Artist Spotlight: Nirvana
From 1991-1994 no band was bigger than three guys in flannel shirts from Aberdeen Washington. For this month’s artist spotlight, I will be discussing Nirvana and their absolutely huge influence on my life.
For those living under a pop culture rock, I will give some highlights of the 90’s icon. The band included three sustaining members, Kurt Cobain, Dave Novoselic, and Dave Grohl. Later the band would add another guitarist named Pat Smear. Chad Channing Drummed on the band’s first album Bleach before being replaced by Dave Grohl on the Nevermind album.
Nirvana released three studio albums during their short reign in the early 90’s. In order they were Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero. Nirvana’s first album Bleach was recorded for just over 600$. Along with these albums a multitude of live albums and compilations have also been released. The most popular live album would be the MTV Unplugged Nirvana played in 1993.
When the Album Nevermind was released, along with the music video for Smells Like Teen Spirit, the world went crazy for the three piece from Aberdeen. It’s safe to say that once Nevermind was released the entire world changed. Grunge music in general did what other music has done in the past, it changed how people looked, dressed and thought about music. Nirvana was not the first “grunge” band by any means, but they were the most important for the genre. After Nirvana’s success people were flying to Seattle and signing anything sounding like Nirvana. A similar phenomenon to the success of the hair metal bands of the Sunset Strip.
I want to jump in here mid history lesson to point out what it is about Nirvana that makes them so important to me and my life. Growing up I was a very quiet and guarded kid. I didn’t have many friends until middle school. So, music and the artists that created it in many ways became my best friends. I would steal my brothers concert DVD’s and watch them on loop constantly. This is how my connection to Kurt Cobain began. Although Cobain died when I was two years old, I connected to his loner artist style when I was young. When I would watch him in concert with his punk-esk attitude and the raw nature of the Nirvana concerts I was hooked.
As I would get older, I would learn to play guitar, my first song being Come as you Are by Nirvana. Once I started to master playing guitar and singing, I would be out in my garage screaming and playing my guitar trying to mimic Kurt Cobain. I’ve had a lot of music influences throughout my life, but none of them directed me toward my passions like Nirvana. Pretending to be Kurt Cobain in my garage for few hours a day made me the musician and music lover that I am today. It’s how I would eventually discover punk rock and so many more great bands.
Continuing with the background on Nirvana I want to touch on the live performance aspect of their career. Many people know Nirvana from watching clips of them basically destroying their equipment. Every night Kurt Cobain would absolutely destroy his guitar, most nights it was his black Fender Stratocaster with the bumper sticker.
When asked why he would destroy guitars after shows Kurt would say jokingly “We don’t have to play encores.” Destroying their guitars was not the only draw to their shows though. With Nirvana since the music was so loud and had a lot of punk type of energy, they often sounded better live. When Kurt is able to scream his heart out and Dave Grohl is just going crazy on drums, something special happens.
On April 5th, 1994 the music world was stunned by the suicide of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Ending a long fight with depression and drug addiction, he was twenty-seven years old. Kurt Cobain had been battling a pretty severe heroin addiction towards the end of his life. Many actually believe that his suicide was actually in fact not a suicide at all. Many documentaries have gone over different reasons as to why they believe Cobain did not kill himself, but in the end the death is still ruled as death by suicide.
Though the end of Nirvana is synonymous with a very dark and tragic ending, it has in no way ruined the legacy of the band. For the short time that the band was recording and touring, they were able to change the world in a very drastic manner. A feat that puts them among some of the greatest to have done it.
In 2014 Nirvana was inducted into the Rock N Roll hall of fame, further-more cementing their legacy as one of the greatest rock bands ever.
In the end these flannel shirt warriors were just a simple rock band from Aberdeen Washington. Nirvana was a combination of punk attitude with some of the best lyrics since Lennon and Mcartney in the Beatles. A combination that changed not just my life, but countless others.
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