As mentioned here at Radio Underground, Nirvana was a generation · defining band, pioneering the grunge style. The band instantly gained an enormous following with their first album Nevermind. Predictably, Cobain's death both shocked and saddened their huge fan base.

Several conspiracy theories exist surrounding his death, the most common being that it was a homicide rather than a suicide, possibly involving his widow Courtney Love. None of the conspiracies, including this one, have been proven.

The Offspring

Take the punk · rock beat of Joe Jackson, the social commentary lyrics and hard guitar riffs of a typical metal band, and the wailing lead singing of frontman Dexter Holland, and you have the Offspring, who made their successful debut with their 1994 album Smash, and topped Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart with Come Out And Play the week of July 30th. Their lyrics spoke of all of the insanity they witnessed in American youth culture and set it to punk music, to the excitement of their fans.

The Offspring remained one of the most influential alternative groups for the rest of the 1990's and beyond!

Weezer

If one regards "California Alternative" as a sub · genre, no single band personifies that better than Weezer. Hailing from Los Angeles, Weezer fused the California "surfing" sound with alternative rock and heard their self · titled debut album storm the radio airwaves in 1994. With their track Undone, The Sweater Song proving most popular with fans, the band also enjoyed watching Buddy Holly and Say It Ain't So thrill their new fan base through '94 and into '95.

With their successful launch into stardom that year, Weezer enjoyed a fan base with both mainstream alternative audiences and college radio listeners well into the early 2000's!

Green Day

Like The Offspring, Green Day featured a wailing lead singer in Billie Joe Armstrong and saw their first national success the same year with release of their album Dookie. The band's style can best be described as "punk · alternative", and with frontman Armstrong's wailing, almost complaining, singing style, Green Day seemed to speak to the 1990's youth generation similar to how artists like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, and others spoke to the young generation 30 years earlier.

The two tracks most popular from Dookie were Basket Case and When I Come Around, both Billboard Modern Rock number ones, with the former reaching the pinnacle the week of August 20th, becoming one of the biggest modern rock hits of the year!

Live

If other rock bands appealed to youth in the mid · 1990's, Live captured a more mature audience. Forming in York, Pennsylvania, Live combined more serious lyrics with a more artistic · style rock sound, and met smashing success in 1994 with Throwing Copper, their first nationally · known album. The track Selling The Drama topped Billboard's Modern Rock Chart in May, lasting 3 weeks, as Live enjoyed even greater success the following year!

As expected, Live became one of the pace · setting rock bands over the rest of the 1990's!

Bush

Occasionally, a band sees greater success in a foreign country than in their own. Starting in late 1994, the British band Bush experienced this phenomenon. Originally forming in London in 1992 with vocalist/guitarist Gavin Rossdale and guitarist Nigel Pulsford, Bush released their first album, Sixteen Stone, with U.S. · based Interscope Records in late 1994. Starting with the track Everything Zen in December, Bush enjoyed instant and enormous popularity with both rock and alternative rock fans with their post · grunge style that was all the rage in the U.S. in the mid 1990's. Three other tracks - Little Things, Comedown, and Glycerine - also saw incredible popularity during the following year, along with nothing but sold · out shows on their first concert tour. Bush predictably went on to becoming one of the most popular rock bands in the U.S. for the remainder of the '90's.

With all of their success in the states, Bush only saw modest success in their native UK. No doubt, they rode the wave of the post · grunge era in the U.S. rock scene.