Celebrating grunge: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome back to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. This week we’re celebrating grunge with a selection of albums that trace the genre’s genesis through to its heyday in the 1990s.
Last year, the vinyl comeback enjoyed another milestone year as record sales surpassed that of CDs for the first time in three decades. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors out there will agree if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12″ slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. We have some proto-grunge classics from Neil Young and Sonic Youth, alongside some essentials from Nirvana and Mark Lanegan.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week:
Nirvana – Nevermind
In 1991, the quintessential Kurt Cobain-fronted grunge heroes broke the mould with their seminal classic Nevermind. The LP followed their 1989 debut, Bleach, and was home to such classics as ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, ‘Come As You Are’, ‘Something In The Way’ and ‘Lithium’.
The iconic music is met with the eternally iconic and controversial cover art depicting a naked baby swimming after a fish-hooked one-dollar bill. This best-selling stocking filler can be yours for under £20 following the reissue’s recent sale reduction.
Available for purchase here for £19.79.
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is often considered Sonic Youth’s masterpiece. Released in 1988, the album seemed to consolidate all the greatest aspects of their first four while paving the way for their most successful spell. Daydream Nation is home to ‘Teen Age Riot’, ‘Cross the Breeze’, ‘The Sprawl’ and ‘Silver Rocket’.
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain listed Daydream Nation at 17th on his favourite albums of all time list, in between PJ Harvey’s Dry and The Knack’s Get the Knack. Sonic Youth were a pivotal influence on Nirvana’s raw grunge sound, and the groups formed a close friendship in the late 1980s before Nirvana became a household name.
Available for purchase here for £35.77.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps
After beginning his solo career with blues-tinged folk rock, Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young began to create some heavier rock music with his backing band Crazy Horse. The raw, overdriven guitar sound heard in 1979’s part live and part studio album, Rust Never Sleeps, has been described as the birthplace of grunge and led to Young’s nickname, The Godfather of Grunge.
Most famously, the album is bookended by two very different versions of the same song, ‘My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)’ and ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)’; the latter was the grungier of the two. When Cobain took his own life in 1994, his suicide note contained the song’s lyrics: “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”.
Available for purchase here for £24.99.
Mark Lanegan – The Winding Sheet
Mark Lanegan, who sadly passed away back in February, was one of the earliest and most important figures of the grunge movement as the frontman of Screaming Trees. In 1990, he split off to work on a solo album with help from his Washington neighbours, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic.
“Oh man, it’s the most beautiful record,” Nirvana’s Dave Grohl told Melody Maker of the album in 2000. “It’s a Sunday morning, acoustic, soulful blues record. The guy has so much soul and the most beautiful voice. You imagine this is what your heart would sound like if it could sing, it’s so fuckin’ beautiful. This album came out just after I moved to Seattle, so to me, it represents that whole time. Mark sang for the Screaming Trees, so he had his flipside, but there was also a lot of appreciation in Seattle at that time for the purity and truth of real music.”
Available for purchase here for £19.99.
Pearl Jam – Ten
Pearl Jam rose to prominence in the 1990s as one of the key protagonists of the Washington grunge scene. Born from the ashes of Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard’s earlier band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam first made a name for themselves in 1991 with the release of their seminal debut LP, Ten.
While this album is regarded as one of the essential grunge discs, it’s noted for its strong leanings toward a classic hard rock sound informed by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The album’s three hit singles, ‘Alive’, ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Jeremy’, remain among the band’s greatest hits.
Available for purchase here for £23.19.
Pixies – Surfer Rosa
Pixies are often described as the band before Nirvana. The group re-imagined alternative rock with their catchy guitar riffs, unique vocal styles and immersive lyrics. This seminal debut album features the fan favourite ‘Where Is My Mind?’, alongside other Pixies essentials like ‘Bone Machine’, ‘Gigantic’ and ‘Break My Body’.
After releasing their 1991 masterpiece, Nevermind, Nirvana’s Cobain and Krist Novoselic agreed: “This really sounds like the Pixies. People are really going to nail us for this.” Thankfully, it wasn’t enough to get them in any hot water. Cobain placed Surfer Rosa as his second favourite album of all time.
Available for purchase here for £21.99.
Nirvana – In Utero
Before Cobain’s tragic suicide in 1994, Nirvana released three albums of disparate style and influence as they toyed with the burgeoning sound of grunge. Following their 1991 masterpiece Nevermind, they began working on what would be their final discographic diary entry, 1993’s In Utero.
Nirvana’s third album showed a level of creative comfort. After breaking into the mainstream in 1991, Cobain and Co. felt they had room to explore more complex and intense compositions. In Utero was home to classics including ‘Heart Shaped Box’, ‘All Apologies’, ‘Rape Me’ and ‘Pennyroyal Tea’.
Available for purchase here for £20.09.
Soundgarden – Superunknown
Over the early 1990s, Seattle’s Soundgarden broke into the grunge scene with their heavier, metal-induced leaning and made a significant breakthrough with their fourth studio effort, Superunknown, in 1994. Informed by the burgeoning popularity of grunge music, Soundgarden showed they had a finger on the pulse with this follow-up to 1991’s Badmotorfinger.
This 70-minute masterpiece is a favourite among casual listeners and die-hard fans alike, serving up a bounty of timeless hits, including ‘Black Hole Sun’, ‘Spoonman’, ‘Fell On Black Days’ and ‘The Day I Tried To Live’.
Available for purchase here for £28.95.
Melvins – Houdini
Melvins formed in Washington in the early 1980s and became one of the vital proponents of the state’s grunge scene. Nirvana frequently mentioned Melvins’ music in interviews following their commercial success, and Cobain, who has co-production credits on 1993’s Houdini, often referred to them as his favourite band.
As it turns out, the influence and admiration were mutual. “I never was jealous of [Nirvana’s] thing or thought that what they were doing, you know, it should be me,” Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne once told Guitar.com. “I always viewed their success and Nirvana’s success, and the fact that they talked about us as influences on them – I felt that was a massive compliment.”
Available for purchase here for £29.99.
Mudhoney – Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
In a similar vein to Soundgarden, Seattle’s Mudhoney brought a heavy-metal slant to the grunge scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Sub Pop group made an emphatic entrance with their 1988 EP, Superfuzz Bigmuff, and re-released it in 1990 as the LP Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles in the runup to their disputed 1991 masterpiece Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.
Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner described this album as his “favourite Mudhoney album as a whole.” With huge hits like ‘Good Enough’, ‘Let It Slide’, ‘Into the Drink’ and ‘Thorn’, I’m inclined to concur with Turner.
Available for purchase here for £19.99.
