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I'll take his and throw in Soundgarden and the Chili Peppers and NIN.
I think those six bands really represent the spectrum of the era you're speaking of and in their own specific ways influenced several genres and countless other bands while having great commercial success (which is an easy measuring stick). I don't think we're far enough past the 90s to really look back and find the more obscure bands that really set the pace and base our thesis on that. The new kids influenced by them haven't gotten old enough to really tell us how their bands came about LOL.
Rage nailed the cross over appeal that hard rock and hip hop had been toying with for so long. But more importantly it made it okay to have a conscience and an ethos. You don't have to agree with theirs but atleast they had one.
Pantera brought a mix of skill passion and energy to metal that had been whithering on the vine as other bands fought to survive in the grunge era.
Tool showed that progressive rock could be heavy as hell, that you could explore beyond what Rush and Dream Theatre were doing. And still have a huge appeal.
Soundgarden gave a melodic quality and unmatched musical talent to the grunge movement. Yet they still had as much if not more raw energy than Pearl Jam or Nirvana or Alice or Mudhoney etc... The difference with Soundgarden was they are truly musicians. Like was noted above about Dave Grohl. The boys in SG grew exponentially the longer they were together. The melodies, the lyrics, the riffs just got better and better. Most other bands in the grunge movement you could pick up one album and hear the sum of their potential.
The Chili Peppers exploded in the 90s even though they had been around with their great blend of funk, rock and social commentary. I actually preferred Janes Addiction to them personally but as I said with SG the Peppers used their fame to explore the world and embrace the new influences accessibility afforded them and GROW.
No one epitomizes the industrial era more than NIN. We could definitely find guys that did it first, guys that explored more, but John 5 and Trent Reznor are the godfathers of industrial just like Ozzy and Iommi are of Metal for a reason. They had market penetration like no one else. Walk into any bar and play
Closer on the jukebox and watch how many milfs know all the fuckin lyrics and tell me Nine Inch Nails didn't get the word out about industrial music.