2. Nevermind
Ahead of recording their second studio album, Nirvana underwent some fairly significant changes. Perhaps most notably, 'Scream' drummer Dave Grohl joined the band on a full-time basis. In addition, the band left Sub Pop and joined a major record label, DGC Records. Nirvana also made some changes to their style. As Kurt Cobain remarked in an interview between the releases of 'Bleach' and 'Nevermind', "As time goes on, the songs are getting poppier and poppier as I get happier and happier." This pop element would prove crucial to the success of 'Nevermind'. Furthermore, Cobain changed his style of writing, utilising cut up pieces of his poetry collection to form the basis of the songs' lyrical content, instead of relying on the more raw, but less measured, style that was present on 'Bleach'. The band's new record label hoped for a significant increase in sales for their second album, but could never have expected the eventual extent of the increase. In fact, it has been reported that DGC Records earmarked 250,000 records in total as their target for 'Nevermind'. However, the album's lead single, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', became a mainstream hit after receiving significant airplay on MTV. The success of the single carried over to the album. Initially released in September 1991, within a few months the album was selling more than the projected 250,000 records every single week. By January 1992, it replaced Michael Jackson's hit album 'Dangerous' at the top of the Billboard 200. To date, the album has sold over 30 million albums. 'Nevermind' has subsequently been credited with revolutionising the music industry, bringing alternate rock to a mainstream audience and publications including the New York Times have expressed a belief that the album opened the door for other, similar bands to achieve the mainstream success which had previously been out of their reach.