I am traveling in my car in 1991 in a little town in north Georgia, at the time I was 20 years old and tired of the music scene with bands like Poison, Motley Crue, and Winger now I use the term “BAND” loosely. There it was, that riff. I listened at the time to a college radio station in Atlanta 88.5 GSU radio and they were starting to play some other bands that were coming up and I could sense something about to happen in the music scene so I listened more and I was blown away by the rawness and under produced sound and I loved it. Later that week I was talking with some friends and was asking if they had heard this band yet and they were oblivious too this new sound. At the time I still did not know the name of the band or the name of the song. I am in my apartment about to go out on a Friday and I am watching mtv in my living room and there it is, that riff I look and see this brown and lime green lit room with erniesque striped shirts and bad hair and I turn it off and leave, still unaware of this band. That night I return home and I see a “buzz clip” on mtv and there it is again. I watched the video and listened to the track and my musical world changed and what I didn’t know at the time was so had the rest of the worlds musical world. I knew by some 6th sense that this was the newest sound to hit the radio in many years but I could have no way of knowing what would happen in the weeks to come. Nevermind changed the world of music, this is a statement of corporate sponsorship as this sound was prevalent in Seattle Washington with bands like Mud Honey, Mother love bone, Alice in chains and pearl jam and don’t let me leave out Soundgarden. All of these bands were playing out at the warehouses and coffee shops in the Seattle area and were mainly on the sub pop label but this label was not Geffen. It took David Geffen and his vision and money to propel this new scene into the world, thank you David. I will close by saying that Nirvana was and still is the most influential band in modern music history and they were influenced by ground breakers as well such as the Melvin’s and Meatpuppets and don’t forget Leadbelly. Thanks Kurt.

Jason Ryan