Nirvana may have spawned a bunch of generic imitators like Bush, Creed, and Nickelback. But don’t hold that against them.
Nevermind, released in ’91, remains one of the greatest guitar rock albums ever, simply because it connected the dots for an entire generation raised on Top 40 pop, heavy metal, classic rock, indie noise, and hip-hop. Well, maybe not so much the last one. Kurt Cobain wasn’t particularly known for hoarding Run-DMC 12-inches, but his record collection was pretty eclectic nonetheless.
Black Sabbath “Iron Man”
Long before Nirvana took sludgy guitars mainstream, Ozzy and company came up with the sound that defined “grunge.” Dark, repetitive, and evil as all hell, it was easy to see why Cobain could so thoroughly connect with the group’s blues-rooted heavy metal.
The Pixies “Monkey Gone to Heaven”On numerous occasions, Cobain said that he was basically trying to rip off the Pixies with Nirvana’s breakthrough hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” He told
Rolling Stone, “When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily that I should have been in that band—or at least a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.
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The Cars “My Best Friend’s Girl”It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Kurt. Despite his strong affinity for hardcore bands like Black Flag, the Nirvana frontman had a great pop sensibility that kept him in thrall of bands like the Beatles and Bay City Rollers. Oh, and the intro to “Teen Spirit” does bear a striking resemblance to the opening of Boston’s “More Than a Feeling.” This Cars classic is one of the first tunes a 14-year-old Cobain learned to play on his guitar.
The Raincoats “Fairytale in the Supermarket”An unlikely source of inspiration, this spiky female U.K. post-punk band made such an impact with Kurt that he forced Nirvana’s label to reissue their three studio albums and even wrote the liner notes.
Lead Belly “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”Covered by Nirvana during their moving
MTV Unplugged performance, this song not only gave a stark insight into Kurt’s tortured soul but revealed the inspiration for his simple yet deadly melodies.
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