Artists Like Nirvana: 12 Grunge & Alternative Rock Bands

Kurt Cobain famously said "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his attempt to write a Pixies song. The quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, Black Francis's yelping vocals, and Kim Deal's melodic bass lines were the blueprint Nirvana perfected. "Doolittle" (1989) and "Surfer Rosa" (1988) are essential listening.

Chris Cornell's extraordinary vocal range — from a whisper to a primal scream — and Kim Thayil's detuned guitar riffs made Soundgarden the most musically sophisticated of the Seattle grunge bands. "Superunknown" (1994) is one of the great albums of the decade.

Mudhoney's "Touch Me I'm Sick" (1988) is the song that launched grunge. Mark Arm and Steve Turner's fuzzed-out, deliberately sloppy garage rock was the true template for the Seattle sound — rawer and more reckless than Nirvana's polished Sub Pop major label recordings.

J Mascis's guitar is one of the loudest, most feedback-drenched sounds in rock — and underneath it are some of the most beautiful, yearning melodies. "You're Living All Over Me" (1987) and "Bug" (1988) directly influenced Cobain's writing approach.

Alice in Chains brought sludgy metal riffs and Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell's dissonant vocal harmonies to the Seattle scene. "Dirt" (1992) is as bleak and powerful as "In Utero". Their acoustic "Jar of Flies" EP (1994) shows a quieter, equally devastating side.

The other side of the Seattle coin — where Nirvana was volatile and self-destructive, Pearl Jam built a career. Eddie Vedder's passionate baritone and the band's arena-ready dynamics made "Ten" (1991) the best-selling grunge album. Their long, dedicated career is everything Nirvana might have been.

Billy Corgan's multi-layered guitar approach and theatrical ambition made Smashing Pumpkins the most musically ambitious of the 90s alt-rock bands. "Siamese Dream" (1993) is as influential as "Nevermind", while "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" (1995) is its most ambitious statement.

Where Nirvana was intense and emotional, Pavement were oblique and ironic — but both bands defined 90s indie rock in different ways. Stephen Malkmus's wilfully cryptic lyrics and the band's deliberately ramshackle approach influenced a generation of indie bands. "Slanted and Enchanted" (1992) is a classic.

Courtney Love's Hole delivered some of the most viscerally powerful rock music of the 90s. "Live Through This" (1994) matches Nirvana's emotional intensity with feminist fury. Love's screaming-to-whispering vocal dynamic is as extreme and effective as Cobain's.

Lou Barlow's Sebadoh made lo-fi bedroom recordings of startling emotional intensity. The quiet-loud dynamics and confessional lyrics share Nirvana's DNA, but in a more intimate, ramshackle setting. "Bubble and Scrape" (1993) and "Bakesale" (1994) are essential 90s indie.

Robert Pollard's prolific Guided by Voices shared Nirvana's love of hook-laden melody and raw recording aesthetics. "Bee Thousand" (1994) packs more great ideas into 35 minutes than most bands manage in a career. The DIY ethos and disregard for polish are deeply Nirvana-adjacent.

Kim Deal formed The Breeders with Tanya Donelly after her time in the Pixies. "Last Splash" (1993) is one of the great 90s alternative albums — jangly, noisy, melodic and brilliant. "Cannonball" is a perfect pop-grunge single.