Sept. 24 Marks Anniversary of Alternative Milestone

Thinking back to the pre-Internet days of the early '90s, it makes sense Nirvana's Nevermind album exploded and became a vital punk-rock gateway drug for millions of impressionable youths.

Without access to the web, people in small towns across the United States and other parts of the world were mainly exposed to what big-time rockers played on FM radio, or read about in Rolling Stone and Spin. To become exposed to genuine underground punk rock you had to be introduced by an overly knowledgeable friend, or talkative record store clerk.

Twenty years ago access to punk wasn't a click away; it wasn't posted on blogs and Youtube. In those days most kids had to wait for it to land in their laps. And that's where Nirvana comes in. Prior to Nevermind, mainstream rock consisted of glossy-pop music and even glossier hair metal. The idea of three-chord punk topping charts and filling stadiums across the globe was unfathomable. When the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video caused just that, Nirvana remained dedicated to the on-the-fringe scene it emerged from and namedropped and championed as many of their favorite independent bands as possible.

The fact is Nirvana introduced many of their fans to bands they would've been hard pressed to discover on their own at that juncture in time. Fans would see photos of Cobain wearing shirts of Daniel Johnston, Scratch Acid, Mudhoney, and Flipper and then seek out the records to see what they were missing out on. 

It wasn't just Cobain's shirts that opened doors for fans; the songs Nirvana chose to cover would also open the floodgates for bands like The Vaselines and The Meat Puppets — who likely maintain careers today because of Nirvana's support.    

Those who were already "in the know" with underground sounds in 1992 didn't need Nirvana to serve as an intro to punk. The record likely doesn't mean anything to those who were already submerged in the scene but, in retrospect, Nevermind wasn't for them. It was for the millions of teens who didn't realize edgier music existed until it hit them in the face. That's why Nevermind mattered and still matters to so many music fans. Had some of these people not found the record, their taste may have been drastically different.

Music aside, it's a powerful record for the number of bands it has helped directly (or indirectly) introduce to fans. It's helped shape peoples' tastes in music for 20 years — which I feel is Nevermind's highest accomplishment. Without it some people might be listing the Spin Doctors' Pocket Full of Kryptonite album — or worse (yikes!) — as their favorite album of the '90s.


"We're kind of spreading out and getting more mainstream people. In doing that we hope we can turn them onto different kinds of music, like the underground scene. There are more bands out there than just these mainstream, giant, Harley-riding rock bands." —Krist Novoselic, bassist of Nirvana, from a Nov. 2, 1991, interview on MTV's "Headbangers Ball"

On Sept. 24 1991 Nirvana released its sophomore album Nevermind on DGC Records and quickly displaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous album from the top of the Billboard Chart. 20 years later music fans still either love it or really hate it. With Kurt Cobain's gravelly yowl, it's hard to find middle ground on the band's sound. Here's what a few Lansing musicians think about the band and its pivotal grunge record that's sold over 30 million copies to date.

Tommy McCord
The Plurals / Good Time Gang Records
I am very grateful for the exposure that Nevermind received. For over a decade now I have been writing my own songs and performing them in public, and the inspiration to "do it myself" can be traced to the devil-may-care attitude and off-kilter pop hooks that Nirvana brought to the mainstream during my youth. Kurt Cobain's knack for combining rage and melody coupled with his unbalanced approach to the guitar has left more than trace amounts in the work of my band, The Plurals. Video footage of Nirvana from 1989-1990 touring the country in a van and playing shows in dive bars, basements, halls, and record stores is also inspirational — it's something I do with The Plurals today. That Nirvana footage is humbling, and a reminder that these three dudes were just some guys who liked to play music — not over-the-top prima donna rock stars.

Tesco Vee
Touch and Go co-founder, Meatmen front man, Lansing punk legend
In 1991 yours truly was about as far from the Pacific Northwest as one could be — physically, spiritually and, as it turned out, musically — in my little Washington DC abode. Needless to say I never jumped this Nirvana bandwagon, 'cause like an old salmon swimming against a torrent of Nirvana worship, I thought it blew. Now wipe that smug look of incredulity off your mug, it's one man's opinion here. The fact that Cobain was a self-absorbed and drug-addled putz who had very poor taste in women is neither here nor there. The fact that hair-metal rock pigs blame Nirvana for killing their musical careers — well I got news for them, their pathetic coke-fueled cock-rockin' charade was already flopping around like a mackerel on the hot pavement, and if Nirvana did put that shit out of business — well at least they did one thing I liked!

Brian Vander Ark
The Verve Pipe
The late '80s was an awful time for music. I was listening to Bob Mould's Workbook religiously. The Pixies' Doolittle, too — I just played them over and over. Those two albums were the only things that spoke to me. The radio was spewing garbage. I was painting houses back then, interiors mostly, and we would watch MTV while we worked. I think Ozzy's "Mama, I'm Coming Home" just finished, and I heard that opening guitar strum to "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I froze — didn't move a muscle for the entire video. Holy s***. So dark and cool, and that voice! Damn, that was one of those defining moments for me. I knew it was going to be huge and I was so thankful. I bought the album that day and listened to nothing else for weeks. I wrote a couple of tunes as well, directly inspired by them. We owe our career to that album, that's for sure. On our major label debut (Villains) our sound was much more polished, our melodies and lyrics much sunnier, yet it was all influenced by Nevermind.

Cale Sauter
Cavalcade, Bermuda Mohawk Productions
This record was released leading into my awkward "tween" years when I wasn't sure if I wanted to be Dr. Dre or Robert Smith of the Cure. Thankfully, right before I started painting my fingernails black while simultaneously trying to corn-row my hair, Nevermind came out and provided a different type of dark and dangerous. It made me explore more rock and even actually listen to my dad's records that influenced this mysterious band. Even today, I still listen to Nevermind and cannot put my finger on the soul-tapping effect this surprisingly simple record had on such vast group of music fans. What I do know, however, is that Nevermind was so instantly relatable to me in every facet (right down to the tone of the guitars) that my friends and family should probably thank the ghost of Kurt Cobain for rescuing me from a potential ill-advised gangsta-goth phase (shudder).

Ryan Andrews