Who Was the First Grunge Music Band?

This article is a collaborative effort, crafted and edited by a team of dedicated professionals.

Contributors: Andranick Tanguiane, Fred Lerdahl,

If you’re a fan of grunge music, then you might be wondering who the first grunge band was. While there are a few contenders for the title, the most commonly cited band is Nirvana. Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, was released in 1989 and is often considered the start of the grunge movement. Other important grunge bands include Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.

The first grunge music band was Nirvana.

Nirvana was a Seattle-based grunge band that was formed in 1987. The band was made up of singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl. Nirvana’s first album, Bleach, was released in 1989. The band’s second album, Nevermind, was released in 1991 and became a global sensation. Nirvana’s final album, In Utero, was released in 1993. Nirvana disbanded in 1994 after Kurt Cobain’s death.

Nirvana was formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987.

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. The band was composed of singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic, and drummer Dave Grohl. Nirvana quickly gained popularity with their debut album Bleach, which was released in 1989 on the independent label Sub Pop. Their major label debut album Nevermind, released in 1991, became a commercial success and helped to popularize the grunge subgenre of alternative rock.

The band’s lineup consisted of Kurt Cobain on lead vocals and guitar, Krist Novoselic on bass, and Dave Grohl on drums.

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and best-known being Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990.

In the late 1980s, Nirvana established itself as part of the Seattle grunge scene, releasing its first album, Bleach, for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. They developed a sound that relied on dynamic contrasts, often between quiet verses and loud, heavy choruses. After signing to major label DGC Records in 1991, Nirvana found unexpected success with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, the first single from their second album Nevermind (1991).

Nirvana’s first album, Bleach, was released in 1989.

Nirvana’s first album, Bleach, was released in 1989. The album was a commercial success, reaching number 35 on the Billboard 200 chart. Nirvana followed Bleach with Nevermind in 1991. The album was a massive success, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart and eventually selling more than 30 million copies worldwide. Nevermind propelled Nirvana to superstardom, and the band became one of the most popular rock groups of the 1990s.

Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, was released in 1991.

With the release of Nevermind, Nirvana became a household name almost overnight and Grunge was thrust into the mainstream. Although other Grunge bands had been around for years and had been releasing music, it was Nirvana’s crossover success that made them the unofficial flag-bearers of the genre.

Nevermind was a commercial and critical success, and it catapulted Nirvana to the forefront of the grunge music scene.

Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind was a commercial and critical success, and it catapulted Nirvana to the forefront of the grunge music scene. The album’s popularity brought attention to other Seattle-based bands such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. These bands went on to achieve mainstream success in the early 1990s.

Nirvana’s third and final album, In Utero, was released in 1993.

Nirvana’s third and final album, In Utero, was released in 1993. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and was the band’s most successful release. It was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. In Utero is considered to be one of the most influential albums of the 1990s, and has been ranked highly on numerous lists of the greatest albums of all time.

In Utero was a critical and commercial success, and it cemented Nirvana’s status as one of the most influential grunge bands of all time.

Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. It was founded by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990. Though the band dissolved in 1994 after the suicide of Cobain, their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock and roll culture.

Nirvana’s debut album Bleach was released on June 15, 1989, on independent record label Sub Pop. The album was a commercial failure, selling only 30,000 copies upon its initial release. Nevertheless, the band gained a strong underground following, particularly in Seattle and other cities on the West Coast of the United States. Bleach’s low sales figures were partially attributable to its limited distribution; however, Sub Pop co-owner Jonathan Poneman attributed them instead to the fact that “grunge [had] not yet caught on” outside of Seattle. Following Bleach’s lack of success, Nirvana recorded Nevermind with producer Butch Vig at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in 1991. Vig had previously worked with Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins; according to Cobain, he sought out Vig because Nevermind “sounded too much like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation”. The album was completed in two weeks at a cost of $606 thousand—a significantly higher budget than that for Bleach—and released on September 24 by DGC Records. Although initial sales were slow,Nevermind became a surprise global success after the album’s lead single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” began receiving heavy airplay on radio and MTV late in 1991; Nevermind peaked at number one on Billboard 200 chart for three weeks beginning February 1992 and turned into one of the best-selling albums ever released . Nirvana was widely hailed as leading the “Generation X” charge against what many perceived as the manufactured landfill pop dominating radio airwaves; this was given voice by their song “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

Nirvana disbanded in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain.

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and best-known being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990. Despite releasing only three full-length studio albums in their seven-year career, Nirvana has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and important rock bands of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility in 2014. Cobain and Novoselic met while attending Aberdeen High, although they never connected, according to Cobain. The pair eventually became friends while frequenting the practice space of the Melvins. Cobain wanted to form a band with Novoselic, but Novoselic did not respond for a long period of time. In persistence, Cobain wrote letters to Novoselic, escaped his unhappy home life by spending hours alone writing lyrics and chords for songs—sometimes two or three a day—and mowed lawns to earn practice space money.

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