Grunge

Chris Cornell (1964, Seattle, WA, United States) is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist. In 1984 he formed the band Soundgarden with bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Throughout the late 1980s and 90s, Soundgarden experienced major success as one of the major grunge bands (along with groups such as Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam). In 1990, Chris Cornell worked together with the (then) Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, and Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready (who would later form Pearl Jam) in a project named Temple of the Dog.

The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1988. Billy Corgan and James Iha met in a record store, and began performing in local nightclubs with their bassist, D'Arcy Wretzky, using a drum machine. Playing with a drum machine frustrated both the band and their audience, and so Chicago jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was hired soon afterwards. Less influenced by punk than many of their contemporaries, the Pumpkins had a densely layered...

Melvins are an American band that formed in Montesano, Washington in 1982. In the early days of their career their dark, heavy, oppressively slow sound made them innovators of genres like sludge, grunge, and doom metal. Melvins' music is influenced by Flipper, Black Flag's My War-era hardcore punk and Black Sabbath-style heavy metal, but their idiosyncratic approach, bizarre sense of humor, and experimentation make neat categorization difficult.

The Meanies got together in Melbourne, Australia in 1989 and immediately made a name for themselves with a succession of sold out 7" singles on the Augogo label. They continued the relationship with Augogo (home to Australian groups like Magic Dirt, Scientists and Spiderbait) with the EP "Gangrenous" and the album Come 'n' See in 1991. In this time The Meanies had established themselves as one of Australia's pre-eminent underground rock bands through cultivating a huge all-age following and upsetting the rock establishment by breaking attendance records in the nation's capital cities.