Active years
- Active 1987 to 1994
- Grunge, 1989 to 1994
The journey
- 1989Grunge · Sub Pop to the top of the charts
- 1989Bleach
- 1990Dave Grohl joins on drums
- 1991Smells Like Teen Spirit
- 1991Nevermind
- 1991The first Lollapalooza
- 1992Headlining the Reading Festival
- 1993In Utero
- 1993MTV Unplugged in New York
- 1994Kurt Cobain dies
- 1994Foo Fighters grow out of the drum stool
1 platform, 10 moments and landmarks along the way. Lines the journey does not ride are dimmed, as they are on the map while a journey plays.
Platform
Sub Pop to the top of the charts
Bleach (1989) on Sub Pop was a Seattle record; Nevermind (1991) took the sound to the top of the Billboard chart and ended glam metal's run within a year. In Utero (1993) and the Unplugged set closed the story before Kurt Cobain's death in April 1994.
Key album: Nevermind, 1991
- 1989Album
Bleach
The debut, recorded for about six hundred dollars and released by Sub Pop in June 1989, with Chad Channing on drums.
Find on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Find on Apple Music (opens in a new tab)Find on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, Bleach (Nirvana album) (opens in a new tab)
- 1990Lineage
Dave Grohl joins on drums
The sixth and last drummer, recruited from the Washington hardcore band Scream in September 1990.
Wikipedia, Nirvana (band) (opens in a new tab)
- 1991Single
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Released in September 1991 as the first single from Nevermind; its video put the band on heavy rotation on MTV within weeks.
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- 1991Album
Nevermind
Released on 24 September 1991 and expected to sell modestly; it replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous at number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1992.
Find on Spotify (opens in a new tab)Find on Apple Music (opens in a new tab)Find on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, Nevermind (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)
- 1992Performance
Headlining the Reading Festival
Cobain was wheeled on stage in a hospital gown in August 1992, a joke at the rumours about his health; the set is often called the band's best.
Wikipedia, Live at Reading (opens in a new tab)
- 1993Album
In Utero
Recorded with Steve Albini in two weeks and released in September 1993: a harder record, made to push back against the fame Nevermind brought.
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- 1993Performance
MTV Unplugged in New York
Recorded in November 1993 and released as an album after Cobain's death; it won the Grammy for best alternative music album in 1996.
- 1994Moment
Kurt Cobain dies
Cobain was found dead at his Seattle home on 8 April 1994. The band ended with him.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)
- 1994Lineage
Foo Fighters grow out of the drum stool
Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album alone in October 1994 and built a band around it, the one spin-off of Nirvana.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Foo Fighters (opens in a new tab)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)
Line-ups
Nirvana has a line-up of its own: Nirvana, 1987 to 1994, every member and spell as a line diagram.
Connections
The line
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)
- Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski (editors), The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Fireside, 2001
Cite this page
The Metro Map of Music, ‘Nirvana: station’, /stations/nirvana.