I was looking up US music charts from 1991/1992, and it struck me that Nirvana was never all that popular compared to the most popular acts. Is their 'cultural influence' overstated by Gen-X'ers? Am I missing some context by being a zoomer? Because according to the actual charts, THESE were the most popular songs of 1991:
>1. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (from the soundtrack to 'Robin Hood') >2. Paula Abdul - Rush, Rush >3. Michael Jackson - Black or White >4. Mariah Carey - Emotions >5. Amy Grant - Baby Baby
and 1992:
>1. Boyz II Men - End of the Road >2. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You >3. Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy >4. Kris Kross - Jump >5. Sir Mix-a-Lot - Baby Got Back
The most popular albums of 1991:
>1. Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey >2. Garth Brooks - Ropin' the Wind >3. Vanilla Ice - To the Extreme >4. Metallica - Metallica >5. Natalie Cole - Unforgettable
And 1992:
>1. Garth Brooks - Ropin' the Wind >2. Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard (soundtrack) >3. Billy Ray Cyrus - Some Gave All >4. Garth Brooks - The Chase >5. Def Leppard - Adrenalize
Nirvana is nowhere to be found on these lists. 'Nevermind' did hit #1 on the album charts in 1992... for two different weeks (it was knocked out of #1 both times by Garth Brooks). Is Nirvana's popularity a 'post facto' invention? Most normies at the time were not listening to Nirvana.
They played to tens of thousands of people across the world and were definitely a global phenomenon. Something that isn't exactly quantifiable is how consistently aired their music videos were on MTV. Music video airings isn't exactly a quantifiable metric but Smells Like Teen Spirit and their other videos were constantly playing on MTV.
Nevermind went #1 in many countries not just USA. It also came out in September which is why it took till 1992 to go #1.
Yes other things were successful too but they were massive.
Thomas Davis
they certainly werent the most popular band, but its hard to convey that there was nothing else like them that hit it that big at the time. their importance isn't that they were the most popular, but that the were the most popular ALTERNATIVE band
Camden Adams
30 million copies sold worldwide According to wiki
Chase Russell
>Most normies at the time were not listening to Nirvana hence alternative rock. I graduated high school in 1997, normies listened to the Spice Girls and shit like Kiss and AC/DC. The smokers/skaters/art kids were the kids who knew about Nirvana, and Nirvana were not played on commercial rock until Kurt died. Metallica were always more popular, but Nirvana did the most pushing the alternative into the mainstream which in hindsight was a bad thing
Jaxon Phillips
Billy Ray Cyrus gets like 0 radio play in aus. The only time I knew who he was, was a chipmunks cover of achy break heart.
Liam Hill
This
Luke Scott
>Cassette recorders weren't a thing Zoomer detected.
Asher Murphy
>Billy Ray Cyrus gets like 0 radio play in aus.
Good for Australia.
Hudson Brooks
It is cause we had great artists like midnight oil and little river band not some cock smoker with a mullet.
David Sanders
>Am I missing some context by being a zoomer? Yes. Yes, you are.
Ayden Cruz
zoomer take >if its not in top40 its not a hit song you dumb cunts are way too easily influenced by corporate streaming bullshit
Jonathan Gonzalez
have you checked out where In Utero fared?
Dominic Reed
>I graduated high school in 1997, normies listened to the Spice Girls and shit like Kiss and AC/DC. shut the fuck up no 18 year old normies listened to KISS or AC/DC in 1997. you weren't there, you're not the age you claim. t class of 2001
Grayson Reed
What is your fucking thesis here? I was there, they were huge. They were the most important band of the grunge movement. They basically made it happen. Smells Like Teen Spirit was a deathblow to the hair metal scene and everything else followed that historic scalping. What wisdom are you looking for in these fucking 1992 charts? Is anyone still talking about Right Said Fred or Kris Kross? What do 2022 charts tell you right now about what matters and what's going to be worth talking about 30 years later? Do you seriously think anyone will give a fuck about Glass Animals in 2052? Are you just being a revisionist just so you can have a discussion? Nirvana was huge. Fuck off.
I certainly heard all those other artists more than Nirvana but music is always like this. There's popular and critically acclaimed and then just popular. There's tons of music artists in every era that are actually incredibly popular but they are forgotten because no critics keep their legacy alive. Nirvana were popular but I do think they were more popular in a one-hit wonder way, not that they didn't have multiple hits but the vast majority of their mainstream popularity is tied to one song. It's because of their critical popularity that they have remained such an institution to this day.
Aaron Anderson
In 1997 where I lived everyone listened to Nirvana, Pantera, Korn. Kurt was always dead to me cause of my age but fuck Nirvana were played everywhere I went. Acdc were at their peak with thunderstruck. My mother raved about kiss but kiss sucked when ace and Peter criss were out.
Mason Ross
In Utero hit #1 for one week in October of 1993. It was actually a lot less successful than Pearl Jam's 'Vs.,' which was the #1 album for five weeks (though it still wasn't one of the five best-selling albums of that year). The top-selling albums in 1993 in the US:
>1. Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard (soundtrack) >2. Garth Brooks - In Pieces >3. Janet Jackson - janet. >4. Eric Clapton - Unplugged >5. Billy Joel - River of Dreams
And the top songs of 1993:
>1. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You >2. Mariah Carey - Dreamlover >3. Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) >4. Janet Jackson - That's the Way Love Goes >5. UB40 - Can't Help Falling in Love
It's about inaccurate perceptions of the past which are promoted by people in the present-day. Looking at the music charts in the 80's, for example, it strikes me that '80's nostalgia' media has a big bias in favor of synth-pop, when a lot of the actual most popular songs were non-synth ballads like 'On My Own' (with Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald). That's what I'm getting at.
Hunter Campbell
>Bryan Adams Eww
Henry Rogers
Nirvana were big but not the single biggest thing in music. They were a big shift in the rock world/MTV/among young people though, but even on your chart you can see Metallica had a higher selling rock record.
Some of the stuff you listed was geared towards older people like Bryan Adams or Amy Grant, or more r&b audiences or country demographics.
