Nevermind at 25: how Nirvana's 1991 album changed the cultural landscape - Deepstash
Nevermind at 25: how Nirvana's 1991 album changed the cultural landscape

Nevermind at 25: how Nirvana's 1991 album changed the cultural landscape

Curated from: telegraph.co.uk

Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:

6 ideas

ยท

688 reads

9

1

Explore the World's Best Ideas

Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.

Nirvana

Nirvana

Nirvana was a band from Seattle. The 1991 Reading Festival spoke with awe about the band who played a no-frills set early on the Friday afternoon.

Within weeks they released one of the most influential and best-selling albums of all time. Nevermind has gone on to sell 30 million copies worldwide.

27

160 reads

The cultural landscape

  • Musically, Nirvana popularized a sound and a DIY aesthetic.
  • Culturally, Nirvana removed the distinction between the underground and mainstream and marked the end to the baby-boomer era.
  • Aesthetically, they spawned โ€œgrungyโ€ fashion, while the Nirvana T-shirt - a yellow logo and a smiley face - remains a festival favorite.

28

154 reads

The road to fame

  • Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl, all in their early-to-mid 20s, had left independent label Sub Pop and signed to DGC Records, a subsidiary of major label Geffen Records.
  • Sub Pop was almost entirely responsible for the grunge sound of sludgy and detuned guitars, with darkly neurotic lyrics.
  • Moving to a major was grounds for "public hanging," where any push for commerciality was seen as selling out. But Nirvana wanted to break out and strive for broader recognition.
  • The frame of Nevermind's 12 tracks were recorded in a week. Nevermind joined the central tenents of the grunge sound - crunching guitars and loud vocals - with memorable tunes.
  • In covering the dual bases of noise and melody, Nevermind ensured Nirvana had crossover appeal to young and old, fans of punk and folk alike.
  • "Nevermind" sold a million copies in the US alone. The alternative was now mainstream.

27

74 reads

Nevermindโ€™s success

Nevermindโ€™s success

The success of Nevermind album can be partly attributed to Geffen's money and MTV patronage.

"Nevermind" also tapped into a new, less showy way of doing things. People, it seemed, were tired of the classic rock loved by the baby boomer generation. Nevermind gave many bands the confidence to give it a go, even if they lacked the best equipment.ย It took music back to the garage. Nevermind made misfits feel normal.

25

119 reads

Changing the music industry

"Nevermind" is an era-defining album with a timeless appeal.

  • Nevermind spent 302 weeks in the UK to 100.
  • It was number five in 2011 following a 20th-anniversary re-issue.
  • Recent research found it is the third most-streamed album ever, with 122 million global streams.

26

78 reads

The grunge look

The grunge look

The look that changed fashion:

  • In 2014, Vogue called Cobain "one of the most influential style icons of our time. His thrift-store look is still everywhere today.
  • Nirvana T-shirts are increasingly worn by teenagers, even though they would struggle to name a single Nirvana song.

25

103 reads

IDEAS CURATED BY

adeebschultz

Beer maven. Subtly charming personal development

Adeeb Schultz's ideas are part of this journey:

How to Cope With Intrusive Thoughts

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

How to overcome unwanted thoughts

How to manage intrusive thoughts

How to change your attitude towards intrusive thoughts

Related collections

Similar ideas

Psychedelic rock | music

3 ideas

The Beatles - Wikipedia

1 idea

The Beatles - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Personalized microlearning

โ€”

100+ Learning Journeys

โ€”

Access to 200,000+ ideas

โ€”

Access to the mobile app

โ€”

Unlimited idea saving

โ€”

โ€”

Unlimited history

โ€”

โ€”

Unlimited listening to ideas

โ€”

โ€”

Downloading & offline access

โ€”

โ€”

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates