10 Albums That Changed Rock Music Forever

At the start of the '90s, rock was in dire need of some sort of shakeup. While Guns N Roses and Metallica may have hinted at something a little bit heavier, the stench of the Sunset Strip was still too much to ignore, and the real soul of rock and roll seemed to be replaced with sounding larger than life. There was something different happening on the ground floor though, and the heart of the rock scene was about to shift up north thanks to one scrawny kid in a flannel shirt.

Although Kurt Cobain never meant to make the most important album of his career with Nevermind, what unfolded during recording was some of the most hooky alternative songs that would come out of the '90s, blending the sounds of the Pixies and Sonic Youth with the sing-ability of a band like the Beatles on songs like In Bloom and Come As You Are. With the intent to sound as simple as possible, the power behind a song like Smells Like Teen Spirit became the beginning of a new age for rock and roll, ushering in the grunge movement with bands like Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains getting picked up in the wake of Nirvana.

Even with all of that success though, Kurt always had a bit of an awkward relationship with his masterpiece, thinking that it leaned a little bit too poppy some of the time and songs that didn't seem to have the art rock weirdness that he hoped to bring across. For as much as Kurt may have struggled with his own art, songs like these have been a help for millions of up and coming rock stars to find their own voice through guitars.