10 Bands That Changed Rock And Roll
4. Nirvana
Most people nowadays will probably agree that the last few years of hair metal turned out to be a mistake. Even though acts like Guns N Roses were coming out of the woodwork with a more dangerous streak, the more flamboyant side of LA was getting way too overblown for anyone to look at it sincerely anymore. We needed to wake up and get some real entertainment...we just needed to look a little further up North to get there.
Bubbling up from the Seattle area, Nirvana became the lynchpin for the entire alternative movement to get underway, modeling themselves after the indie rock greats that they had loved as teenagers. The only catch was the songs were catchy as all hell, with Kurt Cobain using his years of Beatles worship to craft amazing melodies on songs like Lithium and All Apologies. The existence of Nevermind alone is enough to earn them a spot here, with it going on to influence nearly every rock band that came after them.
Above all else, Nirvana was responsible for stripping away all of the glitz and glamour behind rock and roll. There had been a lot of fake bands coming out of the woodwork at the time, and this is where we first got a taste of something much more real.