Remembering Nirvana's road to Nevermind

Nevermind by Nirvana remains certainly one of the top 10 albums of the 1990s. Here are some of the most interesting things to know about that release.

When Scream broke up, Buzz Osborne of the Melvins connected Scream's drummer Dave Grohl with Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. This was the lineup that was going to change the rock world.

In early 1991, the band traveled from Washington state to L.A. to sign a $287,000 contract with David Geffen's DGC label. This was quite a step up from the alleged $600 record contract Nirvana had secured at the time of its debut recording Bleach.

Next, Nirvana landed on Butch Vig to be their producer, after Vig had recently produced the incredible Smashing Pumpkins debut Gish. Once in the studio, Vig learned to record warmups because leader Kurt Cobain would be temperamental and sit alone for periods of time but could also blow out his vocals sometimes after a few takes.

When Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman heard early versions of what would become Nevermind, he was not kidding when he said Nirvana could be bigger than The Beatles.

Before the band decided on the album's eventual title, it was originally going to be called Sheep.

The final cut of Nevermind was recorded at Sound City in L.A. and, ironically, hair-metalers Europe was recording there at the same time. Of course, Nirvana in often single-handedly credited with the death of hair metal. But, in January 1992, it wasn't that genre that was replaced by Nirvana's grunge but rather Michael Jackson’s Dangerous that was replaced in the number-one slot by Nevermind in England?

I was lucky in getting to see Nirvana on my 21st birthday, on October 16, 1991 at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis. Kurt, Krist, and Dave didn't tour at all in 1992. In January, Cobain married Courtney Love in Hawaii, and the rest is history.