Melvins

Nobody at the Montesano Thriftway liked a supervisor called Melvin, so clerk Buzz Osborne and his schoolmates took the name for their band in 1983, finding it suitably ridiculous. They began with Hendrix covers and fast hardcore punk, but once Dale Crover arrived behind the kit, they played slower and heavier than nearly anyone around.

That crawling weight, paired with restless, eclectic songwriting, has seen them credited as sludge metal pioneers and a key influence on grunge. Crover even sat in on the Nirvana demo that became part of Bleach, while Bullhead drifted towards drone and the major-label Houdini followed Nirvana's breakthrough.

Osborne and Crover have been the only constants since 1984, steering through a string of bassists, a two-drummer line-up and more than 25 studio albums, from the synthesiser and sampler pieces of Colossus of Destiny to Working with God.