Best Grunge Bands

Nirvana will always be voted number one by this generation and it's not like that's bad nirvana kicked ass. However, alice in chains was insane I mean come on. Have you heard the song man in the box alice in chains is so beautifully dark they just embody grunge. Layne Staley's voice was perfect for what you would want in grunge but also so beautiful not to mention his harmonies with guitarist Jerry Cantrell. The power of Layne's voice just blows your mind and his sincerity and ability to turn his feeling's into sick imagery is unmatched.

This band takes you to place few others can. I personally feel they are more "sabbathy" than grunge. Layne in his prime was damn near untouchable live

Alice In Chains first?!? They used to be a glam metal band for crying out loud! Posers to the "grunge" movement! "Grunge" was either punk, metal, or alternative anyways. They were called Alice N Chains, and all that hairspray and mascara was just embarrassing to watch, and sounded awful. Don't know why hipsters and millennials like them so much. Layne's vocals always sounded the same. I'll take pretty much any grunge band you name over these guys Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, Bush, etc, etc. They aren't necessarily a bad band, but the hipsters could've picked a better band to rise to fame like Mudhoney.

Every song of AIC sounds the same and they used to be a hair metal band like Poison or Skid Row. Bunch of posers voting really. Nirvana is the best grunge band period popular or not, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden are more important than Alice in Chains too. Let's not forget the originators Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, or the forever underrated Bush or Foo Fighters 1st record. AIC are overrated nowadays and aren't as good as the same 3 damn fans let on. Their fans are asses too. They insult Nirvana and Soundgarden and act like AIC is more relevant. Don't be ludicrious

THE definitive grunge band. if you're from the the State of Washington, I'm simply saying that Nirvana made the biggest impact on music on a worldwide scale.With their song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', Nirvana was the first to bring the grunge sound into the foredront. Checkm your dates and Billboards Top 100 lists if you any bit of doubt. They're may have been bands that shared a similar sound but that was the song that changed everything worldwide. If you disagree with this fact then you're denying the truth. Google can kiss my butt. Ask the Rolling Stone magazine. They have been the authority for a lot longer and they only print FACTS. I am a fan and I was there I can only tell the truth. I'll give time to anything that worthy of it. Do I think that AIC a better band? They make bigger, deeper music. I prefer their music right now. But I have consider that Nirvana's wide appealing simplistic sound didn't just start the grunge revolution, People don't realize that they started another ...more

This choive was extremely hard for me. I love so many of these bands. Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Three Days Grace (Even though I consider them more of a Nu-Metal band), Seether, Stone Temple Pilots, and especially Foo Fighters. But Nirvana takes it. Not only does it have Kurt Cobain (May he rest in peace), but it has multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl. If ever there was a competition, Nirvana would destroy everybody else.

Go listen to some of their songs that weren't popular on the radio. Almost every song on every album is amazing. Listen to songs like Scentless Apprentice, Milk It, Dive, School, Floyd the Barber, Paper Cuts,Tourette's, the list goes on

Why is three days grace on here?!? They aren't even grunge. They are metal, hard rock, or alternative! Nirvana was a really great grunge band. My favorites were smells like teen spirit, heart shaped box, in bloom, Polly, and Tourette's. I love all the other songs too but those are my favorite. Nirvana became a bit overrated after kurt died though... I still believe he should be number 1.
R.I. P Kurt

By comparing what grunge really is, I think it's arguable to put Soundgarden at the top of the list. Pearl Jam makes a compelling argument to be at the top and Ten is, without doubt, one of the best albums of all time. However, when you consider what Soundgarden produced from album to album, and how they evolved and still presented their very own sound while Pearl Jam evolved away from Ten, they deserve the top spot. As a collective, they have the chemistry that every band from the time coveted and has rarely been duplicated.

When you really stop and define Grunge and work from that definition, it's a no-brainer to place Soundgarden at the top of the list.

Ever since I was a 2 or 3 year old, I've been listening to the right music. Soundgarden is the band that introduced me to grunge and ever since the day I was born, the intro to Rusty Cage was always and has been buried into my mind. Years later I find the song on YouTube. I am 16 now and I'm proud to say that Soundgarden is the best grunge band I've heard in my life. Credit to Nirvana, AIC, and Pearl Jam being other great grunge bands but it's good that Soundgarden made it to 4. Let's get this band to #3 if we can. For Chris Cornell..: Your voice and music has really cured me over the past 3 depressing years of my teen hood. Of course they say legends never die... Your soul and legend never dies. It lives but may you Rest In Peace beautiful one. ❤️

People who say Alice In Chains are the "meaning" of grunge : keep in mind they were still making GLAM metal demos in 1988. And even when grunge blew up, they were still partying, drinking and having sex like Motley Crue. They are NOT the meaning of grunge.

Soundgarden FATHERED grunge in 1984. they created the grunge sound, look and mentality. Even Nirvana followed them to start a grunge band. Also, Superunknown is better than Dirt.

Soundgarden defined grunge early 1984, with song "heretic" and precociously advanced technical and mature with "Blind Dogs" and give the elixir of grunge in 1988 with song "Incessant Mace"... "hunted down" and "nothing to say", and the last song where grunge die "Slaves & Bulldozer" 1991, if you find a song more grunge of this... I ll kill my self!, and if you never heard any of this list songs, you never know what's grunge mean! Thank you! Karim from Algeria.

Pearl Jam is music I like to call Eargasm, or ear orgasm. They are amazing, and the best thing is, they're the only Grunge band to have never broken up or faded into obscurity. Instead, they have evolved, whether new direction is good or bad, and they have stuck with it. And although their early Grunge records, like Ten and Vs. Are still their best, I also appreciate how they tried new things instead of sticking with their Grunge sound because it's more comfortable. Forget best Grunge band; Pearl Jam is perhaps the greatest band in the history of music.

They still release albums, and they're the only grunge band that's still alive and kicking. Eddie Vedder has one of the best voices in the music industry, and they seem to be the only grunge band that never lost a member(s) to heroin addiction. People credit Nirvana as the best grunge band ever, and they are good, but Pearl Jam is way better. Their music is great, and Vedder's voice is simply better than Cobain's.

Nirvana is the poster band of the Movement, and was the first successful grunge band, and no doubt with "Nevermind" had the best Grunge album, but Pearl Jam has more soul, and they are still around. Like all great bands their legend will only grow over time. They may seem second fiddle now to Nirvana (Grunge's Beatle's), but they will be at least a Grunge Rolling Stones, and their best album may yet lie ahead?.

There's no question. Vedder can belt it out better than any of these other bands, and all of their songs are so from the heart and meaningful that I get emotional playing them in my head. I agree with Mr. Ruckman here that they did well in not ever breaking up or getting in a huge row with the band members. To quote Simon Cowell, I get "goosebumps on my goosebumps" whenever I hear Evenflow or Alive or Last Kiss. There's no contest.

Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Alice In Chains all had their own unique sounds, but Stone Temple Pilots takes this to a whole new level. They're not just all 4 of those bands blended into one, but they've dabbled in so many different sounds and styles and perfected them. Once Core was released in 1992, grunge had effectively reached its peak; all of those amazing albums from 1991 (Ten, Nevermind, and Badmotorfinger) were building up to STP's debut.

This band had amazing versatility, mixing grunge with multiple genres. I consider their grunge tone to soften on the third album but they still made great music afterwards. Scott's voice wasn't as unique as Cobains but he used many different styles throughout out STP's discography.

Amazing band in the studio, one of the greatest on stage. Their catalogue was impressively diverse, spanned almost 20 years and truthfully sounds as contemporary today as it did upon release. Very underrated and should be a first ballot HOFer.

Absolutely the most versatile of all of these bands...Weiland was the most charismatic singer of that era. Better live than studio

The smashing pumpkins are one of my favourite bands (considering I'm into meatal) now nirvana are probably the best grunge band on this list but I think the Smashing Pumpkins deserve more credit for songs like:
Bullet with butterfly wings
Today
1979
Perfect
Zero
Jusr a great band, just underrated.

It's so hard to choose... So many fantastic grunge bands... Smashing Pumpkins has to be my favorite for one reason: they evolved over time. Now maybe that's blasphemous since they ventured into techno-ish music and lighter music and kind of left grunge behind after Mellon Collie but they stayed relevant (for the most part) and continued to put out fantastic music regardless of musical genre. The only album I would say was "bad" was Zeitgeist. Even that one deserves a listen from time to time.

The pumpkins had one of the best drummers in rock with Jimmy C. and one of the best frontman/songwriter/guitarist of all time in Billy Corgan. This band deserves the top 5 at least. STP are definitely about 50 spots from the pumpkins on this list.

So many great songs with true meaning behind them such as Disarm, Thirty, Three, 1979, and many more. The sound is sad but hopeful really striking the true feeling that grunge strives for.

Most of their songs are Hardcore Punk. The media labelled them "Grunge" because they're from Seattle and because they peaked during the grunge scene of early 90s.

Mudhoney is so underrated this band should have got a lot more attention I'll never understand why they didn't make it into the mainstream smh.

I've always found bush and stone temple pilots to be post grunge bands. And Foo fighters, while they are a great band, are not grunge

Mudhoney should be 2 or 3. How could you even put Bush or Foo Fighters on this list?

Temple Of The Dog consists of two of the best Grunge bands of all time, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Absolutely ever song on their self-entitled album and their only album at that are works of art! In my opinion, Temple Of The Dog is the best grunge band of all time.

This is amazing simply because it combines three great bands--Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and even Mother Love Bone to an extent.

How come there is no comments here? Chris Cornell's collaboration with Eddie Vedder is more than great!

This band is absolutely garbage though it has the people to make it work it just sucks.

Bush and should not be in the top ten, they are a cheap post grunge band. Foo fighters are a good band but shouldn't be there either

Grunge probably wouldn't exist without them, plus they invented Sludge Metal which is a awesome genre too

The Melvins are great, the guitar-drum synergy is really cool and the lyrics make no sense but are cool also

Bush is a cheep post grunge band with no originality or personality

Mother Love Bone was a great band and they were around when Grunge was first getting started. They greatly influenced the sound of grunge even though they never really sounded like other grunge bands. Pearl Jam and Temple of the Dog would never have existed without Mother Love Bone. Tragically Mother Love Bone never got to be a part of the golden age of the music they helped to create. Their lead singer, Andrew Wood died in 1990. Wood was the David Lee Roth of Grunge, he was a great front-man and he had tremendous talent and charisma. His voice suited Mother Love Bone's funky sound perfectly. If he had not died MLB would probably have gone on to be as great and famous as Nirvana or Pearl Jam. According to Alice in Chains's lead singer the song "Would" is about Andrew Wood. "so I made a big mistake, try to see it once my way" is a reference to Wood's death by overdose. If anyone is interested in getting into Mother Love Bone, I recommend "This is Shrangila"and "Thru Fade Away" those ...more

Grunge never would have gotten out of seattle if it weren't for mother love bone and their frontman andrew wood. They were the bridge between hair metal and grunge, and when andrew wood died, the grunge scene reeled and came back with a vengence. The only famous grunge band that would have continued afterwards would have been nirvana, and they would never have gotten famous.

Damn this band would have been awesome if it still existed and Andrew Wood didn't die.

I really mutch don't know who they are but I see Stone and Jeff from Pearl Jam

Did you ever had the chance to listen to their album Sweet Oblivion? A masterpiece on the same page as Dirt, Ten, Vs, Superunknown or Nevermind.
They were not sexy: quite a stupid band name, the Conner brothers were fatties for rock-stars, and Mark Lannegan was a hard to handle type even compared to the other singers. So the media didn't liked them, but forget everything and just listen. Lannegans voice is recognizable right from the bat. The songs are well written, with a bluesy under-note.

Screaming Trees is a very good band. Very succesful. Mark s voice is very good.
Compatible to grunge music. Witness, Traveler, Black Sun Morning, Who Lies in Darkness... The songs are very good. If you like Grunge style you should listen to this band. If you like Mark too much you can listen Mark Lanegan s musics. These musics are alternative.

You know this list was quickly done. They put this band on the list twice.

I'm not into them all that much, but Nearly lost you. What a great song.

GET THIS HIGHER! Really underrated band. The only reason why they're this low is that they're often labeled as post-grunge. But to be honest, I disagree. They mirror Nirvana a lot in plenty of their songs, including some of their biggest hits like Glycerine and Swallowed. Post-grunge in my opinion started with the Foo Fighters and transformed into bands like 3 Doors Down, Puddle of Mudd, Creed, and (gulp), Nickelback. The riffs of Bush are much harder than all those bands except FF maybe, but Gavin Rossdale's vocals are delivered in a more "lazy" tone than Dave Grohl, which gives the classic grunge sound.

Band higher in this list are undeniable great bands, but they're no grunge bands per se. Therefore, and because Bush is awesome, Bush should be higher on this list.

An awesome band that should be way before the no talent Melvins.

Everyone says they're post grunge, but I disagree.

Great band. Monkey Wrench, Hero, and Everlong are great songs. by the way, how are U2, Linkin Park, Green Day, and Thirty Seconds to Mars not in top 20. The person who made this list should listen to the songs of the bands and not just rank them because of their poularity

Amazing band but it have a lot of nirvana in it because their drummer is Foo Fighters vocalist, David Grohl.

I love Dave Grohl, and I loved this bands earlier stuff, but I just find this band too commercial.

They are good. But that doesn't make them a top ten band, in fact that doesn't even make them grunge!

Listen to smashing pumpkins "tonight" and any of Nirvana MTV unplugged. Ok, now listen to gouge away, gigantic, or monkeys gone to heaven by the pixies. Grunge, despite being a grunge genre, is still relatively broad genre to describe music and the pixies are apart of it.

Very good band, but they influenced Grunge, but they aren't a Grunge themselves, they are Alternative Rock.

They don't sound like grunge that much, but they're very influential to many grunge bands!

My Favorite Band. Influential to grudge, but not grudge. I hate when people call them indie.

Candlebox was by Far my Favorite of the grunge Era. Kevin's voice is Amazing & their lyrics so empathized the struggles of that generation.

By far my favorite!

Like its been said, Layne Staley on the vocals (from alice in chains) and there is two songs in wich Mark Lenegan (from screaming trees) sings too, Mike McCready (guitarist from pearl jam). can't go wrong.

Christ seeing this so far down is like a sharp knife cutting in to my heart. It's Layne Staley people! This deserves so much more...

I think it should be close to first place but because it's a one album / one season band I'd be happy seeing Mad season in 15th-ish place. Layne Staley, Mark Lenegan. etc...

Fantastic and innovative band for it's time. Definitely should be top 10 material

One of my favourite bands ever. But doesn't get my vote, because although they are dark, murky and depressing, that doesn't make them a grunge band.

They were grunge. After the first two albums, they just kind of dropped the sound.

Radiohead is more alternative I think. And no, not everybody who listens to this band are pretentious

Radiohead's 1st and 2nd album have strong grunge elements.

Nirvana is the best off curse... but this guys! I really believe silverchair was an amazing band in grunge scene, first 3 albums are great.
If you like nirvana or grunge and don't know this guys listen their albums.
PS: You don't regret...

Just because they were late on the scene doesn't mean you can overlook them... Frogstomp + Freak Show are the best grunge albums of all time.

So underrated freak show was the heaviest grunge album in my opinion

Needs to be in top ten.

Soundgarden are my fave but L7 are an amazing band who should be higher. While there roots are rock (pun)hard in my personal fave genre, punk rock(riot grrrl if we gonna go specifcs, I prefer ska punk but all punk is sick), there grunge stuff is some of the best grunge music out there.

L7 is great, Pretend We're Dead is one of the best songs I've ever heard.

One of the members threw her used tampon into the crowd. Gross.

L7 was all about real grunge! This isn't a real list if they're not on top 10... Come on people

Sweet Staley, Jane's Addiction aren't they list but Three Days Grace and Nickelback are? ' peasants, man.

Great band. But not the greatest.

Not a grunge band.

They are a good grunge band. They deserve a higher position into the first 10 bands. Very good lyrics and their singer is good enough. I believe that, they are better than others.

Should have been Top 5 at least. This band is fantastic, and even though Adam left, their music will always be better than half the bands on here

This band isn't Grunge, though? Just because you're a 90's band doesn't mean you're Grunge, people.

They used to be a band named Groundswell. They were borderline grunge.

Nirvana is the obvious pick for this list and for good reason but, we have to mention Kurt's wife's band. Hole is one of the most underrated bands I have ever seen! Courtney Love is an amazing singer as well!

Never in a million years should this band have been added to this list! I'm so disappointed that it is here!

Why are they on here? Barely even Alternative