this poll is dedicated to Dalen, who likes my polls so much i thought he could use another one

i really fucking hate Soundgarden.

Back then, probably Alice in Chains. Now, I'd say Nirvana.

The only one that actually holds up is Screaming Trees...

Years of overplay on alt-rock radio ruined the other bands for me.

Soundgarden

i went with Pearl Jam. Their first 5 albums (Ten through to Yield) are all great. The other bands cant say the same thing. Plus they are the only survivors out of the group, thats gotta count for something. Plus they put on a great live show, regularly going up to three hours.

Heart

Other: Combustible Edison.

Those first couple Soundgarden albums, before they got popular, are really good, and Ten is good, but PJ were so much better live back then than as a studio band. Overall though, I'd probably have to pick Nirvana, because I'll still spin one of their albums occasionally.

finally a poll i can get behind.

if you don't vote Nirvana, then I mean, yikes.

I'm not gonna get all analytical about this. I just fucking like Nirvana.

Voted PJ. Longevity has to count for something. Pull out their records more than Nirvana. Come to think of it, I probably listen to Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, early SG, Monomen, and Steven Jesse Bernstein more than Nirvana.

I don't really associate Nirvana with Seattle: Kurt wasn't from there, they weren't really a part of the "Seattle scene" and other than Bleach they didn't record there.

If anything, Nirvana is an LA band or wherever it is that they cooked up the marketing scheme to sell them to America.

I am pretty sure it was said in jest, but regardless -- one of the funniest lines ever written, here, was Jewelz suggesting Kurt Cobain, had he not blown his head off, would have splintered Nirvana in the mid-nineties, retired for a few, then done a kick-ass electronic record.

The legend of Kurt is hilarious, in that all of it seems plausible -- really, breaking up Nirvana & REM to do a Simon & Garfunkel for the junkies project with Michael Stipe? -- but none of it ever could have been.

If I had to guess, I would suppose post-Nirvana solo Kurt would have been sub-Bright Eyes level singer-songwriter material, NeverShoutNever with descended testicles.

Eddie Vedder is from Evanston, IL, as is Kim Thayil from Soundgarden. I have friends who have played with both of those guys. Here.
Yet, PJ and Soundgarden are both considered to be pretty quintessentially Seattle.
I don't think that it's worth arguing over what is and isn't Seattle Sound. It is what you make it.

My favorite of that bunch is Alice in Chains. Nirvana had the biggest impact, Pearl Jam's had the most staying power, and Soundgarden probably had the best album (Superunknown), but I've always really dug AiC.

I simply cannot choose. Some of my favorite bands of all time.

I picked Alice in Chains for a really nerdy reason.

1. I really don't like grunge, so bands like Nirvana and PJ have never done it for me.
2. I haven't really listened to much AiC.
3. BUT my dad had picked up some multimedia demo CD-ROM somewhere when I was 12 or 13. On this disc was multimedia from some band I can't remember, Alice In Chains, and... The Residents. So I have quite fond memories of that disk, which freaked me the hell out at that age...

Alice in Chains are pretty much quintessentially grunge.

I voted Nirvana. They've aged the best.

Although I have to say, I never really listened to Screaming Trees (aside from that one big single I never cared about), and some of their mid-'90s stuff sounds alright. They might get my vote for runner up.

I still have a soft spot for the other three bands, though. Jar of Flies, No Code, and actually the last two Soundgarden albums all get me feeling pretty nostalgic.

Mudhoney probably should have been on this poll, but I honestly don't really like them that much so I don't care.

In Utero is just the greatest record ever, and that's the only Nirvana I listen to now; nothing against Nevermind but I don't think I can play it minimally for at least 25 years. I hate the rest of the records except for a few songs on Unplugged.

I never stopped listening to PJ so it's a no-brainer.

Totally agree with both points.

Fuck. Yes.

Might be my favourite opening line of the era.

1. Mudhoney
2. Nirvana
3. Alice in Chains
4. Soundgarden
5. Pearl Jam

I used to know a guy who did some years on the Grateful Dead soundboard... story he used to tell of of the GD playing the pyramids and a rich Saudi prince coming up behind the soundboard while Ken Kesey was sitting there and the prince asked "so, this is the San Franciso sound...." Kesey: "no, it's the Puget Sound."

"sounds" are pretty limited, arbitrary, and either a marketing ploy during, or revisionist history after....

Nirvana was the Tacoma Sound, and wins this poll, although PJ had great instrumentals live, it's just that Vedder had a hard time staying in key.