Soundgarden were pioneers of the grunge music genre, which mixed elements of punk rock and metal to make a sludgy, murky sound through the use of fuzzy-sounding distortion in the guitars. "Soundgarden are quite good..." remarked Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, "It's very much like the same sort of stuff that we would have done." Soundgarden's sound during the early years of the Seattle grunge scene has been described as consisting of "gnarled neo-Zeppelinisms". The influence of Led Zeppelin was evident, with "Q" magazine noting that Soundgarden were "in thrall to '70s rock, but contemptuous of the genre's overt sexism and machismo." According to Sub Pop, the band had "a hunky lead singer and fused Led Zeppelin and the Butthole Surfers". The Butthole Surfers' mix of punk, heavy metal and noise rock was a major influence on the early work of Soundgarden. The band was also influenced by the likes of the Ramones, Kiss, Accept, the Melvins and Saint Vitus.