Nirvana
Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl didn't invent grunge—but their 1991 album Nevermind accidentally blew it up worldwide, displacing Michael Jackson from #1 and making flannel shirts and angst the uniform of the decade.
Nirvana formed in 1987 in Aberdeen, Washington, by Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic, two working-class kids with punk rage and melodic sensibility. Drummer Dave Grohl joined in 1990, completing the classic lineup just as the band prepared to record what would become their masterpiece. Nevermind was released on September 24, 1991, to modest expectations; it climbed the Billboard 200 slowly until January 1992, when it unexpectedly hit #1, displacing Michael Jackson's Dangerous in a symbolic generational shift. The album's lead single, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' with its grinding guitar riff and Cobain's anguished, almost talk-singing vocals, became the defining song of the decade and an anthem for an entire generation of alienated teenagers.
Nirvana released In Utero in September 1993 to critical acclaim and commercial success (#1 debut), confirming that grunge and Nirvana's particular brand of raw, introspective rock were not passing trends. They recorded MTV Unplugged in New York in November 1993 (released November 1994), an acoustic, stripped-down performance that showcased Cobain's songwriting intelligence and devastating vulnerability. The band fractured as Cobain struggled publicly with addiction and depression; he died by suicide on April 5, 1994, at age 27, becoming the most visible casualty of grunge's darker underbelly and a permanent symbol of the decade's contradictions. Nirvana's brief, incandescent career redefined rock music and the entire cultural landscape of the 1990s.
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