Screaming Trees

• Genre: Grunge
• Hometown: Ellensburg

About

In the early 1990s, when a bunch of jerks in ripped jeans, flannel shirts and scraggly facial hair were playing Grunge, Screaming Trees were instead making some great music. Unfortunately, they were lumped in with the aforementioned scene and subsequently swept under the carpet along with the identity of Kurt Cobain's murderer. Mark Lanegan's toneful vocals don't sound faked like Eddie Vedder's, and the band's songs seem to come from a broader range of influences (like early Velvet Underground and 1970s Rolling Stones). At their best, Screaming Trees slowed Power Pop with heavy guitar riffs and melodies that you didn't want to leave your head.

- Eric Shea