Nirvana is likely to be considered one of the all-time greats and given a prominent place when rock music is officially immortalized. The world was enticed by hair metal music. However, all of a sudden, Kurt Cobain appeared with music so great that it eclipsed every single teased-hair band in relevance. It’s probably best to give Nirvana credit for making us stop taking crap from plastic bands. However, Dave Grohl didn’t think the band deserved too much praise.
Grohl, though, finds it simple to ignore Nirvana’s notoriety. Cobain received abundant praise for his skills as a guitarist and singer. However, if you had been walking down the street in 1992, you might have easily missed Grohl’s identification. He was known as the man from Nirvana. All pictures might as well have shown Cousin It behind the drums. The guy was onstage, literally wearing his hair in his face the entire time.
Cobain’s songs probably wouldn’t have been half as brilliant if Grohl hadn’t been a part of Nirvana. Even while the drumming mythology typically gives original drummer Chad Channing credit for the success of songs like “In Bloom,” Chad Channing’s performance often turned “Territorial Pissings” from a passable punk thrash song into one of the best songs in the grunge canon.
Grohl told Classic Albums after their inception that he had very little career ambition and wasn’t eager for praise for his work. We were aware that we would never become the largest band on the planet. All we wanted to do was play.
Grohl is still hesitant to label his band as legendary. He stated, “Every time you open a magazine about alternative music, there’s always pre-Nirvana and post-Nirvana, and I don’t get it.” This is true even if fans tend to define the words “alternative rock” to individuals. I believe, in part, that it was all hype. Since that’s precisely what we were against, I won’t sit here and say, “Yes, we were legends for a good reason.” Even if I was a member of the band.
The fact that a band like Nirvana managed to survive solely on the strength of their music is remarkable. This was during the Poison and Whitesnake era. It’s reason enough to declare them legendary in the annals of music history. A label meeting likely would have laughed at them, known primarily for their flannel shirts and a few decent hits. If you had told them they were going to blow up the world.
They were successful for that one purpose. The entire idea behind the grunge movement was that Nirvana never posed while they performed. You watched a band that looked like guys from your high school who were just into making rock and roll songs.
If anything, Cobain’s difficult relationship with fame stemmed from his legendary status. Despite the limelight being so intense on his face, he typically avoided it. Though it’s simple to give the band acclaim today, Grohl and Cobain saw them as simply another band.
