Chula Vista

Huh? What propped Nirvana up so much that Rolling Stone and MTV had no choice but to jump on the band wagon were the great songs on Nevermind. Teen Spirit being the one that took the country by a storm.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Neapolitan

I don't know if Nirvana deserves it, but that is how history has it. I guess because Hair Metal ran it's course and became so trite no one could bear it any more it was possible any band could be the next new thing. There were a lot of good bands in the 80s, and early 90s. But for whatever reason Nirvana was prompt up as thē band. I don't mind Nirvana, but I don't think they were not the end all be all of Alternative-Rock. I never felt the necessity to buy a Nirvana CD, even now I'm not so compelled to listen to album online for free.

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Chula Vista

What a lot of people don't remember is what was playing on the radio and topping the charts right before Nirvana broke. You had steady doses of MJ, Whitney Houston, Boys to Men, and lots of other artists that were far from being considered rock.

Nevermind broke big on the strength of those singles and ultimately knocked Michael Jackson out of the #1 spot on the Billboard album charts.

All of a sudden crunchy guitars and heavy drums were mainstream again once the grunge bandwagon gained full speed.

To me that is Nirvana's legacy. They were the ones that busted down the R&B, pop, and ballad dominance of the airwaves.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Neapolitan

People talk about how "Nevermind" revolutionized the 90s. Electric Warrior had as much influence on 90s music and that was recorded two decades earlier. There were college radio bands like REM and U2 that were crossing over to household name fame, some felt they sold out by then but at least they were doing something other than what you mention (i.e. MJ, Whitney Houston, Boys to Men stuff). Whether you like them or not they were pushing what became known as Alternative Rock to the public's conscience well before Nevermind. And don't forget people like Bob Mould and Ian MacKaye with with their sweat and bare hands literally paved the way for bands like Nirvana. Smashing Pumpkins had Gish out on May 28, 1991 months ahead of Nevermind and Gish is 10 times better. Pennywise (album) and Girlfriend were also ten times better, and they only came out almost a month later.

I don't get it and I never will. I think the OP is right.

A list of a few albums release in 1991, regardless of genre, better than Nirvana's Nevermind:

• blur - Leisure
• Chapterhouse - Whirlpool
• Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
• Enya - Shepherd Moons <-
• Kitchens Of Distinction - Strange Free World
• LFO - Frequencies
• Mr. Big - Lean into It
• Pennywise - Pennywise
• Primus - Sailing the Sea of Cheese
• School Of Fish - School Of Fish
• Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia
• Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
• Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
• Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
• SRV (and Double Trouble) The Sky is Crying

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Josef K

Is it just me or is this post basically "Nirvana made white people cool again"?

Black Francis

As a Nirvana fan, i agree with this.

this is something Kurt acknowledges as well in some interviews

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Chula Vista

I'm not arguing over how great they were - I have never even owned one of their albums. I'm just explaining why they are so revered.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Neapolitan

Oh, Nevermind.

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