A perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprises a non-magnetic substrate having a planar surface and a stack of thin film layers overlying the substrate surface and including at least one perpendicular magnetic recording layer with a magnetic easy axis perpendicular to the plane of the layer stack, wherein a magnetically soft underlayer ("SUL") is not present in the layer stack. The layer stack includes a first, amorphous and smooth-surfaced underlayer proximal the substrate surface, a second underlayer having a first crystallographic orientation overlying the first underlayer, a third underlayer having a second crystallographic orientation overlying the second underlayer, and at least one perpendicular magnetic recording layer having a crystallographic orientation similar to the second crystallographic orientation overlying the third underlayer.