In their brief seven-year
history, Nirvana unwillingly brought alternative music into the
mainstream and defined a generation of young people alienated by
baby boomers, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Nirvana's roots lie in the underground hardcore scene of the mid-1980s;
the Olympia-based Melvinsand New York's Sonic Youth were early mentors
of the band. Nirvana's crossover appeal was rooted in their ability
to blend the hardcore fury of drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist
Novoselic with Cobain's doleful, introspective lyrics and melodies.
Novoselic and Cobain met in 1985 in their hometown of Aberdeen, Wash.,
a rural logging community outside Seattle. Their first musical incarnation
as the Stiff Woodies featured Cobain on drums, Novoselic on bass and
whoever happened to be around on guitar. By 1987 they had morphed into
Nirvana; Cobain moved to vocals and guitar, and drummer Chad Channing
was added. Nirvana soon gained the attention of the hip Seattle label
Sub Pop and their debut album, Bleach, recorded for just over $600,
was released in June 1989. Dave Grohl of the Washington, D.C. hardcore
band Scream replaced Channing in September 1990. During the summer
of 1991 the band opened for Sonic Youth on their European Festival
tour. Nirvana's landmark performance at the Reading Festival was featured
in the documentary "1991: The Year Punk Broke" and marked
the beginning of their worldwide recognition. Ironically, 1991 marked
the birth of Nirvanamania and the beginning of Cobain's mental and
physical deterioration. The group signed with Geffen Records to record
their much anticipated second album, and when Nevermind was released
in the fall of 1991, it symbolically knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous
off the top of the U.S. album charts. The success of the album, which
went triple platinum, was fueled by MTV's incessant airplay of "Smells
Like Teen Spirit." The song was hailed as the anthem of the grunge
generation and its appeal broadened the band's fan base to include
mainstream jocks, metalheads and alternative wannabes; the very people
Nirvana music was supposed to alienate. Rumors of Cobain's heroin use
were ever-present and as the band grew into a multi-million dollar
commercial entity, he began to withdraw into his own drug-induced world.
The band's stability was questioned in the wake of a variety of bizarre
stunts including Cobain's penchant for showing up at concerts in women's
clothing and mocking his way through songs, and Novoselic and Grohl's
nationally televised kiss following a Saturday Night Live performance.
Cobain's marriage to hardcore diva Courtney Love in 1992 only fueled
the negative publicity fire. The recording of their third studio album
was delayed by Cobain's health problems -- he complained of chronic
stomach pain and was hospitalized several times -- and Geffen released
Incesticide, a compilation of B-sides and rarities late in 1992 to
appease the cash cow fans starved for new Nirvana material. By the
spring of 1993, the band was ready to go back in the studio. They recruited
Steve Albini (Pixies, Breeders, Jesus Lizard) to produce In Utero,the
long-awaited follow up to Nevermind. The album was released in September
1993 followed by a three-month North American tour, which included
their celebrated appearance on "MTV Unplugged." In early
1994 Nirvana embarked on a European tour that was cut short in February
by Cobain's much publicized drug overdose in Rome. At the end of March
Cobain entered a drug rehab facility in Los Angeles and on April 1
he escaped from the center and returned to Seattle. Cobain's body was
found April 8 in his Seattle home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound
to the head. After Cobain's death, Grohl and Pat Smear formed the Foo
Fighters, whose hit 1995 self-titled album was an invigorating, upbeat
departure from the angry, tortured strains of Nirvana.
"Punk is musical freedom.
It's saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster's terms,
'nirvana' means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world,
and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock."
-Kurt Cobain
" By definition pop is extremely catchy, whether you like it or not," Cobain
says. "There are some pop songs I hate but I can't get them out of my head.
Our songs also have the standard pop format: Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo,
bad solo. All in all, I think we sound like The Knack and the Bay City Rollers
being molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath."
-Kurt Cobain
" My generation's apathy. I'm disgusted with it. I'm disgusted with my own
apathy too, for being spineless and not always standing up against racism, sexism
and all those other -isms the counterculture has been whinning about for years."
-Kurt Cobain
" I'm so happy, cause today I found my friends, they're in my head."
-Kurt Cobain, Lithium Back to Top of Page
She eyes me like a pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your Heart-Shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn back (Alt: ... when you turn
black)
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait! (Alt: Hate! Haight!)
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Your advice
Meat-eating orchids forgive no one
just yet
Cut myself on angel's hair and baby's breath
Broken hymen of your highness I'm left black
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Your advice
She eyes me like a pisces when I
am weak
I've been locked inside your Heart-Shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn back (Alt: ... when you
turn black)
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey! Wait!
I've got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or maybe just happy
Think I'm just happy (x3)
My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover
Have a hangover (x3)
Skin the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
The soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up
I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
My day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Maybe just happy
What else should I be
All apologies
What else could I say
Everyone is gay
What else could I write
I don't have the right
What else should I be
All apologies
In the sun
In the sun I feel as one
In the sun
In the sun
I'm married
Buried
I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault
I'll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame
Sunburn with freezeburn
Choking on the ashes of her enemy
In the sun
In the sun I feel as one
In the sun
In the sun
Married, Maried, Maried!
Buried!
Yeah yeah yeah yeah