Nirvana

Nirvana is known as “The figurehead band of Gen X”. This grunge band is one of the best-selling bands of all time, characterized by their punk aesthetic. Their songs dealt with themes such as objection and social alienation that resonated with Gen X youth. Nirvana isn´t just a grunge band, they were grunge.

The band was formed three years after lead singer Kurt Cobain and bassist Kris Noselic met in high school. These two constituted two-thirds of the band, having gone through numerous drummers before settling on Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990 after his previous band “scream” split up. According to Novoselic “We knew in two minutes that he was the right drummer”. Chad Channing is widely accepted as Nirvana’s first drummer, having performed on their debut album, Bleach. Before him, drummers like Bob McFadden, Aaron Burckhard, Dale Crover, Dave Foster came along, and after Dan Peters, but they didn’t last long.

Before landing on the name “Nirvana”, the band considered “Skid Row”, “Fecal Matter” and “Ted ed Fred.”, however, Cobain claimed he “wanted a name that was kind of beautiful, or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk name like the Angry Samoans”. Nirvana is the goal of the Buddhist path. The literal meaning of the term is “blowing out “or “quenching “. It´s the ultimate spiritual goalin Buddhism and marks the soteriological release from rebirths.

Nirvana disbanded in April 1994, following Cobain’s suicide. Nevertheless, there were several post-death releases overseen by band members and Cobain’s widow. Before the tragedy, the band released three official albums: Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero

Nirvana was iconic, regardless of the generation, there is not a soul who’s not familiar with the song “smells like teenage spirit” or their smiley face icon.