12 Hard Rock Bands Who Succeeded By Never Selling Out
6. Nirvana
Ever since Nirvana started, Kurt Cobain always had a particular distaste for the mainstream. Although he loved the pop acts of old from Cheap Trick to the Beatles, Cobain always felt the need to run away from the bands that seemed too inauthentic.
The band's first record Bleach was pure grunge, with Cobain writing what songs that sounded like the Beatles being fed through a punk amplifier. Though the band eventually crossed over with Nevermind, the sudden jolt of fame led to Cobain running far away from the more superficial aspects of celebrity culture. Even when the label was set on getting Nirvana in a studio with a big budget producer, the band hooked up with indie legend Steve Albini and produced the blemished masterpiece In Utero, which was probably the most visceral recording to ever reach the top of the charts at the time.
Though fans may have been aching to hear what the new Nirvana sound would be going forward, the rude awakening came when Cobain was found dead in his home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The world of rock still lives in the shadow of Cobain's work, but Nirvana's back catalog is a true testament of artists who refused to compromise their musical vision.