The 40 greatest grunge songs

[intro] —> 40 - 36

35 - 31

30 - 26

25 - 21

20 - 16

15 - 11

10 - 6

5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1.

[outro]

"One more special message to go, and then I'm done, and I can go home"

So, that's the grunge list.

I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize some of the people who made this great music who aren't around to make any more of it.

It's a commonplace that rock 'n' roll and jazz are fueled by drugs. [UPDATE: This post inspired one by someone else: 10 theories why artists are so prone to drug use.] Well, it's easy to think about what actually exists for us to see and hear; it's harder to think about what doesn't exist but should.

Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon (#24), died of a cocaine overdose on October 21, 1995. He was 28.

Layne Staley, leader singer of Alice in Chains (#14, #5), died from a mixture of heroin and cocaine on April 5, 2002. He was 34. Near the end of his life, he weighed 86 pounds despite being 6'1". He openly admitted that he no longer enjoyed getting high or anything else in life, and that he knew his use of heroin was going to kill him soon.

I vividly remember when I was 13, sitting around watching MTV on April 8, 1994. Kurt Loder announced on MTV News that Kurt Cobain had been found dead in his home and that the cause of death was "a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head." I was so young that the meaning of that delicate phrasing didn't register with me, so I asked my mom about it. She had to explain: "That means he killed himself."

He had died 3 days earlier — like Layne Staley, on April 5. He was 27. He left behind a one-year-old daughter and many others.

Nirvana (#18, #9, #1) released only three proper studio albums. In a Rolling Stone interview near the end of his life, Cobain was critical of the band's soft/loud formula and talked about wanting to branch out stylistically. He said he wanted to "learn to go in between those things, go back and forth, almost become psychedelic in a way."

We'll never get to hear how the band might have developed; the analogy would be if John Lennon had died not in 1980 but in 1965. They should have done so much more. But they changed the direction of rock music in the few years they were around. (As I said yesterday, I realize that other bands have a better claim to inventing grunge, but Nirvana perfected it and reached a lot more people.)

For days after the news broke, MTV constantly reran the Nirvana Unplugged concert, and I watched it almost as constantly. I started learning to play guitar that summer . . .

(Photo of Cobain gallery by Christian Payne. Photo of Cobain tribute bench in Seattle by Eric Shoemaker.)

And the top 5 grunge songs are...

1. Nirvana - Lithium

The band members themselves assumed that this would be the song that would break them into the mainstream. They never expected it to be overshadowed by you-know-what.

If I were really trying to make an accurate list, Nirvana would have to take up at least 10, maybe 20, out of the top 40. But that wouldn't be very interesting.

So this song is just a stand-in for all the others I've had to leave out.

What really makes this song for me is Krist Novoselic's bassline. While the guitar part in the verse starts at the bottom and climbs upward, the bass starts at the top and descends. He wasn't generally a flashy bassist, but he clearly gave this song some extra attention. He also does some tasteful noodling in the "I'm not gonna crack" section.



It's common to say that other bands like the Pixies and the Melvins got a raw deal because they were making music slightly earlier that had a huge influence on Nirvana. Well, I'm sorry, but if there are truly great songs by the Pixies and the Melvins, I haven't heard them. Which composers from the classical era deserve more respect — Haydn and Mozart, or Wagenseil and Monn? If you think all that matters is how early they appeared on the timeline of history, you'd have to say Wagenseil and Monn. Well, I know a lot of people who listen to Haydn and Mozart; I doubt if I know anyone who listens to Wagenseil or Monn.

Greatness isn't primarily a game of "I did it first!" It's about making art that touches a lot of people. They were the greatest.

(Click here for afterword.)

(Click here for the whole list.)

And the top 5 grunge songs are...

2. Pearl Jam - Jeremy

Pearl Jam has never been one of my favorite bands. But I give them a lot of credit: they sincerely tried to make a work of art with this song, and they succeeded.

When it comes to musical composition, most bands are satisfied if they just write a nice melody for the verse and then another nice melody for the chorus. Not many bands are willing to devote this kind of care and attention to individually shaping the melody of each line to fit the lyrics and create a whole musical/dramatic arc.

Here's the disturbing video for this disturbing song:



And here's an impassioned live performance:



(Click here for song #1.)

(Click here for the whole list.)

And the top 5 grunge songs are...

3. Soundgarden — Outshined

I can't think of a more brilliant musical expression of raw testosterone than this. I love the way all the instruments and vocals move together on "Show me the power child / I'd like to say / That I'm down on my knees today" — like a machine with perfectly synchronized interlocking parts.

Focus on the interlude that starts just before 3:00. On the surface, there's not much going on here — no key change or guitar solo or anything. But a gentle little passage like this, in a song that's otherwise anything but gentle, is the kind of thing that elevates a song, and distinguished Soundgarden from 99% of grunge bands.




(Click here for song #2.)

(Click here for the whole list.)

And the top 5 grunge songs are...

4. The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock

Of all the bands on this list, the Smashing Pumpkins may be the one I most associate with the idea of freedom.

I don't think Billy Corgan is the greatest lyricist. I don't know or care what he's singing about. All that matters is that the song sounds like freedom.

Let me out!!!



(Click here for song #3.)

(Click here for the whole list.)

And the top 5 grunge songs are...

Now that we're into the home stretch of the grunge top 40, I'm going to roll out one of the last five songs every day this week...


5. Alice in Chains - Would?

For some reason, I've always found this to be one of the most emotionally affecting songs of the grunge era. I love the coda (the part that begins, "Am I wrong..."), when they shift to the relative major key with such a sense of absolute determination.



(Click here for song #4.)

(Click here for the whole list.)

The 40 greatest grunge songs (10-6)

(Click here for the whole list.)

And the top 10 grunge songs are...


10. The Toadies - Possum Kingdom

Unusually intelligent rock music.

Everything about this music -- the chord progressions, the asymmetrical meter, the adventurous song structure -- shows that they're thinking things through more than most bands. This only enhances, doesn't detract from, the emotion.




9. Nirvana - All Apologies

1-chord verse + 2-chord bridge = greatness

This is performance is from 1992, before the band recorded the song, so it's wonderfully rough around the edges:




8. Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song

One of those "this is what it's all about" songs. Very straightforward, but everything just comes together here.

Don't miss the guitar solo, in which Dave Navarro reins in his virtuosity just enough to avoid glam-rock territory.




7. Sonic Youth - Bull in the Heather

They're such a monumentally important and influential band that it feels wrong to pigeonhole them as "grunge." But I think this song fits in pretty well, with Kim Gordon's "I'm too lazy to sing an actual melody" ethos.

And those guitar noises!

10, 20, 30, 40...




6. Radiohead - Just

This is why Jonny Greenwood is an acclaimed guitarist. How many rock bands are even aware of the existence of the octatonic scale (a.k.a. diminished scale), let alone able to use it to such wonderfully stomach-churning effect?

Here's the famously enigmatic video:




ANNOUNCEMENT: Next week will be 100%, solid, uninterrupted grunge, as I unveil the top 5 songs, Monday through Friday, one day at a time! Stay tuned...

>>> #5 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (15-11)

(Click here for the whole list.)


15. Hum - Stars

This starts out underwhelming, and then it blows you away.




14. Alice in Chains - No Excuses

Vocal harmonies have been largely neglected in rock music from the '90s onward, so it's nice to hear this kind of arrangement. The result doesn't really fit into "grunge" or any other category I can think of. It's just plain good music. (From their excellent acoustic EP Jar of Flies.)




13. Pearl Jam - Even Flow

The rockingest portrait of homelessness I've ever heard.

Freezin', rests his head on a pillow made of concrete...




12. Weezer - Undone (The Sweater Song)

Perfect nerd rock.

Watch out for the dogs!

If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away...




11. The Breeders - Cannonball

How to make a great rock recording by stringing together one gimmick after another.

The album this is from, Last Splash, and their debut album, Pod, are both essential items in the music library of anyone who's into good '90s music.

Check, check, check, ah-ooooohhh-ooh...



>>> Go to #10-6 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (20-16)

(Click here for the whole list.)


20. Veruca Salt - Seether

This music video gives you a nice little recipe for coming up with a breakthrough hit song:

1. Write a lot of parts -- verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge -- but don't use too many different chords.

2. Make sure the chorus is a hook that people can't get out of their heads.

3. Use vocal harmonies liberally.

4. Have two cute female singers.




19. Collective Soul - Shine

This is exactly the kind of song that will get me in trouble with the official arbiters of grungedom (watch out -- they're out there!) for putting it on the list. "How can you include that lame MTV hit but not the real grunge like Mudhoney / Screaming Trees/ Afghan Whigs / Archers of Loaf?!"

Well, because I've never heard a song by any of those bands that I remembered the next day. "Shine" is a song I'll always remember.

Being commercial and accessible doesn't subtract any points from you in my book. I just care whether something's a good song or not. And this is.

Yeah!




18. Nirvana - School

Nirvana was always a heavy band, but they were more uncompromisingly heavy before they switched to a major label. "School," from their first album, Bleach, gives a taste of their early period.

The entire lyrics to the song are:

Won't you believe it, it's just my luck
No recess
You're in high school again

17. The Smashing Pumpkins - I Am One

This is the first song from their first album, back when they were a straightforward rock band with minimal frills. Billy Corgan and James Iha actually showed off their guitar virtuosity -- a relic of the '80s that would become verboten in the '90s (and even more so in the '00s). You certainly don't hear two simultaneous shredding guitars anymore.

There's something wonderfully unironic about this song -- possibly related to its surprising religiosity ("Time is right for a guiding light...").




16. Meat Puppets - Backwater

A solid, no-nonsense, well-constructed rock song. That's all.





>>> Go to #15-11 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (25-21)

(Click here for the whole list.)


25. Hole - Violet

From the band's unlistenable first album to their immaculate second album (which this song is from) is probably the most extreme, sudden improvement I've ever heard from any band. Gee, it's almost as if Courtney Love had someone else helping her out with the songwriting for the second album.




24. Blind Melon - No Rain

This isn't technically "grunge," but it fits in with the era. And I couldn't make a list of songs from the '90s without including this.

Don't make fun of bumblebee girl!

All I can do is just pour some tea for two, and speak my point of view...




23. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

It's hard to even hear this song for what it is since it's been so overplayed. The labyrinthine nine-chord progression of the verse is a rarity -- more akin to the Beach Boys' "Don't Talk, Put Your Head on My Shoulder" or the Beatles' "Because" than the average song from the '90s. These guys were really on a whole other level from most bands.

And isn't this the creepiest video ever?



Speaking of creepy, there happen to be two songs on this list called...


22. Stone Temple Pilots - Creep

Acoustic grunge. Taking a lyrical cue from Paul McCartney, Weiland laments his own inadequacy.




21. Radiohead - Creep

This is such a great little early '90s alternative-rock track, with its soft/loud formula and marketable alienation. Who would have ever thought the band that became famous through this song would go on to the staggering innovation and artistic achievements of its later works? Classic moment: the guitar noise right before the chorus. When I asked AskMetafilter for help with this list, one person said: "Ahem. Radiohead were never grunge." So I guess you think this song ... doesn't belong here?



UPDATE: IM response: "nice to have the 2 creeps together"

>>> Go to #20-16 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (30-26)

(Click here for the whole list.)


30. Sonic Youth - Kool Thing

Pure rock 'n' roll.




29. Beck - Loser

You might say this is hip-hop as much as it is grunge, but I'm including it because it defined the era with its self-effacing refrain. Oh, and it was the song that got me interested in music in 7th grade.




28. Temple of the Dog - Hungerstrike

What could be more perfectly grunge than Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder both singing lead in the same song?




27. Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs

Yeah, I know: Nine Inch Nails is "industrial," not "grunge."

But this is a special case. They took the unusual step of not using the album version of the song for the music video, but instead just shooting a live performance on a bare studio floor and using the audio from that performance. The result is as grungy as NIN gets.

7/8! 7/8! 7/8! 4/4!




26. Shudder to Think - X-French T-shirt

This band unfortunately never really made it, probably because their music was just too dissonant, too asymmetrical, too disorienting. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I believe this song was the closest they came to mainstream success. I love the unpredictable melody and the "Hey Jude"-like song structure.



If you like this kind of thing, I highly recommend the album Pony Express Record.

>>> Go to #25-21 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (35-31)

It's Friday, which means another 5 songs from the grunge top 40.

(Click here for the whole list.)

A quick disclaimer, since the definitional boundaries of the list have drawn comment from around the blogosphere:

As I said last week, my goal is not to spend two months just providing a dictionary definition of the word "grunge." If anyone wants to make a list like that, more power to you — send me your blog post and we can compare our lists! (Church of Rationality has already accepted the challenge! Except instead of staying with "grunge" and narrowing the definition, he's taken the opposite route: switching from "grunge" to "alternative" and expanding the timeline.)

I'm trying to collect songs that fit in that general style (and time period) but that stretched the boundaries of grunge and milked it for all it was worth. If they stretch the boundaries past the breaking point so it's a whole other genre that you wouldn't even call "grunge," then ... cool!

But more important than any of that, the "grunge" premise wasn't intended to open up an academic debate on the proper use of the term (which could hardly be more antithetical to the whole idea of grunge) — it's just an excuse for me to make a list of music I like. If you like the songs too, then mission accomplished.

On that note, here's this week's installment:

35. Dig - Believe

This is how it's done: young people who are really adamant about something or other, with five chords and two great hooks.




34. Superchunk - Hyper Enough

The intro to this video is an all-too-accurate reminder of a thousand band practices. No envelopes being pushed here, just a great guitar lead and tons of energy.




33. Belly - Feed the Tree

Here's a twist: a song without a wall of distorted guitars. Clean grunge!




32. My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow

I think this is the earliest song on the list. I've made a point of staying within the '90s. You could start looking for "seminal" grunge songs from the '80s, and then pretty soon you're listing tracks from the Velvet Underground and the White Album. This is from 1990 — ancient.

You have to give them credit for pretty much inventing the Smashing Pumpkins. Compare this song to the next one, "Rocket," which came out a few years later. (Of course, you'll notice I rated the Pumpkins higher than MBV. Originality isn't everything!)




31. The Smashing Pumpkins - Rocket

Guitar-fuzz ecstasy with a video about childhood that always gives me goosebumps.

This song has a beautiful production that couldn't possibly be captured on YouTube, so make sure to get out your copy of Siamese Dream, turn up the volume, and give it a listen.

I shall be free!



I highly recommend the Smashing Pumpkins music video collection on DVD — each song includes the official video + an alternate version + commentary by band members and others.

>>> Go to #30-26 >>>

The 40 greatest grunge songs (40-36)

For the next couple months of Music Friday, I bring you...

The 40 greatest grunge songs of all time! Please try to contain your excitement!

[UPDATE: Click here for the whole list.]

People always say the music that's popular when you're an adolescent makes the biggest impression on you. I think that's overstated -- a lot of people who were born in the early '80s (like me) seem at least as heavily influenced by music from the '60s as they are by music from the '90s or '00s. But there's something to the theory.

For better or worse, the grunge rock of the '90s inevitably shaped me as a guitarist. That's the teenage me with my Les Paul up there. And this was my life in high school:

With that out of the way, let's get to the list.

Whenever you see one of these "top [#] _______s of all time" lists in the MSM, they purport to be objective, but you can tell they've imposed a bunch of arbitrary restrictions. As a blogger, I have no need to be objective and can admit that this list is a mix of my own taste, quasi-objective judgments, and arbitrary restrictions.

One restriction is that for the sake of variety, I'm going to generally have just one song per band, with a few choice exceptions.

And then there's the question of what "counts." My basic definition of grunge is music that was made mostly in the '90s, drawing on the early punk and heavy metal of the '70s-'80s as far as dynamics and tone quality (namely, loud and distorted), but drawing more on the songwriting of the '60s. There's usually a loose, lazy, "Anyone could play this" vibe, and there are rarely any instruments other than guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.

Some of these songs will fit those criteria better than others. Another feature of grunge is an "I don't really care" attitude, so it would be un-grunge-like of me to worry too much about the labels. Anyway, I'm more interested in music that pushes against the confines of a genre than music that politely stays within them.

[UPDATE: Case in point: a commenter complains that this list isn't "strict grunge." Strict grunge? Isn't that an oxymoron?]

Huge thanks to the people who answered my question on AskMetafilter in preparation for this list.

Here we go... This week, the first 5 of the top 40:

40. The Flaming Lips - Turn It On

Sheer grungy joy in a laundromat, without a trace of angst.

When you ain't got no relation to all those other stations...




39. Tool - Sober

At the other end of the emotional spectrum, this is about as dead-serious as rock music gets. I have no idea what they're so upset about, but they rock. And wow, what a video!




38. Daisy Chainsaw - Love your Money

Obligatory novelty song.

37. Dinosaur Jr. - Feel the Pain

Deceptively simple. Great use of tempo changes. Remember the World Trade Center!

 


36. Bush - Everything Zen

I always thought the unfortunately named Bush was a pale imitation of Pearl Jam. But "Everything Zen" endures.

Soon after I first saw this video on MTV's 120 Minutes, I went and saw them play one of the most exciting shows I've ever seen: a band right on the cusp of their commercial breakthrough, but just obscure enough to be playing a small, intimate club in Madison, Wisconsin (the Paramount, which, like the band, no longer exists).

 

(Photos of me by my mom, Ann Althouse.)

UPDATE: My mom links and reminisces.

>>> Go to #35-31 >>>