Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun". The band experimented with new sonic textures on their follow-up album Down on the Upside, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 in 1996 and spawned several hit singles of its own, including "Burden in My Hand" and "Blow Up the Outside World." In 1997, the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction and exhaustion from touring. After more than a decade of working on projects and other bands, they reunited in 2010, and Republic Records released their sixth and final studio album, King Animal, two years later. Following Cornell's death in 2017 and a year of uncertainty regarding the band's future, Thayil declared in October 2018 that Soundgarden had disbanded once again, though they did reunite in January 2019 for a one-off concert in tribute to Cornell.

As of 2019, Soundgarden had sold more than 14 million records in the United States, and an estimated 30 million worldwide. VH1 ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Still people hear "Black Hole Sun" for the first time and discover a unique gem of a genre through the counterpart of one of the greatest artists of all time.

Formed after the demise of Gossard and Ament's previous band, Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam broke into the mainstream with their debut album, Ten, in 1991. Ten stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for nearly five years, and has gone on to become one of the highest-selling rock records ever, going 13× platinum in the United States. Released in 1993, Pearl Jam's second album, Vs., sold over 950,000 copies in its first week of release, setting the record for most copies of an album sold in its first week of release at the time. Their third album, Vitalogy (1994), became the second-fastest-selling CD in history at the time, with more than 877,000 units sold in its first week. They are still on the move, touring, recording albums, and more, keeping the beutiful Mad Max-esque daydream of grunge that first sparkled in our eyes in those late 90s alive and well, perhaps so that it may come back and with Pearl Jam's help, thrive for once.