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Thirty years ago, Nirvana started the grunge wave

Every high school student at the time remembers when the single Smells like teen spirit, from Nirvana, landed to win everywhere. On the radio, on TV, in the newspapers, we only talked about this new style and its hero: Kurt Cobain.

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Pessimistic, scruffy, odds and ends, the grunge style was meant to replace the crusty and shallow look of the ’80s. The whole thing only lasted for a handful of years, but grunge remains the last rock movement of magnitude to have reached the very general public. A little retro in music.

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1. Nirvana

This is the phenomenon group of the grunge movement. Album Nevermind and his single Smells like teen spirit changed the rock planet overnight. All of a sudden, permanent hard-rock bands like Bon Jovi or Mötley Crüe went completely out of fashion.

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2. Sonic Youth

A group which belongs to the previous generation, that of alternative rock of the 80s. But which, the time of a handful of albums, Goo (1990) or Dirty (1992) reached the general public.

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3. Alice in Chains

Originally from Seattle, this group enjoyed massive success for a few years, with their singular style that mixes sticky hard-rock, existential angst and liquid riffs.

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4. Soundgarden

It’s the Led Zeppelin of the 90s. Carried by the superhuman voice of singer Chris Cornell, Soundgarden has marked its time with a handful of pop hits, including the essential Black Hole Sun taken up, much later, by Norah Jones.

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5. Smashing Pumpkins

The leader of the group, Billy Corgan, stood out from the rest of the movement by his limitless ambition and his tendency to emphasis. For a while, the public followed him in droves, especially with the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995), number 1 in the United States when it was released.

6. Pearl Jam

These are the good grunge boys. Much more traditional than other groups, Pearl Jam is part of a heroic and unifying classic rock à la Bruce Springsteen. With success, but especially in the United States. France seems immune to its charms.

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7. Hole

Highly criticized at the time, Courtney Love managed, with her group, to write some of the most beautiful pages of rock of the 90s. She remains a model for many today.

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8. L7

Evolving in a still macho world of music, these four girls have established themselves thanks to their melodies and their punk attitude.

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9. Bikini Kill

A fundamental and feminist group which is associated from afar with grunge, but which strongly influenced the thought of Kurt Cobain.

10. Mudhoney

A band not well known to the general public, but which has largely influenced the grunge scene, thanks to tracks with a punk feeling like Touch me, I’m sick.

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Remi Bonnet

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