While all of their disciples became famous after Nirvana broke big in 1991 (including Mudhoney, who featured former Melvins bassist, Matt Lukin), the Melvins only expanded their cult slightly. In addition to their Melvins activities, Buzz Osbourne joined Mike Patton (and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn) for the experimental outfit Fantômas, resulting in a pair of releases thus far (1999's Fantômas debut and 2001's The Director's Cut), while the Melvins' latest bassist, Kevin Rutmanis, joined Mike Patton in another side project, Tomahawk.

More recently, the Melvins were a major inspiration to the appropriately-labelled "sludge metal" scene of New Orleans.