15 Underrated 1990s Bands We Love
There are some bands from the 1990s that will forever ring in infamy.
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains are the Mount Rushmore of the so-called “Seattle Sound,” the sound that launched a thousand bands, ushered in the era of grunge, and defined a sound for Generation X. Perhaps most amazingly, these bands are now eligible for Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame admission — and two (Nirvana and Pearl Jam) already landed spots in there.
But for every Nirvana, hundreds more bands never quite got the recognition or fame they deserved. These bands played just as important in developing the Gen X sound, even if their names are mostly forgotten today.
Pop the CDs in your Discman, or dial into the Internet and hop on Limewire, and listen to the music of these 15 underappreciated bands of the 1990s.
1. Mother Love Bone
There is almost no question that if Andy Wood hadn’t overdosed on heroin in 1990, Mother Love Bone would have been as big — if not bigger — than the Mount Rushmore of the Seattle Sound.
Regardless of what could have been, Mother Love Bone was one of the originators of the Seattle Sound, in no small part due to its lineup that included future Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament. Their sole album, Apple, and the epic “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” coda, leaves fans forever wondering what could have been.
2. Bam Bam
Another often-forgotten band from the 1990s, Bam Bam lead singer Tina Bell is often credited with being the “Godmother of Grunge.” Despite pioneering what would become the Seattle Sound, Bell was underappreciated and underrated in her lifetime. While her male peers enjoyed fame and fortune, Bell all but faded into obscurity.
It’s perhaps unsurprising that a Black woman in a predominantly white music scene would get erased from history. Thanks, however, to the efforts of her Oscar-winning son TJ Martin and musician Om Johari, Bell’s memory has been preserved, and her music — including “Villains (Also Wear White),” from the band’s sole EP of the same name — has started to get the recognition it deserves.
3. Green River
In 1984, a band named Green River — named after the notorious, and then-unknown, serial killer Gary Leon Ridgway, whose slaughter of countless streetwalkers dominated headlines in the area — formed in Seattle, Washington. They would have been just another punk band had their members simply faded away into obscurity.
Instead, every single member — Alex Vincent (also known as Alex Shumway), Mark Arm, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Chuck Treese, Bruce Fairweather, and Steve Turner — found fame in larger bands like Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Love Battery, and Pearl Jam. Fans of those bands rediscovered Green River as each of those bands made it big, and learned the genealogy of the Seattle Sound in the process.
4. Mudhoney
Mark Arm and Steve Turner formed Mudhoney after Green River disbanded in 1988. One of the many acts signed to the legendary Sub Pop label, they made a splash with grunge girlies with their single, “Touch Me I’m Sick.”
Despite mainstream success eluding the band, they continue releasing new music to this day — with 2023’s Plastic Eternity as their latest offering — and tour extensively throughout Europe.
5. The Pixies
The Pixies lead singer Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (a/k/a Black Francis) is as talented as he is mercurial. And it’s this temperament, that, perhaps, kept The Pixies languishing in relative obscurity despite influencing a myriad of more successful bands including Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Radiohead.
Nevertheless, The Pixies will forever be known for their groundbreaking full-length album, Surfer Rosa.
6. The Gits
The Gits owes its popularity in no small part to its charismatic frontwoman, Chicago native Mia Zapata, who quickly made friends on the Seattle scene as her band began playing up and down the Pacific Northwest.
Zapata’s 1993 sexual assault and murder tragically cut the band’s career short. Zapata’s murder went unsolved for more than a decade until DNA technology confirmed Jesus Mezquia as her killer. In 2004, authorities sentenced him to 37 years in prison. He passed away in 2021 at the age of 66 while still incarcerated.
7. Screaming Trees
Screaming Trees was the band that other bands from the Seattle scene revered above all others. They first enjoyed mainstream success in 1992, when “Nearly Lost You” — a single from the band’s sixth album, Sweet Oblivion — was included on the Singles soundtrack.
Sadly, the band’s internal struggles kept them from follow-up success, and lead singer Mark Lanegan died in relative obscurity in his home in Killarney, Ireland, in 2022.
8. Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill pioneered the riot grrrl movement thanks to drummer Tobi Vail. Vail coined the term “riot grrrl” in 1991.
Lead singer Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, and bassist Kathi Wilcox rounded out Bikini Kill’s lineup. Perhaps their most famous song is “Rebel Girl,” which went viral in 2016 after Hillary Clinton briefly used it for her presidential campaign. Hanna also had a well-publicized feud with Courtney Love in the mid-90s, which overshadowed the band’s music.
9. Tad
Tad’s popularity, propelled by its likable and portly frontman Tad Doyle, originally seemed all but destined. After all, the band took Nirvana to Europe as its supporting act back in the late 1980s.
But Tad also had some very bad timing. Their acclaimed debut album dropped in 1989 before Nirvana ushered in the era of Grunge. Internal squabbles and label disputes hampered their follow-up albums. The band finally disbanded in 1998. As a result, woefully underrated songs like “Stumblin’ Man” and “Ritual Device” are all but forgotten today.
10. Slint
Steve Albini’s production helmed some of the most influential music of the Gen X era. No better example of this existed than Slint, whose woefully forgotten, groundbreaking Tweez album was only matched by their 1991 release of the band’s second, and final, album Spiderland.
Slint periodically attempted reunions since 1992, but formally disbanded in 2014, admitting that they could never fully overcome their issues.
11. Helmet
Page Hamilton is the only constant of New York City noise rockers Helmet, who never achieved mainstream success despite the success of such singles as 1994’s “Milquetoast” and “Wilma’s Rainbow.”
Hamilton summarized the band’s persistent interpersonal conflicts during a web chat: “Nine years, 1,600 shows, 5 albums, and we found it hard to look at each other anymore.”
12. Black 47
A “Celtic rock band” doesn’t seem like a hard-rockin’ good time, but Black 47 — named after the Irish famine of 1847 — defied all expectations.
Former NYPD officer Chris Byrne and Irish expatriate Larry Kirwan, who originally comprised Black 47, performed blistering live shows and released supersonic singles like “Funky Céilí (Bridie’s Song)” and “Those Saints” before disbanding in 2014. Byrne, however, amicably left the band in 2000, fourteen years before their formal disbandment, and formed Seanchai & the Unity Squad.
13. Living Colour
In 1988, Living Colour exploded onto the music scene with more literal color and flavor than any other band before or since. Led by Brooklyn-born Corey Glover, Living Colour’s super-smash hit “Cult of Personality” made them bonafide superstars.
The band broke up in 1995 after releasing “Love Rears Its Ugly Head” and “Middle Man.” However, they officially reunited in 2000 and have toured in various incarnations and lineups since then.
14. Fugazi
Unlike other bands on this list, Fugazi actively avoided mainstream popularity thanks to lead singer Ian MacKay’s staunch anti-capitalistic, pro-DIY business model. Nevertheless, they enjoyed success on their own terms after performing many worldwide tours, which garnered fans from every corner of the globe.
Despite MacKay’s staunchly individualistic approach to music and touring, critics often cite Fugazi as one of the most influential bands of the post-punk movement, with bands like Sublime (who name-checked them on 40 Oz. to Freedom) and At The Drive-In owing more than a slight debt of gratitude to them.
Sadly, however, Fugazi has been on indefinite hiatus since 2003.
15. Maktub
Before leading the band on The Late Show with James Corden, Reggie Watts led Maktub, whose name comes from the Arabic term meaning “it is written.” Maktub enjoyed indie success throughout the late 1990s. In 2003, they rocked Gen X with their cover of Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter.”
Despite their popularity and burgeoning fanbase, radio stations couldn’t figure out where the band quite fit. Watts proudly labeled their music eclectic, but they couldn’t find traction on “urban” stations (soul, R&B, hip-hop) or on “rock” stations until KCMU (now KEXP-FM) broke their music.
