3 Facts About Nirvana’s Groundbreaking Album ‘Nevermind’

If you are like me and you are of a certain age, it’s shocking that Nirvana’s Nevermind was released 35 years ago this month. So, to celebrate three and a half decades of this culture-shifting album, here are a few facts that, hopefully, give you an idea of what the music world felt like as Nirvana became America’s biggest rock band.

Bigger Than Michael Jackson

In September of 1991, Nirvana released its second studio LP, and first on the major label Geffen (DGC Records). Nevermind found modest success initially, peaking at No. 144 on Billboard’s album chart. But as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” moved from MTV’s 120 Minutes to full rotation, the album began racing up the charts. By the start of 1992, Nevermind had displaced Michael Jackson’s Dangerous from the top spot, completing the band’s unwitting pop-music insurgency.

The Perfect Pop Song

Irony was as crucial to Nirvana’s music as the ear-bleeding distortion—perhaps most noticeable on the band’s biggest hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. This was Kurt Cobain’s attempt at crafting the ideal pop song. And he did so using the quiet/loud dynamic of one of his favorite bands, Pixies. Both the riff and the vocal melody are undeniably infectious. But the song title comes from a joke about deodorant marketed to teen girls, originating with Cobain’s friend and Bikini Kill leader Kathleen Hanna. It became a generational anthem even though most of the lyrics are gibberish. But that didn’t stop it from changing rock history.

When Alternative Was Still a Thing

There was a time when the word “alternative” still meant something in both rock music and culture generally. Before Nirvana and other alternative acts landed, bands with giant hair and leather pants dominated MTV. But Nevermind, which was an album stacked with unforgettable tunes and guided by a D.I.Y. ethos, instantly made those bands feel irrelevant. Nirvana, like Jane’s Addiction and others before them, had lifted underground youth culture into the mainstream.

Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind isn’t as raw as Nirvana’s debut, Bleach. Instead, Cobain’s voice is clear and present atop quiet verses and loud choruses, Dave Grohl’s thunderous drumming, and Krist Novoselic’s skittering bass lines.

Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns