The 90s were not short of bands getting handed major label deals on a whim. If you could tune a guitar and had the right haircut, someone with a chequebook was probably already sniffing around. And yet, somehow, some genuinely brilliant acts walked away from the decade with almost nothing to show for it commercially. That is not a minor administrative error. That is a failure.
The Ones Who Did Everything Right and Still Got Nowhere
Screaming Trees are the clearest example of the injustice. They were already five albums deep when grunge broke in 1991, their moody, reflective sound practically blueprinting what Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains would go on to do. They struck while the iron was hot with 1992's Sweet Oblivion, landed a spot on the Singles soundtrack (which went platinum, for the record), and had endorsements from both Kurt Cobain and Chris Cornell. Cobain put them on the 1993 Reading Festival bill. Cornell helped produce their major label debut Uncle Anesthesia. The single Nearly Lost You hit No. 5 on US Alternative Airplay, No. 12 on Mainstream Rock, and still stalled at No. 50 in the UK singles chart without troubling the US Top 100. The band eventually fell apart in 2000 after labels showed complete indifference to a follow-up to 1996's Dust, which had itself reached No. 32 in the UK albums chart. Considering how ubiquitous their sound became, it genuinely beggars belief.
Bikini Kill's story is arguably even more frustrating. Not because they were ignored within the riot grrrl scene, but because they helped build the scene and still got frozen out of the commercial rewards. They had Nirvana and Fugazi in their corner. Ian MacKaye produced their self-titled debut EP. And yet the band were met with hatemail and shows described by drummer Tobi Vail as "all-out war." Their biggest moment, Rebel Girl, became a genuine anthem for an entire movement and made zero commercial dent. They split in 1997 having released just two full-length albums. The excitement around their reunion tour tells you everything about the gap between the legacy they earned and the recognition they got at the time. If you want to understand why [some records get swallowed by silence](/uprise/music/flesh-blood-the-story-of-the-short-lived-melodic-rock-supergroup), Bikini Kill's career is as good an example as any.
Odd by Design, Overlooked by Default
Alice Donut are a different kind of tragedy. Jello Biafra, who ran their label Alternative Tentacles, called them "the missing link between R.E.M. and the Butthole Surfers." That description alone should have made them unmissable. Their genre-blurring approach, which drew on twisted psychedelia, 80s punk and a Frank Zappa-level fondness for the absurd, included a trombone-led cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and a loyal cult following built at CBGB's. They called it quits in 1996 after their 1000th show, despite getting more acclaim than ever with the previous year's Pure Acid Park. They reformed in 2001 and have been operating on and off since.
Our Verdict
The 90s alt-rock boom was never quite the meritocracy it was sold as. Some acts got rich, some got famous, and a handful of genuinely great bands got absolutely nothing except a cult following built years after the fact. Screaming Trees, Bikini Kill and Alice Donut all deserved better, and the fact we are still talking about them is cold comfort at best.