In 1992, a year that saw Nirvana outsell U2 and knock Michael Jackson out of the top spot on the Billboard 200, the definitive grunge sound track Singles arrived. Just as Nirvana was the right band at the right time, Singles was the right movie. The film’s score features a virtual checklist of bands from the then exploding Seattle music scene, including Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and it helped cement grunge as the dominant sound of the decade. (Further bridging art and life, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and the members of Pearl Jam made cameos in director Cameron Crowe’s homage to his hometown.) Sure, at its core Singles is a fairly typical movie about 20-somethings dating and mating (occasionally both, often neither), but it’s also a perfect snapshot of grunge’s day in the (black hole) sun.
Top 25 Movie Soundtracks
Some of cinema's greatest scenes can be attributed to the music that accompany them. TIME picks the best movie albums.
Singles
Full List
Movie Music That Mattered
- Singin’ in the Rain
- West Side Story
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Mary Poppins
- The Sound of Music
- The Graduate
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Easy Rider
- Superfly
- American Graffiti
- The Harder They Come
- Saturday Night Fever
- Grease
- The Big Chill
- Flashdance
- Sixteen Candles
- This Is Spinal Tap
- Dirty Dancing
- Singles
- Pulp Fiction
- Rushmore
- Trainspotting
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- Garden State