Nirvana was an influential American grunge rock band formed in 1987 by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. They released their breakthrough album Nevermind in 1991 featuring the hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which popularized alternative rock. Their third and final studio album In Utero challenged mainstream audiences. The band abruptly ended following Cobain's death by suicide in 1994. Nirvana went on to sell over 25 million albums in the US and over 50 million worldwide, cementing their legacy as one of the most iconic and commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s.

1. By Ivan Dudnik

2. Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed
by singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist
Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana
went through a succession of drummers, the longest-
lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in
1990.

3. In the late 1980s Nirvana established itself as part of the
Seattle grunge scene, releasing its first album Bleach for
the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. The band
eventually came to develop a sound that relied on dynamic
contrasts, often between quiet verses and loud, heavy
choruses. After signing to major label DGC Records,
Nirvana found unexpected success with "Smells Like Teen
Spirit", the first single from the band's second album
Nevermind (1991). Nirvana's sudden success widely
popularized alternative rock as a whole, and as the band's
frontman Cobain found himself referred to in the media as
the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana being
considered the "flagship band" of Generation X. Nirvana's
third studio album In Utero (1993), challenged the group's
audience, featuring an abrasive, less-mainstream sound.

4. Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20,
1967, at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen,
Washington, to a waitress, Wendy Elizabeth
(née Fradenburg), and an automotive
mechanic, Donald Leland Cobain
When Cobain was seven years old, his parents divorced. Later
in his life, he said the divorce had a profound effect on his life.
His mother noted that his personality changed dramatically;
Cobain became defiant and withdrawn

5. Kurt Cobain
The Beatles were an early and lasting influence on Cobain. Cobain was also a fan of
classic rock bands from the 1970s, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath,
Aerosmith, Queen, and Kiss. Nirvana occasionally played cover songs by these bands,
including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", "Dazed and Confused" and "Heartbreaker",
Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom," and Kiss' "Do You Love Me?", and wrote the Incesticide
song "Aero Zeppelin" as a tribute to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith.
On April 8, 1994, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an
electrician who had arrived to install a security system.

6. Nirvana's brief run ended following the death of Kurt
Cobain in 1994, but various posthumous releases have
been issued since, overseen by Novoselic, Grohl, and
Cobain's widow Courtney Love. Since its debut, the band
has sold over 25 million albums in the United States
alone, and over 50 million worldwide.

7. Smells Like Teen Spirit
Cobain's rhythm guitar style, which
relied on power chords, low-note riffs,
and a loose right-hand technique,
featured the key components to the
band’s songs. Cobain would often
initially play a song's verse riff in a
clean tone, then double it with
distorted guitars when he repeated the
part. In some songs the guitar would
be absent from the verses entirely to
allow the drums and bass guitar to
support the vocals, or it would only
play sparse melodies like the two-note
pattern used in "Smells Like Teen
Spirit".