In September of 1991, Nirvana released their second album, Nevermind. The album went #1 in January of 1992 and hit the top spot again in February. It would go on to sell over thirty million copies.

The album was not just another hit record. Fueled by the success of its lead single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, the album changed the rock music landscape as nothing else had since the debut of the Beatles in 1964.

Before the release of Nevermind, rock was ruled by the hair/glam/pop-metal bands. Guns N Roses had somewhat changed the scene when they hit big in 1987 with their tattoos and the punk undertones sprinkled in their hard rock. It was Nevermind that created the 360-degree turn in the genre that would define rock for the rest of the nineties.

Seattle replaced the Sunset Strip as rock’s home base. Alternative rock stations popped up everywhere. Grunge and music that was mostly played on college rock stations were now mainstream. Flannel was everywhere!

While hair, glam, or whatever you want to call it, was the primary sound of rock for much of our teenage years, it was, for the most part, made by people who were in high school in the seventies. Nirvana and the other artist and bands that broke through with the alternative explosion were mostly Gen Xers.

Some of us did not buy into the new sound. Some of us wanted to keep the big hair and flashy guitar solos. Even if you were not down with the change, there is no way you can deny the influence of Nevermind on our generation and the music world.