(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
To understand the true impact of Nirvana’s cultural success, you need to dig deep into the meaning of Grunge as a movement.
In the mid 1980s, America was crossing the threshold of heightened capitalism. The liberalist counterculture movements of the previous two decades were forcefully snuffed out, while the promise of this brave new world, centred around deregulated economics and free market capitalism, halted into focus.
The subtext of Ronald Reagan’s new bold economic plan was essentially, ‘come with us or get left behind’ and if you were part of the latter, there was little to no empathy for your exclusion. It gave a pretty bleak environment for those disillusioned to live within, although a very clear force upon which to project their rebellion.
So naturally, as is always the case in periods of systematic oppression and corruption, bands and artists emerged with a new sound ready to push back. In this era, of societal glitz and glamour, fuelled by a desire to step into the future, grunge emerged, like a set of long fingernails screeching down a blackboard. It was raw, caustic and energetic as it swam brutally against the stream of this new capitalist culture.
Of course, Nirvana were some of the chief proponents of this movement. In a little pocket of North West America, they pushed the scene forward, along with other bands and began cultivating a movement that would soon wash over the whole of America like a tidal wave. What started out as an exercise in cultural rebellion soon became a fully fledged cultural movement and Nirvana were the poster boys of it.
Their 1991 album Nevermind not only confirmed their status as grunge royalty, but it dominated the commercial charts and almost unwillingly, the trio became the sort of band they sought to ridicule. By the early 1990s, they were on the tip of every promoter’s tongue who wanted to book them for whatever grand stage they had built.
It continually put the band at odds with themselves. Desperate to remain faithful to the humble beginnings of grunge, while simultaneously understanding they had a unique opportunity to exercise artistic freedom by simply making a living as musicians. But the beating heart of their grunge personalities could never be ignored, and so the band outright refused to play certain shows.
One of which was the mammoth Lollapalooza in 1994. After initially being booked for the headline slot, the band backed out on the grounds that the crowd he would be playing to, simply wouldn’t understand the true sentiment of his music.
“Kurt was terrified of selling out, and Lolla was a sellout moment, I think, for them,” Lollapalooza booker John Rubeli explained. Adding, “He very clearly at that point was talking about how he looked in the audience, and he saw all of the people that were beating him up in school.”
Ordinarily, it would have been a move of respectful resolve, from a band who know their personality more than their desire to get paid. But in this instance, the context feels more tragic, as Cobain’s death took place just two days after what was supposed to be the announcement date of the band’s headlining. By 1994, the artist who helped start grunge from a place of disillusionment, had become disillusioned with the world grunge had taken him to.
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