10 Rock Albums That Invented Entire Genres

Nirvana never really set out to be the biggest band in the world. As much as Kurt Cobain may have wanted to be in a popular rock band, his songs were more personal to him than most, and were expected to be enjoyed by a bunch of punk kids in the Seattle underground. Something funny happened once 1991 rolled around though.

After becoming bored with watching MTV hair bands 24/7, Nevermind arrived like a bolt of lightning, with the entire scene changing overnight when Smells Like Teen Spirit reached the airwaves. While the sound was still heavy rock and roll, there was a certain authenticity that you couldn’t fake when listening to Nirvana, inviting their fans to come as they were and mocking some of the coattail riders in the process on songs like In Bloom.

There were also a few songs that hit on topics that the public wasn’t even ready for yet, like the dark tale of sexual assault on Polly or Kurt tapping into the sense of loneliness that everyone feels in their 20’s on Something in the Way. It had been years since we got some sort of realism in rock and roll, and it took a guy in a flannel to wake us all up to what was really going on. Kurt begged to be entertained in Smells Like Teen Spirit, and that scream resonated with every single kid watching MTV.