Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, with the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.
With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their 1991 album Nevermind, Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with their third studio album In Utero.
Nirvana's brief run ended with Cobain's death in April 1994, but the band's popularity continued in the years that followed. More than eight years later, "You Know You're Right", an unfinished demo from the band's final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over fifty million albums worldwide.
Nirvana are a UK-based progressive rock band formed in 1967, primarily active in the late 1960s and early 1970s - and still sporadically active to the present day.
The band were formed in the summer of 1967 in an era when melodic pop/rock music with baroque and chamber arrangements and instrumentation was highly-prized. The band consisted of two songwriter/performers: Greek-born Alex Spyropoulos and Irish-born Patrick Campbell-Lyons, who met in London. They produced a number of singles (notably "Rainbow Chaser", "Pentecost Hotel" and "Tiny Goddess"), for the fledgling Island Records label.
The band were signed by Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell in the era when he also signed the bands Traffic and Free. Blackwell considered Nirvana one of his prize signings in his early forays into progressive rock and showcased the band by presenting them at prestigious concerts in venues such as London's Saville Theatre.
In October 1967, the band released their first album: a concept album produced by Blackwell entitled The Story of Simon Simopath. The album was probably the first narrative concept album ever released, predating story-driven concept albums such as the Pretty Things' S.F. Sorrow (December 1968), the Who's Tommy (April 1969) and the Kinks' Arthur (September 1969).
Musically, the group blended myriad musical styles including rock, pop, folk, jazz, Latin rhythms and classical music, primarily augmented by baroque chamber-style arrangements to create a unique entity.
The next year, 1968, their follow-up album, All Of Us, featured a similar broad range of musical styles. Their third album Dedicated To Markos III was released on the Pye label in May 1970.
In 1971 the duo amicably separated for a while, with Campbell-Lyons the primary contributor to the next two Nirvana albums, Local Anaesthetic 1971, and Songs Of Love And Praise 1972. Campbell-Lyons subsequently worked as a solo artist and issued further albums: Me And My Friend, 1973, Electric Plough, 1981, and The Hero I Might Have Been, 1983, though these did not enjoy commercial success.
Though the band have not achieved commercial success, from their inception they were acclaimed both by music industry professionals and critics.
