Where Would Nirvana Be Today?

1/30/07, 4:39 pm EST - Rolling Stone

Where Would Nirvana Be Today?

Thirteen years ago today, on January 30th, 1994, Nirvana entered Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, Washington, messed around with a few new tunes, and completed what would become their last recording session ever. In the years since Kurt Cobainâ??s April 5th, 1994, death, Nirvana have achieved mythic status mostly because the bandâ??s music is brilliant and generation defining, but also, some would argue, because they didnâ??t survive long enough to fuck it all up with a series of crap records or bad, cred-depleting endorsement deals.

In 2002, the Nirvana anthology came out, and with it arrived one new track â??You Know Youâ??re Right,â? which was recorded during that final session. Many expected that the New Nirvana Track could never live up to expectations, but it did and entered the rock lexicon. But the question remains: Would Nirvana have gone on to further greatness? Would Kurt have released a series of increasingly misguided solo albums and abandoned civilized society Salinger style? Would the band simply have faded away?

Help us out: Where do you think Nirvana would be today?

Broken up around the turn of the millennium; their last album was largely a Cobain solo; Cobain goes on to release two more albums by now, both reminiscent of late Big Star, really spooky and beautiful. He would have already divorced his life sucking bitch of a wife in '97 and started a long term relationship with Neko Case. Dave Grohl forms Foo Fighters but struggles for attention in a world of Limp Bizkits and Papa Roaches. Chris Novoselic goes into politics.

Maybe the better question is… "where should they be today?"… I was midway through college when this whole nirvana "thing" hit and I must say that I never cared for it. I always thought Pearl Jam was everything Nirvana wasn't (and I'm not saying this is much either). Cobain was a weirdo IMO (not that music in general is short in this department). It seems to me that the Nirvana train is made up mostly of people who bought the hype of post Cobain Nirvana (many of which weren't listening at the time) and have convinced themselves that Nevermind is much more that just a few so so songs that they probably still force themselves to listen to.

they would be the new stained.

I dug Nirvana just fine and still do, but when their first record came out I thought Mudhoney would be the band that would really put seattle on the map.

In Richmond I lived accross the street from the Rugby Team house and I knew my world had changed when I walked in to the local laundromat one day and a few of the rugby guys were in there jamming the new Nirvana record on their boombox. "That's wierd", I thought.

Remember Cobain had struck up a friendship with the still then relevant Michael Stipe…lord knows what countless directions he would have moved in..

Gosh, in contrasting Nirvana and Pearl Jam, all I have to do is think of the utterly hideous "Don't Call Me Daughter" or "Jeremy" to realize which band was the better.

I do think Nirvana's fame is due somewhat to being in absolutely the right place at the right time, and posthumously, to Kurt's premature death. But nonetheless, they were really, really good. I was lucky enough to see them live once (Bender Arena) and they did an amazing show.

If their music sounds somewhat generic nowadays, it's because of the many bad imitators that followed, not because of them.

To answer the original question, I think there's virtually no chance that Nirvana would still exist, but before they split, they surely would've grown and changed, and recorded some really amazing music. Ditto for Kurt's solo career – he was a tormented but talented soul – a relative rarity in rock, a true artist.

Things were starting to lean a lot more on the acoustic side form what I hear, but who knows. You Know You're Right was certainly a loud song. I bet Kurt and Courtney would have made an album together (live thru this anyone?) and then split up around 1997.

Kurt would be well on his way to being the Roky Erikson of Grunge while looking more and more like the Unibomber. Except that he'd be holed up in some urban hole up in the Northwest while being looked after by some manager type after Courtney divorced him taking sole custody of their daughter. As wacky as she is, she would trump Kurt in regards to having the smarts to hire a better lawyer who would watch out for her interests a bit more than Kurt's would his. Or rather, Courtney would heed her lawyer's advice just a tad more than Kurt would his.

The rest of the band would be where they are today knowing that it was either a do or die situation, metaphorically speaking, knowing that it was time to venture out on their own.

I really think this is a moot point, Cobain I think was hitting probably the climax and with his warped destructive personality never would have survived.

I definatly remember towards the end, when Kurt was in Italy, that I said to myself he's gonna be dead in less than 3 months and sure enough he was less than that I think.

they would have broken up in 1998 at the height of the rap-rock era.

but would be re-uniting this year to headline Coachella. :)