Nirvana

Nirvana ([nɪɹˈvɑnə]) is an American grunge band, originally from Aberdeen, Washington, formed in 1987 by singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. After Bleach in 1989, their first studio album produced by the independent label Sub Pop, and a succession of drummers, the lineup stabilised with the arrival of Dave Grohl in October 1990.

The trio signed with DGC Records the following year and released their second album, Nevermind, featuring singles such as Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come as You Are. Their music videos were widely broadcast on the music channel MTV, while the album quickly exceeded sales forecasts. In total, it sold over thirty million copies, becoming one of the best-selling albums worldwide. The band became the target of the tabloid press due to Kurt Cobain's tumultuous relationship with singer Courtney Love and their excessive use of hard drugs. Under pressure, the band was on the verge of breaking up in the summer of 1992 but agreed to participate in the Reading Festival, which saw one of their most accomplished live performances.

Nirvana then isolated themselves at the beginning of the following year at Pachyderm Studio (Cannon Falls, Minnesota) with Steve Albini and recorded their third album there, with the aim of returning to a darker and “less commercial” musical style than Nevermind. After the remixing of the controversial first version, In Utero was released in September 1993 and immediately topped various sales charts, despite receiving no promotion. Now accompanied on stage by Pat Smear on guitar and Lori Goldston on cello, the band made a notable appearance in mid-November on the MTV Unplugged show, where they performed several covers including Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Leadbelly and The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie. After a final jam session in early 1994, the subsequent European tour ended prematurely with Kurt Cobain's hospitalisation for a suicide attempt. He went to Los Angeles for drug rehabilitation but escaped shortly after, returning to Seattle to end his life at home on April 5, 1994.

With only three studio albums, Nirvana's compositions offered ballads inspired by The Beatles and tracks with more aggressive riffs influenced by Pixies, Sonic Youth, Black Sabbath, and The Melvins, revolving around varied and often personal themes for Kurt Cobain: his malaise, his heroin addiction, machismo in American society, love, or his own childhood. The trio's career, though short, left its mark on rock history by being the emblematic figure of the grunge movement, popularising alternative rock and paving the way for other bands such as Foo Fighters, The Offspring, and Green Day. Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. With DGC Records regularly releasing compilations, live albums, or new editions of the band's albums, the group's global sales now exceed seventy-five million records worldwide.