Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl,who joined the band in 1990.
Nirvana changed the landscape of rock music over the course of only a few years, but in the beginning, they were just one more struggling group deciding on a lineup and a name. In 1985, guitarist/singer Kurt Cobain met bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, instantly bonding over their mutual love of the punk-metal band the Melvins. The duo brought in several different drummers over the next couple years, eventually settling on Chad Channing. Meanwhile, the group shuffled through different band names
(including the Stiff Woodies, Pen Cap Chew and Skid Row) before opting for Nirvana.
American alternative rock group whose breakthrough album, Nevermind (1991), announced a new musical style (grunge) and gave voice to the post-baby boom young adults known as Generation X.
The members were Kurt Cobain (b. February 20, 1967, Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.—d. April 5, 1994, Seattle), Krist Novoselic (b. May 16, 1965, Compton, California), and Dave Grohl (b. January 14, 1969, Warren, Ohio, U.S.).
Nirvana used extreme changes of tempo and volume to express anger and alienation: a quiet, tuneful verse switched into a ferocious, distorted chorus. In the fashion of many 1970s punk groups, guitarist-singer-songwriter .Cobain set powerful rock against sarcastic, allusive lyrics that explored hopelessness, surrender, and male abjection (“As a defense I’m neutered and spayed,” he sang in “On a Plain” ). Imbued with the punk ethic that to succeed was to fail, Nirvana abhorred the media onslaught that accompanied their rapid ascent. Success brought celebrity, and Cobain, typecast as a self-destructive rock star,courted controversy both with his advocacy of feminism and gay rights and with his embroilment in a sequence of drug- and gun-related escapades—a number of which involved his wife, Courtney Love, leader of the band Hole.
Nirvana changed the landscape of rock music over the course of only a few years, but in the beginning, they were just one more struggling group deciding on a lineup and a name. In 1985, guitarist/singer Kurt Cobain met bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, instantly bonding over their mutual love of the punk-metal band the Melvins. The duo brought in several different drummers over the next couple years, eventually settling on Chad Channing. Meanwhile, the group shuffled through different band names
(including the Stiff Woodies, Pen Cap Chew and Skid Row) before opting for Nirvana.
American alternative rock group whose breakthrough album, Nevermind (1991), announced a new musical style (grunge) and gave voice to the post-baby boom young adults known as Generation X.
The members were Kurt Cobain (b. February 20, 1967, Aberdeen, Washington, U.S.—d. April 5, 1994, Seattle), Krist Novoselic (b. May 16, 1965, Compton, California), and Dave Grohl (b. January 14, 1969, Warren, Ohio, U.S.).
Nirvana used extreme changes of tempo and volume to express anger and alienation: a quiet, tuneful verse switched into a ferocious, distorted chorus. In the fashion of many 1970s punk groups, guitarist-singer-songwriter .Cobain set powerful rock against sarcastic, allusive lyrics that explored hopelessness, surrender, and male abjection (“As a defense I’m neutered and spayed,” he sang in “On a Plain” ). Imbued with the punk ethic that to succeed was to fail, Nirvana abhorred the media onslaught that accompanied their rapid ascent. Success brought celebrity, and Cobain, typecast as a self-destructive rock star,courted controversy both with his advocacy of feminism and gay rights and with his embroilment in a sequence of drug- and gun-related escapades—a number of which involved his wife, Courtney Love, leader of the band Hole.
Like Nevermind, the band’s third album, In Utero (1993)—which contained clear articulations of Cobain’s psyche in songs such as “All Apologies” and “Rape Me” —reached number one on the U.S. album charts.As the band entered the '90s, Cobain’s songwriting would continue to blossom. Another important improvement occurred around the same time: Channing left the group and was replaced by Dave Grohl, the former drummer of the punk band Scream. Bleach had won the admiration of respected groups such as Sonic Youth, and demos of subsequent sessions began attracting the attention of major labels. Signing with DGC and with Growl now in tow, Nirvana recorded their follow-up, an album called Nevermind. It would have been the furthest thought from any of the band members’ minds at the time, but superstardom was on the horizon.By this point, however, Cobain’s heroin use was out of control. After a reputed suicide attempt in Rome in March 1994, he entered a Los Angeles treatment centre. In a mysterious sequence of events, he returned to Seattle, where he shot and killed himself in his lakeside home. Subsequent concert releases, notably Unplugged in New York (1994) and From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996), only added to Nirvana’s legend.
Though Nirvana disbanded shortly thereafter, their legacy remains unscarred, with the band’s biggest hits still a staple of rock radio. Grohl, Novoselic and Cobain’s widow Courtney Love (of the band Hole) have subsequently released live albums and compilations,including a greatest-hits package and a box set of rare tracks. Novoselic has played in a few bands since Nirvana’s dissolution, while Grohl has focused his energy on his own band, Foo Fighters.In 2002 the greatest-hits album Nirvana appeared and included the previously unreleased single “You Know You’re Right.” That year a collection of Cobain’s journals was also published.
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