Nirvana
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The infamous band from Aberdeen, Washington, Nirvana is an all-American grunge-rock band who popularized their music genre and brought it to the US mainstream like no other band has done before. Though their success was short-lived (lead singer Kurt Cobain died of self-inflicted gunshot wound), their legacy remained as one of the highly influential band in the rock and roll history.
Contents |
About
Lead vocalist Kurt Cobain (born Kurt Donald Cobain) was born to parents Donald and Webdy Cobain on February 20, 1967. His childhood was not a typical life in a picket fence. His background was in turmoil, living with various relatives after his parents divorced in 1975. He considered The Beatles as one of his major influences and later on developed a love for heavy metal. Kurt Cobain met fellow punk-rock fanatic, Krist Novoselic in a small town of Seattle in 1985. Prior to that, Cobain has been playing with underground heavy punk band, Fecal Matter. Cobain convinced Novoselic to form their own band which Novoselic subsequently agreed.
During their first few years, they've constantly changed drummers from Aaron Buckhard to Dan Peters to Dale Clover and to Chad Channing. Together they've recorded Bleach, released in 1989. It did fairly well in the market due to their consistent touring and through their first single, a cover of Shocking Blue's Love Buzz
Cobain was not satisfied with Channin's style so he seek for a replacement, ending up with Dave Grohl, former hardcore-rock band Scream. They've recorded their highly successful album, Nevermind in 1991 with their new drummer. The album reached a certified 3x Platinum, with an initial sle of 50,000 units in the market which caused a shortage across the US> Included in this album are the hits like, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium and Come As You Are. Nevermind has catapulted the band to fame that it took the music industry by surprise, even Nirvana.
In 1992, Cobain married Hole's rock band leader, Courtney Love. Rumors of heavy heroine usage of the couple circulated, especially Cobain who even cancelled several concerts. But he denied the allegations and said that it was due to his chronic stomach troubles, later on confirmed by Belfast Hospital.
Rumors re-surfaced when Courtney Love admitted to an interview that she used heroine, unknowingly, during the early days of her pregnancy.
Before releasing Incesticide in 1992, Cobain suffered problems that deals with his personal life. Following Incesticide is In Utero, which was surrounded with controversies upon its release in Spring of 1993. Despite the controversies about Cobain's covered-up heroin overdose, the album received string reviews and even debuted at the top spot of the UK and US charts.
As they continue their tour in support of the album, Cobain has gone worse. After the couples vacation in Rome, where Cobain accidentally overdosed himself with tranquilizer Rohypnol and champagne, he was hospitalized. Tension began to grow when her wife, Courtney Love called the police to talk Cobain out of suicide. Because of the incident, Love and Nirvana's management decided to do an intervention program which resulted to Kurt Cobain's Exodus Recovery admission in L.A. But on April 1, 1994, after his daughter's nanny brought Frances Bean for an hour visit, Cobain escaped, rode a taxi and flew home to Seattle.
Close friends and family spotten him in different locations in Seattle. And on April 3, 1994, Love hired Tom Grant, private investigator, to look for Cobain then the next day Love filed a missing person report in Cobain's mother's name. And on April 8, 1994, an electrician hired to install security lights in the greenhouse of their Seattle home found Kurt Cobain's body with a shotgun and a paper what was thought to be a suicide note. The autopsy result showed that Cobain died on April 5, 1994 in a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
The suicide note found in an overturned flowerpot quoted a lyric from Neil Young's 'My, My, Hey, Hey, (Out of the Blue), It's better to burn out than to fade away. Neil Young had a deep impact on how Cobain used his lyric that he recorded tracks in his 1994 Sleep with Angels in memory of Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain was cremated, scattering his ashes in a buddhist monastery in Ithaca, New York, Wishkah River and the remaining ashes is in his wife's possession. His death resulted to the disbanding of Nirvana.
After dissolving, the remaining members focused on their own musical path. Dave Grohl started his own band, Foo Fighters who has released five of successful albums as of 2006. One of which is In Your Honor featuring the track Friend of a Friend which Grohl wrote in 1990 about Cobain and Novoselic. Krist Novoselic formed Sweet 75 and recently, Eyes Adrift. He was also a political activist and foung JAMPAC, which supports musicians' rights.
Awards & Certifications
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | MTV Video Music Award | Best Alternative Video for Smells Like Teen Spirit | Won |
| 1992 | MTV Video Music Award | Best New Artist | Won |
| 1992 | Grammy Award | Best Alternative Music Performance for Nevermind | Nominated |
| 1992 | MTV Video Music Award | Video of the Year for Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nominated |
| 1992 | MTV Video Music Award | Viewer's Choice for Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nominated |
| 1992 | American Music Award | Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist | Nominated |
| 1993 | MTV Video Music Award | Best Alternative Video for In Bloom | Won |
| 1993 | Grammy Award | Best Rock Song for Smells Like Teen Spirit | Nominated |
| 1993 | Brit Award | International Breakthrough | Won |
| 1994 | MTV Video Music Award | Best Alternative Video for Heart-Shaped Box | Won |
| 1994 | MTV Video Music Award | Viewer's Choice for Heart-Shaped Box | Nominated |
| 1994 | MTV Video Music Award | Video of the Year for Heart-Shaped Box | Nominated |
| 1994 | Grammy Award | Best Alternative Music Performance for In Utero | Nominated |
| 1995 | American Music Award | Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist | Won |
| 1995 | Grammy Award | Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for All Apologies | Nomination |
| 1996 | Grammy Award | Best Alternative Music Performance for MTV Unplugged In New York | Won |
| 2005 | ShockWaves NME Award | Best Music DVD for With The Lights Out | Nominated |
Chart Toppers
| Year | Title | Mainstream Rock Tracks | Modern Rock Tracks | Billboard Hot 100 | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | You Know You're Right | 1 | 1 | 45 | Nirvana |
| 1996 | Aneurysm | 11 | 13 | ~ | From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah |
| 1995 | Lake of Fire | 22 | ~ | ~ | MTV Unplugged in New York |
| 1995 | The Man Who Sold The World | 12 | 6 | ~ | MTV Unplugged in New York |
| 1994 | About A Girl | 3 | 1 | ~ | Bleach |
| 1994 | All Apologies | 4 | 1 | ~ | In Utero |
| 1993 | Heart-Shaped Box | 4 | 1 | ~ | In Utero |
| 1993 | In Bloom | 5 | ~ | ~ | Nevermind |
| 1993 | Sliver | ~ | 19 | ~ | Incesticide |
| 1992 | Come As You Are | 3 | 3 | 32 | Nevermind |
| 1992 | Lithium | 16 | 25 | 64 | Nevermind |
| 1992 | On A Plain | ~ | 25 | ~ | Nevermind |
| 1991 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | 7 | 6 | 1 | From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah |
Tours & Concerts
No tours
Discography
Albums
 Bleach
1989-06 |
 Nevermind
1991-09-24 |
 In Utero
1993-09-21 |
EPs
 Blew
1989-12 |
 Hormoaning
1992-01-01 |
Singles
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1990-09 | Sliver |
| 1991-09-10 | Smells Like Teen Spirit |
| 1992 | In Bloom |
| 1992-07-20 | Lithium |
| 1993-08-23 | Heart-Shaped Box |
| 1993-12 | All Apologies / Rape Me / MV |
| 1994-05 | Pennyroyal Tea |
| 1994-10-24 | About a Girl |
Live Releases and Compilations
 Incesticide
1992-12-15 |
 Singles
1996-12 |
 Nirvana
2002-10-29 |
|
 With the Lights Out
2004-11-23 |
 Sliver: The Best of the Box
2005-11-01 |
Other artists
Similar artists
Influences
Contemporaries
Trivia
- Although Kurt Cobain's death was officially ruled a suicide, certain aspects about his death have led to speculation that he was murdered: - He had entirely too much heroin in his system at the time of his death to have been able to operate a shotgun. He would have been incapacitated within seconds of injecting it. - The so-called "suicide note" may have been a letter to his fans expressing his desire to quit both Nirvana and the music business altogether. - One of Cobain's credit cards was being used a few days before AND AFTER his death.
- After his death, many musicians recorded tribute songs to him. Some of the better known of these include R.E.M.'s "Let Me In", Patti Smith's "About a Boy", Neil Young's "Sleeps with Angels", and Cher's "The Fall".
- The Nirvana song Scentless Apprentice is based on a book called "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind.
- Nirvana were voted the 27th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.
- The suicide note found in Cobain's garage (often referred to as the greenhouse) was ostensibly written by "Boddah", Cobain's imaginary friend.
External Links
Categories: Artist | Rock | Grunge
