No doubt I’m going to incur some angry flaming for this post, but I’m going to say it nevertheless. Upon perusing this thread, I’ve noticed that one very key element to Nirvana’s success in the early 90s is quite studiously overlooked and going unmentioned. But the fact is, Nirvana’s breakthrough to the national stage was certainly helped along by one uncomfortably shameful fact: Kurt Cobain had teenybopper appeal.
Today we remember Kurt as a tragic victim of depression. But when “Nevermind” first hit the record bins, his stand-out feature was the fact that despite all the scuzzy locks of hair hanging in his face, he was still a telegenic, baby-faced teen idol with a cute grin who could just as easily have appeared on the cover of Tiger Beat magazine as on 120 Minutes. People were unaware of the depression, the drug addiction, and the general pathos of his life. What the public did see was a lead singer with angelic good looks that went a long way towards making the whole gloom ‘n’ doom cynicism palatable toward suburban, middle-class, CD-buying teens.
To be fair, Nirvana were a good (not really great) band, who did rock a little harder than Bon Jovi. And the dramatic fashion break from the teased-hair, leather vest wearing “Hair Metal” bands made them appear to many people (myself among them, admittedly) as something really new and different. But in hindsight, Nirvana (and grunge in general) really offered nothing new musically or creatively that hadn’t been done to death by 1000 bands before them. Even the mumbling depressing lyrics shtick had been pretty well covered by Michael Stipe of REM for 12 years before “Nevermind.” Their key contibution to rock was really their anti-fashion sense - the flannel shirts and scruffy facial hair - that became the new cliche for “hard rock” groups.
I would actually contend that the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” did more to break the band than the song itself. And you want a laugh? Try this - watch the video for Smells Like Teen Spirit back to back with the video for Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Then just count how many visual stylistic tricks the videos have in common (tons of back-lighting, angelic lighting on the lead singer, slo-mo acrobatics, “iconic” representations of teen images meticulously deconstructed, even dry ice “smoke” and wind machines.) Nirvana’s video was supposedly a radical break with the overproduced, bombastic monstrosities of 80s MTV. But it’s kind of funny how much in common it had with a video which is often cited as one of the most over-the-top videos of the 80s.
Ultimately, Nirvana were the right band at the right time. They were a decent band, with a few well-constructed songs, and a good looking front man at a time when the record buying public was looking for a new flavor to digest. Nirvana (and grunge) really broke through to the national stage when several music industry executives gathered together in a board-room and said to each other “The whole hair metal thing from L.A. is played out. People are tired of it. What else is out there that we can sell to the teen demographic?” “Well, there’s a scene in Seattle called ‘grunge’ with a whole pre-packaged look - flannel shirts and ski caps - that we can sure base a marketing campaign around.” “In fact, we did a little research scouting of the clubs, and this one band has a lead singer who looks like he could be Shaun Cassidy in 1978! Let’s get them on board.” And so lawyers were consulted, contracts drawn up, and lo & behold – “Nevermind” hits the Billboard charts.
So, what does gay music sound like? Sleater-Kinney? Tchaikovsky? Judas Priest? Nope, you guessed it: Rufus Wainwright.