See Grunge Stars Before + After Getting Famous

Below are photos of grunge stars before and after getting famous.

Almost all of the bands we associate with the Seattle grunge scene formed during the 1980s. They played shows at all the local venues and went to see their friends’ bands perform too. In doing so, they unintentionally formed a tight-knit rock ‘n’ roll network in and around the Pacific Northwest.

A lot of the musicians started in other bands too. Matt Cameron — best known as the drummer for Soundgarden and later Pearl Jam — started in the group Skin Yard, which also featured Ben McMillan, Daniel House and Jack Endino, who later went on to produce a lot of grunge records.

Other groups that were all connected by members included Green River, Malfunkshun, Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, which branched out into Temple of the Dog after the death of vocalist Andrew Wood and then Pearl Jam.

Unfortunately when it comes to the icons from the Seattle grunge scene, we can’t do a traditional “then and now” photo gallery for many of them because many of them are no longer with us. Instead, we scoured for pre-fame photos of some of the musicians and then provided one from after they became famous — whether it was a few years later or decades.

READ MORE: Best Cover Songs by 13 Big Grunge-Era Bands

We noted the year under each photo and which band the musician was playing with at the time, because for some of them, it wasn’t the group they’re best known for today.

See which album we picked as the best grunge release of each year from 1987 to 1996 below.