From grunge to alt-rock, the 1990s offered some timeless voices. Everywhere you turned, another bold, bodacious singer was offering their talents. Whether it was MTV, the radio, or your neighbor’s garage—rock was everywhere.
Here below, we wanted to highlight three singers from the decade that still stand out. These are three performers we know quite well. Indeed, these are three rock voices from the 1990s you’ll recognize in about two seconds.
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Kurt Cobain
The frontman for the grunge rock band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain helped to define a genre in the 1990s. Amazingly, though his band had a giant impact on the time period, Nirvana was only around for a handful of years. The group released their debut LP Bleach in 1989 and their final studio album In Utero in 1993. That small footprint seems impossible when you think of Cobain’s legacy today. As a singer, his voice was like neon light. It was focused and brittle, beautiful and bold. And his fans ate it up.
Chris Cornell
Speaking of grunge music, another major voice from the genre belonged to Chris Cornell. His band Soundgarden was the first grunge group from the Pacific Northwest to make it big. The band’s debut LP Ultramega OK garnered them a Grammy nomination in 1990, and there was no looking back after that. As a singer, Cornell’s voice soared. It seemed to race the skies with eagles and hawks. Songs like “Black Hole Sun” and “Spoonman” most definitely benefited from the singer’s sweeping instrument.
Alanis Morissette
In the mid-1990s, when grunge was falling apart thanks to too many tragedies (like Cobain’s death in 1994), rock music needed a new voice. Enter: Alanis Morissette. The former child actor-turned-rock star released her breakout LP, Jagged Little Pill, in 1995. With it came hit song after hit song. Morissette became a star amongst stars. Sometimes you’d hear her tracks back-to-back on popular radio—that’s just how ubiquitous she was. Today, her snarling singing voice remains beloved. It’s one we immediately recognize as soon as it comes on the air. If you don’t know by now, well, you oughta know!
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