Why These 15 Songs Proved Post-Grunge Was Dominate At the Start of 1996

With hindsight, many rock fans who lived through the 1990s feel that 1996 was the year grunge descended quickly, with some of the top bands either changing their sound—like Pearl Jam—or completing a successful run of hits, as Alice in Chains and Soundgarden did. But post‑grunge was firmly established in the rock landscape by then, thanks to grunge’s influence, and plenty of great rock songs were emerging from younger bands.

Let’s look back at the Mainstream Rock chart to see how half of the top 30 was connected to grunge in one way or another.

28 Foo Fighters – I’ll Stick Around – The band was still being constructed as FF hits like “I’ll Stick Around” found their way to radio in late 1995.  The band would take control of MTV later in 1996 with “Big Me”.

27 Green Day – Brain Stew – Never was Green Day so entrenched in grunge as it was with the stop-start grunge riffs of “Brain Stew” and it’s sludgy production and pace.

23 Everclear – Santa Monica – The sunny pop hit was set to dominate 1996 and become one of the great singles in alternative rock history.

22 Candlebox – Understanding – Bad press and bad circumstances that surrounded their second album ‘Lucy’ led to some substandard single airplay so “Understanding” didn’t do as well as their first singles.

21 Alice in Chains – Heaven Besides You – About Jerry Cantrell’s girlfriend, the country-tinged “Heaven Besides You” was towards the end of a terrific run of hit singles and A-quality grunge.

17 Bush – Comedown – This song was massive back in the mid-1990s and really was the single that broke them into the mainstream.

15 Alice in Chains – Grind – The opener of their self-titled opener was anticipated and then revered by AIC fans.

14 Toadies – Possum Kingdom – This king of the sludgefest was a constant on radio and MTV for almost a calendar year and wound up being one of post-grunge’s finest singles.

12 Silverchair – Pure Massacre – Silverchair followed up the enormously successful “Tomorrow” from their debut album with this grunge beast.

8 Smashing Pumpkins – Bullet with Butterfly Wings – Another of alternative rock’s greatest singles, it may now stand as the shining moment of the Smashing Pumpkins catalog but they have too many incredible songs to anoint this the best.

7 Goo Goo Dolls – Name – “Name” just felt smarter when hearing the lyrics than most alternative rock songs and it was a song that perhaps best represented the softer side of post-grunge.  Many post-grunge bands from the 2000s created albums where they had one or two acoustic ballads like the sentimental “Name”.

5 Bush – Glycerine – Another all-time great poignant ballad came from Bush in late 1995 into 1996 with “Glycerine”.  It was one of 5 hits from ‘Sixteen Stone’, their debut album.

4 Collective Soul – The World I Know – Yet another fantastically famous ballad, “The World I Know” had the popular uplifting video of a man changing his mind about committing suicide.

3 Pearl Jam – I Got I.D. – Their collaboration with Neil Young was best displayed on “I Got I.D.”, a major hit that continued one of the best streaks of singles in rock history.

1 Seven Mary Three – Cumbersome – “Cumbersome” was strong enough to take the #1 slot in January of 1996 beating out more popular bands because of its massive hooks.