The Melvins
Buzz Osborne's band played the slowest, heaviest riffs in the Pacific Northwest and influenced every grunge band that followed. They were grunge's patient zero, the band that showed Kurt Cobain and others what punk plus Black Sabbath could sound like. In 1984, after seeing Black Flag play a show where their set had mutated from Sex Pistols sprint to Black Sabbath dirge, Osborne started writing slow, heavy riffs that became the template for Seattle's sound. Krist Novoselic went with the Melvins to see that Black Flag show. The Melvins never claimed the grunge title and mostly avoided the Seattle hype, but their influence was undeniable. They appeared on C/Z Records' Deep Six compilation in 1986, which sold miserably but made music history by documenting the raw fusion of heavy metal and punk rock that would become grunge. While other bands from that compilation—Soundgarden, Green River—rode the wave to varying degrees of mainstream success, the Melvins stayed underground, uncompromising. They were the band other bands cited as foundational. That was enough.