More Than Just Teen Spirit: The Moment Nirvana Changed My Life.

I caught myself daydreaming this past weekend when the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came on the radio.  I found myself wishing I could recreate that same sense of momentous excitement I had when I first heard that song.

Everyone who knows me knows my obsession with Pearl Jam (74 shows and counting), but they also know Nirvana was a close second in my pantheon of music.

The moment I heard Nirvana was one of those moments in life that you never forget.  I remember the first time I saw an Internet browser.  I remember the first time I saw an iPod with a small video screen.  I remember the first time I drove an electric car.  Those were all technology-oriented moments, and massively influential on my professional career.  Nirvana was a formative moment in my personal life, but also impacted my thinking about personal culture and my work.

Setting the scene: I had just walked into a house party during my college years, in Syracuse, late September, 1991, when I heard the guitars crunching on a song. I asked my friend Sean Quigley, who had fantastic taste in music, “Who’s that playing on the stereo?” “Nirvana.  It’s a new record.” I stood still for a second, which somehow seemed much longer than it probably was, and I soaked in a sound that seemed to convey chaos in a tightly wound ball. I was already into a bunch of alternative bands and music was my personal hobby, but Nirvana was a watershed moment that unified so many disparate pieces of rock music.  There are very few musical moments you can point to where one chapter officially closed and a new one began.  Most of the time that evolution is gradual.  This time it was not.  The ‘80s hair bands and rock were officially over.

I write about this now because one of my professors said, “If you want to be a great marketer, study all you can about popular culture.” I always took those words to heart.  I loved the idea that my passions could help me in my chosen profession.

 I read articles in publications like Rolling Stone and Spin -- and while they debate about so much, they all agree that record was one of the most impactful moments in popular music history.

I feel lucky to have been part of that moment, and I know many of you reading this article fall into that same bucket.  This column is about media, and music is a form of media. I’m sure many of you have a story just like this one, where you were present at a change in popular culture.  Please share them in the comments because I love to read what other experiences we have all have had.

photo accompanying this post is courtesy of UnSplash