For the true multi-media experience, play all four clips nearly simultaneously by scrolling down and starting each one on top of the other. Imagine The Flaming Lips Zaireeka as a commentary on ascendent fame and a gradual descent into the destructive morass of media.

I remember when they played those last two shows here. I didn't bother to go, 'cause I had seen 'em plenty before and felt like I'd see them again when all the hype died down. Obviously that never happened. Bleach kinda sucked, Nevermind is a classic, and In Utero is the best of them all. That's a pretty steep curve. It's sad to think about how much better they could've become. Keep in mind, they never even tapped Dave Grohl's talents. I'm also bummed I never saw them play with a 2nd guitarist...rambling now.

I was in 6th grade on a basketball trip in February of 1992, and got to watch MTV in my hotel room (back when they actually played videos). "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Pearl Jam's "Alive" came on within minutes of each other, and I was immediately and irrevocably hooked on the "grunge" scene. I remember playing Nirvana- it may have been "Territorial Pissings"- at a school dance shortly after that and getting reprimanded. I also remember my lunch break in 8th grade when MTV reported Cobain's death...I collapsed into my friend's La-z-Boy, mouth agape, and didn't go back to class. Such vivid memories, still to this day.

Hype, cult of celebrity, media frenzy...these things always ruin for me whatever it is that is special about the music in the first place. I stopped caring when I heard the songs over and over on "commercial alternative" radio, and not to mention all the crappy bands that seemed to be spawned in the mold of Nirvana around that time. But then I was stopped in my tracks in April '94. I cared again, and remembered what was special about Kurt's songs, the band, how they'd led me back to earlier bands, and to weirder rock like Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh etc. I remembered jumping around in my post-adolescent frenzy to the album "Nevermind", and that was a very high feeling, an important moment, and I was thinking I'd maybe never capture it again listening to another record, song, or musical moment. And then there was the media frenzy and cycle of commerce all over again. The Courtney Love saga. There are plenty of great bands out there, and we don't need the media to fetishize them.

I remember going to the music store w/ my high school bandmates and purchasing three tapes: "Nevermind", "Ten", and "Badmotorfinger".

I don't listen to "Nevermind" anymore ( on tape or any other medium), but I do revisit a cd of one of their final shows. They played about 24 songs, Cobain's only comment to the crowd was "grassy ass", and Lounge Act was simmering. It's easy to get wrapped up in hyper-analyzing the show considering what happened a week later.

Hey Pablo, don't beat yourself up.

I never got to see the band live (I was just too young at 14 in 1994 for my parents), but I remember being absolutely enthralled with the sound of Nevermind. Before that my best attempts at rock included only late-era U2 and G'n'R.

I was on my paper route when I heard Kurt Cobain had killed himself. I was listening to The End on my Walkman and I nearly fell off my bike.

The last time I heard Nevermind in its entirety was some months ago at the Cha Cha (thanks, Al). I had all but forgotten what an electrifying record it still is, but within minutes I was drumming on tables and feeling like a illicitly drunk kid again.

Nevermind still sounds great, but it didn't impact me as strongly as MBV's Isn't Anything and Loveless, Dinosaur Jr's You're Living All Over Me, or Pixies' Surfer Rosa.

I recall buying a Nirvana T-shirt directly from Kurt in 1989 after their set at the Blind Pig, a small club in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nirvana were opening for Flaming Lips on that tour. I told him that Nirvana were better than Mudhoney; he disagreed.

1 in a million records have the power to shift musical culture, 1 in 10 million have the power to shift popular culture. 'Teen Spirit' turned the rock anthem in on itself and voiced the opinions of young people suffocated by the bourgeoisie beige Regan/Bush era, who wanted to hold their families accountable for feeling less than loved. Nirvana are the ultimate example of “right place, right time”. Even though I agree it was played to death, I would rather hear Nevermind on the radio 24 hours a day than have to listen to My Chemical Romance just once.

When a movement is born of such promise and ends with such tragedy, it leaves a generation of music fans with psychic scars. I think for awhile we all numbed out. Music became extremely safe and musicians didn't want to accept the challenge of being the next Nirvana, so the airwaves spewed out some pretty bland rock. And really, you couldn't blame them, what musician wants that burden/responsibility.

But clinches are clinches for a reason, and time does heal old wounds. I see tons of possibility in younger bands starting to make records. I think these kids approach the ideals of Nirvanas music differently, knowing how the story ends. When I meet artistic guys in their early twenties now, a number of them seem to have taken from "the good" of the Cobain legacy. It's more cultural than musical. I see how important it was for him to come along and shift the perception of what it means to be a guy. He made it alright to be nerdy, sensitive, sweet, liberal, to date the smart girl, to stand up to misogynists and homophobes, to use your own voice, and to say things that need to be said, even when it's painful for others to hear. And that is probably the most you can ask from a guy from Aberdeen with a guitar.

As a senior citizen punk fan (late 70's/early 80's gen), I found Nirvana for the most part too sappy with the pop influences, plus Cobain's whiney vocals grated on me. But unlike poster #2, I liked the raw punkier Bleach album. At least I can say that Nirvana's pop craftsmanship drew a lot of people to punk who otherwise wouldn't have bothered to listen....And Grohl was a heck of a drummer.

Damn. What Ma'Chell said...and everyone else. Thank-you for such great feedback. I wanted to recognize the moment, but I was dreading the fallout and it's great to see such thoughtful commentary.

My sister, who was attending the UW, brought Nevermind home (Hawaii) with her one summer and it totally changed my life.

I must have been too old--I was a senior in college when Nevermind came out, and it never...quite...did...it...for me. Great lyrics, pretty cool music, but I mean, if you had followed music for the last 10 years, it was incremental, not revolutionary. But he hit it just right, and turned a lot of people on to a lot of great music.

I agree with the original poster, In Utero was best, and Unplugged even more interesting and raw. I think the Nick Drake type album he would have done at the age of 35 would have fucking slayed.

Mattydread! amen...Nevermind in a '91/92 context with other like minded bands was just another record, sure it was great, but in a pile of greatness (soundgarden, peral jam, Alice In the Chains and any other groups with conventional rock hopes and riffs were never part of this "greatness" equation BTW). I remeber how odd it was to see Nirvana on Mtv, it was kinda cool, but weird...and I REALLY doubt Cobain was capable of Nick Drake greatness, he couldn't play THAT well, playing 'unplugged' ain't playing folk.

In terms of Nirvana's catalog the Bleach OUTAKES were actually more powerful than anything I've heard otherwise, even the Dale Crover tracks..those Bleach outakes with more guitar up front, those tracks are more stunning and heavy, not bassy like the Sub Pop version, um...less Melvins sounding...why the powers that be actually MUFFLED that record I'll never understand...