Nirvana (band)

The following article is about the grunge band Nirvana. See Nirvana (disambiguation) for other meanings, including the British psychedelic rock band of the 1960s of the same name.

Frequently hailed as a flagship band of Generation X, Nirvana was a grunge band founded in 1987 and disbanded in 1994 upon the death of its leader, Kurt Cobain. Though formed in Aberdeen, Washington, Seattle was the band's home base during their heyday. Primary members included Cobain, (guitar and vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass and backing vocals), and Dave Grohl (drums and backing vocals). These were the band members who stayed in the band from 1990 till 1994). Aaron Burkhart (drums)- was the first drummer Nirvana ever had. Dale Crover (drums) was the drummer on the band's first demo. Some of the songs this demo contained finally came out on "Bleach", Nirvana's first album, which featured Chad Channing on drums, taking the place of Dale and Aaron. Jason Everman (2nd guitar) provided financial support, and as a way to say thanks, Nirvana put Jason's name on the back of "Bleach". Bleach was a garage rock record, made for the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop; in fact, this was the label's first album. After a tour, they dropped Jason Everman, and secretely started looking for another drummer. Their second album, Nevermind, sweetened the sound of their first with a cleaner production (by Butch Vig) and occasional pop hooks. Recorded for the much larger Geffen Records label, it was a major breakthrough both for the band and the rock music scene. The highly infectious single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" received heavy airplay on MTV, inspiring a slew of imitators and bringing the grunge sound into the mainstream. During 1992 the band began having troubles with Kurt Cobain's heroin addiction. Nevertheless, they put out a compilation of previously unreleased tracks: Incesticide. Their follow up, 1993's In Utero, was slightly less accessible to the mass market due to its more subdued and introspective sound, but still obtained critical and commercial success.

Singer Kurt Cobain was known to be troubled, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He wrote a song, "Lithium", about the medication lithium carbonate, which is used to treat bipolar disorder. Kurt always said it was about religion, but nobody knows the real story behind the song. During their last tour they added Pat Smear as touring guitarist. In February of 1992 Cobain married musician and actress Courtney Love, of the band Hole. Plagued by an unexplained stomach illness and increasingly dissatisfied with the crass commercialism of the music industry, Cobain became depressed, reclusive, and a heroin addict. Cobain committed suicide on April 5, 1994 at his Seattle home, but the remaining band members did state that the group was already in the process of splitting up at the time.

Several albums have been released since Cobain's death, including a live set and a subdued and eerily morbid perfomance on MTV's Unplugged in New York. In the years following his death, there has been much controversy over the ownership of Nirvana's music. The two surviving band members, Grohl and Novoselic, fought with Cobain's wife Courtney Love over the issue of releasing a new album containing rare or unreleased tracks. On October 29, 2002, following a grueling legal battle, the album Nirvana was released containing several greatest hits and one unreleased track, "You Know You're Right". (A live version of this song can be found on Outcesticide V(5) Disintegration. This was released prior to the album Nirvana.)

According to some, notably public access host Richard Lee of Seattle, Kurt Cobain was murdered. His ongoing documentary has been running since the week after Cobain's demise. In addition, a documentary film called "Kurt & Courtney" was made by filmmaker Nick Broomfield which suggests that Love had Cobain killed. However, these are generally considered to be conspiracy theories and the official verdict of death by self-inflicted gunshot wound is widely accepted.

Cobain wrote in a journal often, leaving 22 notebooks filled with his writing when he died. In November 2002, a sampling of these writings was published as Journals. The book is 280 pages with a simple black cover; the pages are arranged somewhat chronologically (although Cobain generally did not date them). The journal pages are reproduced in color, and there is a section added at the back that has explanations and transcripts of some of the less intelligible pages. The writings begin in the late 1980s, around the time the band started, and end in 1994.

Samples

• Download sample of "Come As You Are" from Nevermind

Discography

Bleach (1989)

Nevermind (1991)

Hormoaning (1992 – Australia and Japan only)

Incesticide (1992)

In Utero (1993)

MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1995)

Nirvana (2002) (also called Best Of 1988-1994)

Nirvana (2003)

External Links

• Sleeps With Angels - Neil Young's Tribute to Kurt Cobain

Referenced By