Grungy Facts About Nirvana
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not."—Kurt Cobain
If you had people name the biggest band from the 1990s, it’s a safe bet that many of them would pick Nirvana. The insane success of their album Nevermind proved once again that there was a lot of money to be made in alternative music. Whether you got completely sick of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or not, it’s hard to deny the impact that they had back in the day.
Nirvana Facts
45. Close Call
It was January 1992, and Nirvana had just made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. After the show, Kurt Cobain overdosed on heroin, nearly losing his life. This was just a few months after their breakout album Nevermind was released. Cobain would have died before In Utero or providing MTV with arguably one of the best “Unplugged” performances of its history.
Unfortunately, this near-death experience ends up being just a cautionary bit of foreshadowing for what happened later.
44. Try Picking on Us!
In 1992, Nirvana was set to perform at a big stadium in Buenos Aires, but they were infuriated when they saw their opening act, an all-girl band named Calamity Jane, pelted with mud and bottles from the disrespectful audience.
Cobain was all for leaving without playing, but bassist Krist Novoselic had a better idea: they took to the stage and teased the audiences with opening riffs of their popular work but then switching to all their least-known songs.
The audience was predictably outraged, but Cobain later reflected on that concert as “one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.”
43. Keeping it Clean
In the music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” you can see a dancing janitor. Nirvana deliberately did this as an inside joke at frontman Kurt Cobain’s expense.
Cobain had previously worked as a janitor in the high school that he’d dropped out of as a youth.
