Soundgarden and Alice in Chains — Seattle, Washington

Seattle's Capitol Hill neighbourhood was the geographic centre of the grunge movement that emerged in the mid-1980s and exploded globally with Nirvana's "Nevermind" in 1991. Soundgarden — Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Hiro Yamamoto — formed in Seattle in 1984 and were among the first grunge bands signed to Sub Pop Records, the independent label that defined the scene's early years. Their sound — down-tuned guitars, Cornell's extraordinary four-octave voice, songs built on unusual time signatures and dark lyrical preoccupations — was heavier and more musically complex than most of their peers.

Alice in Chains formed in Seattle in 1987 around vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell, developing a sludgier, more metal-influenced variant of grunge that drew heavily on Staley's openly autobiographical engagement with heroin addiction. Their albums "Dirt" (1992) and "Jar of Flies" (1994) are among the darkest and most emotionally direct records of the era. Staley died on April 5, 2002 — the eighth anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death — from a cocaine and heroin overdose in his Seattle apartment. Chris Cornell died by suicide in Detroit on May 18, 2017.

Capitol Hill's music venues — the Vogue, the Central Tavern, the Showbox — were where grunge developed its live character. The neighbourhood has changed dramatically since the early 1990s, but a handful of venues and record shops (Sonic Boom Records, Easy Street) maintain the city's commitment to independent music culture. Cornell's grave is at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles; a statue of him stands at Seattle's MoPOP museum.