Nirvana weren't the first indie heroes to sign a major label (the Replacements,
Tim
, 1985), or the first to subsequently hit Number One (R.E.M.,
Out of Time
, 1991), but the Washington trio's sophomore album was the one that forever blurred the lines between pop sheen and DIY pathos. Flying the independent Sub Pop logo alongside DGC's corporate shield — and powered by Kurt Cobain's golden scream —
Nevermind
shuffled the major/indie ecosystem, brought shine to punk and punk to the charts, transmitted a post-feminist sensitivity to the masses, bridged MTV and college radio, provided aphoristic angst for sullen teens to replicate in school notebook margins, altered the way engineers recorded bands and publicists marketed them, commodified discontent, kicked off an archetypal music myth for the late 20th century, spurred an alt-rock gold rush that resulted in hundreds of bands earning record contracts and impacted nearly every sad guitar player that followed. Not bad for a $287,000 advance.