From Beck to Bush, the bubble-grunge, pop-punk, and trip-hop that made '94 classic by SPIN Staff In 1994, the distinction between "mainstream" and "alternative" evaporated. Green Day and the Offspring brought hook-heavy punk to the Billboard charts, middle-of-the-road acts such as Soul Asylum and Live helped calcify "alt-rock" into a blockbuster radio format, and Nirvana's fate as future classic-rock legends was sealed with Kurt Cobain's death. Beck rebranded "loser" as a badge of honor and Trent Reznor said he wanted to... well, you know.
