely with Joe, AIC I believe is the embodiment of “Grunge” and they had the amazing catalog to back it up. I think my list would be
1. AIC
2. Soundgarden
3. Pearl Jam
4. Nirvana
And maybe an HM to Core by STP but it’s really only that album that’s of that Grunge nature.
#1 Alice in Chains all the way. They're music to this day is still good. No comparison when you look at their body of work compared to the others.
If they have to be from Seattle and grunge, these are my favourites:
5. Nirvana
4. Soundgarden, Screaming Trees
3. Green River, Mad Season, Mother Love Bone, Temple Of The Dog
2. Alice In Chains
1. PEARL JAM(Not just the best grunge band but also one of the greatest bands of all time).
FINALLY!!! Someone who has them at number 1 lol
I´m with Joe:
1. ALICE IN CHAINS
2. PEARL JAM
3. SOUNDGARDEN
4. NIRVANA
My Nº5 : SCREAMING TREES
5. Skin yard (If you don't know them check him out great band) They're one of the grandfathers of grunge
4. nirvana (teenage me would have put them at number one lol)
3. Soundgarden
2. Pearl Jam
1. Alice in chains.. No one compares to them and they are still doing music and sounding damn good
Honorable Mention : Nirvana
5. Mudhoney
4. Soundgarden
3. Screaming Trees
2. Alice In Chains
1. Pearl Jam
I have to go with Pearl Jamin the top spot based on the amount of diverse and engaging music the band has provided over the years,
Alice in Chains was my personal favorite back in the day and I think they are still producing quality music with the addition of William Duvall.
Screaming Trees I really enjoyed even though they could not get it together as a band. Lanegan is a great vocalist and I really liked how they approached their sound and songwriting.
Soundgarden is pretty solid band but really only had 3 albums that I really liked and still revisit today on a regular basis. Louder than Love, Down on the Upside and the perfect Badmotorfinger.
Mudhoney has always been a solid band that really pays ed the way for the bands but just never put together that "great album."
I enjoy Nirvana but I never felt they ever earned the accolades that everyone buried them in. In the end I feel Grohl was a much better so writer and musician than Kurt Cobain.
One last note as much as I love Temple of the Dog I really revisit Mad Season's Above much more.
Great topic guys!
If you are talking about grunge artistically, you have to include Melvins and Mudhoney. And if you are talking about grunge commercially, you have to include Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins. Some people might include more obscure bands like Jesus Lizard or the 80's indie bands like Dinosaur Jr.
THE Jesus Lizard are gross
For me Soundgarden was the best. Never really got into Nirvana and Pearl Jam but I do appreciate them more now. Alice In Chains bit too dark for me
Same. I'm amazed at the first guy who claims Soundgarden were "one note." I found that an astonishing choice of words. Down on the Upside sounds like it was written by a completely different band than the one which wrote Louder Than Love.
@@tobetrayafriend Anyone who says Soundgarden are "one note" hasn't listened to more than their top 5 singles, which is most people. Soundgarden is by far the most experimental and musically diverse Seattle group.
@@alext2566 Agree. I was just astonished at the laziness of the suggestion. It's an accusation that cannot realistically be levelled at Soundgarden.
1. Nirvana: really the band that has been (together with Bach) the most formative and fundamental musical influence in my own life. For many years in my youth I listened to barely anything else, and it's still my comfort music when nothing else would "hit the spot".
2. Alice in Chains
3. Pearl Jam
4. Soundgarden
Edit: It'll take me a few days to settle on a 5th spot, but I'll go with Mudhoney for the moment. They really nailed the dirt/noise/lo-fi aesthetic.
So you went from Air on the G String to Territorial Pissings, eh?
@@SpaceCattttt It really felt like leading a double life. I remember my piano teacher asking me what kind of music I'd listen to at home and I said: nothing. She was so entrenched in the world of classical music (for reference: she didn't even know who Mickey Mouse was), I don't think she would have been able to cope. Sometimes I played her little pieces I had composed, and when it felt too modern to her, she looked at me as if I had desecrated her piano.
Yes, NIrvana is comfort music! Like early Simpsons is comfort tv.
1. Alice In Chains, by a mile for me. Seen them live which was the best concert of my life.
2. Soundgarden
3. Nirvana
4. Pearl Jam
Agreed. It is not even close. No other grunge band ever produced an album with the intense darkness of Dirt or the self titled. Plus the sad gorgeous Jar of Flies.
I always saw grunge as a mix of heavy metal, hard-core punk, noise rock and more traditional hard rock. Some bands embraced each core element more than others (Nirvana were more hardcore/noise; Pearl Jam more hard rock; Alice in Chains and Soundgarden more metal) but all grunge bands had elements of those genres meshed into their sound.
My ranking would be:
1. Nirvana
2. Alice in Chains
3. Pearl Jam
4. Soundgarden
I just watched the L7 documentary Pretend We're Dead. Kram brought them up and I think that they're a worthy mention as a 5th member. Good band. The female-led groups of that time kinda go hand in hand with grunge IMO. Great idea for a video, gents.
My guitar teacher said when he heard bands like Nirvava,grunge and alternative rock "oh you mean they're bands with songs that use real chords"
The level of hate that Soundgarden gets in this video hurts my heart.
Best out of the 4 by quite a lot.
@@jelliedsoup4519 💯
If u asked me this back in ‘95 when Pearl Jam and Radiohead were my favourite bands, I would have said;
One. Pearl jam
Two. Soundgarden
Three. Alice in chains
Four. Nirvana
In 2021. Eddie’s voice now wears on me pretty fast. Alice in Chains music has stood the test of time better than the others. Dirt is my favourite album of the 90’s.
One. Alice in chains
Two. Soundgarden
Three. Pearl jam
Four. Nirvana
Fifth band would be STP. I’ll slot them in at #3 between Soundgarden and pearl jam.
Yes, Eddie is amazing but after decades of listening to him I can't really pretend I love his voice anymore. Meanwhile Alice in Chains has DEFINITELY stood the test of time and become - by far - one of the best and most unique acts of the 90s. And their voices never get old.
At the time I totally ignored STP, the media had them as a sort of copycat fakers image. But, a couple of years ago I gave them a go and their 2nd album is absolutely brilliant. The band pretty much stood the test of time and clearly were not fakers.
@@kubam1498 Agree. STP are fantastic. Purple is a classic. The media had no idea.
4 Nirvana
3 Pearl Jam
2 AIC
1 Soundgarden
5 STP
Correct
Nirvana is tops because Kurt Cobain had a rare gift for melody (people like Paul McCartney and Neil Young back me up on this.) It's Cobain's songwriting that broke open the grunge scene and turned it into a national (and international) phenomenon. Yes, the other grunge bands would've eventually "broken through" even without Nevermind's success, but I don't think they would've generated quite the same amount of buzz that made grunge a worldwide thing.
I've always struggled with how to rank the other 3 of Seattle's "Big 4." Nowadays, I go with Alice In Chains but there've been times in my life when Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were my 2nd choice.
Soundgarden is the best grunge band to me, cause they were there from the beginning (see: the Deep Six comp), they brought a level of musical complexity (odd times, songwriting twists, etc), and just wrote the best songs, period. From there it's AiC>Nirvana>>>>>>Pearl Jam. Not a Pearl Jam guy, and they were only really a grunge band for a few years. Really, I'd put Mudhoney in the Big Four. Smashing Pumpkins and Dino Jr and those bands don't count to me (although I love both those bands, probably just as much or more than Soundgarden).
Thank you for say that Pearl Jam isn't a grunge band. I though I was the only one. They have always been just a rock band that happened to come from Seattle
1) Nirvana 5) Hole
2) Alice in Chains
3) Sound Garden
4) Pearl Jam
First off, I think grunge was more in connection to the PNW as a local, than it was a style of music, like the Manchester Scene. Bands outside sounded a bit like Manchester, but they weren't from there. And it's obvious that bands like STP road the coattails of grunge, so they were poser grunge at best. Seattle was a rainy backwater port town back in the day. In the winter it gets dark at 3:30 and there are days it rains all week. Dark, sludgy power chords like this were birthed in the PNW.
I remember the first time I heard Nirvana, I was 16 hanging at my GF's apartment on Broadway on Capitol Hill. The album was Bleach, and I was completely blown away. Nothing I heard before sounded that unique and raw the first time I listen to it - and they sounded so much like the city at that time, far before Microsoft and Google coders would come drive property values up and change everything.
I love Alice in Chains, but my issue with them is that they started out as a hair metal band, not too concerned with anything in Seattle, they had high hopes of going to LA like Duff, and making it big. They even wanted to name their band Alice 'n Chains, like Guns 'n Roses. Facelift sounded like some of the metal bands of the day. It took them a while to come into their own, but once they did " holy fuck " they were wicked.
Sound Garden represented Seattle before Nirvana came on the scene.
Pearl Jam was the most radio friendly, but most of their hits were on TEN.
And you're forgetting Hole. I mean, if you want to talk about a band from the region that deserves a 5th place, that sold out arenas and had huge hits and were consistent, don't forget these ladies. Definitely my number 5.
If you look at the PNW scene during that time, there were allot more punk bands than anything else. You also had the riot grrrrl scene in Olympia, Wa and Portland had some great bands. I feel like punk indie was what the PNW was mostly about: Mudhoney, Melvins, The Gits, 7 Year Bitch, Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, etc. So we were listening to those bands and Nirvana kinda carried that torch more than the others.
1. Dinosaur Jr
2. Nirvana
3. Pearl Jam
4. Mudhoney
5. Screaming Trees
6. Soundgarden
7. Alice In Chains
I guess Afghan Whigs don't have anything to do with grunge. If we count them in, I would rank them up there in the 3rd spot
Was hoping someone would rank Afghan Whigs somehow, really for me it was 1. Nirvana, 2. Afghan Whigs, 3. Screaming Trees and 4. probably Mudhoney, more because Mudhoney shows were fun and Soundgarden just really bored me seeing them live both times despite good records. 5. TAD…really TAD should be higher.
Smashing Pumpkins aren't grunge
No, but they played grunge in the 90s!
All I know is when I am in that place where I am upset, or sad or mad, None of them do it for me except Nirvana. There's a real pain in Kurt's screams that the other bands ( while still great in their own rights) just can't replicate. Also none of the other 3 Seattle bands had a singer who played guitar while he sang ( I realize Cornell and Vedder play guitar) but Kurt just poured everything into his singing and playing that was just so real and raw. I find it hard to explain, oh well, nevermind.
Nirvana, AIC, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Screaming trees🤘
1. Nirvana (I was into punk, so i could relate to them the most). 2. Pearl Jam 3. Soundgarden . I only have a big 3, could never get into Alice in Chains, so they would have to be number 4.
I don’t get how you relate to the most popular band of them all lol quite the opposite of punk
In terms of where grunge came from, let's bow our heads and take a moment to celebrate SST Records, who had Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees and obv Black Flag (and many more!) on their roster. And then they released Soundgarden's first album.
I liked Joe's Barry Sanders analogy.
1. Pearl Jam
2. Nirvana
3. Alice in chains
4. Soundgarden
1. Pearl Jam - Extensive body of work.
2. Nirvana - Two good albums and a great live album.
3. Soundgarden -
4. Alice in Chains
5th - Helmet - Grunge before its time. Excellent "Betty" album.
Nailed it
Perfect rankings
1. Soundgarden
2. Pearl Jam
3. Nirvana
4. Alison Chains
My bonus pick would be Smashing Pumpkins who I would rank above all these except Soundgarden.
My ranking is:
4. Soundgarden
3. Alice In Chains
2. Pearl Jam
1. Nirvana
I'd say my fifth is Mudhoney, I love them a lot. I also really love L7 but I don't know if I ever considered them grunge. It does make sense though when I really think about it.
I also love Dinosaur Jr. but I always considered them more godfathers of grunge like bands like Hüsker Dü (who is an all time favorite band of mine).
Would love to see a Hüsker Dü album ranking someday (hint, hint). 🙂
yes , me too. would love to see Hüsker Dü ranking
You guys are really giving me the urge to compile a top 100 favorite artists list, which I have a feeling might be a lot easier to do than put my 100 favorite albums in order.
That's what I thought until I tried to actually do it! The problem is there's never enough room to include everyone who deserves to be included. You end up trying to fit 100 names into your top 50. It's frustrating.
@@AbbeyRoadkill1 I could imagine it getting most tricky in particularly even artist matchups involving one where I know their entire studio output vs. one where I only know their 3 or 4 most popular albums. I guess we’ll see how it works out.
I can only make it to 35 before i run into all the grunge-ish bands i do not like at all.
1. Alice in chains
2. Nirvana
3. Audioslave
4. Chout (formerly had band named Skorned)
5. Stone temple pilots
6. Downface
7. Superheaven (formerly called Daylight)
8. Pearl jam
9. Mad season
10. Live
11. Days of the new
12. Screaming Trees
13. Bush
14. Silverchair
15. Soundgarden
16. Smashing Pumpkins
17. Sprinkler
18. Temple of the dogs
19. Candlebox
20. Send no flowers
21. Coffin Break
22. Soul asylum
23. Foo fighters
24. Seven mary three
25. Truly
26. Ugly Kid Joe
27. Moist
28. Sponge
29. Blind melon
30. Brother Cane
31. Wool
32. Dinosaur Jr.
33. L7
34. Seaweed
35. Veruca Salt
1) Pearl Jam
2) soundgarden
3) Alice In Chains
4) Nirvana
5) STP
The #5 Grunge band answer is easy. It's TAD.
1. Alice In Chains
2. Nirvana
3. Pearl Jam
4. Sound Garden
My 5th would be STP, which I definitely consider a grunge band. Particularly early on.
Agree about grunge being a mixture of classic rock, metal and punk, with a rebellious attitude. Often the specific clothing style, ripped baggy jeans, flannel, but also leather and more classic rock styles. Usually the vocals dip into what they’re calling “yarling” these days. The Pixies and Neil Young really wrote the blueprint for what became grunge, but were more musically diverse overall.
1. Pearl Jam
2. AIC
3. Nirvana
4. Soundgarden
For me
4. Nirvana
3. Alice in Chains
2. Pearl Jam
1. Soundgarden
And for a 5th, if I were to choose outside of seattle then Stone Temple Pilots, but if not then its either Screaming Trees or Skinyard.
of the big 4
1. alice in chains
2. soundgarden
3. pearl jam
4. nirvana
but i would also include STP for my personal so my list would be
1. AIC
2 and 3 could be either/or soundgarden or STP
4. Pearl Jam
5. Nirvana
No doubt for my n°1 : Alice in chains. Their music resonnates with me way more than the three others... its darkness, its sound, its incredible atmosphere... (them bones, the rooster a.o.)... then it is a little harder, probably pearl jam n°2 but unlike you guys, I didn't really adore their evolution after VS. I enjoy it, but not as much as ten and VS. Then nirvana at n°3 : eventhough I don't really like Bleach and they got only two other albums, there are some really good stuff in those 2. Then soundgarden at n°4. I never really got very far with them... maybe I should try again.
But one particularity that those 4 bands share : incredibly charismatic and gifted singers!!! Kurt Cobain was maybe the less "gifted" one, but he had an indeniable presence and style... and for the three others : Vedder, Layne and Cornell are amongst the greatest singers of all times. That is a very imprtant part of the grunge strenght I think. It really gives their songs a higher dimension.
5. Nirvana
4. Stone Temple Pilots
3. Pearl Jam
2. Soundgarden
1. Alice In Chains
Also love the Melvins, but they’re definitely Metal, just Grunge-related.
I found very peculiar that Jason loves Dinosaur Jr and doesnt like Nirvana... I love them both.
Yup. His tastes seem to lean towards more melodic music, and in the past I feel like he's said he doesn't really like metal that much, so I think there's something else going on here other than the music.
@@burmajones803 That's what i thought. Nirvana is perhaps the most melodic of the grunge bands.
@@tiagoduarte7560 precisely. That's why it's puzzling. Joe likes melodic, pop leaning music, but he seems to like metal way more than Jason so I can understand him putting AIC and Soundgarden ahead of Nirvana. But with Jason it makes no sense on a musical level. Oh well. He remains an enigma wrapped in a mystery.
@@burmajones803 Ahhaha true. We may never find out why...
Not saying Jason is guilty of this but a lot of people got turned off by their tidal wave of popularity.
1. Alice In Chains
Beautifully dark!
2. Soundgarden
Such unique riffs and Chris Cornells' voice!
3. Nirvana
Kurt Cobain is the singularly most talented songwriter of anybody in these four bands.
4. Pearl Jam
Didnt like a single thing they did after Ten.
I think I pretty much agree with all of that. Alice in Chains had the ability to create an atmospheric dirge, beautiful melodies and harmonies that stirred painfully crushing emotion that could simultaneously be uplifting and cathartic, not only across their albums and body of work, but sometimes in one song (e.g. Rain When I Die, Man in a Box, Bleed the Freak, I Stay Away). Layne Staley is perhaps the most underrated rock vocalist of all time. I adore AIC, I would only rank them behind The Beatles and Led Zeppelin of my all time favourite bands.
Nirvana had a great singer songwriter in Cobain, and I always enjoy listening to them. But they don't make me feel anything beyond a superficial level, and certainly don't make me think.
Soundgarden: I loved when I was a teenager. Cornell's voice soars like a Robert Plant or Roger Daltrey. But in my mid 30s I do struggle to listen to them for long before getting a bit bored. It's not that the songs are individually boring but they get a bit repetitive listening to them one after another.
I agree pretty much on what you said about Pearl Jam. I think there's an argument to be made that Ten is the best album any of these 4 bands produced. It's an incredible record. I own 4 other Pearl Jam albums (Vs, Vitology, No Code, Riot Act) and couldn't tell you the name of a single song off them. They're just so meh. Not bad, just completely forgettable. Vedder's voice is superb (all of these frontmen have got great voices) but he sounds bored himself, like he can't be arsed. There's no fire or electricity like you get in Alive or Jeremy.
@@GUV85 Wow! We are in complete agreement. You articulated my feelings completely.
Vs was better than Ten, tbh.
5. Nirvana
4. Screaming Trees, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season
3. Alice in Chains
2. Pearl Jam
1. Soundgarden
Thank you for a great set of shows this week. Love your channel.
I love all of these bands so just my own preference
1. Alice in Chains
2. Nirvana
3. Soundgarden
4. Pearl Jam
For the extra band Dinosaur JR would be my 5th if not counting them as grunge then I would go with Melvins
I always assumed Grunge referred to the sound of big wall of sound overdriven guitars. Pearl Jam always sounded like Corporate Grunge to me, as Joe says Soundgarden/Cornell captured a lot of authentic Sabbath in their sound. On another note, Richard Thompson albums/songs would make a great episode.
Grunge refers to off key notes whether by voice and or by the sound. Where it just doesnt quite sound good. But yet they make it sounds good somehow. Back before grunge you would have been deemed a bad musician making music that hurts the ears in a sense that isn't not beautiful.
Bleach is my no.1 Nirvana....that album is raw incarnate
I would say it's underrated. Love it.
Bleach is my no. 1 too.
My favourite Nirvana album (collection) is Incesticide.
@@janpoelkamp4229 yeah incesticide good....but if I'm looking for space on my player it's the first Nirvana album I don't mind deleting out of all of them....that includes the many outcesticides.... not saying I don't love it btw
@Dave Costello 👍
Ranking the albums is the way I would go. Facelift is my #1, Louder Than Love #2, Apple by Mother Love Bone #3, Nevermind and Ten tied for 4th. After that, it's just certain songs off of different albums. But those 5 albums I can listen to front to back for the most part. And actually maybe you could switch 2 and 3 around?
If we had to include 1 more band it would be STP. Also they would be my number 1 grunge band
I know that STP were kicking around San Diego for years as Mighty Joe Young before grunge broke, but they were roundly dismissed as being a major label plant, packaging grunge for a wider audience when "Sex Type Thing" came out as their first single in January 1993, some 15 months after he release of Nevermind / Badmotorfinger, with Weiland pulling *very* Vedderesque facepulls in the video... That's not to say that they weren't talented, and that they didn't redeem themselves with subsequent albums, but I think that grunge was the foot in the door that helped them launch their career in... alternative glam-punk?
Rock fans from the grunge era tend to look down upon STP. But, personally speaking, I think they were a good band. Borrowed a bit from the Seattle sound, glam rock and power pop and made a great blend. But not quite a grunge act, strictly speaking
@@NalinX I do think a lot of their music is grungy though...Dead & Bloated, Meatplow, etc.
@@NalinX I agree with what you wrote.
I like them but don't consider them grunge
When considering the output of nirvana should always keep in mind the unreleased stuff that later came out on the box set and other various records as that material comprises nearly as much as the official releases and arguably much is of similar quality to that which was on their well known albums.
Great point....I have pretty much everything by Nirvana for a reason...their demos and studio session stuff are outstanding....even the silly experimental things intrigue.... Beans anyone?😂...I remember being surprised they existed when trawling through tapes in a shop....the outsesticide tapes have so many gems of super quality and they inspired me to start making music even more than the main albums.
@@threestringsomg AGREED
Soundgarden
Alice In Chains
Pearl Jam
Nirvana
1. Nirvana
2. Alice in Chains
3. Soundgarden
4. Pearl Jam
1. Pearl Jam
2. Nirvana
3. Soundgarden
4. Alice in Chains
And then Dinosaur Jr. for me. Dinosaur Jr. would be above both Soundgarden and Alice in Chains if they were the rules!
Love 'em all. Too different to really rank, but here's the order in which I came to the bands:
1. Nirvana (the punk and pop aspects, plus Kurt's natural charisma, drew me in)
2. Pearl Jam (the stadium rock band of the bunch, the "safe" grunge (later alt rock) band)
3. Soundgarden (the Led Zep of grunge, best voice in grunge, handsomest front man)
4. Alice in Chains (the coolest, darkest band of the bunch, love those harmonies!)
5. Screaming Trees (definitely grunge, I like Sweet Oblivion and Dust best, Uncle Anesthesia is pretty good too)
Hopefully you are gey with that comment. In either case, i am out. I don't support that lifestyle.
For the “Big 4” it’s definitely changed for me over the years. Nirvana was a solid lock at #1 back in the day, but as I’ve gotten older, I think I’d go:
1. Pearl Jam
2. Alice In Chains
3. Nirvana
4. Soundgarden
Love Screaming Trees as the #5. However, a band that none of the guys mentioned that wasn’t necessarily grunge, but was definitely of the slacker 90’s aesthetic, was Pavement. Loved that band!
I love Pavement, but I don't think they belong in this category or discussion.
Don't really think about these bands as the "big 4" of grunge except if I'm isolating grunge to Seattle. Though there are of course other grunge bands, the following six bands I would collectively mention if someone wanted me to define grunge. And here's my ranking:
1. Soundgarden
2. Nirvana
3. Smashing Pumpkins
4. Alice in Chains
5. Stone Temple Pilots
6. Pearl Jam
List subject to revision. I like all these bands, typically STP and Pearl Jam less so though I only listened to Tiny Music and Yield for the first time a few weeks ago. The short-term effect of which was STP climbed up a spot!
1- Pearl Jam
2- Nirvana
3- Alice in Chains
4- Soundgarden
Omg. Nirvana for the win…way above the others. I was there, living in Portland. Used to see Nirvana at the Satyricon with ten people there. They defined Grunge, homemade introverted garage music made in the gray rainy depressing NW. Everything else was far more self-conscious and hasn’t proven to be as lasting or have such a strong effect in changing the direction of music. Best alt band of the era was Nomeansno.
I always seem to lean more into the metal side of music and Alice in chains and Soundgarden have those elements if I was going to add a 5th it would be the Melvins, Buzz was a massive influence on the scene in Seattle From Kurt to Kim from soundgarden, Melvins also help create sludgemetal so Mastodon and Baroness might not be the way they are if not for the Melvins there really hard to categorize their influence is big to that scene, also want to make mention of Tad probably the heaviest of the grunge bands of those Tad riffs are just punishing and pound you to the ground. But i would say Husker Du is the spiritual forefather of this type of music I wanna give them credit as well. Here's my ranking good show guys.
1. Alice In chains
2. Soundgarden
3. Pearl Jam
4. Nirvana
1. AIC miles in front not even in the same contest
2. Soundgarden
3. Pearl Jam/Nirvana tie. Early PJ outstanding, nirvana not enough work completed but better overall
STP & L7 honourary mentions
I'm with you on your description of your number 1 ....to me Cornell single most talented guy but as a band, the original AIC could not be touched.
1: Soundgarden
2: Nirvana
3: Pearl Jam
4: Alice In Chains
5: Mother Love Bone
STP and Smashing Pumpkins are very far fetched to be considered grunge
I would say STP maybe classifies as grunge, but Smashing Pumpkins probably not. They really fit more with like the My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth flavor of alternative rock -- kind of shoegazey at times. They got heavier later, but when Gish and SIamese Dream were out, I never really considered them "grunge". My ranking is probably:
1. Pearl Jam. Even though they're probably the least grungy grunge band, they probably have the deepest catalog and the most consistency.
2. Soundgarden
3. Nirvana. Probably a toss-up between Soundgarden and Nirvana, but Nirvana only released 3 albums and only two of them are good.
4. Alice in Chains. I liked Dirt when it came out, but as a whole, they never really did it for me. A bit too close to metal for my liking.
Screaming Trees are a good option for a 5th. Outside of Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan is probably the guy from that scene who's maintained the most musical relevance through today.
Okay let this sink in: go put a lesser known song of Nirvanas catalog on; lets say On a Plain, Scentless Apprentice... whatever and tell me afterwards that those songs does not simply destroys anything the other 3 bands ever released. I know its subjective but Nirvana was on a completely whole other level in terms of songwriting and originality. Fuck sake Pearl Jams output the last 20 years have been utter shit tbh. and Soundgarden could come off as another led zeppelin knock off. Don't get me wrong i like all four bands very much but in terms of legacy, Nirvanas music will be known and loved for generations to come.
this
I'm with you. For me personally Nirvana is number 1 on the strength of the brilliant In Utero. It's the album that stands out above anything else from this era. I agree, Nirvana will stand the test of time after the others are more or less forgotten. I don't mind the other 3 bands but only in small doses. Well actually I can't stand Pearl Jam at all. I tried after the recent Listography ranking video but there was nothing there for me at all. Nirvana had the great songs plus the kind of timeless grit and attitude that gave bands like VU or Stooges their longevity. The other three never had the cultural impact Nirvana had, not even close.
Oh and I despise Corgan's Pumpkins - overwrought overbaked dreck - I'm not sure I loathe anyone else from the grunge era as much as Corgan. STP never meant anything to me at all.
I love Nirvana, but they definitely had their share of clunkers. Conversely, the other bands wrote some great songs.
💯💯💯💯
1. Screaming Trees. I was always in love with Mark Lanegan's voice and Sweet Oblivion and Dust are two of my favourite albums of all time.
2. Nirvana
3. Soundgarden
4. Pearl Jam
5. Alice in Chains
This ranking is really difficult, and it could all change on a different day.
It's complicated by how good or not I thought each band were live, how much I (over)played the albums back then, and how much I go back to them over the years.
I get how Nirvana's output seems slight but I can't forget the excitement around them at the time, which was actually building quite a bit before Nevermind came out. (Bleach was well-liked among people I know but when they released Sliver the next year it was all, oh what's going on here then?)
Then the album completely exceeded expectations. Basically everyone I know who was into metal, indie or punk at the time united around Nevermind. Of course since then it's become something else, another set-in-stone 'classic' to be displayed in a museum - worshipped or dismissed; just another rockproduct.
Pearl Jam were easily the best live for me, but also have descended into a kind of middle-of-the road politeness I can't get excited about any more. But they've released a lot of albums in comparison to the others so it's not really fair to judge them on..well..fading away as opposed to burning out.
If I were to put listen to an album of one of these bands today, right now, it would be..Soundgarden. I think. But not yet because I haven't had breakfast.
number 1 is way off the others are ok.
Great number 1👌👏
@@pabloimireia No Not a great number 1 a band that never became popular. you never saw them on any magazine rankings list
and today Hot Topic and Spencers doesn't sell there shirts.
1. Nirvana - because it's not just Nevermind for me...it's the songs on Incesticide...and the Unplugged album
2. Pearl Jam - because they have more good songs than any of the others
3. Alice In Chains - edges out Soundgarden due to the Jar of Flies album
4. Soundgarden
5. Bob Mould of Husker Du and Sugar fame, because Nirvana borrowed from the Pixies what the Pixies borrowed from Bob and Husker Du...also, because his album releases from 1987 thru 1993 are all unstoppable.
Incesticide----- great great album
Never cared for pearl jam much. Ten was a good album. Soundgarden was one I got into with superuknown. But as I got older I really enjoyed their older stuff. Alice in chains is amazing. Can't think of anything they did with Layne that wasn't great. Nirvana is just all around amazing. Even though nevermind gets too much airplay sometimes.
Alice in Chains - don't particularly like " grunge ", but they would probably make my top 50. Layne Staley era, top 20.
I was just listening to "Dirt" this past week. I probably listen to it like once a year. Same with "Facelift" and bits and pieces of the others. I keep waiting for the moment where I might think "Wow this hasn't aged that well." Never happens. It's the reverse.
@@Twotontessie I totally disagree, I feel like most 90's rock hasn't aged well at all. It's sounds so dated now, and feels gimmicky. The whining and self moaning of most songs gets old super fast. I actually prefer the upbeat nature of 80's hair Metal.
to gain the grunge moniker i think the band would have to come from the pacific northwest if not seattle , btw . i dont know if i could say screaming trees are a grunge band either , to me they just didnt have the aesthetic but on their last couple albums , mark lanegans solo material fit better under the grunge header , imo.
I am deeply connected to Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. It's really hard to choose between them, but I can reluctantly put Soundgarden at number three. Alice in Chains and Nirvana are essentially tied, so my number one and two rankings could change by the day or even hour. I'll arbitrarily put Nirvana at number one for this moment. I've never been more than a casual with Pearl Jam, so their ranking at number four is my easiest choice.
I am going to go outside the box with my honorary number five and pick Monster Magnet. They're generally considered stoner rock, but I don't think that disqualifies them. They were making Sabbath/ Stooges/ Hawkwind inspired sludge, much of it tuned down, in the same era as these other bands, with Tab and Spine of God coming out in 91 and Superjudge in 93. If I were to rank them in this mix they would be fighting for the one spot alongside Nirvana and Alice in Chains.
Nirvana is the #1 grunge band!
Fo sho
No
@@MusicFun-gd1cm Yes
1 Soundgarden
2 Soundgarden
3 Soundgarden
4 Soundgarden
I used the word "grunge" way before the 90's. To me, The Replacements and the Band sounded grungy. As did "Exile on Main Street"... to me the term "Grunge" meant messy and uncontrolled but ended up sounding great.
I don't think Grunge is a bad term. Rather than defining it as a music genera, I like to think of it more as a term describing a scene rebelling against the slick and sleazy 80s where Gordon Gekko was king, and male rockers in pantyhose and lipstick had become mainstream. Grunge was inspired by the youth culture of the late 60s and 70s, both in terms of style, drug use and political views like freedom from corporate slavery, anti-materialism and environmentalism. In essence it was alternative hard rock inspired by the analoge sounds of the 60s and 70s coupled with the DIY-mantra of punk and underground music. In many ways, grunge was over the minute it became mainstream and the the big four became MTV darlings. Kurt became the poster child for underdogs and nerds, while Eddie became a symbol of a new born masculinity with his raspy voice and woodsman clothing - all a kick in the lacking balls of the sleazy hair metal sellouts. In many ways it was like the punk explosion of the late 1970s. It was over before it had begun, and the popularity of the original bands soon faded, but the attitudes and style lived on in New Wave and Post-Punk. In such a context one might claim that "real" grunge happened in the late 1980s with bands like Green River, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Melvins, Nirvana, Skin Yard and others. When the big labels entered in the early 90s the music became more polished and less grungy with a more artificial alternative sound. The Grunge bands were hugely influential and during the second wave, when the big four became big on MTV, you could hear the grunge sound being incorporated into more mellow alternative rock bands like Counting Crows, Blind Melon and Crash Test Dummies (to mention a few). But despite all the anti-establishment energy present in it's beginning, the commercial forces won and grunge soon morphed into radio-friendly soft rock by Matchbox Twenty, Creed, Nickelback and the likes...
I've never been a big fan of any alternative music movement. Although I support much of the political views in alternative culture, I tend not to like music played by people who thinks music theory, technique and practicing is optional, and mostly play to support a bad drug habit. Grunge exploded on MTV when I was 15, so I went all in and bought most of the albums when they came out. But to be honest, I haven't listened to any of them since the mid 1990s, and the best I can say about them is that when I sold my blue vinyl copy of Nirvana's Bleach I made back all the money I had spent on grunge albums in total and then some...
I'm kind of the opposite of you. I loved MTV and exciting rock stars. Yes it was superficial and exploitative, but it was fun and made things exciting if you didn't dig deep. I liked rock stars to play the part, and make music as fun as possible. Actually, it was good to have both flavors to be honest. Nothing wrong with deep thoughts either.
@@michaelhassler7446 Good for you! Different tastes and opinions is the spice of life! I didn't mind MTV. Before the Internet it was about the only place I could discover new music, and I rarely missed an episode of Headbanger's Ball.
What is "grunge?" Good question. Can't easily define it, but it's the crossroads where the fans of punk rock met the fans of Black Sabbath and the fans of the Who & Led Zeppelin and Crazy-Horsed-Neil Young and decided to make a sound that rose to that level of noise, that darkness, that aggression and that power that their forbears had created. It couldn't last.
1. Pearl Jam- they have transcended "grunge" and become one of the greatest bands of all time in my opinion in the genre of alternative. They have far more quality albums than any of the others, and their sound has matured past the angsty feel of grunge.
2. Soundgarden- They made great music that perfectly encapsulates feelings of sadness, anger, etc. Chris Cornell is the best singer I've ever heard, and there's no better band to listen to than Soundgarden when you're feeling down. They do suffer from a lack of variety in their sound though.
3. Nirvana- I'm not a huge fan of the super distorted aggressive punk sound of much Nirvana's music, but that really doesn't matter when you consider how great of a songwriter Kurt Cobain was. Come as You Are, Lithium, and All Apologies stand out to me as masterpieces.
4. Alice in Chains- Not a bad band at all, but they just stand out the least out of these four to me. Jerry Cantrell is super underrated as a musician and I think he is what made AIC a great band, no offense to Layne Staley. They do have a somewhat more mature sound than Nirvana or Soundgarden, and they have continued to release albums after Layne Staley's death, but their music just isn't as good as Pearl Jam in my opinion. "Would?" is the only AIC song that really stands out to me as a masterpiece.
1. Alice in Chains
2. Nirvana
3. Stone Temple Pilots
4. Pearl Jam
5. Sound Garden
HUM were American shoegaze, not grunge. They are integral to that particular subgenre.They put out 3 excellent albums as well as side projects like Centaur and National Skyline which are also very good.
1. Alice in Chains. Best band of the 90's in my opinion
Best of all time with Layne
It's funny with both Nirvana and Pearl jam, I never listen to them or really think much about them but whenever I hear them I always think it's great. Alice in chains and Soundgarden are always great, listening or otherwise, their music I have a real connection with. Case in point, I just heard Word wide suicide the other day and it's fantastic... Nirvana are a little too simple perhaps, you kind of know their songs inside and out after a couple of listenings, I really don't know what it is tbh, maybe if history were different had they recorded more albums they probably would develop their style.
The only bands i would say could somehow be linked to this thing called "grunge" are Mudhoney and the Melvins. I am a huge fan of PJ, Nirvana & Alice & Chains. This being called grunge doens't apply to any of these 4 bands, specially Soundgarden. They were not only the best band to come out of Seattle but one of the best bands in rock ever, I recommend anyone to listen their albums and also their B-sides, they are insanely good. I found it strange anyone saying Superunknown being "popular comercial" due BHS and Spoonman. That album is dark as f* with a bunch of amazing songs that only them could put together!!
I'd definitely be on a more pre-1991 scenario when it comes to grunge... I don't hate grunge, but I am more interested in the bands that influenced it. So, my top 5 would be:
5 - Green River
4 - Dinosaur Jr.
3 - Mudhoney
2 - Soundgarden
1 - Melvins (more because of their influence, despite they weren't a grunge band per se)... With Nirvana on the top, I think.
3 of those 5 bands make some awful sounding songs.
@@WheresWaldo05Which of these do you think are an exception?
I think Jason nailed it for me on this one...
4) Pearl Jam
3) Alice in Chains
2) Nirvana
1) Soundgarden
5) Mudhoney
1. Soundgarden
2. Nirvana
3. Pearl Jam
4. Alice In Chains
Soundgarden wins, but I don't really love them a lot, just more than the others. Nirvana probably would have rose to #1 if they had lasted longer, but with so few records they can't go any higher for me. Grunge was never my thing, but I was happy when it displaced hair metal.
So far, Mark, you and I share the same order of Big Four. For what that's worth.
What else have Hum done?! A brilliant album called Downward is Heavenward followed by 20-some years of silence, then one of the greatest surprise comebacks ever with last year's crushing shoegaze masterpiece Inlet. Do give them a listen!
Alice in Chains
Nirvana
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
?
Honestly IMHO Screaming Trees and Melvin’s were the greatest Washington state bands of this era with Soundgarden coming in third, far greater than Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Alice in Chains
1. Downface
2. Audioslave
3. Mad season
4. Superheaven
5. Days of the new
Sure
My Top-10
1 Stone Temple Pilots
2 Alice In Chains
3 Nirvana
4 Soundgarden
5 Mudhoney
6 The Smashing Pumpkins
7 Pearl Jam
8 Melvins
9 Screaming Trees
10 Silverchair
The majority of AIC’s discography is just metal, tbh. They let go of the “grunge” gimmick not long after facelift
Alice In Chains all day long. Their music’s lasted a lot better than the work of the other 3 ( Nirvana and Soundgarden’s greatness has eroded slightly with time in my opinion, and any appeal Pearl Jam had for me has been spread way too thin over a prolific but not necessarily evolving body of work to the point where “Ten” will be forever be the albatross around their neck). AIC just wrote better songs, played better and have had longer lasting impact than the others..“Dirt” is THE grunge ( and I hate that word but it’s now ingrained in the rock culture lexicon thank you mainstream media) album....and Staley for me remains the defining , haunting voice of that era.