Nirvana is an American rock band, one of the latest really cult bands in the history of rock. Nirvana wasn’t an inventor of grunge style, but thanks to its grand breakthrough, this trend and “alternative” in the whole entered into the mainstream, and, respectively, into the establishment. The title and the image of the band is the synonym of “the sounding of the 90s”. The history of the band was as successful as tragic: the gap between the outer popularity and inner consciousness was one of the main causes of voluntary departure from life of the band’s frontman Kurt Cobain and the split of Nirvana. Short, but bright history of the band stopped in 1994 with Kurt Cobain’s death. But in the following years the fame of the band was just growing.
The history of the band began in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Kurt Donald Cobain was born on February 20, 1967 in Hokuaim, Washington. His mother was a waiter, and his father was a mechanic. Soon the family moved to Aberdeen. The acquaintance of a beginning drummer, Kurt Cobain, with the second founder of Nirvana, guitarist Krist Novoselic was in 1985 due to Buzz Osbourne, frontman of Seattle cult band “Melvins”. After several unsuccessful attempts to form their own band, Krist and Kurt met a drummer Aaron Burckhard, and created what later became the band Nirvana. In some months Burckhard left the band, and was temporally replaced by Dale Crover from Melvins. Then Crover was replaced by Dave Foster. For the first months of its existence, the band has changed several titles, such as “Skid Row”, “Pen Cap Chew”, “Bliss Throad Oyster”, “Windowpane” and “Ed Ted Fred”. The first band’s performance under the title “Nirvana” was in March 1988. In two years the band was joined by a constant drummer, Chad Channing. Their first record was the single “Love Buzz / Big Cheese”, released in 1988. In June 1989 the band released its first album “Bleach”, having signed to “Sub Pop Records”. The producer of the album was Jack Endino. The first thousand of records was printed on white vinyl. The following two thousands were printed on black vinyl, and the next were released on a colorful vinyl. In the whole this record has sold 35000 copies. In the sounding of “Bleatch” one could feel the influence of such bands as The Melvins, Mudhoney, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. On June 22, 1989, the band went on a large American tour, having performed in 26 towns. In autumn 1989, Nirvana went on European tour to perform 36 gigs in 42 days. In the early 1990, the band began working on a new album with Butch Vig as a producer. At “Smart Studios” in Madison the band has recorded seven compositions that were to become a second album. During studio work Kurt and Krist decided that Chad wasn’t the drummer the band needed, and Chad quitted Nirvana. Later he was replaced by Dave Grohl. In April 1991 Nirvana signed to “DGC Records”. “Nevermind” was released on September 24, 1991, and went gold in a month. In February 1992 it topped American charts. In 1992 Nirvana went on touring. The fuss around Cobain’s family and gossips about the star’s heroin addiction were carried wit patience by the band. On August 18, 1992 Courtney Love gave birth to a girl, Frances Bean Cobain. The band began working on “In Utero”, the release of which was in September 1993. After the outlet of “In Utero”, Nirvana was honored with an interview in “Rolling Stone” magazine. In autumn Nirvana toured across the USA to support the album. However, the commercial success wasn’t as good as it was expected. The band agreed for the acoustic concert at MTV at the end of the year. The sale of “In Utero” immediately rose after its republication. After the American tour, they went on the European tour in February. On March 4, Courtney found her husband lying on the floor. Officially, the cause of his death was a casual overdose, but in fact, it was attempted suicide. The problems continued to pursue Kurt. On March 18, he locked himself in his room, threatening to kill himself. He was put to the Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles, ran away from the clinic and came back to Seattle. His body was found by an electrician on April 8. There was no end of the fans sorrow, as Kurt’s death meant the end of Nirvana. Kurt Cobain quickly became a symbol of grief. Novoselic and Grohl planned to release a double live concert by the end of 1994. But instead of this they released a record from the acoustic concert in New York. The album debuted at the top of American and British charts. In 1996 there was the release of concert album “From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah”. Novoselic formed a trio “Sweet 75”. In 2006 the magazine “Forbes” called Kurt Cobain the most high-paid done star. Thus, he shifted Elvis Priestley to the second position.
