A Nirvana Playlist

Kurt Cobain (b. February 20, 2967) was dating Tobi Vail of the band Bikini Kill. Vail wore Teen Spirit perfume. One drunken night Kurt’s friend and Vail’s bandmate Kathleen Hanna wrote “Kurt smells like teen spirit” on Kurt’s bedroom wall. Kurt wasn’t aware of the perfume; he thought Hanna was commenting on the revolutionary spirit of youth. You know what happened next.

Here are 29 of Nirvana’s best, plus a bonus cut inspired by the group’s success.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7uHx10YKXyOIIH7YYx6dni?si=3ac5d663c3074d7c

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Throwback Thursday: 1992

It’s Throwback Thursday, and on today’s playlist we go back to 1992. Compiling this list made me notice (or remember) what a kickass year for music 1992 was. The success of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a top ten pop hit around the world months after it was sent to alternative radio, came as a complete surprise to the band’s record label and management, and seemed to kick open the doors for weirdos and freaks (I use those terms affectionately) to find their place in the sun and on the charts.

The left field entries weren’t solely from the guitar rock field. Shakespear’s Sister’s “Stay” was a song (or two songs) that stood out from the pack and was not something one would have expected from a former member of Bananarama and someone who co-wrote and sang backup on Eric Clapton’s hit “Lay Down Sally.” And Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” endures all these years later.

To me this era was a golden age for hip hop. Arrested Development, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Kris Kross, Das EFX, Sir Mix-A-Lot and House of Pain hit creative peaks, while rap duo P.M. Dawn hit number three with “I’d Die Without You,” an unexpected ballad with nary a hint of the hip or hop.

Nineteen ninety-two was the year we met Mary J. Blige and Billy Ray Cyrus. It was the year many more people got to know Red Hot Chili Peppers, k.d. lang and En Vogue. And while new names were dotting the Hot 100, there was still room for more hits from Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Whitney Houston and U2.

Here are thirty musical highlights from 1992, a year that most definitely was not wiggida wiggida wiggida wack.

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