Source: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, portrait during an interview in Roppongi Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 1992. (Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images)
, born on Feb. 20, 1967,
would’ve turned 58 today. His impact on rock music and the rise of grunge as the prominent sub genre of the early 1990s can’t be overstated.
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Despite the short time Cobain was on Earth, he and
Nirvana not only revolutionized music, but impacted pop culture, counterculture and fashion. Scott Sparks says it best: “The second
Smells Like Teen Spirit came out, music and fashion changed: From the Sunset Strip and hair metal to Seattle and grunge in an instant.”
Hits like Heart-Shaped Box “best displayed Kurt Cobain’s lyricism and Nirvana’s musicality, showing how musically diverse they were,” according to Doug O’Brien.
In honor of what would’ve been the 58th birthday of one of music’s most enduring and iconic figures, who has been gone longer than he was here, we look back at some of our favorite music from Cobain and Nirvana:
