For those born before 1980, it is hard to remember what rock and roll was like before Nirvana. Or perhaps we don't want to. Hardcore alternative was not something one heard on the radio. Occasionally a band like Jane's Addiction or the Pixies would have big enough hit to reach the lower realms of the pop charts, but even these groups were unknown to most Americans.
Kurt Cobain, born in the small town of Aberdeen, Washington, didn't have access to punk and alternative bands. He developed a liking for both based on pictures he saw in old issues of Creem magazine and castoff fanzines; luckily, he also stumbled on a handful of seven-inch singles and the Melvins, a local band that played sludgy, distorted songs that sounded like a cross between Black Sabbath and the Sex Pistols. Cobain started writing lyrics, took a week's worth of guitar lessons, and began recording demos on his aunt's four-track tape deck. Though they were extremely rough and all but inaudible he traded them with other local alternative junkies. Among them was Krist Novoselic, a bass player who was impressed enough by Cobain's songs to track him down and join forces. The two began playing at house parties and anywhere else anyone would permit them, often times with a new drummer in tow. The band used most of their savings to record a demo, which showed enough promise to get them signed by Sub-Pop, a Seattle-based record company started by a local punk fanzine. Sub-Pop had no money for an advance, so many songs from the demo ended up on the album; for the final sessions of Bleach Nirvana had to deputize an extra guitarist whose sole function was to pay the $606 dollars for the studio time. Bleach, an aggressive blast of punk metal, sold 30,000 copies, a respectable number for an underground indie band.
It was good enough to merit a follow-up. Sub-Pop paired the band with a promising new producer, Butch Vig (who later founded the band Garbage), but did not pay for the recording sessions. Cobain was beginning to think Nirvana could do better. The band had hired a new drummer, Dave Grohl, shortly before they signed with Geffen records in 1991, and the label paid the entire $135,000 cost of making the new album. Nevermind differed greatly from Bleach; the tunes were still heavily colored by heavy metal, but at their core they were hook-laden blasts of pop with the kineticism of punk and surprisingly lovely melodies. Nonetheless, the songs retained a dark, sullen menace. The combination was unique, and it would ultimately mark the musical beginning of the new decade.
Nevermind was released in September 1991 and Geffen, expecting modest sales, pressed 50,000 copies of the album. They were gone in three weeks. A much larger second pressing was hustled into stores, and sold three million copies in the next four months. The sales were driven by "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Cobain's riff-laden diatribe against the manufactured teen angst that was used to sell personal hygiene products, clothing, and MTV.
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The Melvins, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Black Sabbath, The Replacements, Neil Young
Must Haves:
 "Lithium"
"Heart-Shaped Box"
"Polly"
"Love Buzz"
"Come as You Are"
Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Everclear, Presidents of the United States of America
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