Nirvana

Nirvana was a grunge band and the leaders of the Seattle sound in the nineties, bringing in a new form of rock music noted for its dirty image, distorted guitar sound, and "stoned"-sounding vocal delivery. The group was a phenomenal success, leading to many other bands from Washington state having great success as well. Grunge would go on to define nineties rock. Nirvana's breakthrough hit Smells Like Teen Spirit quickly became their anthem, but frontman Kurt Cobain got sick of it quickly and refused to play it live. Cobain became obsessed with the "27 Club", rock stars who had died at the age of 27. These included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison of The Doors. Thus, once he became that age, he committed suicide. Nirvana's popularity led to many hit singles and bestselling albums. Weird Al Yankovic parodied Smells Like Teen Spirit with his hit Smells Like Nirvana, which Cobain enjoyed, believing this to be a sign that his band had become famous. There was a garage rock band in the sixties by the same name, appropriate given the interest in East Indian culture at the time. The two actually collaborated at least once.