1991 Rock Album Voted Among ‘Best of All Time’ Defined a Whole Genre

Rock music has evolved in countless directions since the genre's emergence in the '50s and '60s—whether that's heavy metal icons like Metallica and Black Sabbath, new wave bands such as The Police and Talking Heads, or glam rock figures like David Bowie and Queen. Rock music encompasses a whole range of different subgenres, and they're constantly evolving.

In the early '90s, another division of rock music was born. Coming primarily out of Seattle, grunge music was an alternative subgenre that blended post-punk sounds with gritty vocals, distorted guitars, and introspective, often dark lyricism.

Nirvana had already stepped into this scene with 1989's Bleach, but Nevermind was the album that finally propelled them into the spotlight and delivered multiple generational anthems that still receive radio play today.

Nevermind was an overnight hit, topping charts around the world and introducing several audiences to post-punk grunge for the first time. Within a few months of release, the album had replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous at the No. 1 spot of the Billboard 200 and was selling upwards of 300,000 copies per week.

Undeniably the album's biggest hit single was "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which shot into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the U.S. Alternative Airplay charts. "Come As You Are", "Lithium", and "In Bloom" were also huge hits for the band, displaying their diverse musical ability and powerful lyrical content.

With Nevermind, Nirvana cemented themselves alongside contemporaries like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam as the leading voices in the '90s grunge movement. Their follow-up album, In Utero, was another massive success that stepped more comfortably into darker, heavy metal-inspired sounds.

Today, Nevermind is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 30 million copies sold across the world. The band's popularity was also propelled by the tragic death of lead singer Kurt Cobain in 1994, after making just three studio albums with Nirvana.