Early years:

Cobain and Krist Novoselic met in 1985. Both were fans of The Melvins, and both were interested in forming a band. They worked with a series of drummers (Aaron Burckhard, Dan Peters and Dale Crover of The Melvins, who played on their first demos), before settling on Chad Channing. Channing played on their first album, Bleach, released by Sub Pop records. Bleach was highly influenced by Cobain's then-favorite band, The Melvins, as well as the heavy dirge-rock of Mudhoney.

Though he did not actually play on the album, Jason Everman was credited as playing guitar on Bleach because he put up the money for the recording sessions. After the album's completion, Everman had a brief and contentious tenure with the band as a second guitar player, but was ousted following their first US tour. Not long after, he briefly played bass with Soundgarden, and later formed the band Mind Funk

In early 1990, the band began working with producer Butch Vig on recordings for the follow-up to Bleach. During the sessions, Kurt and Krist realized that Chad wasn't quite the drummer the band needed, and he was let go after the sessions were complete. After a few weeks with Dale Crover of The Melvins filling in, they drafted Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters, with whom they recorded the song 'Sliver'. In 1990, Dave Osbourne of The Melvins later hooked them up with Dave Grohl, who drummed with D.C. Hardcore punks Scream. 1 (http://www.subpop.com/scripts/main/b... Nirvana continued touring aftwards, including a stint with Sonic Youth chronicled in the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke.

Nevermind:

Nevermind was a massive, unexpected success, selling millions of copies. The highly infectious single 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' received heavy airplay on MTV, inspiring a slew of imitators, bringing the grunge sound, as well as so-called alternative rock and alternative culture, into the mainstream. The popularity of 'alternative' rock — as well as the sidelining of hair metal — is often credited to Nevermind. Citing exhaustion, the band decided not to undertake another US tour in support of Nevermind, instead opting to make a handful of performances later that year.

In February of 1992, following an Australian tour, Cobain married Courtney Love in Hawaii. Courtney gave birth to a daughter, Frances Bean, in August. Just days after Frances Bean's birth, Nirvana put on a memorable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. MTV had wanted the band to play 'Teen Spirit', but the band wanted to play a new song called 'Rape Me'. MTV was appalled at the idea of a song called 'Rape Me', and eventually agreed that the band could play 'Lithium' instead. When the band began their performance, Kurt strummed the first few bars of 'Rape Me', giving the MTV execs a solid shock before jumping into 'Lithium'. Just weeks later, Nirvana performed one of its most popular concerts, headlining at the Reading Festival. Cobain entered the stage in a wheelchair as a practical joke, then proceeded to get up and join the rest of the band in tearing through an assortment of old and new material.

Nirvana released Incesticide, a collection of B-sides and rarities, in December of 1992. It is believed that they did so to circumvent bootleggers. The album contained such fan favorites as 'Sliver' and 'Aneurysm' as well as covers of songs by The Vaselines, a band that became more popular as a result of Nirvana's covers.

In Utero:

For 1993's In Utero, the band brought in producer Steve Albini, perhaps best known for his work on the highly influential Pixies album Surfer Rosa. The sessions with Albini were productive and notably quick: the initial version of the album was recorded and mixed in two weeks, a far cry from the months spent recording and mixing Nevermind.

Some saw bringing in Albini as a deliberate move on Nirvana's part to give the album a rawer, more unpolished sound: that the band wanted to alienate or distance some of their

Load up on guns
Bring your friends
Its fun to lose
And to pretend
Shes overboard
Myself assured
I know I know
A dirty word

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

Im worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea

And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello (x 16)

With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yea