PJ
SG
AIC
Nirvana

Random thoughts:
SG's albums were more consistant than PJs.
Kurt was a better "frontman" then Eddie. But Eddie is growing old nicely.
Nirvana and PJ's non-album catalog is about as good as the stuff that made the studio albums.
Jar of Flies and Sap are awesome!
Nutshell and Black are the classic "grunge" ballads.
Cornell's solo work is crazy terrible.
None of the others can/could have held a candle to PJ live.
Growing up in the '80/'90s wasn't so bad: New Wave (The Cure/DM/Joy Division-New Order) American Punk (DK/Minor Threat-Fugazi/Social D./Bad Religion) College Radio (Pixies/Replacements/REM) Grunge (PJ/AIC/SG/Nirvana) Start of Indie Rock (Pavement/Mogwai/S-K)

oh good.

How dare you leave Candlebox off this list!

which band smelled the worst?

Mudhoney

They would have been 5th...

what's grunge?

I think Euphoria Morning is better than anything Soundgarden released.

I'd go with your list T2B.. except,
Re: Soundgarden, one mans consistent, is another mans repetitive. Still a great band though.
Kurt was a pretty terrible frontman, from the Black Francis 'stand there do nothing, then once in a while do something dangerous/crazy'. school of frontmen. Less is more perhaps but he can't come near Eddie for whipping a crowd up and connecting with them.
Jar of Flies and Sap are indeed awesome Better than the rest of AIC's output i reckon.
you didn't listen to any of those bands you mentioned in the 80's, Don't lie, ye big poser

Oh and Seasons alone, redeems Cornell's entire solo career.

PJ
Nirvana
Soundgarden
AIC

Cornell's legacy since Euphoria Morning (his last amazing album) makes me wonder about switching the bottom two, but I'm going by the bands I was most excited by at the time.

Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Nirvana
Alice In Chains

Never got into AIC. I just never liked Layne's voice as much as everyone else. Nirvana would have outranked Soundgarden, but I found myself unable to listen them once Kurt committed suicide. Everyone ended up deifying him and I kind of thought the opposite, and now all these years later, I think that Superunknown and Down On The Upside are more fun to listen to than Nevermind and In Utero, or anything else Nirvana released for that matter, and I say this in spite of my nearly unwavering support for Grohl and his roots here outside of DC.

You're correct. It was all Color Me Badd for me.

Mostly I was just saying, musically, it wasn't a bad time to be a middle-class white kid.

Pearl Jam
Nirvana
Alice In Chains
--------------
Soundgarden (never been a fan, never will be)

That's true. Times of recession are great for music. Also recession and booms directly correlate to the height of womens skirts. Higher in boom times, lower during recession. true story. Not a huge leap to surmise this has an effect on music too

Have you seen the Eurovision 1/2 final yesterday? That girl that sang for Greece almost didn't have a skirt, it was that high.

I've seen wider elastic bands. Disgraceful! Go Jedward!
(i'm embarrassed to live in an Ireland that knows/loves more about Jedward than they do about Astral Weeks, but what're you gonna do?)

Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Alice In Chains
Nirvana

Stone Temple Pilots and Queens Of The Stone Age (I know its not grunge) as honorable mentions.

Pearl Jam
Alice in Chains
Nirvana/Soundgarden, tie for #3 for me.

Honorable mentions for Screaming Trees and Skin Yard. Mudhoney is good, as is Green River and Mother Love Bone. I got no love for Tad or Malfunkshun... sorry...