There are plenty of well known grunge bands that came from the 90s, such as Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, and Alice and Chains, but not many have been introduced to Mad Season, who are arguably better than the rest.

Mad Season formed in 1994 with legendary band members who are well known for being in other bands including Layne Staley (vocals) who was also the vocalist for Alice and Chains. Mike McCready (guitar) who was also the vocalist for Screaming Trees, Barrett Martin (Percussion/Drums) who played the drums in Screaming Trees. John Baker Saunders (Bass) Mike McCready (guitar) who also played the guitar in Pearl Jam. Eric “Skerik” Walton (Saxophone) and Matt Cameron (Drums) who also played the drums in Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

Mad Season was formed in 1994 after the Pearl Jam guitarist, Mike McCready met bassist John Baker Saunders at a rehab center in Hazeldan Clinic. McCready was already friends with Alice in Chain’s vocalist Layne Staley and brought him into Mad Season. Screaming Tree’s drummer Barrett Martin joined Mad Season after his previous band, Skin Yard was disassembled.

One aspect of Mad Season that solidifies them being one of the most underrated and best grunge bands of all time is Layne Staley’s vocals, which is consistently as good as his vocals in Alice in Chains.

Another aspect of Mad Season that attests to them being one of the most underrated and best grunge bands of all time is how Barrett Martin, John Baker Saunders, and Mike McCready can display all kinds of emotions through their work. Whether it’s the melancholic and emotional feeling they create for ‘Wake Up’ or the energetic emotions they create for songs such as ‘Locomotive’, they help carry the backbone of the emotions associated with these songs.

Mad Season’s only album, ‘Above’ was released on March 14 1995, but this album only saw moderate success at the time of its release, with ‘Above’ peaking at number 24 in the Billboard 200 Album Chart.

One of the best songs from ‘Above,’ ‘River of Deceit’ solidifies multiple aspects of Mad Season which makes them one of the most underrated grunge Bands of all time, including Layne Staley’s well renowned vocals which gives the song a emotional feeling to it, and bassist John Baker Saunders amazing performance on the bass guitar.

After the release of ‘Above,’ this band went through many struggles which would eventually lead to the separation of Mad Season, many members of Mad Season were members of other bands which caused scheduling issues and hindered Mad Season’s progress. Another major issue Mad Season faced was that many of its members faced health issues such as drug addition. Mad Season permanently broke up in 1999 when John Baker Saunders succumbed to a drug overdose.

Although Mad Season only released one album, they still made their mark on listeners and are worth listening to.