Smells Like Teens Spirit

Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic formed Nirvana in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987 after moving through several early band names and line-ups. The music grew out of the Pacific Northwest underground rather than a single clean genre: punk economy, heavy riffs, pop songwriting and the influence of local bands such as Melvins all sit close together in the earliest recordings. By the time Sub Pop released Bleach in June 1989, Chad Channing was the drummer most closely associated with the first album period.

Bleach is heavier and less polished than the records that followed. Producer Jack Endino recorded the album for a tiny budget, and songs such as “Blew,” “School,” “Negative Creep” and “About a Girl” already show the two impulses that would define Nirvana: blunt force and unusually strong melody. “About a Girl” is particularly revealing because it sits almost awkwardly among the heavier material, a compact pop song hiding inside a record marketed through the Sub Pop grunge scene.

Dave Grohl joined in 1990, completing the line-up heard on Nevermind. Nirvana moved to DGC and recorded with producer Butch Vig at Sound City Studios. Released in September 1991, Nevermind turned an underground band into a global one. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was the obvious detonation point, but the album’s endurance is not dependent on one single: “Come As You Are,” “Lithium,” “In Bloom,” “Drain You” and “Something in the Way” occupy very different emotional and dynamic spaces while still sounding unmistakably like the same band.

The commercial explosion around Nevermind created a problem Nirvana never fully resolved. Cobain disliked being treated as a spokesman for a generation and was uncomfortable with parts of the audience that had attached themselves to the band. The music became harsher again. Steve Albini recorded the basic tracks for In Utero in Minnesota in 1993, and the album deliberately exposed more room sound, noise and physical texture than its predecessor. Scott Litt later mixed several songs, including the singles “Heart-Shaped Box” and “All Apologies.”

Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance, recorded in New York on November 18, 1993, showed another side of the catalogue. Rather than constructing the set around the largest hits, the band played covers by the Vaselines, David Bowie and Lead Belly, and invited members of Meat Puppets to perform three of their own songs. Pat Smear joined the touring line-up on guitar and Lori Goldston added cello. The resulting performance is restrained without being comfortable; the quietness makes Cobain’s phrasing and the band’s arrangement choices unusually exposed.

Cobain died in April 1994, ending Nirvana after only a few years at international scale. MTV Unplugged in New York was released later that year and subsequently won the GRAMMY for Best Alternative Music Performance. Archival releases, live albums and anniversary editions have continued to expand the documented catalogue, but the core remains unusually compact: three studio albums, a set of singles and B-sides, and a live history that moved from tiny Northwest venues to arenas with almost no gradual middle period.