Prior to Nirvana, alternative music was found only in the specialist sections of record stores, but with the release of the band's second album, everything was suddenly changed. Nirvana were the most important guitar band of the late 80' and early 90s, popularizing the heavier side of post-punk indie rock and unintentionally bringing an underground sound into the musical mainstream.
Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) met Chris Novoselic (bass) in 1985 in Aberdeen, WA, a small logging town 100 miles away from Seattle. They both felt alienated from the macho, redneck population and fell into the underground punk music scene. Nirvana began in earnest in 1987 when the band made ten demos which came to the attention of the Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop and released their first single,
Love Buzz(1988). Recorded for just over 600 dollars their debut album
Bleach(1989), set the ball rolling as it slowly became a hit. By the end of the summer, hard hitting Dave Grohl had become Nirvana's drummer and a new demo which was shopped to major labels. Upon release
Nevermind (1991) immediately became a smash hit, selling out its initial shipment of 50,000 copies and creating a shortage across America. The main vehicle was the success of
Smells Like Teen Spirit, a blistering four-chord smash that was accompanied by an ascorbic video that shot into heavy MTV rotation. By the beginning of 1992, the album had been certified triple platinum.
Cobain had been suffering from well-documented drug addiction and manic depression which meant Nirvana was unable to record a third album until the spring of 1993.
In Utero(1993) was a daring work as they fought their stardom to become the most notorious of anti-pop bands in history. but it still recieved positive reviews and strong sales, debuting at the top of the U.S. and U.K. charts. Cobain returned to Seattle within a week of his hospitalization and his mental illness began to grow. Cobain had become destructive and suicidal, though his management and label were able to hide the extent of his problems from the public until April 8, 1994, when he was found dead at his house. After his death, Kurt Cobain was immeadiatly appointed as the spokesman for Generation X, as well as a symbol of its tortured angst. The group famously dropped its distorted tendecies and played an acoustic Unplugged show at the end of the year, and proved to have crossover succes with a new audience after its December 1994 release as
MTV Unplugged in New York debuted at the top of the British and American charts.
Nirvana's uncompromising music combined visceral raw emotion with a sound was equal parts metal and pop Cobain had a growling vitriolic voice and was a gifted songwriter with an uncanny ability to write hooky and memorable riffs with massively overdriven guitars. Backed by the powerful drumming of Dave Grohl (who later formed Foo Fighters) and Novoselic's bass-lines adding a melodic groove, the onslaught of their records and live shows merged the post-industrial white noise with heavy metal grind pulled together to creating an infectious sound that was fiery but fused underpinned with a melodic soul.
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