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Genre
grunge
Parent Genre: rock

Grunge music is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1980s. It is characterized by its heavy, distorted guitar sound and angst-filled lyrics that often deal with themes of social alienation and apathy. Grunge music is known for its raw, unpolished sound and DIY ethos, which helped to define the genre's anti-establishment attitude. It gained mainstream popularity in the early 1990s with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins, who helped to bring grunge to a wider audience.


Top artists of grunge genre

Nirvana
Pearl Jam
The Smashing Pumpkins
Alice In Chains
Queens of the Stone Age
Audioslave
Soundgarden
Stone Temple Pilots
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grunge music timeline

Explore grunge history by listening to songs from every decade. Click on the decade to view songs.

2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 1930s

Similar Genres to grunge

Discover more related genres to grunge genre. This list is ordered by similarity from left to right.

alternative rock rock alternative metal post-hardcore post-grunge funk metal pop rock nu metal punk alternative pop hard rock riot grrrl post-punk blues rock gbvfi noise rock supergroup permanent wave emo emo punk
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grunge playlist created by Chosic

Enjoy this playlist of popular grunge music. We made this playlist using an algorithm created by our team.

Play on spotify

List of grunge artists

Here is a list of grunge artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the grunge genre. You can find out what grunge genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.

#namePopularity instrumentalnessdanceabilityenergyacousticnessHappinesstempofollowers
1
Nirvana
81 15 41 78 12 41 133 17651316
2
Pearl Jam
74 7 39 74 16 36 130 8228196
3
The Smashing Pumpkins
72 49 46 62 10 34 121 4524810
4
Alice In Chains
71 8 39 75 9 33 118 4553092
5
Queens of the Stone Age
71 15 42 78 15 45 134 3240433
6
Audioslave
68 1 42 77 5 42 113 4163262
7
Soundgarden
67 18 39 80 3 36 130 4005450
8
Stone Temple Pilots
67 7 42 79 11 44 138 3227347
9
Eddie Vedder
62 16 50 52 53 40 114 1501243
10
Bush
62 3 42 71 9 30 131 1736208
11
Blind Melon
61 1 44 65 25 59 123 1116016
12
Live
61 6 37 80 6 35 127 731532
13
Hole
60 7 34 76 7 42 136 1003885
14
Collective Soul
60 4 55 73 9 55 127 1014353
15
Chris Cornell
60 1 46 58 30 34 123 2000335
16
Silverchair
58 4 35 70 4 33 127 1158682
17
Primus
57 33 58 84 7 60 125 1046371
18
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
57 3 55 79 13 73 127 568663
19
Jane's Addiction
56 8 42 80 10 38 120 1320933
20
Temple Of The Dog
55 1 39 74 10 47 127 1155811
21
Marcy Playground
55 5 57 60 19 52 125 391874
22
Soul Asylum
55 0 51 70 6 47 128 569910
23
Filter
55 30 49 79 1 28 133 490931
24
Candlebox
54 0 44 78 3 38 128 817247
25
Velvet Revolver
54 15 37 92 0 32 149 1428862
26
Helmet
51 18 40 85 4 39 119 274263
27
Days Of The New
51 1 51 64 19 46 119 368383
28
Kyuss
51 68 35 68 13 42 119 438895
29
Toadies
50 8 53 70 8 44 129 273172
30
Local H
50 9 42 85 1 36 131 199007
31
Kurt Cobain
50 66 53 30 82 39 94 690710
32
Melvins
50 34 41 68 8 38 125 350195
33
Butthole Surfers
50 19 42 76 6 43 116 310709
34
Mad Season
50 23 37 62 15 34 122 556252
35
L7
47 36 45 84 0 61 132 282720
36
Meat Puppets
46 31 47 70 11 61 127 258171
37
Veruca Salt
46 2 51 82 0 60 122 238785
38
Mudhoney
45 21 32 86 1 47 133 258919
39
Screaming Trees
45 12 30 86 0 41 135 300721
40
Mother Love Bone
43 0 43 59 13 31 119 324594
41
Jerry Cantrell
43 6 44 72 10 33 112 273954
42
Sponge
42 12 44 73 7 38 114 114389
43
Wipers
41 64 42 77 4 55 122 83811
44
Babes In Toyland 
37 36 32 74 1 54 137 131103
45
Tomahawk
36 30 50 78 7 45 131 121092
46
Green River
34 11 28 86 8 24 132 81067
47
Matt Cameron
33 7 54 88 0 68 138 7772
48
The Jesus Lizard
33 40 45 75 0 62 120 81491
49
Tad
32 23 34 87 0 42 140 52357
50
Mike McCready
32 52 64 31 87 47 113 6723
51
Gruntruck
28 7 38 82 0 47 124 27332
52
Love Battery
28 16 30 79 3 44 112 22218
53
Brad
28 4 53 58 17 30 126 9085
54
Scott Weiland
28 11 52 73 17 44 125 123836
55
Skin Yard
27 8 32 91 0 39 124 28387
56
Paw
26 2 38 84 0 47 133 13350
57
Flipper
26 18 32 95 10 25 136 43814
58
3rd Secret
25 0 47 65 24 38 124 39813
59
Malfunkshun
25 14 33 81 10 23 125 28409
60
Fang
24 20 26 69 0 59 158 11293
61
Downface
24 12 29 75 4 28 120 15071
62
Scratch Acid
24 56 34 79 0 49 128 33219
63
The Gutter Twins
22 15 38 71 20 28 109 23457
64
Eleven
22 10 51 97 1 48 121 11342
65
Stone Gossard
20 0 0 0 0 0 0 8030
66
Handsome
19 24 27 97 0 29 134 9581
67
Killdozer
19 48 30 65 0 52 113 11150
68
Treepeople
19 65 26 76 0 54 155 9099
69
Fastbacks
19 6 30 91 1 45 129 8057
70
U-Men
18 15 34 81 6 47 111 7872
71
Satchel
15 0 43 56 28 31 124 4035
72
Hammerbox
15 0 23 96 0 24 145 8691
73
Sugartooth
15 32 40 92 0 76 151 1854
74
Laughing Hyenas
14 87 31 92 0 20 112 7170
75
Gas Huffer
13 85 38 95 0 75 105 5293
76
Talk Show
12 1 35 95 0 39 147 5067
77
Steel Pole Bath Tub
12 75 32 88 1 31 139 6475
78
Hammerhead
12 63 21 92 2 21 146 4663
79
Truly
11 44 36 86 0 49 122 7443
80
The Nymphs
11 27 30 77 0 36 107 2142
81
Hazel
11 0 37 96 2 46 122 2049
82
Hater
10 32 48 89 3 70 142 5676
83
Pond
10 53 37 96 0 41 107 2297
84
Wool
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 934
85
Unified Theory
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 2339
86
Dig
10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1982
87
Coffin Break
10 0 35 86 0 55 115 8094
88
Flop
10 0 25 86 0 33 157 3374
89
My Sister's Machine
10 1 31 77 0 52 118 448
90
The Rockfords
9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1809
91
Dandelion
9 1 25 87 0 51 122 1794
92
Jeff Ament
9 0 0 0 0 0 0 7676
93
Wellwater Conspiracy
8 0 0 0 0 0 0 4828
94
Comes With The Fall
8 0 33 94 1 42 121 6183
95
Goodness
8 0 40 82 2 42 130 1666
96
Andrew Wood
7 0 0 0 0 0 0 778
97
Gumball
7 0 31 94 0 50 157 6025
98
Rein Sanction
7 45 17 91 0 33 109 1885
99
God Bullies
6 77 38 90 0 37 165 3221
100
Girl Trouble
5 18 46 71 0 66 123 2177
101
Halo Of Flies
5 0 23 94 24 62 164 2642
102
Terry Lee Hale
5 10 55 54 35 73 176 1235
103
Guzzard
5 46 53 82 0 50 102 2504
104
Alcohol Funnycar
4 7 38 97 0 42 93 1219
105
Bundle Of Hiss
3 17 30 92 0 47 123 1821
106
Napalm Beach
2 0 54 70 0 72 116 1142
107
Nudeswirl
2 8 47 91 0 74 115 246
108
Some Velvet Sidewalk
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 695
109
Gary Lee Conner
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 722
110
Brad
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5427
111
Black Market Radio
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 249
112
Crackerbash
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 780
113
The Chemistry Set
1 3 25 91 0 25 146 583
114
Monkeywrench
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 352