N

Station

Nirvana

1987 to 1994 · on Grunge

Active years

192019401960198020002020

The journey

1985199019952000Grunge1989
  1. 1989Grunge · Sub Pop to the top of the charts
  2. 1989Bleach · Album
  3. 1990Dave Grohl joins on drums · Lineage
  4. 1991Smells Like Teen Spirit · Single
  5. 1991Nevermind · Album
  6. 1991The first Lollapalooza · Landmark on the line
  7. 1992Headlining the Reading Festival · Performance
  8. 1993In Utero · Album
  9. 1993MTV Unplugged in New York · Performance
  10. 1994Kurt Cobain dies · Moment
  11. 1994Foo Fighters grow out of the drum stool · Lineage

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

  1. Grunge1989 to 1994

    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

    1. 1989Album

      Bleach

      The debut, recorded for about six hundred dollars and released by Sub Pop in June 1989, with Chad Channing on drums.

      Source: Wikipedia, Bleach (Nirvana album) (opens in a new tab)

    2. 1990Lineage

      Dave Grohl joins on drums

      The sixth and last drummer, recruited from the Washington hardcore band Scream in September 1990.

      Source: Wikipedia, Nirvana (band) (opens in a new tab)

    3. 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.

      Source: Wikipedia, Smells Like Teen Spirit (opens in a new tab)

    4. 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.

      Sources: Wikipedia, Nevermind (opens in a new tab); Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)

    5. 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.

      Source: Wikipedia, Live at Reading (opens in a new tab)

    6. 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.

      Source: Wikipedia, In Utero (opens in a new tab)

    7. 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.

      Source: Wikipedia, MTV Unplugged in New York (opens in a new tab)

    8. 1994Moment

      Kurt Cobain dies

      Cobain was found dead at his Seattle home on 8 April 1994. The band ended with him.

      Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)

    9. 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.

      Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Foo Fighters (opens in a new tab)

    Source: 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

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Nirvana (opens in a new tab)
  2. 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.