History Music / Nirvana

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Kurt thought of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a highly polished {{Pixies}} rip-off and was often reluctant to play it. He actually considered "Drain You" to be the best song on ''Nevermind'', as well as one of the best songs he ever wrote.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: About a 5 or 6. Their softer stuff is usually a 2 or 3. On the other hand, "Endless, Nameless" is [[{{YMMV}} probably]] an 8, and might even go up to 9 if not for the quiet parts.

A rock band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not {{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], Nirvana became the breakthrough in alternative rock with their smash hit album ''Nevermind'' in the early [[TheNineties 1990s]]. The trio of Music/KurtCobain (guitar, lead singer, lead songwriter), Krist Novoselic (bass) and Music/DaveGrohl (drums) would become the face of the {{grunge}} movement of the '90s; the group is most well known for the songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come As You Are", "Heart Shaped Box", and "You Know You're Right". Nirvana was one of the first bands many people of the current generation got into, and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[TooGoodToLast the death]] of Cobain, the band still continued to remain popular, releasing many compilation albums. After the group split up, drummer Dave Grohl formed the band known as the Music/FooFighters, who have gone on to be one of the most respected and successful alternative rock bands in history.

A rock band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not {{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], Nirvana became the breakthrough in alternative rock with their smash hit album ''Nevermind'' in the early [[TheNineties 1990s]]. The trio of KurtCobain (guitar, lead singer, lead songwriter), Krist Novoselic (bass) and DaveGrohl (drums) would become the face of the {{grunge}} movement of the '90s; the group is most well known for the songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come As You Are", "Heart Shaped Box", and "You Know You're Right". Nirvana was one of the first bands many people of the current generation got into, and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[TooGoodToLast the death]] of Cobain, the band still continued to remain popular, releasing many compilation albums. After the group split up, drummer Dave Grohl formed the band known as the Music/FooFighters, who have gone on to be one of the most respected and successful alternative rock bands in history.

A rock band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not {{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], Nirvana became the breakthrough in alternative rock with their smash hit album ''Nevermind'' in the early [[TheNineties 1990s]]. The trio of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl would become the face of the {{grunge}} movement of the '90s; the group is most well known for the songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come As You Are", "Heart Shaped Box", and "You Know You're Right". Nirvana was one of the first bands many people of the current generation got into, and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[TooGoodToLast the death]] of lead singer KurtCobain, the band still continued to remain popular, releasing many compilation albums. After the group split up, drummer Dave Grohl formed the band known as the Music/FooFighters, who have gone on to be one of the most respected and successful alternative rock bands in history.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Cobain, who AteHisGun.

* FilkSong: "Scentless Apprentice" was based on the novel ''{{Perfume}}''.

* ShoutOut: The song "Scentless Apprentice" [[FilkSong is inspired by Patrick Süskind's novel]] ''{{Perfume}}''.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: About a 5 or 6. Their softer stuff is usually a 2 or 3. On the other hand, "Endless, Nameless" is [[YMMV probably]] an 8, and might even go up to 9 if not for the quiet parts.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: About a 5 or 6. Their softer stuff is usually a 2 or 3.

** ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Nirvana]]'' (2004) - a "one-CD history of the band"

* BreakupBreakout: While Dave Grohl's next band Music/FooFighters is generally acknowledged not to have had as much cultural impact of Nirvana, for him personally, it was a breakout from being virtually anonymous as "just the drummer" in the background to the leader and FaceOfTheBand of one of the most popular, commercially successful and critically acclaimed rock bands of the late 90's and early 21st century.

* EpicRiff: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the bass riff of "Come As You Are", to name just two.

* FridgeBrilliance: In the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video, there's a girl wearing a red "A" on her shirt. Cobain originally got the idea for the song from his friend Kathleen Hanna, during a discussion of anarchy and rock. The "A" could stand for anarchy, or be an allusion to TheScarletLetter, which is about a girl who's alienated for her actions. Punk rock and grunge music was considered the ultimate edgy and alienating a person could listen to, and the culture it established intentionally drove itself away from the mainstream.
** Another example from "Smells Like Teen Spirit": A common stereotype among troubled teenagers is that they all get bad grades in school. "Teen Spirit" is played in the key of F.

* RecordOfLoudnessWar: The recent remaster of ''Nevermind'' is completely ruined by this.
** As is the box set With The Lights Out. Luckily, most of the songs had previously been bootlegged and so the bootlegged versions don't suffer from this issue.

* {{Misblamed}}: Courtney didn't exactly help Kurt's state of mind, but she wasn't solely responsible for getting him hooked on heroin; that was mostly down to Kurt's "self-medicating". The Charles Cross biography suggests, however, that it was the reverse -- it was ''Kurt'' who got ''Courtney'' back onto heroin.

A rock band coming from Aberdeen (often assumed to be {{Seattle}}), Washington in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], Nirvana became the breakthrough in alternative rock with their smash hit album, ''Nevermind''. They would become the face of the {{grunge}} movement of [[TheNineties the 90's]] and are most well known for songs such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come As You Are", "Heart Shaped Box", and "You Know You're Right". One of the first bands many people get into, Nirvana is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[TooGoodToLast the death]] of lead singer KurtCobain, the band still continued to remain popular, releasing many compilation albums. After the group split up, drummer Dave Grohl formed the band known as the Music/FooFighters who have gone on to be one of the most successful and respected alternative rock bands in history.

* ConceptAlbum: while not an outright one, all the songs on Nevermind tend to follow the general themes of teenage sexuality, loneliness, the madness that results from rejection, or an obssesion over a girl

* CoverVersion: Besides the ones below, some others were recorded live or as demos and have surfaced on compilations, B-sides and [=EPs=] (mostly ''With the Lights Out'') - "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" by LedZeppelin, "They Hung Him on a Cross", "Grey Goose" and "Ain't It a Shame", also by Leadbelly, "Here She Comes Now" by The VelvetUnderground, "D-7" and "Return of the Rat" by The Wipers, "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks, "Do You Love Me?" by {{KISS}}, "The Money Will Roll Right In" by Fang, and "The End" by TheDoors.
* CreatorBreakdown: ''In Utero''

* DeadpanSnarker: Kurt has moments of this on ''MTV Unplugged in New York'', crossed with SelfDeprecation. For example, before playing "The Man Who Sold the World", he says ''I guarantee you I will screw this song up. And I know exactly which part'', to which someone in the background (probably Dave) snarks ''Yeah, like he only screws up one part.'' Then, at the end of the song, ''I didn't screw it up, did I? But here's another one I could screw up''.

* FridgeBrilliance: In the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video, there's a girl wearing a red "a" on her shirt. Cobain originally got the idea for the song from his friend Kathleen Hanna, during a discussion of anarchy and rock. The "a" could stand for anarchy, or be an allusion to TheScarletLetter, which is about a girl who's alienated for her actions. Punk rock and grunge music was considered the ultimate edgy and alienating a person could listen to, and the culture it established intentionally drove itself away from the mainstream.
** Another example from Smells Like Teen Spirit: A common stereotype among troubled teenagers is that they all get bad grades in school. "Teen Spirit" is played in the key of F.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: At rehearsals for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Nirvana announced to the MTV executives that they were going to play a new song...entitled "Rape Me". MTV flat-out refused to let them, even threatening to throw Nirvana off the show if they even thought about playing the song on the air. So what did Nirvana do? They played "Lithium" - [[WriterRevolt but not before Kurt played and sung the opening of "Rape Me" at the start of their on-air performance.]]

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Kurt thought of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as merely a highly polished {{Pixies}} rip-off and was often reluctant to play it. Instead, he considered "Drain You" to be the best song on ''Nevermind'', and among the best songs he ever wrote.

* {{Misblamed}}: Courtney didn't exactly help Kurt's state of mind but she wasn't solely responsible for getting him hooked on heroin, that was mostly down to Kurt's "self medicating". However, the Charles Cross biography suggests it was the reverse and it was Kurt who got Courtney back onto heroin.

* NewSoundAlbum: ''MTV Unplugged in New York'' is perhaps the most obvious example for being acoustic, their first live album, and nearly half of the songs being covers. Their three main studio albums also have distinct, albeit slightly more subtle differences.

* PromotedFanboy: Cobain always made sure to plug his favorite bands in interviews and several of them (Meat Puppets, The Melvins, The Vaselines and ShonenKnife, just to name a few) got major label record deals just because Cobain said he liked them. They (Nirvana) also got a record contract thanks to the support of SonicYouth, a band they were all big fans of and quickly befriended afterwards.

* {{Retraux}}: For the "In Bloom" video the band dressed up as a 1950s pop group. The video was shot with old Kinescope cameras.

* SeriousBusiness: KurtCobain has been posthumously deemed a rock god; the house where he died in Seattle, WA, as well as several other former residences throughout Washington, have come to be considered holy ground by his fans, and the main road leading into his hometown of Aberdeen, WA bears a welcome sign reading "Come As You Are" (despite the fact Kurt hated the town).
** Strongly related is fan reaction to a move {{Activision}} made with ''GuitarHero 5'', where you could play as Cobain and have him sing ''any song in the game''. Not only did Courtney Love sue, and the surviving members of Nirvana declare they wouldn't work with Activision ever again, but the fans went ''nuts''. This in spite of Activision having done this numerous times before to no complaint from artists and at-best mild grudging from fans.
*** It should be noted that Love lost the suit, because she gave Activision the go-ahead in the first place. She signed the contract stating that they could use his image for the game, meaning the lawsuit was a lost cause from the beginning.
** Furthermore, Kurt has become canonized as a dour, tragic figure. He was, most of the time (especially when he wasn't smacked up on heroin), a smart, goofy music nerd with a wicked sense of humor.

* SpringtimeForHitler: ''In Utero'' was Kurt's attempt to alienate their newfound fandom by making a noisy rock record. It was another big hit.

* ThrowItIn: While recording ''Bleach'', the band had been experimenting with Drop D tuning. Krist Novoselic accidentally left his bass in drop d before recording "Blew", and this was the take that was used for the album because it just sounded cooler.

** ''Nevermind'' also has two unplugged songs, "Polly" (which in an inversion, they also played electrically, "(New Wave) Polly") and "Something in the Way".

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* TheUnintelligible: KurtCobain allowed WeirdAl to parody "Smells Like Teen Spirit" due it not being about food (a common Weird Al theme at the time), but about the IndecipherableLyrics due to Kurt's singing.
** Um, I don't think he was ever going to say no if it was about food, he simply asked if it was going to be about food.