The best Nirvana songs defined an era, turned Kurt Cobain into the voice of a generation and still retain an indefinable magic that transcends time.
Offering hints as to where Nirvana “could have gone next”, ‘MTV Unplugged In New York’ remains one of the greatest live albums of all time.
A mix of swaggering hard rock, proto-punk and West Coast hardcore, ‘Ultramega OK’ saw Soundgarden point to the future of rock in the late 80s and 90s.
Full of “nihilism, sentimentality and epic hope”, ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ remains The Smashing Pumpkins’ most vital release.
Diverse, heavy-hitting and truly fearless, the ‘Badmotorfinger’ album ensured that Soundgarden were among the head of the pack after grunge broke worldwide.
The album made a modest sales start, but turned into a defining record for the seminal Seattle band.
Musically, nothing was off limits for ‘Euphoria Morning’, the first solo album by Chris Cornell, and one of the singer’s finest moments.
A mature and eminently satisfying collection suffused with soul, beauty and splendour, ‘Higher Truth’ remains a life-affirming gem from the late, lamented singer.
Having drawn up the template for the Seattle grunge scene, ‘Louder Than Love’ proved that Soundgarden had what it took to compete on the global stage.
A challenging, powerful work, ‘Throwing Copper’ “captured the anger and ache of the moment”, and launched Live into the spotlight.
A fearless quest for perfection, Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Siamese Dream’ album sent shockwaves through the music world and turned the group into alt.rock icons.
The previous record was $3.95 million for a Black Stratocaster owned by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour.
‘Bleach’ prototyped the ‘Nevermind’ sound that would deliver Nirvana to a global stage and reshape the future of rock’n’roll.
When singer Chris Cornell died, the rock world lost not only a charismatic frontman, but also one of its most transcendent voices.
Experimental Jet Set, Trash And No Star captures how far Sonic Youth were willing to push against commercial forces with their noise-rock agenda.
