Nirvana (band)

Nirvana
A blonde man wearing a white shirt with flowers plays a white guitar and sings, while in the background another man plays the bass.
Nirvana band members Krist Novoselic (left) and Kurt Cobain performing at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards
Background information
Origin Aberdeen, Washington, United States
Genres Alternative rock, grunge
Years active 1987–1994
Labels Sub Pop, DGC
Associated acts Fecal Matter, Foo Fighters
Website hereisnirvana.com
Members
Kurt Cobain
Krist Novoselic
Dave Grohl
Past members
Aaron Burckhard
Chad Channing
Dale Crover
Jason Everman
Dave Foster
Dan Peters

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.

The band established itself as part of the Seattle music scene, releasing its first album Bleach for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing to major label DGC Records, Nirvana found unexpected success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the band's lead single from its second album Nevermind (1991). Subsequently, Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation," with Nirvana being considered the "flagship band" of Generation X.[1] Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing Nirvana's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public. Subsequently, the third Nirvana studio album In Utero (1993), challenged the group's audience, featuring an abrasive, less-mainstream sound.

Nirvana's brief run ended following the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's influence and popularity endured in the years that followed. In 2002, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since its debut, the band has sold over 25 million albums in the United States alone, and over 50 million worldwide.[2][3]

Contents

History

Formation and early years

Cobain and Novoselic met while attending high school at Aberdeen High, although they never connected, according to Cobain.[4] The pair eventually became friends while frequenting the practice space of the Melvins.[5] Cobain wanted to form a band with Novoselic, but Novoselic did not respond to his overtures, which included handing him a demo tape of his project Fecal Matter. Three years after the two first met, Novoselic notified Cobain that he had finally listened to the Fecal Matter demo Cobain had given him, and suggested they start a group. The pair recruited Bob McFadden on drums, but after a month the project fell apart.[6] In winter of 1987, Cobain and Novoselic recruited drummer Aaron Burckhard.[7] Cobain later described the sound of the band when it first started as "a Gang of Four and Scratch Acid ripoff".[8] The trio practiced material from Cobain's Fecal Matter tape, but started writing new material soon after forming.[9]

During its initial months, the band went through a series of names, starting with Skid Row and including Pen Cap Chew, Bliss, and Ted Ed Fred. The group finally settled on Nirvana, which Cobain said was chosen because "I wanted a name that was kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk rock name like the Angry Samoans".[10] With Novoselic and Cobain having moved to Tacoma and Olympia, Washington, respectively, the two temporarily lost contact with Burckhard. The pair instead practiced with Dale Crover of the Melvins, and Nirvana recorded its first demos in January 1988.[11] In early 1988, Crover moved to San Francisco but recommended Dave Foster to the band as his replacement on drums.[12] Foster's tenure with Nirvana lasted only a few months; during a stint in jail, he was replaced by a returning Burckhard, who himself didn't stay with the band after telling Cobain he was too hung over to practice one day.[13] Cobain and Novoselic put an ad in Seattle music publication The Rocket seeking a replacement drummer which only yielded unsatisfactory responses. Meanwhile, a mutual friend introduced the pair to Chad Channing, and the three musicians agreed to jam together. Channing continued to jam with Cobain and Novoselic, although the drummer noted, "They never actually said 'Ok, you're in.'", and Channing played his first show with the group that May.[14]

Early releases

Nirvana released its first single, "Love Buzz", in November 1988 on the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop.[15] The following month, the band began recording its debut album, Bleach with local producer Jack Endino.[16] Bleach was highly influenced by the heavy dirge-rock of the Melvins and Mudhoney, 1980s punk rock, and the 1970s heavy metal of Black Sabbath. Novoselic noted in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone that the band had played a tape in their van while on tour that had an album by The Smithereens on one side and an album by the black metal band Celtic Frost on the other, and noted that the combination probably played an influence as well.[17] The money for the recording sessions for Bleach, listed as $606.17 on the album sleeve, was supplied by Jason Everman. Everman was subsequently brought into the band as a second guitarist. Though Everman did not actually play on the album, he received a credit on Bleach because, according to Novoselic, they "wanted to make him feel more at home in the band."[18]

Following the release of Bleach in June 1989, Nirvana embarked on its first national tour.[19] Bleach became a favorite of college radio stations nationally.[20] Due to increasing dissatisfaction with Everman over the course of the tour, Nirvana canceled the last few dates on the tour and drove back to Washington. No one told Everman he was fired at the time, while Everman later claimed that he actually quit the group.[21] In late 1989, the band recorded the Blew EP with producer Steve Fisk.[22]

In a late 1989 interview, Cobain noted that the band's music was changing. He said, "The early songs were really angry ... But as time goes on the songs are getting poppier and poppier as I get happier and happier. The songs are now about conflicts in relationships, emotional things with other human beings."[23] In April 1990, the band began working with producer Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin on recordings for the follow-up to Bleach.[24] During the sessions, Cobain and Novoselic became disenchanted with Channing's drumming, and Channing expressed frustration at not being actively involved in songwriting. As bootlegs of Nirvana's demos with Vig began to circulate in the music industry and draw attention from major labels, Channing left the band.[25] Nirvana asked Dale Crover to fill in on drums for a seven-date American West Coast tour with Sonic Youth that August.[26] That July, the band recorded the single "Sliver" with Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters.[27] In September 1990, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins introduced the band to Dave Grohl, who was looking for a new band following the sudden break-up of Washington, D.C. hardcore punks Scream.[28] A few days after arriving in Seattle, Novoselic and Cobain auditioned Grohl, with Novoselic later stating, "We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer."[29]

Mainstream success

Disenchanted with Sub Pop and with the Smart Studios sessions generating interest, Nirvana decided to look for a deal with a major record label.[30] Following repeated recommendations by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, Nirvana signed to DGC Records in 1990.[31] The band subsequently began recording its first major label album, Nevermind. They were offered a number of producers to choose from, but ultimately held out for Butch Vig.[32] Rather than recording at Vig's Madison studio as they had in 1990, they shifted to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. For two months, the band worked through a variety of songs in its catalog. Some of the songs, including "In Bloom" and "Breed", had been in the band's repertoire for years, while others, including "On a Plain" and "Stay Away," lacked finished lyrics until mid-way through the recording process.[33] After the recording sessions were completed, Vig and the band set out to mix the album. However, the recording sessions had run behind schedule and the resulting mixes were deemed unsatisfactory. Slayer mixer Andy Wallace was brought in to create the final mix. After the album's release, members of Nirvana expressed dissatisfaction with the polished sound the mixer had given Nevermind.[34]

Initially, DGC Records was hoping to sell 250,000 copies of Nevermind, which was the same level they had achieved with Sonic Youth's Goo.[35] However, the album's first single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" quickly gained momentum, thanks in part to significant airplay of the song's music video on MTV. As they toured Europe during late 1991, the band found that the shows were dangerously oversold, that television crews were becoming a constant presence onstage, and that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was almost omnipresent on radio and music television.[36] By Christmas 1991, Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week in the US.[37] In January 1992, the album displaced Michael Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard album charts, and also topped the charts in numerous other countries worldwide.[38] The month Nevermind reached number one, Billboard proclaimed, "Nirvana is that rare band that has everything: critical acclaim, industry respect, pop radio appeal, and a rock-solid college/alternative base."[39] The success of Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general."[40]

Citing exhaustion, Nirvana decided not to undertake another U.S. tour in support of Nevermind, instead opting to make only a handful of performances later that year.[41] Nirvana headlined at the Reading Festival in England. Amid rumors about Cobain's health and the possibility the band might break up, Cobain entered the stage in a wheelchair as a practical joke, then proceeded to get up and join the rest of the band in tearing through an assortment of old and new material.[42] The performance ended up being regarded by the press as one of the most memorable of its career.[43][44]

Less than two weeks later, Nirvana performed at the MTV Video Music Awards.[45] During the first rehearsal for the show, Cobain announced that the band was going to play a new song during the broadcast, and the group rehearsed "Rape Me". MTV's executives were appalled by the song, and, according to show producer Amy Finnerty, the executives believed that the song was about them. They insisted that the band could not play "Rape Me," even threatening to throw Nirvana off the show and stop airing their videos entirely. After a series of intense discussions, MTV and Nirvana agreed that the band would play "Lithium", its latest single.[46] When the band began its performance, Cobain strummed and sang the first few bars of "Rape Me" before breaking into "Lithium".[47]

DGC had hoped to have a new Nirvana album by the band ready for a late 1992 holiday season release; since work on it proceeded slowly, the label released the compilation album Incesticide in December 1992.[48] A joint venture between DGC and Sub Pop, Incesticide collected various rare Nirvana recordings and was intended to provide the material for a better price and at better quality than was available via bootleg copies.[8] As Nevermind had been out for 15 months and had yielded a fourth single, "In Bloom", by that point, Geffen/DGC opted not to heavily promote the release, which was certified gold by the following February.[49]

In Utero

In February 1993, Nirvana released "Puss"/"Oh, the Guilt", a split single with The Jesus Lizard, on the independent label Touch & Go.[48] Meanwhile, the group chose Steve Albini, who had a reputation as a principled and opinionated individual in the American independent music scene, to record its third album. While there was speculation that the band chose Albini to record the album due to his underground credentials,[50] Cobain insisted that Albini's sound was simply the one he had always wanted Nirvana to have: a "natural" recording without layers of studio trickery.[51] Nirvana traveled to Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in that February to record the album.[52] The sessions with Albini were productive and notably quick, and the album was recorded and mixed in two weeks for a cost of $25,000.[53]

Several weeks after the completion of the recording sessions, stories ran in the Chicago Tribune and Newsweek that quoted sources claiming DGC considered the album "unreleasable".[54] As a result, fans began to believe that the band's creative vision might be compromised by their label.[55] While the stories about DGC shelving the album were untrue, the band actually was unhappy with certain aspects of Albini's mixes. Specifically, they thought the bass levels were too low,[56] and Cobain felt that "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" did not sound "perfect".[57] Longtime R.E.M. producer Scott Litt was called in to help remix those two songs, with Cobain adding additional instrumentation and backing vocals.[58]

In Utero debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1993.[59] Time's Christopher John Farley wrote in his review of the album, "Despite the fears of some alternative-music fans, Nirvana hasn't gone mainstream, though this potent new album may once again force the mainstream to go Nirvana."[60] In Utero went on to sell four million copies in the United States.[61] That October, Nirvana embarked on its first American tour of the United States in two years. For the tour, the band added Pat Smear of the punk rock band Germs as a second guitarist.[62]

Final months and Cobain's death

In November 1993, Nirvana recorded a performance for the television program MTV Unplugged. Augmented by Smear and cellist Lori Goldston, the band sought to veer from the typical approach to the show, opting to stay away from playing its most recognizable songs, perform several cover version, and invite Cris and Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets to join the group for renditions of three of their songs.[63] The band's performance debuted on MTV on December 14, 1993.

In early 1994, the band embarked on a European tour. In Rome, on the morning of March 4, Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, found Cobain unconscious in their hotel room and he was rushed to the hospital. A doctor from the hospital told a press conference that Cobain had reacted to a combination of prescription Rohypnol and alcohol. The rest of the tour was canceled, including a planned leg in the UK.[64]

In the ensuing weeks, Cobain's heroin addiction resurfaced. An intervention was organized, and Cobain was convinced to admit himself into drug rehabilitation. After less than a week in rehabilitation, Cobain climbed over the wall of the facility and took a plane back to Seattle. A week later, on Friday, April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head at his Seattle home.[65]

Aftermath and posthumous releases

In August 1994, DGC announced that a double album titled Verse Chorus Verse featuring live material from throughout the group's career on one CD and its MTV Unplugged performance on another was due for release that November.[48] However, Novoselic and Grohl found working on assembling the live material so soon after Cobain's death became too emotionally overwhelming.[66] With the career-spanning live portion postponed, MTV Unplugged in New York debuted at number one on the Billboard charts upon release in November 1994. A few weeks later the group's first full-length video, Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!, was released. In 1996 DGC finally issued a Nirvana live album, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, which became the third Nirvana release in a row to debut at number one on the Billboard album chart.[48]

In August 1997, online music news website Wall of Sound reported that Grohl and Novoselic were organizing a box set of Nirvana rarities.[67] Four years later, the band's label announced that the box set was complete and would see release in September to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the release of Nevermind. However, shortly before the release date, Love filed an injunction to stop the box set's release and sued Grohl and Novoselic, claiming that Cobain's former band mates were hijacking Nirvana's legacy for their own personal interests. What followed was a protracted legal battle over the ownership of Nirvana's music that lasted for more than a year.[68]

Much of the legal wrangling centered on a single unreleased song, "You Know You're Right", the band's final studio recording. Grohl and Novoselic wanted to include the song on the box set, essentially releasing all of the rarities at one time. Love, however, argued that the song was more important than just a generic "rarity", and should be included on a single-disc greatest hits compilation. After more than a year of often public and sometimes bizarre legal maneuvering, the parties settled, agreeing on the immediate release of the greatest hits package including "You Know You're Right", . In turn, Love agreed to donate cassette demos recorded by Cobain for use on the box set.

The compilation album, titled Nirvana, was released in October 2002, debuting at number three on the Billboard album chart.[69] The box set, With the Lights Out, was finally released in November 2004. The release contained a vast array of early Cobain demos, rough rehearsal recordings, and live tracks recorded throughout the band's history. Sliver: The Best of the Box, which culled 19 tracks from the box set in addition to featuring three previously unreleased tracks, was released in late 2005.[70]

In April 2006, Love announced that she had arranged to sell 25 percent of her stake in the Nirvana song catalog in a deal estimated at $50 million. The share of Nirvana's publishing was purchased by Primary Wave Music, which was founded by Larry Mestel, a former CEO of Virgin Records. In an accompanying statement, Love sought to assure Nirvana's fanbase that the music would not simply be licensed to the highest bidder, noting, "We are going to remain very tasteful and true to the spirit of Nirvana while taking the music to places it has never been before."[71]

Further releases have since been made. This includes the video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!, a personal project of Cobain's first released on VHS in 1994, and later on DVD in 2006.[72] Furthermore, a full uncut DVD version of MTV Unplugged in New York was released in 2007.[73] Live at Reading, the band's 1992 performance at Reading Festival, was released on both CD and DVD in November 2009.[74] That same month, Sub Pop released a 20th anniversary deluxe edition of Bleach, which included a previously unreleased live concert from 1990.[75]

Band members

Former members

Touring members

Discography

See also

References

Notes

  1. Azerrad, Michael. "Inside the Heart and Mind of Nirvana". Rolling Stone. April 16, 1992. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  2. Armstrong, Mark. ""Nirvana Tops 50 Million Mark In Worldwide Sales, 'Journals' Number One". Yahoo! Music. November 17, 2002. Retrieved August 18, 2007.
  3. Top Selling Artists". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved September 22, 2008.
  4. Azerrad, 1994. p. 209
  5. Azerrad, 1994. p. 36
  6. Azerrad, 1994. p. 44–5
  7. Azerrad, 1994. p. 57
  8. 8.0 8.1 Azerrad, 1994. p. 294
  9. Azerrad, 1994. p. 58
  10. Azerrad, 1994. p. 61–2
  11. Azerrad, 1994. p. 67–8
  12. Azerrad, 1994. p. 73
  13. Azerrad, 1994. p. 76–7
  14. Azerrad, 1994. p. 79
  15. Azerrad, 1994. p. 85
  16. Azerrad, 1994. p. 90–1
  17. Fricke, David. "Krist Novoselic". Rolling Stone. September 13, 2001.
  18. Azerrad, 1994. p. 91–2
  19. Azerrad, 1994. p. 111
  20. Young, Charles; O'Donnell, Kevin. "Nirvana: Album guide". Rolling Stone. April 11, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  21. Azerrad, 1994. p. 115–20
  22. Azerrad, 1994. p. 123
  23. Robb, John. "White Heat." Sounds. October 21, 1989
  24. Azerrad, 1994. p. 137
  25. Azerrad, 1994. p. 138–9
  26. Azerrad, 1994. p. 141
  27. Azerrad, 1994. p. 142
  28. Azerrad, 1994. p. 151
  29. Azerrad, 1994. p. 154
  30. Azerrad, 1994. p. 136–37
  31. Azerrad, 1994. p. 162
  32. Azerrad, 1994. p. 164–65
  33. Azerrad, 1994. p. 176–77
  34. Azerrad, 1994. p. 179–80
  35. Wice, Nathaniel. "How Nirvana Made It". Spin. April 1993.
  36. Azerrad, 1994. p. 203
  37. Lyons, James. Selling Seattle: Representing Contemporary Urban America. Wallflower, 2004. ISBN 1-903364-96-5, p. 120
  38. Azerrad, 1994. p. 239
  39. "Nirvana Achieves Chart Perfection!" Billboard. January 25, 1992.
  40. Olsen, Eric. "10 years later, Cobain lives on in his music". MSNBC.com. April 9, 2005. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  41. Azerrad, 1994. p. 256
  42. Azerrad, Michael. "Performance: The Reading Festival." Rolling Stone. October 29, 1992. Archived from the original on June 23, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  43. "Nirvana's Reading Festival gig to be released on DVD". NME. April 20, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  44. "Nirvana headline Reading Festival". BBC Online. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  45. Novoselic, Krist. "Seattle Weekly: What Really Happened at the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards". Seattle Weekly. November 18, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  46. Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain. Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-8402-9
  47. Azerrad, 1993. p. 279
  48. 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 Gaar, Gillian G. "Verse Chorus Verse: The Recording History of Nirvana". Goldmine. February 14, 1997.
  49. Azerrad, 1994. p. 296
  50. DeRogatis, 2003. p. 5–6
  51. Azerrad, 1994. p. 317
  52. Gaar, 2006. p. 40
  53. DeRogatis, 2003. p. 4
  54. DeRogatis, 2003. p. 17
  55. Azerrad, 1994. p. 332
  56. Fricke, David. "Kurt Cobain: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. January 27, 1994.
  57. Azerrad, 1994. p. 336–37
  58. Azerrad, 1994. p. 338
  59. "In Numero Uno." Entertainment Weekly. October 8, 1993. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  60. Farley, Christopher John. "To The End Of Grunge." Time. September 20, 1993. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  61. Barnes, Ken. "Sales questions: Nirvana vs. Pearl Jam". USAToday.com. March 23, 2007. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  62. Azerrad, 1994. p. 352
  63. Di Perna, Alan. "Behind Unplugged". Guitar World. March 1995.
  64. Sanz, Cynthia. "Hardly Nirvana". People. March 21, 1994. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
  65. Heard, Chris. "Torment of rock hero Cobain". BBC News, April 6, 2004. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  66. Ali, Lorraine. "One Last Blast". Rolling Stone. October 17, 1996.
  67. Graff, Gary. "Nirvana Box Set Coming Someday". Wall of Sound. August 28, 1997.
  68. Heath, Chris. "The Nirvana Wars: Who Owns Kurt Cobain?". Rolling Stone. June 6, 2002.
  69. Susman, Gary. "'Mile' Marker". Entertainment Weekly. November 7, 2002. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  70. "Track list Set For Nirvana Compilation". Billboard. September 20, 2005. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  71. Vineyard, Jennifer. "Courtney Love Sells Substantial Share Of Nirvana Publishing Rights". MTVNews.com. April 13, 2006. Retrieved September 5, 2007.
  72. Cohen, Jonathan. "Nirvana Concert Film Making DVD Debut". Billboard. October 3, 2006. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  73. Cohen, Jonathan. "Nirvana's 'Unplugged' Finally Heading To DVD". Billboard. October 4, 2007. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  74. "Nirvana 'Live At Reading Festival' DVD finally set for official release". NME. September 3, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
  75. Breihan, Tom. "Sub Pop to Reissue Nirvana's Bleach". Pitchfork Media. August 14, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2010.

External links