Nirvana’s Influence on Alternative Rock

It's not hyperbole to say that Nirvana's 1991 sophomore album Nevermind was a huge moment for music, in general, and especially for alternative music. This albums simply made people feel something that maybe they hadn't felt in a long time, or ever. The mix of lo-fi sonics (although Nevermind was more polished than one might think), Kurt Cobain's raw vocals and grungy riffing was perfect and punk-influenced without being totally punk.

Nirvana also pretty much put an end to hair metal for a while with Nevermind. It ended up becoming popular again and is nostalgic to listen to today, but for years, hair metal was nowhere to be heard while grunge ruled the music world.

"Nirvana‘s renowned second album Nevermind took the music world by storm when it was released 31 years ago, propelling the grunge musicians to legendary status," notes Far Out Magazine. "The record marked a shift in the consumption of alternative rock, which was brought into the mainstream upon the release of the group’s second studio LP."

So, Nirvana had a huge influence on alternative music in the 1990s and they still impact music today. While Nirvana is known for Nevermind, and the album has their most famous songs, they also have other songs that made them stars. Not that they wanted to be stars. Of course they wanted their music heard, but being famous came with some downsides, too.

As Billboard describes, "With guitars returning to radio and the resurgence of pop-punk (which Nevermind helped set the stage for), Nirvana’s second album and commercial breakthrough feels every bit as relevant now as it did when it changed the direction of '90s rock. Kurt’s fearless individualism was ahead of its time."

What's wild is that there are so many songs that aren't on Nevermind that also totally rock. "'Blew' is the first track on Nirvana's first studio album, and it kicks the door down in true grunge fashion," Audio Ink states of the band's non-Nevermind releases. "Krist Novoselic’s bass comes in like a dark, brooding thunderstorm, and Cobain’s voice is all raw nerve and snarl."

Let's look at some interviews with members of Nirvana and those outside the band talking about their influence in the music world.

Others in the Music World Talk Nirvana

Maynard James Keenan of Tool has talked about Nirvana's role in changing the musical landscape, and he would know. "Nirvana came along at the perfect time. People were tired of hair bands and the whole glam thing. They were ready for something real," he told Pitchfork in an interview.

Matthew Bellamy of Muse has also acknowledged Nirvana's influence on their music, stating, "There's no way you were going to see Nirvana make a space-prog epic. But their legacy is in our noisy first two records," according to Alternative Press.

Jack Antonoff of Bleachers has even talked about the fusion of genres during that grunge era, telling Rolling Stone, "Nirvana was on pop radio... Smashing Pumpkins. Dr. Dre. Toad the Wet Sprocket. Rancid... But then in the late Nineties, rap metal — macho, macho, macho, taking all that toughness and ... it out, right? That’s when I rocketed toward the punk and hardcore New Jersey scene, which was very progressive."

Misha Lindes of SadGirl told Billboard, "I felt a really close kinship to Kurt and his writing and his journaling. I have always kept journals and sketchbooks since I was like eight or nine and the way his lyrics spoke about his personal life in such a jarring and honest way was really eye-opening to me."

"Thirty years after its release, Seattle rock trio Nirvana's breakthrough album Nevermind retains an evocative power," noted the BBC in a feature about the influence of Nevermind. "When I hear its opening notes, I'm rocketed back to a teenage house party in suburban London; in that darkened parlour, I could feel guitars and machines fighting for my soul."

"When Nevermind first released, Nirvana was already a burgeoning alt-rock band crawling the corners of the underground Seattle music world," adds UMusic.co.nz. "Their 1989 record Bleach had made them a favorite among misfit college kids and while it took its influence from a sludge metal sound familiar to the area, the band were starting to find themselves unintentionally becoming the figureheads for a grunge movement that was beginning to rumble."

Classic Album Sundays says that Nevermind changed the musical landscape. "After that first listen I could feel that both this band and the influence of college radio were going to play a much bigger and significant role in mainstream music," they note. "My friends and people in the “biz” were buzzing before the album was even released."

Nirvana Talks Nirvana

So, what is alternative music? In a 1991 interview shared by LiveNirvana.com, Cobain said what he thought of the term "alternative," stating, "The only way I can describe 'alternative' anymore is 'good music,'" adding that "I don't care what it sounds like... it doesn't matter anymore. The only alternative to bad music is good music. And that's very rare."

Speaking with Pitchfork, Krist Novoselic said, "The early '90s were a period when music was set to change. Bands like Faith No More and Jane's Addiction paved the way for Nirvana's mainstream breakthrough."

In a 2023 interview with NME, Dave Grohl talked about Nirvana's super rapid rise to fame following the release of Nevermind, noting, "We were kids, and so when you talk about the amount of time that's gone by, to me it’s not even so much about the years. It's about the experiences that just kind of led, one after another, going from three kids that were basically living or touring out of a van to then becoming a huge band."

Grohl also talked about the tension in the group, with Music Radar noting that he said "of course" he and Cobain "loved each other" and "were friends, but, you know, there was a dysfunction in Nirvana that a band like Foo Fighters doesn't have. You also have to realize, from the time I joined Nirvana to the time it was over was only about four years. It wasn't a long period of time."