September 24, 1991: Nirvana Release “Nevermind”

September 24, 1991: The rock band Nirvana release their 2nd album, Nevermind. It should not be confused with Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols or Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Kurt Cobain, a lefthanded guitarist, was the group's lead singer and lead songwriter. Krist Novoselic was the bass guitarist. Dave Grohl was the drummer. The Seattle-based band had debuted in 1989, with Bleach. But Nevermind lifted them to stardom.

With its lead single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and its dark video with depressed-looking cheerleaders, it is often called the most influential album of the 1990s. It isn't: Considering how important female vocalists would become in the 21st Century, the most influential album of the 1990s is Alanis Morissette's 1995 opus Jagged Little Pill.

Nevermind has also been given credit for establishing "grunge rock" as a new genre, and for killing "hair metal." And the video's dark scenes of high school helped inspire the early 2020s superhero TV show Stargirl.

On the exact same day, Red Hot Chili Peppers (there is no “The” in their official name) released their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. It became their most popular album, but not as big as big as Nevermind. On this day, Seattle beat L.A.

The 1990s were good to Seattle. Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam restored its status as a big rock and roll city, which it had enjoyed in the 1960s due to acts like Jimi Hendrix, The Kingsmen, and Paul Revere & The Raiders. Singles, a romantic comedy, became one of the biggest films of 1992. Frasier, a spinoff of Cheers, was set in Seattle starting in 1993. In sports, the University of Washington won a share of college football's 1991 National Championship. And baseball's Mariners had a famous Playoff run in 1995, which resulted in a new ballpark being built in 1999.

On a 1992 episode of Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld (playing a fictionalized version of himself) lamented the rise of pesto as a sauce, and then, when the subject of Seattle was brought up, said, "Everybody's moving to Seattle!" And George Costanza (Jason Alexander), said, "It's the pesto of cities!"

The baby on the cover was Spencer Elden. He became an artist, living in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, and he sued Grohl, Novolesic, the Cobain estate, and the photographer, Kurt Weddle, for using his image without his consent. As of September 24, 2022, multiple legal issues between him and them are ongoing. Weird Al Yankovic would parody the cover (more discreetly) for his album "Off the Deep End."

In 1993, Nirvana released a 3rd album, In Utero. It was well-regarded at the time, but not as much as Nevermind. On April 5, 1994, having already survived a heroin overdose, Cobain shot himself to death. He was 27 years old, another member of "The 27 Club."

Cobain has been called a genius. He wasn't. He wasn't smart enough to grasp the concept that he is the musician, so he is supposed to entertain us, not the other way around.

Novoselic has worked with several bands since, including Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, Flipper, Giants in the Trees, and Foo Fighters, the band that Grohl formed, switching to guitar. Foo Fighters are now so well-regarded, I saw one person call Nirvana "Foo Fighters Classic."

*

September 24, 1991 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Cal Eldred outpitched Eric Plunk. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4. For the Yankees, Don Mattingly went 0-for-5, but had an RBI on a groundout. Kevin Maas hit his 20th home run of the season, having hit 21 the year before. He only hit another 24 homers in the rest of his career, as major league pitchers seemed to figure him out.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-8 at Shea Stadium. Barry Bonds did not play. Howard Johnson and Daryl Boston hit home runs for the Mets, but it wasn't enough.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 9-7 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the California Angels, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The game was scoreless going to extra innings, but Pat Borders hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 10th inning, off Jim Abbott, who had gone the distance. It made a winning pitcher of David Wells, in relief of Todd Stottlemyre, completing a 10-inning, 6-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a stolen base.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle. The Rangers led 5-1 going to the bottom of the 7th, but the Mariners scored 2. In the 8th, the Rangers scored 2, and the Mariners 4 to tie it. In the 9th, Brian Downing singled Gary Pettis home with the winning run. Ken Griffey Jr. went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Braves won the opener, 2-1. Ron Gant singled Terry Pendleton home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. The nightcap also went 10 innings, and the Reds won, 10-9. The Reds scored 3 runs in the 10th, the Braves only 2.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. They were rained out the next day, too. So they had to play a doubleheader on September 26. The Red Sox won the 1st game, 2-1. The Orioles won the 2nd game, 6-5. Over the 2 games, Cal Ripken went 4-for-8 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs.

April 5, 1994: The Death of Kurt Cobain

April 5, 1994: Kurt Cobain's demons catch up with him, and he decides he doesn't want to fight them anymore. His body is not discovered for 3 days.

A big part of my generation mourned him. That part did not include me. And that's as politely as I can put it. He was compared to John Lennon, as the voice of a generation; to Sid Vicious, a symbolic loser; and to Jim Morrison, who was a little of both.

Like several other musical personalities, including Morrison, he was dead at the age of 27.

He had already barely survived a drug overdose a month earlier. On Saturday Night Live, "Weekend Update" anchor Norm Macdonald said, "In other news, Kurt Cobain almost reached Nirvana this week." A couple of weeks after that, they did a cold open with a "We Are the World"-style celebrity song explaining the Whitewater scandal, and David Spade played Cobain, and nobody could understand a word he said, which matched the strangeness of the scandal. Both of these sketches were repeated after Cobain's death, possibly a low point in SNL's history.

Cobain has been called a genius. He wasn't. He wasn't smart enough to grasp the concept that he is the musician, so he is supposed to entertain us, not the other way around.

And Nirvana has been called the most influential music act of the 1990s. Plenty of acts were more influential, including Janet Jackson, Public Enemy, Boyz II Men, En Vogue, and especially Alanis Morissette. By the time Alanis came out with Jagged Little Pill on June 13, 1995, not only was Cobain dead, but Nirvana's grunge aesthetic was buried as well.

Dave Grohl went on to form Foo Fighters, who sound very different. Pearl Jam moved away from that style as well. Novoselic has worked with several bands since, including Sweet 75, Eyes Adrift, Flipper, Giants in the Trees, and Foo Fighters, the band that Grohl formed, switching to guitar. Foo Fighters are now so well-regarded, I saw one person call Nirvana "Foo Fighters Classic."

*

April 5, 1994 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

Football was out of season. There were 11 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Miami Heat, 100-86 at the Miami Arena.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 120-94 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-97 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 105-99 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio. The Cavs only played 5 more games there, including Playoff games, before moving the next season into the building now known as the Rocket Aren.a

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons, 105-89 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Washington Bullets, 114-88 at the Chicago Stadium. Da Bulls only played 5 more games there, including Playoff games, before moving the next season into the United Center.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 92-91 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 106-101 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 88-80 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 135-113 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle Supersonics beat the Utah Jazz, 86-79 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. Benoît Hogue scored the winning goal with 1:26 left in overtime.

* The Quebec Nordiques and the Florida Panthers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The St. Louis Blues beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-1 at the St. Louis Arena. The Blues only played 5 more games there, including 2 Playoff games, before moving the next season, to the building now named the Enterprise Center.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Dallas Stars, 6-4 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The San Jose Sharks beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Vancouver Canucks 8-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Dino Ciccarelli scored 4 goals and had 2 assists.

February 8, 1993: Alice in Chains, Nazi In Pains

February 8, 1993: Layne Staley of the rock band Alice in Chains punches an audience member at a concert in Stockholm, Sweden.

He deserved it. He was a neo-Nazi.

Alice in Chains were formed in Seattle in 1987, and became part of the city's hard-rock "grunge" music scene. Lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell and rhythm guitarist Layne Staley traded lead vocals, Mike Starr played bass guitar, and Sean Kinney played drums. As grunge became popular in 1990, they rose with local bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney.

On February 8, 1993, "AiC" were playing Cirkus, a venue in Stockholm, Sweden, when Staley saw a neo-Nazi skinhead in the audience, harassing other fans and performing Fascist salutes. Toward the end of the song "It Ain't Like That," Staley noticed the man, stopped the performance, and had security bring him up on stage.

As soon as the man was on stage, Staley punched and slapped him, before instructing security to throw him off the stage. Following the altercation, Staley yelled into the microphone, "Fucking Nazis die!"

The man reported Staley to the Swedish police. However, when police investigated, they found the man had been harassing others, and his own brother defended the band's actions. The authorities praised Staley and released him immediately.

For the record: Sweden stayed neutral during World War II, and Nazi Germany left them alone. That was not the case with the rest of Scandinavia: Norway and Denmark resisted, and the Nazis invaded and took over before the Allies kicked them out; Iceland was part of a union with Denmark, declaring independence during the war and opposing the Nazis; and Finland fought the Soviet Union, so the Nazis treated them as allies.

Staley became addicted to drugs, as did his girlfriend, Demri Parrott. In 1996, she died of an overdose. Emotionally, he never recovered. After attending the 1997 Grammy Awards with his bandmates, he rarely appeared in public again, and followed her in 2002. Starr also died from an overdose, in 2011. As of February 8, 2022, Cantrell and Kinney are still alive, touring as Alice in Chains with Mike DuVall, formerly of No Walls on rhythm guitar; and Mike Inez, who previously worked with Ozzy Osbourne, on bass.

Cirkus, a 1,650-seat theater, opened on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm in 1892. It is still in operation.

*

February 8, 1993 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 120-115 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Patrick Ewing scored 40 points.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Houston Rockets, 106-100 at The Summit in Houston. It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Orlando Magic, 108-96 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 108-100 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 5-4 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Hartford Whalers, 3-1. This was the 2nd season of a 2-year experiment in which the NHL played several neutral-site games, in a search for cities for expansion franchises. But this game was at the Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois. It was a sellout: 9,013 seats.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Boston Bruins, 4-0 -- at The Omni in Atlanta. Attendance: 12,572. Not a good sign, given that both teams were good at the time. Nevertheless, the Atlanta Thrashers debuted in 1999, once Atlanta got a new arena. They lasted 12 seasons.

* And the Ottawa Senators beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2 at the Ottawa Civic Centre (now the TD Place Arena).