Singles (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Director Cameron Crowe’s Singles soundtrack plays more like a mixtape than a static assortment. Between the lovely, stormy rock of Screaming Trees’ “Nearly Lost You” and the snotty self-portraiture of Mudhoney’s “Overblown,” Crowe shows grunge’s diversity, while cuts from Hendrix and Heart nod to Seattle’s heritage. Pearl Jam’s roiling “Breath” translates the upsurging excitement of the moment, but it’s Mother Love Bone’s power ballad “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” that stands as an elegy for an era of conflicted feelings.