This Seattle power trio beefed with Guns n’ Roses backstage at an awards show, toppled Michael Jackson from the Billboard top spot, and continually meshed punk attitude with Beatlesque songcraft in the era of this monster album. If MTV’s heavy, heavy rotation of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” didn’t get you, the band’s patented loud-soft-loud style that continued on “Come as You Are” must have—30 million records don’t sell themselves. Kurt Cobain tragically collapsed under the weight of post-Nevermind expectations. But Nirvana’s discography is a pillar of ’90s rock.

– Miles Marshall Lewis