Nevermind by Nirvana

Nevermind, Nirvana's second album, landed on DGC on September 24, 1991, and within four months it had elbowed its way to number one on the Billboard 200. Butch Vig produced it at Sound City in Van Nuys and Smart Studios in Madison in May and June 1991. It was the first Nirvana record with Dave Grohl on drums, and you can hear the difference: the band's punk scuzz is still there, but it's been scrubbed and buffed just enough for the radio, with Grohl pounding like the building's on fire.

Kurt Cobain's songs lurch from mumble to howl and back, and underneath the hooks they're about alienation, frustration and love gone sour, with a streak of black humor and a sensitivity that made the leather-and-hairspray rock of the day look suddenly old. There are acoustic ballads tucked between the punk blasts, too. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was the spark, "Come As You Are", "Lithium" and "In Bloom" kept the fire going, and hair metal never recovered.

It went on to sell more than 30 million copies, and in 2004 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.