It was 1991. The musical evolution of the '80's was played out. Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Wilson-Phillips and Garth Brooks topped the charts. R&B was boring, unfunky. Hip-Hop had not yet found it's footing. Heavy Metal kept repeating the same tricks. What was an angry "gen-x" white male to do?
Along came Nirvana with their second album NEVERMIND. Released in late 91 it landed on radio and MTV harder than anyone had expected, band and record lable included. Nirvana was a "grunge" band from the Seattle, Washington area. Led by Kurt Cobain, Nirvana and the popularity of their extremely influential album are credited with dynamiting the flood gates that kept scores of "alternative rock" bands working in near anonymity.
The first single released was "Smells Like Teen Spirit", widely adopted as the anthem of this generation. Kurt Cobain picked up this lyric when a girlfriend wrote on a wall "Kurt Smells Like Teen Spirit". He claims to have not known that this was a brand of girls' deodorant until months after the song became popular.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
Heres a live performance of "Lithium" another song from Nevermind that Nirvana gave at the 1992 MTV music video awards.
"Lithium" - Nirvana (Live)
Kurt Cobain fell into heavy drug addiction and mental illness when he couldn't cope with fame and fortune. He commited suicide on April 5, 1994. Drummer Dave Grohl formed the Foo Fighters after Kurt's death.
I will write more about Nirvana in a future entry. Although I was never a big fan, I appreciate Kurt Cobain's honest songwriting and passionate delivery. In the end he was a badly messed up person with a terribly negative outlook who destroyed himself when his circumstances changed so dramatically.
What'cha think?
