10 ’80s Metal Bands That Thrived in the ’90s Despite Grunge

The 1990s grunge boom didn't quash everything else in the rock sphere, especially not metal. Though Nirvana and others pushed the '90s buzz for Seattle-derived alt-rock to ubiquity, many a metal band formed the decade prior was just getting started.

And grunge didn't stop them.

The oft-repeated narrative is that Nirvana's breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and its parent album, Nevermind — they emerged successively in September 1991 — signaled the death knell for metal, especially the hair metal that spent the '80s burning up Hollywood's Sunset Strip.

There's truth to that tale, but the view is really