4 Big Grunge Bands Not From Seattle

When you talk about grunge music, there is an important distinction to make, a difficult question you have to answer. Can a band be grunge if it’s not from Seattle? For some ardent die-hard fans, the answer is assuredly no. Grunge is a Pacific Northwest thing. More than that, it’s a Seattle thing. No outside bands allowed!

But to make such a decree wouldn’t be entirely fair. After all, Pearl Jam was fronted by Eddie Vedder, who the band recruited from SoCal. Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl was born in Warren, Ohio, and traveled all over the country as a young person. So, where do you draw the line?

By allowing bands that originated outside of Seattle to fall under the banner of grunge, you get some great acts added to the genre. We wanted to dive into a quartet of groups that may just fit that bill. Four bands that did not come up in the rainy confines of Seattle that still offered fans that deep, dark, sludgy sound.

These are big-name grunge bands that were not from the Emerald City.

Stone Temple Pilots

Speaking of SoCal, this hard-rocking group originates from San Diego, California. Fronted by the late singer Scott Weiland, STP was known globally thanks to its sophomore LP, Purple, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Featuring tracks like “Vasoline” and “Interstate Love Song,” the 1994 record was hefty and thick. Weiland’s signature voice oozed with pain and force. As a result, the group is often considered grunge today.

The Smashing Pumpkins

The Chicago-born band was famously fronted by songwriter and lead vocalist Billy Corgan. And if you asked Corgan who the best songwriters of the 1990s were, he’ll tell you quickly that it was Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain squarely at No. 1, but he was close behind at No. 2. Is it hubris if it’s true? Either way, Corgan’s band could be considered grunge today. The group was contemporaneous with all the major grunge bands and featured brooding songs. But were they grunge, truly? Seems like it’s in the eye of the beholder.

Hole

From Los Angeles, the rock band Hole was fronted by Courtney Love. Of course, Love was famously the wife of Cobain, and the two would collaborate on songs. If you listen to Hole’s mid-90s records, Live Through This and Celebrity Skin, you can hear Cobain’s vast influence. Or is it the other way around? Was it Love who influenced Nirvana’s sound? Either way, Hole leaned into the grunge aesthetic, and the blonde lead vocalist often subverted her beauty to maintain that haggard aesthetic grunge was known for.

Silverchair

Hailing from Australia, the band Silverchair, perhaps more than any other group outside of Seattle, seemed to give off grunge vibes. The band’s 1995 LP, Frogstomp, featured giant tracks like “Israel’s Son” and “Pure Massacre.” If any band outside of Seattle earned the grunge brand, it was this band of artists from Down Under. With hypnotic, droning sounds, the group was as popular as any in the mid-’90s.