Song:Smells Like Teen Spirit
Album:Nirvana
The one thing Nirvana did while they were around was popularize alternative rock because Smells Like Teen Spirit was a top ten pop hit in 1991. Nirvana didn't capitalize on that because of Kurt Cobain's suicide. But it's unlikely that bands like Soundgarden would have been successful without Nirvana's success. Nirvana were from Aberdeen, WA. Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic went to the same high school. But they became friends while practicing with veteran punk rockers The Melvins. Cobain wanted to form a band and he gave a demo to Novoselic. After three years he finally listened to it and agreed to form a band. They had difficulty finding a drummer. Cobain called the group Nirvana because he wanted a nice name. They moved to Tacoma and recorded demos with Dale Crover of The Melvins on drums. He moved to San Francisco and they settled on drummer Chad Channing. They signed with Sub Pop Records and released their 1989 debut album Bleach. They toured to support it. They went to Wisconsin to record their next album with Butch Vig of Garbage producing. Channing was unhappy because he wasn't involved in the songwriting. Cobain and Novoselic were unhappy with his drumming so he left. Meanwhile Nirvana's demos were attracting record companies. Crover did a tour with them but he wasn't staying. Buzz Osborne of The Melvins introduced them to Dave Grohl of the Washington, DC based group Scream. They had just split up. He auditioned and they knew he was the right guy. Nirvana then signed with DGC/Geffen and released the 1991 album Nevermind. DGC was hoping for sales similar to Sonic Youth's Goo of 250,000. But then the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit went into regular rotation on MTV. And that led to radio airplay and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Nevermind sold seven million copies in the US and 30 million worldwide. It knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the Billboard Hot 200. So now Nirvana are big stars. The first thing Cobain does is reorganize the songwriting royalties so he gets a majority of the money. This almost caused Nirvana to split up and ill feelings lingered. While waiting for Nirvana's next album, DGC released the album of early recordings Insecticide. They recorded In Utero with producer Steve Albini. The album sold over three million copies. They toured and while on tour, Cobain's wife Courtney Love found him unconscious in his Rome hotel room. It was a drug overdose. The tour was cancelled and Cobain agreed to go to rehab for his heroin addiction. After a week, Cobain left and returned to Seattle and shot himself on Apr. 8, 1994. As usually happens when a popular musician dies prematurely, there was a big spike in album sales. Cobain's death became part of their legacy. Of course Grohl has had great success with his band Foo Fighters. Novoselic's current band is Giants in the Trees. DGC has released several Nirvana box sets. This comp is the only single CD comp currently available. Nirvana was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014. Here's the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.
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