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Nirvana was an American
rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist
Kurt Cobain and bassist
Krist Novoselic in
Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being
Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.
With the lead single "
Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the band's second album
Nevermind (1991), 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 had also gained popularity, and as a result, alternative rock in general became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-mid-1990s. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation," with Nirvana being considered the "flagship band" of
Generation X.
[Azerrad, Michael. "Inside the Heart and Mind of Nirvana." Rolling Stone. April 16, 1992.] Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, believing the band's message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album
In Utero (1993).