Nirvana: Taking Punk to the masses

2011

A history of the iconic grunge band Nirvana within a larger context of the development of punk from the mid-1970s onward.

Synopsis:
In late 1991, Nirvana exploded on the national music scene, transforming Seattle and the Pacific Northwest from a faraway backwater to the epicenter of popular music culture. Nirvana's infectious single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” saturated the airwaves and MTV, sparking a worldwide grunge revolution, extinguishing the rule of hair metal and giving birth to alternative rock.

This is the public and personal story of Nirvana, from their early roots in Aberdeen, Washington, to the dizzying scope of the world stage. This is also the story of the underground music scene, of which Nirvana was a part, as it developed within the Pacific Northwest and throughout the United States from the birth of punk rock in the mid-1970s. For over a decade, underground bands made inroads into the mainstream, but Nirvana was the final step in this process. With a single song, the barrier between underground and mainstream culture shattered. Nirvana was a band for only six years, but they changed music forever, delivering the message of their punk roots wrapped in a pop package, and taking punk to the masses.

Scope: exhibition curation