Twenty
years ago this month the music world was hit with a devastating blow. On April
8, 1994, we learned that Kurt Cobain, the lead singer, guitarist
and primary songwriter of the popular band Nirvana, had committed suicide.
It
was no secret that Cobain was a troubled individual, struggling with his own
fame and success while battling a heroin addiction. As an impressionable
teenager in my later days of high school, I couldn’t understand why Cobain
allowed himself to succumb to his demons. On the afternoon his body was found I
was glued to MTV when it still resembled a music channel. At the time Nirvana
was a big part of the soundtrack of my life, and I didn’t want to believe the
news. I felt like I had been sucker punched in the gut.
Since
Cobain’s death, there have been a number of influential artists and great
albums made, including Radiohead’s OK
Computer, Eminem’s dark and clever masterpiece The Marshall Mathers LP, and Springsteen’s welcome resurgence in The Rising. These are just a couple of popular
examples that come to mind, but the list could go on and on. I still believe
though, and will say with confidence, that no record has been as innovative and
game changing since Nirvana’s Nevermind altered popular music.
When
Nevermind was released on September
24, 1991, the biggest rock band on the planet was Guns N’ Roses. They put out Use Your Illusion I and II just a week before Nevermind hit stores. In fact, along
with Nirvana and Guns, 1991 saw an abundance of unforgettable rock albums that
included R.E.M.’s Out of Time, Red
Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magic,
Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Metallica’s Metallica (aka The Black Album), Pearl Jam’s Ten, and U2’s Achtung Baby. Naughty By Nature also
brought us the classic anthem “O.P.P.,” but I’m straying off the subject. The
bottom line it was a great year for music.
As
Slash said in his 2007 autobiography about the state of Guns in 1990, “We could
have sold out a worldwide tour on the basis of a debut record that was three
years old, plus an EP with just four new songs.” And he was right. But Guns N’
Roses hailed from L.A. and the Sunset Strip, a scene pioneered and glamorized
by bands such as Mötley Crüe and Quiet Riot. They were still a reminder of the
big hair, leather, and on some occasions eye liner, that stigmatized much of
80’s rock. Nirvana steered rock music in a whole new direction, and Nevermind was the catalyst.
Anyone
alive that followed popular music at the time could tell you what happened next. Nirvana
brought the focus of rock to Seattle, and the grunge era began. A once
underground sound, alternative rock became part of the mainstream, and it
spawned a cultural movement. Flannel shirts, ripped jeans and wool hats were
the fashion norm, and it was all rooted from music. Along with Nirvana, bands Pearl
Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots all saw their stock
rise in 1992 on the heels of Nevermind.
It also helped that MTV (until they shifted their programming from music videos
to reality television) played the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on a
continuous loop, which the network also eventually did for Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.”
Over the next couple of years, record companies backed a slew of alternative rock acts such
as Candlebox and Bush, hoping to reach the same success that these earlier
bands experienced. It was not long after Cobain’s suicide that the grunge era eventually
phased out.
Like
Nirvana or not, it was the resurgence in rock music that made Nevermind so groundbreaking. It can be
argued that no record since has had as much of an impact on popular culture. The
closest wave of music with the same popularity we might have seen since was the boy-band/teen-pop craze of the
late 90’s, highlighted by N’Sync’s record setting No Strings Attached, which sold over 2 million copies within in
first week of release in March, 2000. In fact, since sales tracking data began by Neilson Soundscan in March, 1991, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears own five of the top ten albums that have sold the most copies in their first
week of release. This was also at the height of the CD era, which grunge,
alternative rock and hip hop helped fuel a decade earlier. Record companies had
nothing better to do than to pour money into marketing promising artists. The
eventual emergence of the Internet and Napster changed all of this, pushing many
artists to self-distribute their own music. The music industry was
revolutionized forever, and new record releases never held the same weight as
they used to. And as for indie and alternative rock today, most bands have electronic sounds coming from their amps instead of guitar feedback.
So
the question always remains of what would have become of Cobain and Nirvana if the
singer didn’t take his own life. Would Dave Grohl have eventually started the
Foo Fighters, or some resemblance of the band, as a side project? Could some of
his early Foo Fighters songs been composed with Nirvana? Would Cobain have quietly
removed himself out of the public spotlight as the grunge era faded away? All
are strong possibilities. It was no secret that Cobain was good friends with
Michael Stipe, as well as a huge fan of his band R.E.M., whose influence shows
in Nirvana’s infamous MTV Unplugged performance. This mellower tone could have
been a direction Cobain wanted to lead the band. Just listen to “Marigold,” a
B-side from 1993’s In Utero. We can all speculate, but unfortunately there's no way for us to ever know.
Along
with the anniversary of Cobain’s death, this month Nirvana will also be
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It can be hard to believe that a
band with really only three original albums could receive such an honor on
their first time on the ballot, but that’s the legacy that Cobain left behind. Will rock music ever see another musician that had the same individuality and
influence as Cobain? Although highly unlikely, it would certainly be welcome.
