Nirvana was a popular American rock band founded in 1987 in Aberdeen, Washington. With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the band's 1991 album Nevermind, Nirvana exploded into the mainstream, bringing along with it an offshoot of punk and alternative rock that the mainstream media of the time referred to as grunge. Other Seattle bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained in popularity, and grunge became the dominant genre on radio and music television during the early-to-middle 90s.
As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokeman of a generation", with Nirvana the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain declined the position, and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with their third album In Utero. While Nirvana's mainstream popularity waned in the months following its release, their core audience cherished the band's dark interior, particularly after the band's 1993 performance on MTV Unplugged.
Nirvana's brief run ended with the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's popularity expanded in the years that followed. Eight years after Cobain's death, an unfinished demo that the band recorded two months prior to Cobain's death topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold more than fifty million albums worldwide, including more than ten million copies of Nevermind in the US alone. Nirvana remains a consistent presence on radio stations worldwide.
Nirvana: Early Years
Cobain and Krist Novoselic met in 1985. Both were fans of The Melvins, and both were interested in forming a band. They worked with several drummers (including Aaron Burckhard and Dale Crover of The Melvins, who played on their first demos), before settling on Chad Channing. Nirvana's first album, Bleach, was released by Sub Pop Records in 1989. Bleach was highly influenced by Cobain's then-favorite band, The Melvins, by the heavy dirge-rock of Mudhoney, and by the 70s rock of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Novoselic noted in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone that the band had played a tape in their van while on tour that had an album by The Smithereens on one side and an album by the black metal band Celtic Frost on the other, and noted that the combination probably played an influence as well. Bleach became a favorite of college radio stations nationally, but gave few hints of where the band would find itself two years later.
Though he did not actually play on the album, Jason Everman was credited as playing guitar on Bleach because he put up the money for the recording sessions: $606.17. After the album was completed, Everman had a brief and contentious stay with the band as a second guitar player, but was sacked following their first US tour. Not long after, he briefly played bass with Soundgarden before joining the band Mind Funk.
In early 1990, the band began working with producer Butch Vig on recordings for the follow-up to Bleach. During the sessions, Kurt and Krist realized that Chad wasn't the drummer the band needed, and he was let go after the sessions were complete. After a few weeks with Dale Crover of The Melvins filling in, they hired Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, with whom they recorded the song "Sliver". Later that year, Buzz Osbourne of The Melvins introduced them to Dave Grohl, who was looking for a new band following the sudden break-up of D.C. hardcore punks Scream.
