Veruca Salt

Female alt-rock was largely shaped by salty narratives and crunchy chords in the 1990s. It was an era where grunge reigned supreme and the girls were having a hard go at it. Veruca Salt were one such group, crashing onto an already busy scene with an unabashed devil-may-care attitude that fit in nicely in an age where women were establishing their place in music insistently and pridefully.

Veruca Salt’s music was largely shaped by a positively rude insinuation of sound – one almost perfectly in line with the fictional Roald Dahl character for which the band named themselves. And that unembellished approach ties in nicely with that stripped-back sound we hear in later years via Courtney Barnett.

Pinned by a colossal number of break-ups, in-house arguments and lineup changes, Veruca Salt’s professional lives were as angst-ridden as their riffs. Fusing elements of punk with metal and a side of shoegaze, founding members Louise Post and Nina Gordan quickly laid down a foundation of distortion and fuzz that held up sweet, yet sinister voices – a blend which would culminate in their hit song “Seether”.

In some opinions, they peaked in the 1990s with their debut album American Thighs – an underrated cult classic of cutting guitarmanship and cunning songwriting. But as they’re still performing today (in spite of the collective mood swings affecting the band’s structure), it’s safe to say Veruca Salt’s place in rock history (and this list) is warranted.