( CNN ) -- During the days leading up to the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana 's landmark album `` Nevermind '' on Saturday and the grunge album 's deluxe reissue the following Tuesday , you 're going to hear a lot about how `` Nevermind '' changed everything : . How the band 's single , `` Smells Like Teen Spirit , '' was a phenomenal , seemingly overnight success that ushered so-called alternative rock into the mainstream . How `` Nevermind '' killed hair metal and unseated Michael Jackson -- the old guard -- from the top of the Billboard album chart . How the success of `` Nevermind '' ignited a major-label feeding frenzy to find `` the next Nirvana , '' resulting in the signing of previously way-too-weird-for-a-major-label bands such as underground heroes The Jesus Lizard and Japanese noise-rockers the Boredoms . How most of these groups were unceremoniously dropped when they did n't sell boatloads of records , while groups perceived by many to be Nirvana and/or Pearl Jam ripoffs ( i.e . : Stone Temple Pilots , Candlebox , Bush ) achieved multiplatinum success . How Kurt Cobain gave voice to a disaffected , flannel-clad Generation X . And how Cobain was a musical genius , gone from this Earth too soon . And all of these things are true , aside from the hair-metal myth ( glam-metal was already a genre in decline by that point ) . You 'll also be hearing a lot of use of the word `` grunge , '' a label used -- typically to the labeled party 's chagrin -- to describe purveyors of the raw fusion of heavy metal and punk rock that emerged from the Pacific Northwest . But what you wo n't hear quite so much are the specifics of that emergence . In some quarters , it seems 1991 , which also saw the release of Pearl Jam 's multiplatinum debut album `` Ten '' and Soundgarden 's `` Badmotorfinger , '' is being treated as year 0 of grunge , because that 's when the music exploded into the mainstream consciousness . In fact , grunge 's roots can be traced back to the 1980s , if not further . `` Deep Six , '' the 1986 compilation on Seattle label C/Z Records , is recognized as the first record to document this burgeoning regional sound . It featured a half-dozen local bands : Soundgarden , Green River , the Melvins , Malfunkshun , the U-Men and Skin Yard . None of those groups is a household name , save for Soundgarden , which scored a No . 1 hit with the album `` Superunknown '' in 1994 and just this year embarked on a North American reunion tour after more than a decade apart . But if you want to know how Nirvana and Pearl Jam came to be , these six bands -- whose histories are tightly intertwined -- are a good place to start . Skin Yard 's guitarist , Jack Endino , produced Nirvana 's the down-tuned and scuzzy debut album , `` Bleach . '' Members of Green River , often cited as the first grunge band , went on to form Pearl Jam and quintessential grunge rockers Mudhoney . The Melvins , who have essentially never stopped touring or recording with 20 studio albums to their name , were friends and mentors to Nirvana 's Cobain and Krist Novoselic , who hailed from the same rural part of Washington state . As Novoselic once said of the sway Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne held over him : `` Buzz was the preacher , and his gospel was punk rock . '' The Melvins sonic influence on Nirvana 's first album is unmistakable . But to hear Osborne tell it , his band 's importance has too often been diminished . `` All ( Nirvana ) biographers want to do is pretend that we do n't matter , '' the never-shy singer/guitarist said to me at the onset of the first interview I conducted with him for my book . `` They talk us down like none of this makes any difference , but what they have to understand , and what needs to be clearly stated , is that without us , there is no Nirvana . Without us , there is no Nirvana . '' So by all means go ahead and purchase the `` Nevermind '' reissue or catch a showing of Cameron Crowe 's new `` Pearl Jam Twenty '' documentary , and relive the glories of grunge 's most commercial era . But if you want a deeper understanding of where grunge came from , investigate some music by the Melvins ( those Nirvana biographers be damned ! ) or Mudhoney or any number of other grunge bands not fronted by someone with the surname Cobain , Vedder or Cornell . Yes , 1991 was a very good year for grunge , but why not try something of a different vintage ?
Soundgarden 's roots can be traced back to 1994 , if not further . `` Deep Six '' is recognized as the first record to document this burgeoning regional sound . Earth is often cited as the 20th grunge band .