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by Vaskerville
1365 days ago
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There was a 10 year or so build up prior to Nevermind where punk (and it's variants) were not being played on the radio (obviously, which was still relevant then). You didn't hear Black Flag, Minor Threat, Hüsker Dü et al. on the radio except perhaps a specialty show or on college radio. That pressure was building every year and so was the fan base. People were tired of hearing The Who all the time..."corporate rock". MTV's 120 Minutes was essential stuff back in the day. I grew up in Seattle - friends were telling me for years before Nevermind about Nirvana. They were building a reputation slowly across the US. Subpop was helping, they had a national network, but not fast enough. Once Nirvana had a major label marketing for them - things went crazy. Nirvana was that magic mix of punk/hard rock and pop that broke the dam - and the audience was ready to go. |
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The Ramones debuted at CBGB in 1976, The Misfits there in 1977. Black Flag formed in Hermosa Beach in 1976 as Panic. KROQ was airing punk by the late 1970s, as well as alternative radio stations and college radio. The Clash signed with Columbia (then CBS Records), an American label, in 1977, and their 1982 single, Should I Stay or Should I Go, was on wide radio rotation throughout the 1980's. So by Nevermind in 1991, Punk was very well established. Although it is a general rule that any punk bands that formed in the 1980's often didn't get wide recognition until the 1990's, but The Ramone's (Sedated) and The Clash got plenty of airplay from the late 1970's up until today. But I think it is more accurate to put Nirvana with the other Seattle and LA groups and change its genre label to Grunge.