By the 1990s, indie rock had fully formed but took on new meaning. In the 80s, indie was more of a descriptive term. By the 1990s, it became a full-fledged genre, pairing alongside the alternative movement of the decade. During this developmental time, many indie rock bands released one album and then disappeared. It’s a shame, and here are the indie rock bands that should have been way bigger.

The Pulsars

In 1997, brothers Dave and Harry Trumfio released their only album in the 90s. This wouldn’t be the Chicago band’s only album, though, as they did release a rarities compilation in 2021, 24 years later. Following the release of their self-titled debut in 1997, the band received critical praise for their eclectic and transformative style. They incorporated elements of new wave into their form of indie rock, which was well-received among the indie community in the 90s. However, they disbanded during the recording of their follow-up as Dave Trumfio became overwhelmed with production work.

The La’s

Out of many one-hit wonders of the 1990s, The La’s are one of the grandest examples of a band many would’ve loved to hear more from. Their 1990 hit, “There She Goes”, was foundational for the Britpop movement of the early-to-mid 90s. Bands such as Oasis and Blue took influence from the band, but also capitalized on the momentum they pioneered with this jangly 60s-inspired hit.

The La’s were formed in 1983, though they only released one album in 1990. Their band leader and songwriter, Lee Mavers was a perfectionist who was never quite satisfied with the result of the album in comparison to their preceding demos. Following its release, Mavers stepped away from the group. Due to this, bassist John Power formed Cast in 1992.

American Football

This massively influential emo band wasn’t nearly the legends they are now when they released their debut album at the tail end of the 90s. Over time, their self-titled debut became a landmark album in the emo and indie world after the band had already broken up. They were local legends on the college campus of the University of Illinois, based out of Urbana. After recording their debut, they mutually agreed to call it quits, not knowing what the future held for them.

Their ever-growing fanbase laid the groundwork for a triumphant reunion in 2014. They could’ve easily never returned after only one great album if it weren’t for the internet. They officially returned in 2016 with the release of another self-titled album, 17 years after their debut. If they had stayed together, would they have ever built as massive a cult following?

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Each generation is typically influenced by the impressionable years of their youth. You’ll find influence of the 1960s of carious releases in the 1980s, and so on. The same occurred during the creation of grunge, and the rise of the genre breaking into the mainstream in the early 1990s. Defining grunge artists developed their musical senses during the 1970s, two decades prior. Here are 3 forgotten 70s rock bands that directly inspired the grunge movement of the 90s.

Bay City Rollers

Many wouldn’t immediately assume the Scottish bubblegum pop rock band Bay City Rollers would have any kind of influence on the grunge movement. Oddly enough, it’s true. They rejected the trends of arena rock at the time, offering a different way to create catchy hit songs. Kurt Cobain took note of this, carrying this influence into his songwriting for Nirvana.

In a 1992 interview with Guitar World, Cobain famously stated, “All in all, I think we sound like Bay City Rollers after an assault by Black Sabbath.” Additionally, a sample of the Bay City Rollers’ song “Rock N Roll Love Letter” was found in Cobain’s private audio experiments. This recording later surfaced through the archival project and documentary, Montage Of Heck.

Cheap Trick

Though not entirely forgotten, many have forgotten or have never even heard Cheap Trick‘s darker edge. The band emerged in the late 70s with rock anthems such as “Surrender” and “Dream Police”, while also penning the pop-rock pioneering track “I Want You To Want Me”. Cheap Trick experimented with many different variations of sound in the mid to late 1970s. They showcased how eclectic the band, especially singer Robin Zander, could be.

Their influence on defining grunge bands can be heard on tracks such as “Auf Wiedersehen”, “Big Eyes”, and “Stiff Competition”. Particularly, the lyrics of “Auf Wiedersehen” were massively ahead of their time. The song is about the deaths of World War II kamikaze suicide bombers. Many defining grunge bands credited the band as a major influence. Those include Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and many more.

Sir Lord Baltimore

The New York City trio were pioneers of heavy metal, but subsequently predicted the rise of grunge at the same time. Their stoner rock 1970 debut, Kingdom Come, is an early example of this. They slowed things down in 1971 with their sophomore self-titled album, contrasting with other heavy bands who were producing faster tracks. They famously opened for Black Sabbath at Fillmore East in 1971. Iconic grunge bands such as Soundgarden cited the band as a major influence, using their heavy proto-metal template and expanding on it in the late 80s and 90s.

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On November 4, 1991, My Bloody Valentine released their sophomore album, Loveless. With this, My Bloody Valentine were among the pioneering shoegaze bands during the genre’s peak in 1991. Loveless is not only considered one of the greatest contributions to shoegaze, but it’s also among the greatest albums of all time.

Preceding Loveless, the Irish band released their debut album, Isn’t Anything, on November 21, 1988. The album was massively successful, further popularizing shoegaze as it peaked at No. 1 on the UK Independent Albums chart. Additionally, the band released multiple EPs in the 80s and early 90s. Their first ever release was a “mini album” in 1985 titled This Is Your Bloody Valentine. Among a string of EPS, their fourth, You Made Me Realize, was a massive success, peaking at No. 2 on the UK Indie chart. In 1990, they released Glider, which showcased guitarist Kevin Shields “glide guitar” technique.

Ahead of the release of Loveless in November 1991, the band released their seventh EP in February. Tremolo went to No. 1 on the UK Indie chart, setting the band up for the release of their sophomore full-length album. Following the album’s release along with the lead single “When You Sleep”, My Bloody Valentine received critical praise. Critics credit guitarist Kevin Shields for reinventing guitar-playing. For this album, the band blended all previous elements from their EPs, showcasing glide guitar, non-standard tuning, sampling, and sheer noise rock.

My Bloody VALENTINE Gets Dropped From Their Label

Loveless peaked at No. 24 on the UK Albums chart in late 1991. Despite this, the band was dropped from their label, Creation. Multiple factors played into this decision. Among those, the main one being label owner Alan McGee claimed Kevin Shields was difficult to work with. Shields was known as a perfectionist, which could often clash with the business side of the music industry. Their label expected the album to be completed in only five days. It took the band two years to record the album, entering 19 different studios throughout the process.

The long, grueling recording process left Creation’s second-in-command in tears, having a nervous breakdown. Creation wasn’t a wealthy label by any means, and the album cost them too much money in the end. Shiels hired and fired numerous engineers throughout the process as well. In the end, the album’s cost is rumored to be around $250,000.

Following the album’s release, Creation dropped My Bloody Valentine. Their founder, Alan McGee, directly stated that he dropped the band because Shields was difficult to work with. The independent label accumulated heavy debt during the album’s recording process. Due to this, they sold a 50% stake to Sony Music Entertainment in 1992. The label later shut down in 1999.

Recording The Follow Up That Was Never Released

My Bloody Valentine signed a major deal with Island Records in October 1992. With their advance from the signing, Kevin Shields built an at-home studio, which was completed in 1993. Over the next four years, the band went through long periods of creative drought due to Shields’ perfectionism. They began and dismissed multiple recordings and potential albums during this time.

In 1997, Island Records cut off their album funding, which led to their disbandment that same year. With this, Loveless became the band’s final album in their prime. However, they returned in 2013 with a new album, M B V, their first is over two decades.

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It’s safe to say we wouldn’t have had the wave of alternative music of the 90s and beyond without the underground punk scenes of the 80s. Grunge was created directly out of the influence of definitive 80s punk bands, and it was grunge that pushed alternative music into the mainstream in 1991. Here are three underground punk bands from the 80s that changed alternative music forever.

Minor Threat

This band is easily one of the most influential punk bands in history. Hailing from the Washington, D.C. hardcore punk scene in 1980, vocalist Ian MacKaye made more sense than other hardcore punk bands. His lyrics contained themes of rejecting traditional societal standards, focusing on personal autonomy. That’s how he created the straight edge ideology, which inspired countless punk fans to abstain from the use of drugs and alcohol. Ultimately, he straight edge movement is one of the most important and defining features in punk music of the late 20th century and into the 21st century.

Black Flag

Black Flag is among the most recognizable hardcore punk bands of the 80s. They’re widely recognized now, but at the time, they were the kings of the underground. In 1981, they penned their signature track “Rise Above” on their debut album, Damaged. They established their place among the top Southern California hardcore punk bands of the time.

In 1984, they abandoned their signature fast-paced sound with an album that predicted the grunge movement. My War contained slower-paced, more sludge-like tracks. Subsequently, it was heavily influential on the grunge movement of the late 80s and early 90s.

Descendents

Graciously, we can thank Descendents for their massive influence on an incredible number of bands of the 90s. Additionally, they were heavily influential within the grunge movement as well. The Southern California band was an early pioneer of melodic hardcore and pop-punk with the release of their 1982 debut studio album, Milo Goes To College.

Descendants influenced defining alternative bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, Foo Fighters, NOFX, and countless others. Also, they had a massive influence on the second and third waves of emo in the 90s and 2000s, with bands such as Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, and All-American Rejects citing the band as an influence.

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On May 10, 1994, Weezer released their iconic debut album. Often referred to as the Blue Album, given its simplistic album cover featuring a blue background, the album generated three defining 90s alternative hits. Their debut single, “Undone – The Sweater Song”, peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 6 on the Alternative Airplay chart. Their follow-up, “Buddy Holly”, peaked at No. 2 on the Alternative Airplay chart, and a third single, “Say It Ain’t So”, peaked at No. 7 on the chart.

To promote this debut release, the band toured extensively, playing around 150 shows in 1994 and into 1995. In August 1995, frontman Rivers Cuomo enrolled at Harvard University. That same month, the band made their major late-night television appearance, performing “Say It Ain’t So” on Late Night With David Letterman. He had visited Harvard’s campus while on tour in 1994. He obtained an application and eventually submitted an essay about his newfound fame in Weezer. Subsequently, Cuomo was accepted as a second-semester sophomore.

Rivers Goes To Harvard

Initially, Cuomo went to Harvard to study classical composition. He later switched to English literature, specifically American literature and language. As mentioned before, he was enrolled for the fall semester, starting in August 1995. While attending Harvard, the frontman sported a beard and walked with a cane following a leg-lengthening procedure. Therefore, many students didn’t recognize the Weezer frontman. On the last day of his first year at Harvard, he revealed his identity to a classmate while discussing an upcoming tour with No Doubt.

During his time at Harvard, Cuomo wrote songs for Weezer in his free time, living in a dorm on campus. He mostly penned tracks for a rock opera titled Songs From The Black Hole, to follow up the success of their debut, but these plans were later abandoned. Instead, the band used some of the tracks and new ones to record Pinkerton. Recording for this cult classic follow-up began in August 1995 and lasted until July 1996.

In the fall semester of 1996, Cuomo dropped out of Harvard two semesters before graduating. He did this to focus entirely on recording Pinkerton, putting his education on hold. Following the album’s release, which was considered a commercial flop, Cuomo returned to Harvard in the spring of 1997, completing that semester. In 2004, he returned once more, completing another semester.

Finally, in 2006, he re-enrolled for the spring semester. Rivers Cuomo graduated in June 2006, over ten years after he first enrolled, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society while attending the prestigious and historic university.

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Before Eddie Vedder became the iconic grunge singer in Pearl Jam, he worked as a security guard in San Diego. He worked the night shift so in his free time, he would spend mornings surfing on the coast of the Pacific. Aside from brief bouts in other bands, Vedder had received a demo tape from future bandmates, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament. During an early morning foggy surfing session, Vedder felt inspired by the demo and thoughts of his father. That is, his real father.

When Eddie Vedder was a teenager, he learned some harsh news. The man he believed to be his father was actually his stepfather. His real father, Edward Severson, had already passed away by the time Vedder discovered this truth. For years, this shook Vedder’s perception of reality and later inspired his writing. During this specific surfing session, Vedder strung together his thoughts, adding lyrics to the demo tapes that were sent to him. He pieced together the three tracks into one “min-opera”, titled Mamasan. Vedder drew inspiration from his love for The Who’s Quadrophenia, which opens with the sound of waves on “I Am The Sea”.

The opening track of the mini-opera became “Alive”, the band’s breakout single. Upon hearing this demo tape, the future members flew Vedder up to Seattle. There, the band was in the studio with Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden. Together, they were recording a tribute album called Temple Of The Dog, for their late mutual friend and musician Andrew Wood. In the studio, Cornell decided to let Vedder contribute additional vocals to the song “Hunger Strike”. It became a hit single in 1992 once their record label realized they had a collaboration between Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, after Pearl Jam found mainstream success in 1991.

Pearl Jam Forms, Taking Grunge Into The Mainstream

After Temple Of The Dog finished and released their only album, Pearl Jam began recording their debut album, Ten. Their lead single, “Alive”, was released on July 7, 1991. It peaked at No. 16 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart and No. 18 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The success of the single set their debut album, Ten, up for future success. “Alive” is one of three songs included in the mini-opera demo, Mamasan. “Once”, the second song on the demo, was also included on the band’s debut album. The third track, “Footsteps”, appeared on the band’s rarities and B-sides compilation Lost Dogs, released in 2003.

Released on August 27, 1991, Ten went to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 a whole year later. Fueled by a string of hits with “Alive” and then “Even Flow” in March 1992. Following the release of “Jeremy” in August 1992, the album became a massive commercial success. Also, by this point, Nirvana had helped push grunge into the mainstream when they peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in January 1992. In August 1992, Ten peaked at No. 2, held from the top spot by Billy Ray Cyrus’ Some Gave All.

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