Nirvana Research Paper

1539 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Case study of nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer and artist Kurt Cobain and bass Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Nirvana went through many changes having added members or replacing members especially with drummers, they went through three different drummers. There was a total of ten members who had the chance to play for Nirvana, but the classic lineup of Nirvana was: Kurt Cobain who lead in vocals and guitar, Krist Novoselic who lead in bass, and Dave Grohl, who lead in drums, and backing vocals. Nirvana, genre wise, was mostly associated as an alternative rock and grunge. (Gaar, 2011) They had three studio albums: Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero. In Utero was the last album they had as a band with Kurt Cobain and felt …show more content…

But aside from that, Nirvana's timeline has hit major success. Nirvana was nominated many times from 1992 to 1995 but had finally been awarded for Best Alternative music performance in 1996 from MTV Unplugged in New York. However, the one album that I will be exploring their significance and impact will be In Utero. (Erlewine, n.d.) An analysis of the album In Utero will provide facts whether or not trust was a main factor within the band and their band producers. Also, will provide whether this album had influenced their fans or various other artists. Before Nirvana became such a great band, they had fellow competitors that were trying to get into the music industry: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in chains. Nirvana was that band that had the most distinctly "different" about themselves. Pearl Jam felt closest to traditional rock, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains sounded more like metal bands. (Brennan & Bray, 2017). Nirvana was a good way to sum up what really should belong to all of those great grunge era

Show More
Related

  • The Greatful Dead

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    The band was formed in 1965 in Sans Francisco with a mix of sounds from several different genres of music such as Folk, Bluegrass, Jazz, Country, Blues, and Physicadellic Rock. The original members were as follows: Jerry Garcia doing lead guitar and vocals, Bob Weir was the youngest member of the band playing rhythm guitar and vocals. Ron "Pigpin" McKernan played keyboards, Phill Lesh has always been the basist. Bill Kreutzmann played drums at first but was followed by Micky Heart in 1967 as a seccond drummer. When Pigpin died at the tender age of 27 of liver failure, Keith Godchaux joined on as the new keyboardist, with him he brought his wife Donna Jean to help with backup vocals. When the couple left the band in 1979 they were replaced by Brent Mayland. Mayland played with the band until

    Read More

  • Grateful Dead Musical Influences

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    They were making music at the same time as other extremely successful musicians like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Pink Floyd.

    Read More

  • Book Review: Green Day 'Dookie'

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    To conclude this paper Greenday's contributions did not come from the band members playing something musically in a new revolutionary way. Their contributions came from being themselves and being at there at the right time. Their music contributions gave punk the popularity it needed to make a comeback in the 90's and to sort of come back to a type of rock and roll. This specific album had obvious teen angst and more lighthearted compared to “American Idiot.” Overall this album is very catchy, very pleasant to the ear, and a classic punk album to be enjoyed by most people.

    Read More

  • Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana: A New Voice for the People

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cobain, the lead guitarist, writer and singer for a band called Nirvana shook the groggy music world with the release of Smells Like Teen Spirit from the album Nevermind over twenty years ago on September 10, 1991. Nobody ever imagined that the simple four-chord progression would ever grab so much attention that it would hit number 6, let alone the Nevermind album knocking Michael Jackson’s Dangerous out of the No. 1 spot on the Billboards. (Shmoop) The fact that a grungy, distortion filled song became such a radio hit proved that Nirvana’s shy singer was now the much needed voice for the youth. New found fame hurdled the little known Cobain into the limelight almost instantly; hungry fans gobbled up and imitated everything they could about him. No longer were kids interested in listening the pop music that saturated the 80’s; they now had music that voiced how aloof they felt about their existence. Kids who were misunderstood by their parents and elders, finally...

    Read More

  • Rock’s Golden Age

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rock is derived from the genre Rock and Roll, and in the 1960’s passed through what many called the “golden age”. During this decade was when rock was reassured as a musical genre, and became due to the advances in the radio technologies on the last decade. During this period, several of the best rock bands and artists appeared like The Beatles or Jimmy Hendrix.

    Read More

  • Nirvana - Nevermind

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    The biggest influential song on Nirvana’s Nevermind album was the first song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It reached number 6 on the Top 40 Charts. This song was groundbreaking for Nirvana and the alternative music scene as a whole. After the release of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” white, middle-class youth of the United States finally had a style of music to call their own and express their “teenage anthems” (Stuessy, Joe). This was the first song to emerge from alternative rock and to be known in the mainstream of rock and roll, expressing their generation’s expectations, “...here we are now, entertain us”(Stuessy, Joe). “Smells like Teen Spirit” was Curt Cobain’s “attempt to write the ultimate pop song”(Nevermind, Nirvana). He used the soft-loud dynamics of his favorite band, the Pixies. The insidious hooks also showed his admiration for the Beatle’s John Lennon(Nevermind, Nirvana). The style used in this song is simple, plain, loud, and straight-forward. Musically, there is nothing very “innovative” or difficult. However, the reason it is important to rock history is because it brought America’s attention to the once before underground style of grunge. “A driving drum beat, powered by Novelsek’s rhythmic bass, and a memorable guitar riff and solo, mix perfectly with Kurt Cobain’s depressing yet humorous lyrics” (Kastner, Patrick). While it has certainly been overplayed in the past years, it is still an essential part of Rock history.

    Read More

  • Unconditioned Nirvana

    359 Words  | 1 Pages

    Unconditioned Nirvana In Mahayana, nirvana is an emphasis on the unified nature of the world. The world is a world. Nirvana is conceived as a human experience of oneness with unconditioned consciousness (the absolute). Which gives insight into the unity of the world (samsara), body, mind and soul.

    Read More

  • Kurt Cobain was Murdered

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kurt Cobain the singer and guitarist of the 90s band Nirvana which was an alternative rock band from 1988 to 1994. Cobain was born in the town of Aberdeen Washington. Aberdeen is a rural white trash town that borders Seattle the birth place of “Grunge”. Before them at record stores there were special sections for alternative music, they popularized it. However many grunge bands were around such as Mud Honey and The Melvins.

    Read More

  • Michael Jackson Thriller History

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    When did they start? According to Mitchell, G. (2009), work began in earnest in August 1982. Jackson wrote several of the songs: "The Girl Is Mine," "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Among the other writers was former Heatwave

    Read More

  • Grunge

    2550 Words  | 6 Pages

    While the isolation of Seattle was vital to the development of Grunge it may have also been the key to it's downfall. Without the stain of major labels in the city the bands didn't know what

    Read More

  • Examining Kurt Cobain's Personality

    1408 Words  | 3 Pages

    In high school Cobain befriended a gay student and had to endure bullying from people who though he was gay. Cobain later admitted that he was “gay in spirit” and “probably could be bisexual” (“The Dark Side,” 1992). He dropped out of high school two weeks before graduation because he did not have enough credits, and became a janitor. It was in high school, however, that the beginnings of Cobain’s career were formed. He met Krist Novoselic, and later co...

    Read More

  • Kurt Cobain's Musical Influence

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Few people have the ability to remain a driving musical influence years after death like Nirvana’s frontman and cult icon, Kurt Cobain has. Nirvana’s influence on the music world is undeniable, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Like most great rock-stars before him, Cobain fit the “tortured artist” persona and was far from perfect. He struggled with drug addiction, depression, and was arrested for domestic violence. His tragic death at the peak of his career left the entire world wondering what could have been and immortalized him as one of the greatest musicians of all time.

    Read More

  • Nirvana’s Effect on American Culture and Society

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American rock band Nirvana impacted American culture and society by paving the way for the punk rock subculture into mainstream corporate America. Punk rock music stems from the rock genre but has its own agenda. The crux of punk rock is that it is a movement of the counterculture against the norms of society. Punk rock in itself is made up of a subculture of people who rejected the tameness of rock and roll music during the 1970s. (Masar, 2006, p. 8). The music stresses anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian ideas in its lyrics as well as scorns political idealism in American society. Before Nirvana unintentionally made punk rock a multi-million dollar commercialized genre of music, underground rock paved the way for the punk rock genre by creating core values that punk rockers drew upon.

    Read More

  • Bon Jovi

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    in 1983.Over the years the rock group has won many awards. In 1987 they were awarded

    Read More

  • Grunge Culture

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, let us define what grunge is and where it comes from. Grunge as defined by web encyclopedia alt.culture is the cumulative influences of punk and ‘70s heavy metal (plus rain, coffee, cheap, potent beer, and occasionally heroin), a cohort of Seattle bands developed a soulful hard rock variant that was instrumental to alternative music’s early-‘90s move underground (altculture. com). Among the bands included in the definition Nirvana would be mainly the one that made this phenomenon popular. Released in 1991, Nevermind—a record by an obscure band working in a genre considered as hopelessly uncommercial—launched the grunge phenomenon and marked an era of unprecedented exposure for alternative acts. Then other bands like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Candlebox followed the trail that Nirvana started in the grunge w...

    Read More

More about Nirvana Research Paper

Open Document