What was the first grunge record to enter the US charts? Among the bands that would later be remembered as the central forces of grunge rock and the ‘Seattle sound’, the first to get an album on the US Billboard charts was, of course, Soundgarden, the elder statesmen of the bunch. “There are two distinct elements in the band,” Thayil explained, “I’m not talking about individuals. Tracks like ‘Get on the Snake’ also didn’t sound too dissimilar from some of the more serious hair metal bands of the ‘80s. Some metal guys like us, I mean, like glam guys.