Nirvana

Following through on the throat-scorching threats of first-generation punks and the pioneering indie rock of admitted influences like the Pixies and Melvins, Nirvana's [i]Nevermind[/i] changed [i]everything[/i] the second it hit store shelves. Who didn't get chills the first time they heard the mosh pit-inciting "here we are now, entertain us" chorus of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or the self-fulfilling prophecy of "Come As You Are," a black-hearted pop song with overcast chords and the "test me — I dare you" declaration "I swear that I don't have a gun"?

How strong is [i]Nevermind[/i]? So strong that we included five [i]more[/i] of its Beatles-by-way-of-Black Flag nuggets in our Next Steps.

Much has been made of the self-loathing that plagued (and ultimately caused the demise of) Kurt Cobain. Not because music critics wanted to mythologize the Nirvana singer; Cobain did that on his own with or without realizing it, starting with the trio's Sub Pop debut (the stoned weirdo character of "Negative Creep"; the tortured, lovesick track "About a Girl") and subsequent exorcisms like "Territorial P*****gs," "Stay Away," and the acoustic-but-angular Meat Puppets cover "Lake of Fire," one of many haunting selections on the accidental eulogy album [i]MTV Unplugged in New York: Nirvana[/i].

Our Deep Cuts don't stop there, though; they dig and drill until demos, outtakes, and B-sides start popping up right alongside records from throughout Nirvana's all-too-brief tenure at the top of the alternative rock heap.

"What would the music industry be like if Nirvana were still around?" It's a question many have asked since Kurt Cobain succumbed to the pressures of pop stardom on April 5, 1994 — the Day Alternative Rock Died. The reason for the recurring question? The trio's Top 40 takeover, a catchy but caustic wave of squealing and screeching (epitomized in the feedback-smothered irony of "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter") that pulled the plug on the flat-lining glam-metal and new wave scenes of the '80s. With Cobain long gone and a pile of subversive pop records (the broad riff strokes of "Love Buzz," the pointed poltergeist trails of a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" demo) left in his wake, we want to know HOW NIRVANA DID IT — how they got through to [i]all of us[/i]. Listen and learn.

The runaway success of [i]Nevermind[/i] — Nirvana's second full-length album and definitive footprint in the history of rock 'n' roll — didn't just make the band [i]the[/i] Next Big Thing of the growing grunge/alternative rock scene. Between its fall '91 release and Kurt Cobain's suicide three-and-a-half years later, it also helped immortalize the iconic singer and his smash-and-bash sidemen (bassist Krist Novoselic, drummer/future Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl) as countercultural demigods — uncompromising proof that the underground can come up for air and blow us all away when the time is right and everyone's ready for an industry-rattling change. Taken in full, with Nirvana's impressive back catalog (the stark, powerful minimalism of [i]MTV Unplugged in New York: Nirvana[/i], the low-budget lacerations of [i]Bleach[/i]), it also proves that a pop song doesn't have to be sweet or smooth to capture the undying devotion of millions.