The ‘Big 4’ Bands of Post-Grunge

Who would be the “Big 4” bands of the post-grunge subgenre?

First, we should define what post-grunge is. Some sources take the label literally and consider any rock bands that came “after” grunge to be post-grunge, but we think it’s a little more complex than that. Plenty of nu-metal and alternative rock bands were popular in the mid-to-late-’90s, and they don’t really fit the post-grunge bill sonically.

AllMusic defines post-grunge as a “wave of bands who appeared shortly after Seattle grunge hit the mainstream,” which was around 1992. Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam are generally regarded as the “Big 4” of grunge, so most of the bands considered post-grunge formed during the years that the grunge bands peaked.

While grunge was an amalgamation of sounds ranging from classic rock to punk to metal, post-grunge was essentially grunge refined. It took out a lot of the fuzz and distortion, the odd time signatures and other impurities, but maintained the same introspective songwriting and typically sullen atmosphere.

To put it simply, post-grunge bands just simplified grunge and made it a bit more radio-friendly, and there’s no harm in that at all. It marked a new wave of bands that created some of the biggest hits in hard rock history, although many of them were criticized early on for sounding similar to the Seattle bands.

There are countless bands that fall under the post-grunge umbrella, and it even seemed to spawn a couple of different subgenres on its own. So when it came to choosing our “Big 4,” we went with bands that formed in the early ’90s when grunge was on top of the world and found mainstream success later in the decade.

All four groups we chose formed in or after 1990, and three out of four of the groups still make music and tour today. Keep scrolling to read about the “Big 4” of post-grunge.

And before you come for us, we consider Foo Fighters to be more on the alternative rock side.