Nirvana

Nirvana took the punk-fuelled noise of the American underground and made it the sound of a generation. Kurt Cobain's songs balanced sweet, Beatles-like melody with ear-splitting, distorted choruses, and his raw, howling voice carried bleak, sardonic lyrics.

Bleach, on Sub Pop, was sludgy and heavy, but Nevermind, with Dave Grohl's thunderous drumming and Butch Vig's polished production, knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the US chart in 1992 on the back of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. In Utero, recorded with Steve Albini, was deliberately rougher, and MTV Unplugged in New York showed their quieter side, released months after Cobain's death in 1994.