Myth Busting: Did Kurt Cobain, Nirvana & Grunge Kill Everything That Came Before It?

*Photo taken from the internet and likely copyrighted

There’s this common trope amongst music fans and especially music critics that when Grunge, in the form of Kurt Cobain (guitar/vocals/songwriter/legend) with his band Nirvana (Dave Grohl on drums; Krist Novoselic on bass) came along they destroyed all the music forms that came before it. Even I fell into that line of thinking once upon a time. I remember on my first date with the Rock Chick – I took her to lunch…always a safe bet with a set start and finish time…she ordered a steak and I disastrously ordered a salad (wussy move) – we got to talking about music, which I always seem to do in conversation. It was important to establish her musical taste…I had briefly dated a woman who was a Barry Manilow fan…underscore briefly. She almost immediately said something about how she liked Grunge but was sad that Cobain had killed a lot of the bands she had liked. I was impressed…beautiful and brilliant…I knew quickly she was a keeper… me, maybe not so much…I needed tending.

It was the perception for a long time that the wonderful creative force of Nirvana specifically had upended rock n roll music. I can understand that perception. Their second album Nevermind came out in September of ’91 and by January of ’92 it overtook Michael Jackson’s Dangerous in the number one spot on Billboard’s album charts. I heard somewhere – probably more urban myth – that the January timing on their taking over the top spot was because all of the teenagers were returning Jackson’s album at the record store and exchanging it for Nirvana. That’s so rock n roll! But I think that contributed to the “destroyed all that came before” myth. Springsteen had recently disbanded the E Street Band (at his own peril), the Stones had returned in ’89 with Steel Wheels but it’d be 5 years before they released another album (Voodoo Lounge). The Cult were taking forever to follow up Sonic Temple, Dylan was reaching his creative nadir and the wheels were coming off Motley Crue. Classic rock bands seemed to be retreating.

It didn’t help that in the 80s music had become over processed, over produced, synth laden, drum machined (for lack of a better word) product. While there were some Hair Metal bands I dug, many of them were interchangeable, with the same sound, the same look, the same videos (Oh look more hot chicks cavorting in front of the band on a stage). There was a lot of cool alternative rock going on but I doubt many of us heard it until years later… of course, I’m speaking of myself there. I did get into R.E.M. Music had, in the 80s, in large part lost it’s way.

There had been other large, sweeping movements in music. The 60s died out and suddenly in the 70s we had that mellow, So-Cal acoustic movement, disco came along in the mid 70s. Probably the most cataclysmic rock n roll movement to come along prior to Grunge was punk. But rather than fade away, many bands just absorbed that punk energy and sound. Punk was big but it wasn’t as destructive as it could have been. The Clash were pretty popular everywhere. Seventies music had gotten bloated and overblown and punk was a swift kick in the ass. With eighties rock n roll being in the state it was by the early 90s it was ripe for a shake up… Enter Grunge.

Frankly in my mind Grunge was probably more about a generational shift than anything else like one band killing everything else. The Gen X folks were teenagers up to their early 20’s and they were the ones who fueled the change in music. They were darker, more depressed, more prone to use heroin or lithium. That hedonistic Hair Metal vibe didn’t speak to them the way it did to us in the late 70s/early 80s. It was much like when the Flower Children of the 60s gave way to Zeppelin and Sabbath in the 70s, heavier, darker stuff. I think pinning all of this on the shoulders of Kurt Cobain or blaming Nirvana is just wrong. Although I saw a show on MTV about Hair Metal stars. It was a “where are they now” kind of thing. Lita Ford was like, “Yeah, it was a bummer what Nirvana did to us.” The lead singer of Loverboy, Mike Reno, was on the show and he was as big as a house (try the Ozempic, Mike)…he also specifically blamed Cobain for Loverboy’s demise. I couldn’t help but think, really dude, you were in Loverboy, how long did you think that was gonna last? The Grunge guys were just more authentic than say, Trixster. They wore jeans and flannel shirts instead of spandex and makeup. There was nary a bottle of hair spray to be found in the dressing room. That authenticity – and stripping music back down to vocals/drums/guitar/bass – spoke to Gen X in ways that Poison just didn’t…although every rose does have it’s thorns…(a song I used play for the Rock Chick when she made me prune her rose bushes… and no, that’s not a euphemism, I’m talking yard work here).

There were bands that survived without even a hiccup. The aforementioned Stones continue to this day. Van Halen or perhaps I should say Van Hagar rolled along with For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Metallica remained a juggernaut, although I will say they adopted some of that Grunge sound on The Black Album. AC/DC staged a bit of a comeback in the 90s and yes, every song sounds the same, no Grunge influence there. Once Nirvana kicked down the door for the Seattle based bands we got Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. Other bands who weren’t grunge but had that authenticity came along like Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day. The 90s – to me – were a much better decade musically than the 80s because of the advent of Grunge. Although my best buddy Doug will likely be arguing this point with me over beers soon.

At the end of the day I think it’s safe to say that music in the late 80s has only itself to blame for allowing itself to be vulnerable to being upended by something new, more raw, and more authentic. This may explain why Hip Hop also exploded in the decade of the 90s. Really, the only genre that died because of Grunge was Hair Metal and let’s face it, it was time for it to go. They were all carbon copies of Roth-era Van Halen, each copy losing a bit of quality until it was hard to know who you were even listening to. I don’t know if this “Nirvana killed everything that came before it” myth helped contribute to Kurt Cobain’s surrender to suicide but add that to the whole “voice of a generation” thing and it was a lot to bear. It’s just unfair to blame Kurt for having to throw away your leather trousers.

I was late to getting on the Nirvana bandwagon. The song “Heart Shaped Box” was my gateway… that and their Unplugged In New York album, but I loved those Unplugged shows. However, I was an early adopter on Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Soon I was listening to Alice In Chains, humming along to songs about smack. Throw in the Black Crowes and that was really a golden era of rock n roll, perhaps the last one. I’m thankful that those of us rock n roll fans out here got the chance to enjoy the brilliant music of Kurt Cobain and his cohorts. The world is actually a better place for it.

Things are getting darker and darker out there… Take care of each other… maybe join a protest if you can. When in doubt, turn up a little Nirvana, it’ll get you in fighting spirit  or maybe at least get you thinking about smelling your old teen spirit…

Cheers!