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Skeletal Family: Ritual

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England's Skeletal Family, considered part of the mid-'80s "positive punk" movement, wasn't a particularly grungy band. But they have moments in many tracks when they're almost hard to tell apart from the later American band Babes in Toyland, particularly due to vocalist Anne-Marie Hurst's confident yelps and willingness to sound a little crazy and spooky at every turn. "Ritual," from their debut album Burning Oil in 1984, is a great example of this. Also, the guitar is a little more forward and aggressive in this song compared to the majority of their songs. With this second song on their first album, they certainly introduced themselves to the world as a grunge goth band.

Nirvana: Big Long Now

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Nirvana didn't have a lot of tracks that sounded gothy, but there were a few. "Big Long Now," from 1992's Incesticide , was one of their darkest sounding tracks. The lyrics were pretty obscure, but the sound is a combination of mopey and angry. Endless climb, I am blind Why can't I leave? Color blind 

Soggy Creep: Crawlspace

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This was a fantastic three-piece gloom punk band from Washington, active in the mid-2010s, now no more. Song after song is just perfect grunge goth, with genius lyrics. Wish they were still doing it. This track is from their 2016 EP, Drag the Well , which came between their first and final EPs. They had no full-length albums and released 16 tracks altogether, that I know of. All are on Bandcamp, and probably most on YouTube as well. Embrace this crushing gloom Repeating cycle, test how deep this hole can get 

Skin Yard: Jump the Wall

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I wouldn't call Skin Yard a grunge goth band, but they helped usher in grunge music in the '80s, and this track certainly qualifies as grunge goth. You can hear the influence of '80s post-punk in some of their other songs, too. "Jump the Wall" is listed as an alternate version of their song "Gentle Collapse," one of the tracks on their third album, Fist Sized Chunks  (1990). "Jump the Wall" was on their 2001 limited-release compilation, Start at the Top . It does sound a little like "Gentle Collapse," but otherwise I don't get the connection. Apparently it was a rewrite. This is a classic but underplayed band. I might teach one of their faster songs to my band one of these days.

Type O Negative: Nettie

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I love this weird-ass Brooklyn band so hard. That voice is unmatched anywhere. Amazing lyrics, too. Not much else to say, really. "Nettie" was on their 2003 album Life Is Killing Me. The song was named after front man Peter Steele's mother. A victim of the curse of empathy Her reward of compassion is to suffer 

The Birthday Massacre: Pale

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I haven't listened to this band much, but I like what I hear. Smooth female vocals over atmospheric synths and post-grunge guitar riffs. Sets a very poppy mood, but there's enough grunge riffage in the background to keep it edgy. From Canada. This came out in 2010 on their album Pins and Needles . Dead as the nightlife, hindsight, watching another mistake

Soundgarden: Beyond the Wheel

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There was a lot of gothy stuff on Soundgarden's first album, 1988's Ultramega OK. Chris Cornell said he was influenced by Bauhaus, so maybe the only thing surprising about it is that he put nearly all of his goth side into this one album and got it out of his system. Far beyond the wheel Spin your life around By driving flesh and blood Deep into the ground