Best Hard Rock Bands of the 90s

While Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam, as much as I respect them, spawned dozens of imitators, nobody could replicate Nirvana, mostly because of the unique talents of Cobain. This is truly the sign of an all-time great rock band. While Kurt obviously melded influences of The Pixies, The Melvins and others, no subsequent band sounds quite like Nirvana.

WHAT? NEVER! They became so popular only because of teen spirit! This band couldn't create any well sounding song. What about cobain he didn't write even one good solo. George bush is better guitarist than he was! Additionally he sucks as a singer (you may check out how he messed up immigrant song zeppelin's). They are most overrated band in history!

Nirvana was truly an idol in the world of rock for a lot of reasons. There songs had meaning. They experimented with what you could do with music period. Kurt was a legend and will be remember for years to come. His music was truly inspirational to many people and bands

My personal favorite band of all time. Not only is Nirvana the best band of the 90's, they are the most important band of the past 30 years. The music of Kurt Cobain is classic and will live on to tell the test of time just as the music of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix did from the 1960's.

The shear mass amount of A+ songs pushes the Red Hot Chili Peppers to the Greatest Band Ever spot for me let alone in the 90's. Blood Sugar Sex Magik had some of the most memorable and awesome songs ever to be played. It had a perfect mix of fast and slow plus punk and funk which morphed into this orgasm of an album. When someone can play an album from song one to the last without pause indicates its greatness. And hell I'm only talking about just one out of the three albums they had in the 90's mainly because that's all they need to be #1. Other albums are amazing as well!

The only huge rock band to retain its popularity all decade, the Chili Peppers sold about 7 million copies of 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik in the U.S. and about 5.5 million copies of 1999's Californication. This is amazing when contrasted with all their multi-platinum peers. Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day... all those bands' record sales leveled off severely by the end of the decade, to the point where they sold a tiny fraction of their biggest albums. We'll never know how Nirvana would have fared, unfortunately.

Hands down the most diverse rock band in history, if you disagree, you just aren't listening. Love Rollercoaster, Higher Ground, Give It Away, Under The Bridge, etc. Sound like a different band each song. Not to mention them being top five talent, probably right behind Zep and Rush. BSSM and Californication are probably two of the top five albums of the 90s. Top 25 among rock bands in album sales is hard to compete with as well.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band that evolved beautifully throughout the 1990's. They had two gigantic hits in the decade with Blood Sugar Sex Majick and Californication. Even the "dud" album One Hot Minute contains 4 or 5 alt rock classics. It's no mistake they were just inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame... They are legends and their music will continue to be popular for a long long time!

Metallica are the true gods of metal! These guys defined and perfected what metal is. They are true inspiration to all things rock and are the best that ever was. m/ They are not only the best metal band of the 90's, but the 80's, 2000's, and now! The best album ever, the "Black Album" is the #1 album ever sold in the rock industry. My personal favorite is "Re-Load"!

"Oooh, my favorite band is the best! " Let's not be too subjective people. I don't care if you like Metallica or not. They rock. They sold a LOT of albums. They earn a top spot.

Metallica is one of the greatest rock bands that even experts say helped pave the way and helped mold hard rock.

Hands down, started my love affair with metal. My friends and I could sit for hours in the car and rock out.

This may be the most stacked for talent four man band of all time. Mike Starr had some of the most hair raising baselines of the era. Sean Kinney was one of the tightest drummers of the time. Jerry Cantrell in my humble opinion should go down as one the best song writers of all time. Not to mention the guy could take one finger and write a riff that would blow your socks off. And then there's Layne freaking Staley. The guy was a freak of nature. Arguably one of the loudest and most powerful singers of all time, wielding a voice that could move mountains as well as tear them down. And yet, he never had to scream or growl to create intensity and they could do all this without ever really playing that fast. To me, their tempo is one of the things that makes them so influential. It made their music hit so much harder and heavier. In my opinion, they should be talked about as one of the all time greats.

Absolutely most influential band of the grunge era. Jerry Cantrell had hard hitting riffs and more technical guitar playing than anything Nirvana ever thought of. His tone was legendary on the Facelift album and the band really hit song writing heights with Dirt. I always see Nirvana above these guys, but it's false. Alice was a rock band that had a sound of their own. Something metal heads could take in as their own yet still keeping the sludge factory of grunge going. Not getting into the rock hall of fame would be an absolute mistake for the ages.

The only 1990s behemoth with dual vocalists, Alice In Chains supplied unmatched vocal interplay, and they're an underrated singles band. They wrote some of the best songs of the decade -- Would? , Rooster, Them Bones, Got Me Wrong, No Excuses, I Stay Away, Grind and Again being my favorites -- but I don't think it's a coincidence that the EP Jar Of Flies was their first No. 1 record. That release perfectly showcased their talent in a concise format, but I think all their LPs suffered from too much below-average material. In terms of peak talent, though, they have a case for No. 1.

Best Rock Band of the 90s? Alice in Chains #8, stunning. The music this band put out was great, and withstands the test of time. I still listen to these CD's a lot. There are a lot of good bands on this list. Nirvana at #1 for "hard rock" is questionable. Alice was definitely harder, darker and amazingly talented. It goes without saying that this band had the most powerful, soulful, incredible singer on this planet. RIP Layne Staley

Pearl Jam is the 2nd most influential hard rock band of the 1990s right behind Nirvana. (3rd if you want to make an argument for Alice in Chains. They were the biggest band in the world for at least half of the decade, (The first three albums were mega-huge, selling in the range of 25 million copies). Pearl Jam's last album released in 2009 went to #1 on the charts. They are excellent live and still continue to sell out arenas world wide.

P.S. this is supposed to be a list of the top hard rock bands of the 1990s?!? Get Bon Jovi the hell off of here! They are an 80s band all the way! I would rather see Seven Mary Three make the list because at least they were a 90's band!

While Nirvana was ground breaking with iconic Kurt Cobain shattering everything we thought we knew about rock and roll, it has been Pearl Jam who has stood the test of time. In 2017 they are still selling out Arenas and Ballparks like it's 1994. They are the GenX version of Led Zepplin! Pearl Jam always has stayed true to their music and fans. Refusing to ever sell out just to sell records, there music is as diverse as their fan base. Frontman Eddy Vedder has ascended Robert Plant level and Mike McCready may very well be the most underrated axman to ever walk the stage! Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament are as good as it gets! All 600 of their drummers have also performed well lol. I just love Pearl Jam.

My personal favorite from the 1990s, Pearl Jam sound like The Who or Led Zeppelin might if they grew up listening to The Ramones, as Vedder and Co. did. This is a band with classicist roots and terrific stage presence that sounds equally good cranked to 11 or performing a ballad. Their range sets them apart from their 1990s peers. Bonus points for very few "baby, baby" songs, at least until later in their career.

Starting with the grunge archetype, they blossomed into so much more. Pearl Jam as broken many boundaries of modern rock to remain relevant and sounding great 20 years later. They're live shows only amplify this as they can draw more emotion from a crowd than any band I've ever seen live.

WHAT! This band SUCKS! I love all things metal and everything that rocks! m/m/ I love the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion too, which is why I'm stating mine. I think that this is one of the only bands from the(80's) "90's" that I can't stand to listen to. Axle Rose is the worst singer I have ever heard in my life. His voice sounds like nails on a chalk board to me, plus the guy is strange(not in a good way either). I hate what Axle did to Metallica too! What an ASS! (Rock on Metallica! ). But I understand that there are people out there that love this band, and that's cool. Whatever floats your boat. But I think these guys shouldn't even be in the top 100, much less the top 10.

The afd album is one of the greatest. Slash has unprecedented tone during those sessions. Use your illusion were good albums as well, but in a way they had the potential to become maybe the best ever. A good frontman, a true guitar god, a steady bass player and drummer with excellent backing vocals and songwriting ability from their rhythm guitarist. But the days they did have were stunning. They were the biggest and most followed band in the world the day afd released and up until the day they split. Their original stuff has stood the test of time. The entire afd album and acoustic takes like patience and used to love her are still on every rock radio show on the planet.

You said Axl is worst singer? You never heard my uncle. They are the best rock band ever and Axl has the most powerful voice among all of rock singers! Many people say that " Guns N' Roses is only AFD " but let's listen to UYI and you will find what rock beauty means. They became most popular band in early 90's with reason. by the way they're definitely not worse than nirvana! I love Guns N' Roses as much as my mum and I'm sure that every genuine fan of Guns N' Roses does!

Welcome to the jungle remix- " Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games! The bands above suck and honey we don't know their names! " these bands above are no names. Guns and roses weren't in their prime in the 90 s and ac dc were and amazingly not on the list but for the top ten this band wins.

Maybe a few spots too high. Smashing pumpkins had some great tunes, but as unique as they were they were always just behind in about every aspect of a band. Vocals? Staley, Cobain, and Cornell were all better. Guitar? Cantrell, Morello, and Slash were more talented and their tones shine through. The songwriting is just a touch behind the likes of other bands. But take nothing away. Smashing Pumpkins is a part of American rock history and rightfully so.. they were a very good band.

I have so much love for this band. There is no other band that can even come close to have a sound like The Smashing Pumpkins. When I think back to the 90's I think about bands like this one and songs like "Today", "1979", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "Tonight, Tonight", "Landslide", "Cherub Rock", and on and on. I could talk about this band all day. But those of use that know and love this band, know that this band should be at least in the top 5!

One of the most innovative bands of the 90's. Billy Corgan is a lyrical poet in every sense of the word! I love how the Smashing Pumpkins took a risk on each album they released and each has a different sound. Not to mention is there a better thematic concept album than melon collie and the infinite sadness? I think not!

Smashing Pumpkins made so much good music that consisted of beautiful creativity as well as youth angst rock. Nirvana was too short lived. A few of the above bands aren't anywhere as good as SP. Some of them only had one good album.

The 90's produced some of the most original new sounds that forever changed the Rock and Metal scene. Among the most original is Soundgarden. There is no mistaking Chris Cornell's vocals. Vocalists alone, he is the best with no comparison. Anyone that has an ear for music would have to agree. Added to the rough and raw sound of the band, Chris' vocals are a perfect match. Soundgarden really should be the #1 rock band of the 90's. The world of music truly would not be the same without Soundgarden, and without Chris Cornell. Oh... And lets not forget Temple of the Dog and "Hunger Strike". Thank God for Soundgarden and Chris Cornell! m/m/

Nobody has made music like Soundgarden. The music itself is very complex, with strange time signatures and brilliant rhythm. They've put out incredible music continuously for years and their track record is comparable to that or even better than Led Zeppelin. Not to mention Cornell's extraordinary voice. He's definitely better that Plant or Mercury. Godlike band. Definitely underrated.

WAY underrated! When I think of my childhood and reflect on the 90's, I think of Soundgarden. What a band. In my opinion the most diversity of any band of the 90's, from the more mellow "Blow up the Outside World" or "The Day I Tried to Live" to the harder "Fell on Black Days" or "Pretty Noose", this band did it all. Greatest band ever...

Everyone credits nirvana for the grunge movement, but these guys were the godfathers. Blind melon didn't have the sound garden effect. Hell, cornell has arguably a better voice than Cobain and the song writing is out of this world. Spoon man is one of the first riffs that comes to mind when talking grunge.

Green day was at its best in the 90's. Dookie their best album brought them into the mainstream and brought us classics like basket case and longview. Insomniac had an angrier punk sound but still continued to have mainstream success with classics like walking contradiction and armatage shanks. Finnally Nimrod evolved green days sound by incorporating acoustic guitars, trumpets and other odd instruments but still retaining a punk sound. Nimrod had classics like hitchin a ride and prosthetic head

Green had a lot of great songs in the 90s: Basket Case, When I Come Around, Brain Stew, Geek Stink Breath, Hitchin a Ride, Scattered, Redundant not to mention songs from 1039 and Kerplunk. They revitalized punk and brought it back to the world. Number 15 is way too low!

Dude... All I have to say is Dookie. Basket Case, When I Come Around, Longview, She, Welcome to Paradise. And not to mention all the stuff after that. Time of Your Life... Hello... More hits than *cough* Nirvana.

Why is Green Day not in the top 10? They should be up in the top 10 somewhere. They revolutionized music in the 90s. This is my favorite band from the 90s. Truly great band.

Creativity has never been so delicately assembled in a band like this one before. Adam Jones and his hard, haunting, and unique riffs complement Maynard's voice and vocal delivery in a way no other band has achieved. The bass line can hardly be called "rhythm" or "backround" because Danny Carey's ingenius syncopated and dissonant drum lines with bass lines that lead as much as guitar, this band can easily be named one of the greatest masterpieces of music and art on the planet.

Literally the most technically and lyrically advanced band. Danny Carey is legendary on drums and considered by many to be up there with Neil Peart, Justin Chancellor redefined how to play bass, Adam Jones's creativity on guitar is incomparable to any other guitarist, and Maynard's very complex lyrics, pure emotion, soul, and energy on stage makes listening to Tool's music a very intense experience.

Every member of this band is beyond talented. Justin Chancellor's amazing bass rhythms with Danny Carey's insane drum beats just create the perfect setting for Maynard's one of a kind singing style. I could not say enough good things about this band... Too bad Chancellor is on a "leave of absence" to pursue other callings. Tool is mesmerizing.

Tool is incredible. I first heard about them when my older brother listened to it and I knew my mom hated them. But then I actually heard them with Guitar Hero and fell in love with them and I had to hear every song they had. They are my definitely on my Top 5 favorite bands, the others being Nine Inch Nails, Rush, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead.

One of the most innovative and underrated mainstream acts of the 90s. "The Downward Spiral" and "The Fragile" are way ahead of their time. I would argue that Trent Reznor's contributions to music are as important as Nirvana's. Plus, he's the reason anyone gives a damn about Marilyn Manson, which is a huge contribution in-and-of itself.

Dropped Two amazing albums, and an amazing EP in the 90's. Who else did that in the 90's? Metallica? Load, Reload? what? Their ST was good though, but better than the downward spiral, the fragile and broken good? no.

And still making great music. Spin magazine labeled Trent Reznor the most vital artist in music.

Downward Spiral is one of the top albums of all time!

The colour and the shape was their best album ever (other than maybe wasting light). The first album was not great but Dave was the only one doing anything, so that's 1/4 of the creativity. There is nothing left to lease had great songs too (learn to fly, stacked actors, breakout).

They were honestly a joke in the 90s. Not to even be mentioned with Alice, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. The 00s were much better and if I were a member of the band I wouldn't even want mentioned as a 90s act.

Hard to believe Nirvana spawned such an awesome band. They are still one of my favorites of all time, while Nirvana is one of my most hated. Is that weird?

But they were definitely better in the 2000's. Aurora, Generator, Breakout, For all the cows: all quality songs from the 90's!

Much like Guns N' Roses they left the rock world a bit short and unfulfilled. Unlike Guns N' Roses they don't have quite the extensive catalog in depth. But the tunes they did record are stunning and shook the world. Ahead of their time no doubt. I just wish they'd have done more.

The hard rock sound of Morello and Commerford along with great rapping skills of De La Rocha complete with the simple yet awesome drumming makes Rage the best 90s band ever and, in my opinion, one of the best ever.

Zack de la rocha. Text and spirit
So much underrated!

Hands down the Greatest band of the 90s..

Yea, this is WAY too low for KoRn! Are you kidding me? When MTV played music KoRn beat out the ridiculous Backstreet Boys, NSync, and Britney Spears for #1 song/video, and the Got the Life video had to be retired because it was on top for so long! KoRn put hard music on the mainstream map and kicked Pop in the face! They are easily top ten if not higher.

Huge in the 90's. Like the biggest band by the end of the 90's. They released very good music right up to the end of the 90's.

Freak on a Leash and Blind defined the 1990's! Way underrated band. Should be much higher than this!

Revolutionized... A new genre... Grunge metal... Never been done till KoRn came around

Best metal band ever, that I've heard.

Only released one 90s album.

Whilst most of the other bands are alternative or grunge, Bon Jovi truly is a 'Rock Band'. It was definitely at it's height in the 90's, and yet still continues today. So many 'classic' hits, namely 'Livin on a Prayer', 'You give love a bad name', 'Wanted, Dead or Alive', 'Runaway', 'Keep the faith', 'Lay your hands on me', 'Bed of Roses', 'In these arms' and many, many more

They just released 3 albums in the 90's - Keep the Faith, Cross Road and These Days and all were absolutely amazing! Songs like Keep the faith, dry county, always, In these arms, This ain't a love song etc were all superhits! The Best Band ever!

Bon jovi were the best
Listen to Keep The Faith and you know why!

Love their songs, love them. Their songs make me fine!

The best guitarist, best drumer, add in a great singer and a good bassist. You get the best band of all time. The band got me through so many times in my life from anger to having my children. Number 1 for me all the way!

Pantera without shadow of doubt the best damn metal band ever. I drove 200 miles to Nashaveille Tennessee to buy great southern trendkill when it was released, as all the music shops near me wouldn't have it for another week. Mind you gas was only 80¢ a gallon back then, well worth it!

Best by far.

When u sell millions of albums without radio or MTV you are a musical Phenomenon.

LITERALLY every album is GOLD. All but one Platinum. Some of the most consistent album sales in music history shows have impressive they were LIVE as that was their only REAL promotion

Dimebag, Vinnie Paul, Rex and Phil. Best band to ever live, definitely most talented metal act to walk the earth. RIP DIME.

It's because they're not a 90's band. They were around since 1970 really. And they only had a couple of hits in the 90's. They're luck to even be on this list. But as for best rock bands of all time, they'd be higher (probably).

Aerosmith.
One hit every year since 1973.
Biggest band ever.

For me acdc is a top 5 band in the 70s and 80s. The tone of Malcolm and Angus are downright scary good. They have stood the test of time and there isn't a band in the world who's riffs are being played more in commercials, ads, movies, super bowls, etc than acdc. They didn't call it quits after losing a singer or after a few good albums. They produced massively inspiring albums like High Voltage and Highway to Hell with the great Bon Scott and developed themselves even further with the great Byron. Absolutely legends. And they may even be a top 10 in the 90s.. but definitely top 5 in the 70s and 80s.

How can they not be the greatest of all time.. So many great songs - and still playing for us! It's gotta count for something that they are still touring and releasing new stuff 20 PLUS years later...

AC/DC deserves to be #3 or #4! They're at least better than The Red Hot Chilli Peppers... Some of the bands on the Top 17 are just there because they're more famous.. But that doesn't mean that their music/songs are better

I love AC/DC, their one of my top 3 rock bands of all time. The only problem was that most of their big hits were from the mid 70's to the early 80's.

The Deftones are able to blend hardcore heavy riffing with amazingly soft vocality. They are heavy when they feel like it, and softer when they feel like it, but never travel too far from the road of BADA**! Will listen to 'em forever.

Perfect blend of quiet and meaningful lyrics to relax to and hardcore scream an heavy riffs to get you pumped up for a big game or a workout set.

Even the new albums that they release are amazing. To this day, still the best live band I've ever seen!

Easily one of my favorite bands of all time.

They actually formed in 1992. They changed the band name in 1997, but they started in 1992 as Groundswell.

They should be number 1

Every time I listen to them I'm surprised they weren't more popular. Easily one of my top 5 favorite bands of all time.

100? Is this a joke or is this list based solely off radio top 40 play?

Kyuss should be way higher than 100

My top 3 personally... 111 is laughable

Kyuss is my number 2.

Honestly, I was surprised how low Manson was. He was such a controversial figure for 90s Rock. Even to this day I love his stuff from the 90s, and find it almost a perfect way to describe 90s Rock and metal. Manson was the perfect 90s rock star, he should be higher up on the list easily.

Deserves #1, hello, have taste.

Should definitely be number 1 best band ever for sure more famous than most bands on this list

Best band ever