Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic grew up in Aberdeen, Washington, a small town 100 miles south of Seattle. When Cobain was eight, his secretary mother and auto-mechanic father divorced, leaving him constantly moving from one relative to another. As a child he loved the Beatles, but by nine discovered the heavier music such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Kiss. Cobain met Novoselic, son of a local hairdresser, through mutual friend Buzz Osborne of the Aberdeen band, "The Melvins." Osborne introduced them to the hardcore punk of Black Flag and Flipper. In 1987 Cobain and Novoselic, both of whom had long felt alienated from their working-class peers, formed Nirvana and started playing parties at the liberal Evergreen State College in nearby Olympia. The following year, Seattle independent label Sub Pop signed the band and released its first single, “Love Buzz” b/w “Big Cheese.” Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach, recorded for $606.17, came out in 1989 to kudos from the underground-rock community; it intially sold 35,000 copies. The next year, Nirvana put out another Sub Pop single, “Sliver” b/w “Dive,” and recorded six new songs (including “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) with producer Butch Vig. Although they opposed major labels, the band claimed it sold the songs to bigger companies in hopes of getting the message of punk to a larger audience.

WHERE ARE THEY TODAY