1991 Anthem Named the Most Iconic Grunge Song of the '90s

Grunge music started soft and underground, and then, overnight, it was everywhere. While grunge was certainly alive in the 1980s, thanks to labels such as Sub Pop Records, it wasn't well known yet. Hair metal ruled the planet during the '80s, but that changed quickly in the early 1990s.

Right as the decade was taking off, Seattle bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and, yes, Nirvana started to gain traction. They signed record deals and caught the ears of the bigwigs in the industry. Then, when those bands got their music out to the masses, everything changed.

Now, an iconic song from the 1990s has been named the best grunge song of the decade, and frankly, it's likely the best, or at least most recognizable, in the grunge genre of all time.

Nirvana Classic Started the Mainstream Grunge Movement in 1991 With Classic Hit

Nirvana released Nevermind in 1991, and the album's lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," has been named the best and most iconic grunge song from the 1990s by Audio Ink Radio.

"You don't really get to talk about grunge without starting here, with this famed Nirvana song," Lucy Grindons of Audio Ink Radio states in the feature. "It's the song that broke everything open. Loud-quiet-loud dynamics that feel obvious now but hit like a shock at the time."

She adds, "It didn't just introduce a band — it shifted the entire center of rock music overnight. Still sounds like a door getting kicked in. It's was simply iconic."

Over the years, critics have had different takes on the song. "The four chords that made up “Smells Like Teen Spirit” were hardly innovative; they'd been used in countless rock songs," Rolling Stone states in an April 2021 feature about Nirvana. But, it didn't matter, and people simply loved this song.

"Nirvana's hit 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' embodies the culture of the angsty, grunge youth in the early 1990's—one marked by a generation struggling with identity," Billboard magazine adds.

In the Audio Ink Radio feature, Grindons names Soundgarden's 1994 song "Black Hole Sun" the second most iconic from the decade.

"By the time this showed up, grunge had already gotten bigger than itself," she states. "'Black Hole Sun' leans into that — melodic, strange, a little psychedelic. It doesn't hit you over the head."

She adds, 'It pulls you under slowly. A reminder that the scene wasn't just about volume. It could stretch."

So, the 1990s brought plenty of grunge music to the masses, but it's possible that none of it would have been possible without Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."