Key

Mudhoney is so ****ing good.

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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Black Francis

As a Nirvana fan, i agree with this.

this is something Kurt acknowledges as well in some interviews

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"Hey Kids you got to meet the MIGHTY PIXIES!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRbCtIgW3A

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.

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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

Oh, Nevermind.

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Josef K

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

Guybrush

I liked BIT when I was a teenager. I was listening to quite a few girl bands then, mostly punk, like The Slits, the Raincoats, Free Kitten and Bratmobile. I think most people interested in grunge music around that time would've heard of BIT as they always seemed relatively well known to me. I didn't prefer them to Nirvana at the time, but perhaps I would today as my interest in Nirvana has long since worn off and never came back. However, the only BIT song I have a clear memory of is Sweet 69.

So giving someone the opportunity to become rich, famous and successful as a musician is now killing them .. And if Kurt blows his stupid head off, MTV are to be held accountable? You got some weird ideas about morals, man.

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Something Completely Different

Neapolitan

I think it's not mystical crow but the music industry that "got some weird ideas about morals, man."

Well, Kurt isn't the only one that can't handle the fame or the pressures that go along with it. But if he couldn't there could be other reasons to why (he couldn't). It could be depression or some other issue. The personal problems he had would still be there at that point in his life with or without all the fame and fortune. The circumstance wouldn't matter, he would have another set of problems, but he would still have to deal with the depression.

And it's not really known if he committed suicide or if it was murder. It could be very well that he was suffering depression and one thing lead to another... but I heard somewhere he was killed. Anyway, it can't be proven one way or the other.

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Guybrush

I guess if MTV had accepted the responsibility mystical crow thinks they have, they should've said "Sorry Nirvana - Kurt, Dave Grohl and that other guy - we just can't play your music videos. We know you're generating a real buzz and that your shit's awesome .. but if you guys get very rich and famous, and Kurt can't handle that and kills himself, then it would actually be our fault for giving you guys this opportunity other bands would kill for."

It doesn't make sense, does it? It's like someone giving you a million dollars and then you complain to them that you don't like being rich - and hold them accountable for making you depressed. It's the ultimate douche bag first world problem joke

I don't think MTV was Kurt's biggest problem, and he had possibly tried to take his own life earlier by the way, unsuccessfully (see Rome incident). At periods in his youth, he was homeless, living under a bridge. He did drugs and was generally self-destructive. Then he married the queen of manipulative bitches, Courtney Love, and had children with her. He did not have an inkling of the maturity needed to take responsibility for his life at the time. To become rich and successful and to actually get his music out there was only one "problem" in a pile of many.

Rather than blame the industry for killing him, I think they gave him and the band these chances and opportunities and people who get them should be grateful. Failing to do so or realize that is kinda douchy. People should actually have to take just a little bit of responsibility themselves for their own actions and not blame everything on their benefactors. Kurt's whine about being successful was just sad.

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Something Completely Different