Animation Source Forums

Out of everything in the history of pop culture, nothing has ever perplexed me so much as the continuing popularity of Nirvana.

Enter 1991. People are growing tired of the corporate produced glam rock of the eighties and the record companies need something new. The Seattle underground music scene has started to garner attention with a wider audience, so the music industry fat cats decide that Seattle, Washington is the most logical place to look.

Now, before I go on, I just want to clear up that I don't believe that there is any such thing as "grunge". It is merely a corporate produced term given to bands that came out of Seattle in the early 90's. This term does not exist because every one of these bands had a much different sound from one another. Many people like to hate on all of the so-called "grunge bands" judging only by listening to Nirvana or Pearl Jam without realizing incredible bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden came from that same scene. Instead, they just list them guilty by association: one of the many reasons I am about to go on this rant... I mean essay.

Anyway, Alice in Chains' "Facelift" was released the year before and Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger" released earlier in the year. Both were modest successes, but the music industry really needed more accessible bands to break "grunge" through to the absolute mainstream. In August, Pearl Jam's "Ten" is released and hits like "Even Flow" and "Alive" cause some buzz. The next month, the release of Nirvana's "Nevermind" is greeted with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" playing on every single radio station. Nirvana becomes the bigger of the two bands and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is literally everywhere. The angst of "Nevermind"
was something teens could identify with and the key factor in what made it such a huge hit.

It is at this point that clothing stores start selling lots of flannel and ripped jeans to keep up with what all the kids' favorite bands are wearing. Fast forward two years from now when Nirvana releases "In Utero" and Pearl Jam releases "Vs." Both go platinum, but by this time, the public is beginning to tire of grunge with so many imitators and trend followers. Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, however is tired of all the media attention, and in April 1994, he commits suicide.

After Cobain's suicide, Nirvana's already stellar sales skyrocket. Magazines and MTV proceed to call him "the voice of a generation" and a "martyr". Now, with all this, you may be wondering when I'm going to get to my main point. The answer is right now.

You see, Nirvana (much like My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy) were merely an MTV promoted fad band created to cash in on the rising popularity of a musical trend. Cobain's lyrics were never "deep" or "anguished". They were only incoherent teen angst gibberish shouted over three chords on a guitar.

Another reason I dislike Nirvana is because almost every crappy pop band today cites them or Pearl Jam as inspiration. The reason I put more heat on Nirvana is that Pearl Jam only inspired generic post-grunge radio fodder which doesn't get on my nerves quite as much as "I'm sixteen and angry at my parents" Hot Topic Pop. So, in a sense, you could say Nirvana (and maybe Pearl Jam to a lesser degree even the the only bad part of them were the vocals) destroyed rock altogether.

Feel free to post your opinions on this matter.

How Dare you insult Nirvana!!!...JK

Personally I love "Smells Like Teen Spirit" not because it is an amazing song but the video is absolutely the most random and hilarious thing to watch set to music. I think calling Nirvana and Pearl Jam the My Chemical Romance and Fall out boy of the 90's is correct as they are a sub-genre of music ("grunge" in Nirvana's case and "emo" in FOB's) designed to target a large section of the population with formulaic songs. I don't think that any of these bands destroyed or even weakened rock music, It's more fun to go looking for music cause regardless of what happens to be on the radio you will always get only a small sample of what the music world has to offer. The radio is for Mainstream, a way to cash in on art, but true music will always exist we must simply seek it out and find a means by which to obtain it, and with the internet it has become very easy to do so.

slightly off topic: I love Chris Cornell and Soundgarden

Like I said, there is really no such thing as "grunge". If you listen to Soundgarden, they have more in common with bands like Led Zeppelin than Nirvana.

I do agree that it's kinda weird that people still like Nirvana so much. I mean, my sister was watching a thing on MTV about him and his suicide and she was crying by the end of it. No offense to you fans, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I mean, I know it was the biggest band of the early 90's, but all it was, to me, was just some kid who just angrily played his guitar really fast because he was mad at the life he lived in his tiny Washington state town. Seeing that "grunge" isn't technically the genre of music that he played, I'll just call it by the adjective that I think best describes it: Crude. It's crude, simple, and unrefined music, as opposed to the glam rock of the 80's, which was overly refined, if you ask me. Like you, I only understood why people liked it (my history teacher gave us a lecture about Nirvana and how it defined the 90's and Generation X )

Gah, I just don't like them. I was a fan of theirs for... I dunno, a couple weeks, but then it got old. XD Plus, the mainstream, ("Hot Topic" as you call them) bands just sound like Nirvana. The only reason why they're called "Alternative Rock" or "Nu Metal" right now, as opposed to Grunge, is because when Kurt killed himself, a good deal of his fans did the same, so the music industry thought "Oh, crap! Now everyone's going to associate suicide with Grunge music! Quick! Think of new thing to call it!"

Personally, I think it's time for something different. All these mainstream Alt. Rock / Nu Metal bands are starting to sound too much the same. I think the music industry, and people in general, need to let go of Kurt Cobain and try something different.

I hate Nirvana since Shayde decided that they were as great as Godsmack and HAS to play their music 24/7 -.- But I must say I never liked the band.

Tell her to download some Alice in Chains if she likes Godsmack. You'll be listening to a good Seattle band in no time.

Ha, if only! It'll take her awhile to even THINK about getting some other music.....She's into the Godsamck thing a bit deeper then she'll admit.

As if that isn't enough. You like AiC? How come I don't know this? You usually tell me every band you like (even Demi Lovato, your secret shame) XD

I enjoyed most of the songs on Nevermind, but I'm not a fan of Nirvana. I'm still amazed that people still walk around with shirts that say 'RIP Kurt Cobain'.