History Music / Nirvana

** ''Bleach:'' "Love Buzz" by 'hocking Blue.

* GratuitiousSpanish: In the chorus of "Come as You Are", Kurt recites the word "memoria", which means "memory".

Nirvana was one of the first bands many members of Generation Y got into, despite the band often being labeled a Generation X phenomenon (which is also inaccurate in the sense that a much larger number of Gen-X'ers grew up with the hair metal, and flamboyant pop ''Nirvana'' ushered out in the early '90s -- only the Gen-X'ers born from 1974 through 1979 would've likely been exposed to the band before reaching adulthood), and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[AuthorExistenceFailure 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.

* '''Aaron Burckhard''' - Drums (1987-1988)
* Chad Channing - Drums, cymbals (1988-1990)
* '''Music/KurtCobain''' - Lead vocals, guitar, bass, drums, percussion (1987-1994, died 1994)
* [[Music/{{Melvins}} Dale Crover]] - Drums (1988-1990)

* Music/DaveGrohl - Drums, backing and lead vocals, guitar, bass (1990-1994, 2014)
* '''Krist Novoselic''' - Bass, vocals, guitar, accordion (1987-1994, 2014)

** He once had a homosexual male friend who tried to kiss him but Kurt backed away and told his friend he was not gay but would still be friends with him.

* BreakupBreakout: While Dave Grohl's next band Music/FooFighters is generally acknowledged not to have had as much cultural impact as ''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 '90s and early 21st century.
** Live guitarist [[PunnyName Pat Smear]] got his BreakupBreakout in this band, (he was previously the guitarist of Music/TheGerms before their lead singer committed suicide via heroin overdose) until Cobain's death. Amazingly, he managed to get a ''second'' one when Dave Grohl brought him on to play with the Music/FooFighters, whom he still plays with to this day.

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest,]] Nirvana became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early years of TheNineties. The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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."

** From "Smells Like Teen Spirit:" The line "Oh well whatever ''Nevermind.''"
** "Come as You Are," also on ''Nevermind,'' actually has the title drop from their ''previous'' album, ''Bleach:''

** [[WordOfGod Kurt]] said he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual," and "If I wouldn't have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle."

* AntiLoveSong: "About a Girl."

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: The chorus for "In Bloom:"

** From "Sliver:" There's ''"Grandma take me home, grandma take me home..."'' (It repeats this ''forty nine times'' to depict an annoyed / annoying child.)
** From "Dumb:" There's "''I think I'm Dumb.''"
** From "Breed:" There's "''She said.''"
** From "School:" There's "''You're in high school again,''" "''No recess,''" and "''Won't you believe it; it's just my luck''" (in fact, pretty much all the lyrics of this song qualify).
** From "All Apologies:" There's "''All in all is all we all are.''"
** From "Smells Like Teen Spirit:" There's "''A denial''" and "''Hello, hello, hello, how low?''"
** From "Aneurysm:" There's "''Beat me outta me.''"
** From "Rape Me:" There's "''I'm not the only one.''"
** From "Heart-Shaped Box:" There's "''Your advice.''"
** From "You Know You're Right:" There's, well, "''[[TitleDrop You know you're right.]]''"
** The whole of the lyrics of "Stain."
** From "Negative Creep:" There's "''Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more''" and "''I'm a negative creep, I'm a negative creep, I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned''" (as with "School," most of the lyrics from this song qualify).

* CensoredTitle: On some copies of ''In Utero,'' "Rape Me" was titled "Waif Me."

** ''Bleach:'' "Love Buzz" by ''Shocking Blue.''
** ''MTV Unplugged in New York:'' "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" by ''The Vaselines;'' "Plateau," "Oh, Me," and "Lake of Fire" by ''Meat Puppets;'' ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'' by Music/DavidBowie; and the folk song "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"(a.k.a. "In the Pines) which was famously recorded by ''Leadbelly.''
** Besides the ones above, 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 Music/LedZeppelin, "They Hung Him on a Cross," "Grey Goose," and "Ain't It a Shame" by ''Leadbelly,'' "Here She Comes Now" by The Music/VelvetUnderground, "D-7" and "Return of the Rat" by ''The Wipers,'' "Seasons in the Sun" by ''Terry Jacks,'' "Do You Love Me?" by Music/{{KISS}}, "The Money Will Roll Right In" by ''Fang,'' and "The End" by Music/TheDoors.
* CymbalBangingMonkey: In the video for "Sliver."
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''In Utero'' compared to ''Nevermind.''

** 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."
** Also in the same album, before playing "About a Girl," he states: "This is off our first record; most people don't own it."
** Even Krist has moments of this. When asked what is his favorite ''Nirvana'' song he replied something along the lines of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," because "it bought my first house."

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

* FourMoreMeasures: "Sifting," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and "Aneurysm."
** After the second chorus of "Lounge Act," there's a four measure break from the vocals -- probably so that Kurt could prepare for the [[MetalScream glorious final verse.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: At rehearsals for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Nirvana announced to the MTV executives that they were going to play their brand new song; it just so happened that the song was "Rape Me." MTV refused to let them play the song, even threatening to throw ''Nirvana'' off the show if they so much as even tried to play the song on the air. What did ''Nirvana'' do? They played "Lithium" -- [[WriterRevolt but not before Kurt played the opening riff of "Rape Me" at the start of their on-air performance.]]

* {{Grunge}}: The poster boys of it, but are generally considered to have transcended the genre due to their widespread influence in other areas of music.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Surprisingly for an early '90s band, but it pops up in "All Apologies:"

** On some copies of ''Nevermind:'' "Endless, Nameless."

* IDontKnowMortalKombat: Krist [[http://www.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2008/12/old_songs_on_a_new_screen.php fumbled]] when playing "In Bloom" on ''VideoGame/RockBand 2.''
* IndecipherableLyrics: "Tourette's." And don't bother looking at the lyric sheet on ''In Utero'' for help, it just says "Cufk, Tish, Sips."

* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: "Rape Me," "Moist Vagina," and ''Music/{{Incesticide}}.''

** Cobain once stated that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a deliberate attempt to write a Music/ThePixies song.
** "About a Girl" was his crack at an early era [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] tune, and more generally, he wanted ''In Utero'' to be his ''Sergeant Pepper's.''

* LongTitle: From ''In Utero:'' "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle."
** "Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip."
* LyricalColdOpen: "Drain You," "Pennyroyal Tea," and "Sappy."
* LyricalDissonance: "Sliver," "Polly," and arguably "You Know You're Right."

** Likewise, "In Bloom," despite being allegedly inspired by Kurt's friend and fellow musician Dylan Carlson, is arguably more about thugs who like Nirvana's music, but stand for everything Kurt hated. He also expressed a fear of the image of a yuppie singing along to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in his BMW.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally 5 to 7. Their softer songs, like "Something in the Way" and "Marigold," drop down to about 2 or 3, while "Endless, Nameless" is an 8, and might even go up to 9 if not for the quiet parts. A few ''In Utero'' songs ("Scentless Apprentice," "Tourette's," etc.) are also 8, as well a few songs from ''Bleach'' (most obviously "Negative Creep").

** "Lounge Act:" Is it "'til it's fucking gone"... Or "jealous fucking God"?
** Cobain had a habit of mushing his words together when he sang, lending himself easily to this trope. (It also inspired the Weird Al parody song "Smells Like Nirvana.")

** "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle," "Lithium," Territorial Pissings," and "Lounge Act."
** PlayedWith in "Verse, Chorus, Verse," where the song does follow that format, but the words themselves never appear in the song.

** "Lounge Act:"

** "Aneurysm:"

** ''Hormoaning,'' ''Incesticide,'' and "Anorexorcist."

* RapeAsDrama: "Polly." They later did "Rape Me," which according to Kurt is about "sort of [[LaserGuidedKarma poetic justice,]] where a guy rapes a girl, ends up in jail, [[PrisonRape and gets raped there.]]"

* RefugeInAudacity: Cobain screams: "God is gay" at the end of "Stay Away." [[TheUnintelligible They probably avoided controversy, because nobody could understand what Cobain was screaming]] -- in fact, the lyric is pretty easily misheard as: "Gotta stay."

** Music/KurtCobain has been posthumously deemed a rock god: The house where he died in Seattle, 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, bears a welcome sign reading: "Come as You Are" (despite the fact Kurt ''hated'' the town).

* StylisticSuck: The crows in the video for "Heart-Shaped Box."

* ThisIsASong: "On a Plain." To wit: "I'll start this off, without any words... What the hell am I trying to say? It is now time, to make it unclear, to write off lines that don't make sense... One more special message to go..." And in between are a bunch of WordSaladLyrics.

* TheUnintelligible: When Music/WeirdAlYankovic approached the band, about making a parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (as "Smells Like Nirvana"), Music/KurtCobain inquired if it would be centered about food. When Weird Al answered, that it would be about IndecipherableLyrics, due to Kurt's singing, he was immediately given the go-head.

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

** Kurt himself lampshaded this in "On a Plain," with the lines: "What the hell am I trying to say?" and "It is now time to make it unclear / To write off lines that don't make sense." Then again, that is a song about writer's block...
** Good luck with deciphering the lyrics of "Milk It."

-->--'''Kurt Cobain''' quoting Music/NeilYoung, in his suicide note.

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest,]] Nirvana became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early years of TheNineties. The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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."

* CelebrityIsOverrated: Kurt stated his daily life hadn't changed much with fame. Also, fame didn't help at all with mental issues.

* SmokingIsCool: Cobain was a smoker through & through, but he urged a young British fan to not pick up the habit as seen in the end of ''Live at Reading''. As he gave an autograph, he happened to have a lit cigarette in one hand, and emphatically told the boy, "Don't smoke."

** ''MTV Unplugged in New York:'' "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" by ''The Vaselines;'' "Plateau," "Oh, Me," and "Lake of Fire" by ''Meat Puppets;'' ''Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld'' by Music/DavidBowie; and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by ''Leadbelly.''

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest,]] '''Nirvana''' became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early years of TheNineties. The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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."

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest,]] '''Nirvana''' became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early TheNineties. The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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."

** "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" was supposed to mock Nirvana's depressing image.

* SmokingIsCool

** Strongly related is fan reaction to a move Creator/{{Activision}} made with ''VideoGame/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 was in spite of Activision having done this numerous times before, to no complaint from artists and -- at best -- mild grudging from fans. [[note]] Love lost the lawsuit, because she gave Activision the go-ahead in the first place, by signing the contract stating that they could use his image for the game, meaning the lawsuit was a lost cause from the beginning. [[/note]]

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest,]] '''Nirvana''' became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early TheNineties The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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."

* ContemptibleCover: ''Nevermind'''s classic "[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/NirvanaNevermindalbumcover.jpg naked baby swimming after a dollar bill.]]"

* TheBigGuy: Krist stands at a massive 6'7. Kurt and Dave were absolutely [[http://www.feelnumb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/nirvana-blogimagr.jpg dwarfed]] by him.

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], '''Nirvana''' became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early [[TheNineties 1990's.]] The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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 members of Generation Y got into, despite the band often being labeled a Generation X phenomenon (which is also inaccurate in the sense that a much larger number of Gen-X'ers grew up with the hair metal, and flamboyant pop Nirvana ushered out in the early '90s -- only the Gen-X'ers born from 1974 through 1979 would've likely been exposed to the band before reaching adulthood), and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[AuthorExistenceFailure 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.

!!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold'''):

* '''Aaron Burckhard''' - drums (1987–1988)
* Chad Channing - drums, cymbals (1988–1990)
* '''Music/KurtCobain''' - lead vocals, guitar, bass, drums, percussion (1987–1994, died 1994)
* [[Music/{{Melvins}} Dale Crover]] - drums (1988–1990)
* Jason Everman - guitar (1989)
* Dave Foster - drums (1988)
* Music/DaveGrohl - drums, backing and lead vocals, guitar, bass (1990–1994, 2014)
* '''Krist Novoselic''' - bass, vocals, guitar, accordion (1987–1994, 2014)
* Dan Peters - drums (1990)

!!Studio and Live Discography:

* 1992 - ''Music/{{Incesticide}}'' [[note]]Odds and ends compilation released as a stopgap between albums[[/note]]
* 1992 - ''Hormoaning'' [[note]]EP only released in Australia and Japan[[/note]]

!!Nirvana provides examples of:

** From "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the line "Oh well whatever ''Nevermind''."
** "Come as You Are," also on ''Nevermind'', actually has the title drop from their ''previous'' album, ''Bleach'':

** [[WordOfGod Kurt]] said he was "gay in spirit" and "probably could be bisexual", and "If I wouldn't have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle."

* AntiLoveSong: "About a Girl".
* AudienceParticipationSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m246v9Lclp8 As seen in this video,]] the audience would supply the shriek in "Milk It" if Kurt missed it.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: The chorus for "In Bloom":

* BreakupBreakout: While Dave Grohl's next band Music/FooFighters is generally acknowledged not to have had as much cultural impact as 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 '90s and early 21st century.

** From "Sliver": ''"Grandma take me home, grandma take me home..."'' (It repeats this ''forty-nine times'' to depict an annoyed/annoying child.)
** From "Dumb", there's "''I think I'm Dumb''".
** From "Breed", it's "''She said''".
** From "School", there's "''You're in high school again''", "''No recess''", and "''Won't you believe it; it's just my luck''" (in fact, pretty much all the lyrics of this song qualify)
** From "All Apologies", there's "''All in all is all we all are''".
** From "Smells Like Teen Spirit", there's "''A denial''" and "''Hello, hello, hello, how low?''"
** From "Aneurysm", there's "''Beat me outta me''".
** From "Rape Me", there's "''I'm not the only one''".
** From "Heart-Shaped Box", there's "''Your advice''".
** From "You Know You're Right", there's, well, "''[[TitleDrop You know you're right]]''".
** The whole of the lyrics of "Stain".
** From "Negative Creep", there's "''Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more''" and "''I'm a negative creep, I'm a negative creep, I'm a negative creep and I'm stoned''" (as with "School", most of the lyrics from this song qualify).

* CensoredTitle: On some copies of ''In Utero'', "Rape Me" was titled "Waif Me".

* ContemptibleCover: ''Nevermind'''s classic "[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/NirvanaNevermindalbumcover.jpg naked baby swimming after a dollar bill]]".
** [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2042033/Baby-cover-Nirvanas-Nevermind-album-turns-20.html It made the news in 2011 when Spencer Elden ("the baby") turned 20 and spoke about his young brush with fame.]] He even posed for an updated underwater picture — wearing swimming trunks, though.

** ''Bleach'': "Love Buzz" by Shocking Blue.
** ''MTV Unplugged in New York'': "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" by the Vaselines; "Plateau", "Oh, Me", and "Lake of Fire" by Meat Puppets; "Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld" by Music/DavidBowie; and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" by Leadbelly.
** Besides the ones above, 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 Music/LedZeppelin, "They Hung Him on a Cross", "Grey Goose" and "Ain't It a Shame" by Leadbelly, "Here She Comes Now" by The Music/VelvetUnderground, "D-7" and "Return of the Rat" by The Wipers, "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks, "Do You Love Me?" by Music/{{KISS}}, "The Money Will Roll Right In" by Fang, and "The End" by Music/TheDoors.
* CymbalBangingMonkey: In the video for "Sliver".
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''In Utero'' compared to ''Nevermind''.

** 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".
** Also in the same album, before playing "About a Girl", he states "This is off our first record; most people don't own it."
** Even Krist has moments of this. When asked what is your favorite Nirvana song he replied something along the lines of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", because "it bought my first house."

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

** "Married, buried" (from "All Apologies" — Kurt would be both shortly).
* FourMoreMeasures: "Sifting", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Aneurysm".
** After the second chorus of "Lounge Act," there's a four-measure break from the vocals — probably so that Kurt could prepare for the [[MetalScream glorious final verse.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: At rehearsals for the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Nirvana announced to the MTV executives that they were going to play their brand new song; it just so happened that the song was "Rape Me". MTV refused to let them play the song, even threatening to throw Nirvana off the show if they so much as even tried to play the song on the air. What did Nirvana do? They played "Lithium" — [[WriterRevolt but not before Kurt played the opening riff of "Rape Me" at the start of their on-air performance.]]
* TheGirlWhoFitsThisSlipper: "About a Girl" includes the line, "I do... think you fit this shoe."

* HaveAGayOldTime: Surprisingly for an early 90's band, but it pops up in "All Apologies":

** On some copies of ''Nevermind'', "Endless, Nameless".
** "Verse Chorus Verse" was originally released as a hidden track on the benefit album ''No Alternative'' — Nirvana requested that the song go unlisted because they didn't want to overshadow the other artists on the album.
** The "Sliver" single included an unlisted recording of a short phone conversation, which basically consisted of Creator/SubPop co-founder Jonathan Poneman calling up a very hungover Krist Novoselic.
* IDontKnowMortalKombat: Krist [[http://www.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2008/12/old_songs_on_a_new_screen.php fumbled]] when playing "In Bloom" on ''RockBand 2''.
* IndecipherableLyrics: "Tourette's". And don't bother looking at the lyric sheet on ''In Utero'' for help, it just says "Cufk, Tish, Sips".

* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: "Rape Me", "Moist Vagina" and ''Music/{{Incesticide}}''.

** Cobain once stated that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was a deliberate attempt to write a [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]] song.
** "About a Girl" was his crack at an early era [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] tune, and more generally, he wanted ''In Utero'' to be his ''Sergeant Pepper's''.

** 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.
* LongTitle: From ''In Utero'', "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle."
** "Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip".
* LyricalColdOpen: "Drain You", "Pennyroyal Tea", "Sappy".
* LyricalDissonance: "Sliver", "Polly", and arguably "You Know You're Right".
* MetalScream: The number of songs in which Cobain doesn't start yelling the lyrics (or [[CarefulWithThatAxe just screams]], such as "Love Buzz") is really small.
* MisaimedFandom: [[invoked]].

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally 5 to 7. Their softer songs, like "Something in the Way" and "Marigold", drop down to about 2 or 3, while "Endless, Nameless" is an 8, and might even go up to 9 if not for the quiet parts. A few ''In Utero'' songs ("Scentless Apprentice," "Tourette's," etc.) are also 8, as well a few songs from ''Bleach'' (most obviously "Negative Creep").

** "Lounge Act": Is it "'til it's fucking gone"... or "jealous fucking God"?
** Cobain had a habit of mushing his words together when he sang, lending himself easily to this trope. (It also inspired the Weird Al parody song "Smells Like Nirvana".)
** Kurt once said on the topic of journalists interpreting his lyrics: "Why the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics when 90% of the time they transcribe them incorrectly?"
*** Another reason why it's hard to nail down the lyrics to Nirvana songs is that they tended to change from performance to performance. Cobain himself would change the lyrics to songs after they had been recorded, most notably Smells Like Teen Spirit. "Our little group" was changed to "our little tribe". Nearly every live performance of the song reflects this change.

** "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle", "Lithium", "Territorial Pissings", and "Lounge Act".
** PlayedWith in "Verse, Chorus, Verse", where the song does follow that format, but the words themselves never appear in the song.
* PopCulturalOsmosis: Nirvana are ''much'' more popular and well-known than many bands who inspired them, e.g. Music/{{Melvins}}, Music/BlackFlag, Music/CelticFrost and Music/ThePixies. Nearly every song they covered became a case of CoveredUp, even if they were originally performed by well-known artists like Music/DavidBowie.

** "Lounge Act":

** "Aneurysm":
-->"Come on over and shoot the shit".

** ''Hormoaning'', ''Incesticide'', ''Anorexorcist''.
** Carrying the joke from ''Incesticide'' further, there's the compilation bootlegs collectively called ''Outcesticide''.
** Kurt saw a poster aiming to prevent AIDS by advocating needle sterilization with the slogan "Bleach your works". Thus he decided to do that, naming his album ''Music/{{Bleach}}''.
* RapeAsDrama: "Polly". They later did "Rape Me", which according to Kurt is about "sort of [[LaserGuidedKarma poetic justice]], where a guy rapes a girl, ends up in jail, [[PrisonRape and gets raped there.]]"

* RefugeInAudacity: Cobain screams "God is gay" at the end of "Stay Away." [[TheUnintelligible They probably avoided controversy, because nobody could understand what Cobain was screaming]] -- in fact, the lyric is pretty easily misheard as: "gotta stay."

** WithAFriendAndAStranger: Krist was Kurt's friend in Aberdeen, and Dave their ''fourth'' drummer.
** FourTemperamentEnsemble: Kurt: melancholic\choleric; Krist: phlegmatic; Dave: sanguine; Pat: leukine.

** "I have... Very... Bad posture..." ("Pennyroyal Tea"; a MultipleReferencePun, to either Kurt's bad attitude or his crooked, often hurting back)

** Kurt has also 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. He was also a huge fan of Music/ShonenKnife, who can be considered this band's [[TastesLikeDiabetes antithesis]].

** "[[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Aero]] [[Music/LedZeppelin Zeppelin]]."

* SpringtimeForHitler: ''In Utero'' was Kurt's attempt to alienate their newfound fandom, by making a noisy rock record. It became another big hit, instead.
* StarvingArtist: Kurt was this for quite a while, and was not uncommon for him to sleep in other people's houses or his own car. Also, during their early days, the band had to spend the money earned from concerts in either the gasoline to get to the next gig or food - [[DoingItForTheArt often preferring the former.]]

* ThisLoserIsYou: "In Bloom" ...Or the chorus, at least.

* WhamLine: Kurt Cobain shows off his talents as a lyricist with the first two lines of "Polly."

* RockersSmashGuitars: Kurt loved doing this.

** "I have... Very... Bad posture..." ("Pennyroyal Tea")

* RockTrio: The best known line-up of Kurt, Krist, and Dave. [[note]] Kurt intended the band to be a four piece, though, thus [[Music/TheGerms Pat Smear]] joining as the fourth member, near the band's end. [[/note]]

** Strongly related is fan reaction to a move Creator/{{Activision}} made with ''VideoGame/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 was in spite of Activision having done this numerous times before, to no complaint from artists and -- at best -- mild grudging from fans. [[note]] Love lost the lawsuit, because she gave Activision the go-ahead in the first place, by signing the contract stating, that they could use his image for the game, meaning the lawsuit was a lost cause from the beginning. [[/note]]

** "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle", "Lithium", "Territorial Pissings", and 'Lounge Act".

* PopCulturalOsmosis: Nirvana are ''much'' more popular and well-known than many bands who inspired them, e.g. Music/{{Melvins}}, Music/BlackFlag, Music/CelticFrost and Music/ThePixies.

A {{grunge}} band coming from Aberdeen, Washington -- not UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, as is commonly assumed, though Seattle is where they first hit it big -- up in the [[TheOtherRainforest Pacific Northwest]], '''Nirvana''' became the breakthrough in AlternativeRock, with their smash hit album ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in the early [[TheNineties 1990's.]] The trio of guitarist and frontman Music/KurtCobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and a revolving door of drummers, until Chad Channing, and subsequently Music/DaveGrohl 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 members of Generation Y got into, despite the band often being labeled a Generation X phenomenon (which is also inaccurate in the sense that a much larger number of Gen-X'ers grew up with the hair metal, and flamboyant pop Nirvana ushered out in the early '90s -- only the Gen-X'ers born from 1974 through 1979, would've likely been exposed to the band before reaching adulthood), and thus, their music is often considered to be in the upper echelons of influential rock music. Even after [[AuthorExistenceFailure 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.

* 1996 - ''From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah''
* 2009 - ''Live At Reading''

** From "School", there's "''You're in high school again''".

** From "Negative Creep", there's "''Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more''".

* RefugeInAudacity: Cobain screams "God is gay" at the end of "Stay Away." [[TheUnintelligible They probably avoided controversy, because nobody could understand, what Cobain was screaming]] -- in fact, the lyric is pretty easily misheard as: "gotta stay."

** Likewise, "In Bloom" is about thugs who like Nirvana's music, but stand for everything Kurt hated. He also expressed a fear of the image of a yuppie singing along to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in his BMW.

* RefugeInAudacity: Cobain screams "God is gay" at the end of "Stay Away". [[TheUnintelligible They probably avoided controversy because nobody could understand what Cobain was screaming]] — in fact, the lyric is pretty easily misheard as "gotta stay".
* {{Retraux}}: For the "In Bloom" video, the band dressed up as a 1960s pop group. The video was shot with old Kinescope cameras.
* RevolvingDoorBand: They had five drummers before Dave — and also an extra guitarist, who even financed ''Bleach'' and appears on the cover but doesn't play there. Chad Channing was the only other drummer to play on a Nirvana studio album.
* RockTrio: The best known lineup of Kurt, Krist and Dave.[[note]]Kurt intended the band to be a four-piece, though, thus [[Music/TheGerms Pat Smear]] joining as the fourth member near the band's end.[[/note]]

** "I have... very... bad posture..." ("Pennyroyal Tea")

** Music/KurtCobain has been posthumously deemed a rock god: the house where he died in Seattle, 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 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 ''VideoGame/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 was in spite of Activision having done this numerous times before to no complaint from artists and — at best — mild grudging from fans.[[note]]Love lost the lawsuit because she gave Activision the go-ahead in the first place by signing the contract stating that they could use his image for the game, meaning the lawsuit was a lost cause from the beginning.[[/note]]
** Kurt has also 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. He was also a huge fan of Music/ShonenKnife, who can be considered this band's [[TastesLikeDiabetes antithesis]].

** The song "Scentless Apprentice" [[FilkSong is inspired by Patrick Süskind's novel]] ''Literature/{{Perfume}}''.
** Kurt's suicide note, as quoted above, was a shoutout to the godfather of grunge, Music/NeilYoung.
** In their cover of "Do You Love Me" by {{Music/Kiss}}, they replaced the lyric "And all the money, honey, that I make" with "And all the Music/{{Mudhoney}} that I make".