It's a bit tardy but, here is the fourth installment at my look back at rock songs from the 90s. A time when bands weren't overly concerned with their image and just focused on making good music. If you've missed the previous installments or, if you just want a quick recap feel free to take a look at Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.
In this installment we'll take a look back at bands that forever changed the rock scene and in the process created a new genre known as grunge music.
Temple Of The Dog-Hunger Strike. Temple of the Dog was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. It was conceived by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late Andrew Wood, lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. The line-up included Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar (both ex-members of Mother Love Bone), Mike McCready on lead guitar, Matt Cameron on drums and Eddie Vedder providing backing vocals.
The band released its only album, the self-titled Temple of the Dog, in April 1991 through A&M Records. Although earning praise from music critics at the time of its release, the album was not widely recognized until 1992, when Vedder, Ament, Gossard and McCready had their commercial breakthrough with Pearl Jam.
Alice In Chains-No Excuses. While Alice in chains had a ton of hits in the 90s (would, Rooster, Man in the Box) No excuses was their only number 1 hit. The song is off the Jar of Flies ep which, spawned when the band went in the studio with their acoustic equipment just to mess around. The album was never meant to be released but, the record label heard it and liked it enough to release it. It debuted at 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP—and first Alice in Chains release—to top the charts
Sound Garden-Black Hole Sun. The music video for "Black Hole Sun" became a hit on MTV and received the award for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards.Black Hole Sun also received a grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Pearl Jam-Yellow Ledbetter. While this song wasn't on any of Pearl Jam's studio albums it did appear as the B-side to the single for Jeremy. In My opinion it's the greatest song the band has ever produced and it still gets a ton of play on my ipod.
Nirvana-Smells Like Teen Spirit. You can't have a list about the grunge scene with out the band and song that started it all. The first single off of the album Nevermind, Smells like Teen Spirit quickly gained momentum due to heavy play on MTV.
Despite low commercial expectations by the band and its record label, Nevermind became a surprise success in late 1991, largely due to the popularity of, Smells Like Teen Spirit. By January 1992 it had replaced Michael Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard charts. The album has been certified ten times platinum (10 million copies shipped) by the Recording Industry Association of America.
