Grunge was a way of life in the 1990s. Wherever you looked, there were young people in ripped jeans and flannel shirts, wearing long hair and laughing about something Beavis or Butthead said on MTV.
But in between the chuckles, they were music fans, devoted to one way of life: grunge. Here below, we wanted to highlight three tracks from the era that we still adore. Indeed, these are three songs from the 1990s that will instantly turn you into a fan of grunge.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains from ‘Facelift’ (1990)
While there were a number of big-name grunge bands that enjoyed success during the decade, there was one that was perhaps the most grunge of all. The grungiest of the grunge. And that’s Alice in Chains. There was something especially dark and brooding about the band—suffering and even morbid, too. But that’s why people loved them. Alice in Chains never wanted to dance around a subject. They wanted to stare at it like a trapped insect in a glass jar. Enter: the 1990 track, “Man in a Box”. The work is like a scary movie in the best of ways.
“Come As You Are” by Nirvana from ‘MTV Unplugged In New York’ (1994)
Grunge fans have any number of Nirvana songs to choose from when highlighting or touting the group. But to go off script a bit, it’s important to remember Nirvana’s live unplugged album. The band released a trio of excellent studio albums, but the MTV Unplugged offering might top them all. For evidence of this, just dive into the beginning of the record, which includes the band’s original song, “Come As You Are”. It’s dour but beautiful, sardonic but heartening.
“Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden from ‘Superunknown’ (1994)
One of the most famous grunge songs of all time has to be “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. Bolstered by a strange and fun music video that MTV played seemingly every six minutes, the track demonstrates all the Hall of Fame elements of the group, from Chris Cornell’s sky-scraping voice to Kim Thayil’s rumbling guitar. Go ahead—dive in and feel the heat from the celestial body.
Photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns