Nobody expected anything from Aberdeen, Washington. And yet, it was here that Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, joined a little later by Dave Grohl, invented a genre of which they were virtually the only representatives. In 1989, two years after the birth of Nirvana, they released Bleach on an independent label. The album didn't take off in the U.S., but the band toured across the Atlantic anyway. And their rage paid off, as they went from smashing guitars on stage to becoming a household name. They quickly went from penniless to ambassadors of grunge. Sales of Bleach took off, and the album went on to become one of the most successful independent debuts ever.

With their second album, Nevermind, the band is already at its peak. Its first single, Smell Like Teen Spirit, was played over and over again on MTV and became the anthem of an entire generation, much to the chagrin of Kurt Cobain himself. In less than six months, the album sold 3 million copies, sometimes at the impressive rate of 300,000 a week. In January 1992, it displaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous at the top of the Billboard 200. The grunge wave was unstoppable, and the band gave a legendary concert at the Reading Festival in August of the same year. Thumbing his nose at rumors that the singer, addicted to illicit substances, was already finished, Kurt Cobain arrived in a wheelchair, dressed in a hospital gown, and the band delivered one of their best performances ever, with furious energy.

They wanted a more confidential album, hoping to revive their success. Despite the lack of publicity, In Utéro debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Forty-five dates were then scheduled in the U.S., and to boost ticket sales, the band agreed to take part in MTV Unplugged. The acoustic versions of their songs struck a chord, and the recording of this intimate concert sold over 6 million copies. In spite of themselves, the commercial success was unprecedented, and they embarked on a world tour, including a final date in France on February 12, 1994 at the Zenith in Toulon.

Hardly any other band can boast of having gone from unknowns to legends in just five years. Nirvana did, concentrating in five years what others can't achieve in a lifetime. On April 5, 1994, the rockers were in mourning: Kurt Cobain had taken his own life. The other band members decided to call it a day and go their separate ways, Dave Grohl becoming lead singer and guitarist of the legendary Foo Fighter. But Nirvana's music has endured and endured, leaving its mark on rock history.