Recording wise, the 90′s rock artists are certainly a million times more talented than today’s mainstream artists. In the 90′s I grew up listening rock songs particularly grunge music which gives birth also in the 1990′s. I wrote this short guide to bring my taste of rock music to young generations which failed to hear the beauties of the 90′s grunge rock.
This is by no means a perfect lists of ten best grunge songs but these songs changes my perception to music. Aside from defining music as sweet, calm and language of the soul. I came to know that music in general can also be used as an expression of anger, rebellion, fear and suffering which most topics of grunge music are written.
For me, grunge music, if music like the lists below will be released or covered; it will definitely be successful again.
Before I do any rock recording or mixing, I plunged myself with heavy grunge music such as the lists below. It can be a very useful reference for any recording and mixing work typically if you are also producing some alternative or grunge music. It can definitely help you to become inspired.
One common misconception is that there are so many grunge bands to listen. This is not true. The real grunge bands originally came from Seattle USA and most of them fade out in the late 90’s. Other bands that made to sound like grunge does not belong to this genre but rather considered “post-grunge”, “alternative” or “hard rock”. A good example of these bands are Candlebox, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Collective Soul, etc. They are not pure grunge bands. This top 10 lists came from the original grunge performers in the early 90’s.
| “Plush” – Stone Temple Pilots
Scott Weiland is one of my most favorite grunge vocalists. Plush is one of their best songs. This song is well-written and arranged; highly recommended for every grunge song play lists. |
“Spoonman” – SoundGarden
I wish rock music will sound like this again. It’s hard to forget the melodic hooks, guitar riffs and bass lines that still sounds legendary even today. This song bears the Seattle grunge sound signature- dark guitar tone, deep drowned vocals and heavy bass/drums. |
| “Man in the Box” – Alice in Chains
“Facelift” album is one of the best grunge albums of all time. The sound of the album is a unique combination of metal and grunge. Jerry Cantrell’s songwriting is rather creepy but this song still rocks! |
“Even flow” – Pearl Jam
This band is known for having an elaborate and complex grunge song arrangement. And the song “Even Flow” is one of the examples. They are known to be sound cleaner than other great grunge bands. As a result, they sound less heavy and darker. I still remember that I bought a copy of the “Ten” album (cassette tape) way back 1995. I played this song several times in a day in the road and in my room. |
| “Touch me I’m sick” – Mudhoney
This band is one of the founders of grunge music. The song “Touch me I’m sick” is one of their best songs. The band already exists before other popular grunge bands such as Nirvana and even still playing gigs as of 2012. |
“Psychoriflepowerhypnotized” – Skin Yard
This is one of the grunge bands that is not known so well by the public because they never make it to the mainstream. Nevertheless, the band influenced a lot of great grunge bands, and this song is one of the best -pure grunge music. |
| “Comes as you are” – Nirvana
“Nevermind” is one of the best grunge albums ever released. The song “Come as you are” is one of the album singles. Producer Butch Vig documents some of the recording process and overdubbed several guitar tracks during the recording process. This makes the guitar sound so thick. |
“Would” – Alice in Chains
This song appears in the movie “Singles”. The moody atmosphere of the song compliments Layne Staley best vocal work. |
| “Serve the servants” – Nirvana
Dave Grohl angry drums, Kurt cobain angry vocals and Krist hard punching bass. This song is the dark horse of the In Utero album. The song is produced and recorded by Steve Albini in Pachyderm Studio, Minnesota. Although not released as a single, I consider this as one of the Nirvana best songs. |
“Honey Bucket” – Melvins
This is one of the darkest songs in the grunge music history from another great band in the Seattle 90’s grunge scene. Along with Mudhoney, they are one of the pioneers in this genre. |
Content last updated on July 5, 2012