They lasted only seven years and made just three studio albums, but Nirvana made an impact that went far beyond their home city of Seattle. Part one of this quiz focuses on the band, and on those heady, rowdy days before it all went horribly wrong. It’s followed by a name-the-album quiz that spotlights 15 bands who all have some connection to the grunge scene.
Answers: here
1 Along with Kurt Cobain, who was the other founding member of Nirvana? What was the unpleasant band name they originally chose?
2 Which independent Seattle label released Nirvana’s first album Bleach? Roughly how much did it cost to record?
3 What role did Dave Grohl play in Nirvana? What’s the name of the supergroup he formed with ex-Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age?
4 Which Shocking Blue song did Nirvana cover for their debut single? And what was their second, a blistering number released between their first and second LPs?
5 Which song from Bleach was reworked for the release of the 1993 album MTV Unplugged in New York, and was the only track from the album released as a single? On the album, Nirvana were joined by two members of which band, singing two of their songs during the set?
6 ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is the opening track from the album Nevermind. Which two tracks follow it?
7 In which year did Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love get married? What’s the name of their daughter, born a few months later?
8 What’s the title of Nirvana’s third album? Which producer was brought in specifically to give it a hardcore edge?
9 What was the title of Nirvana’s live electric album, released two years after Kurt Cobain’s death? Why was it so named?
10 Which band did Dave Grohl form after Nirvana? What was their debut single, a UK Top 10 hit that did nothing in the US?
11 Butch Vig, who produced Nevermind, formed Garbage in 1993. What’s his musical role in the band? Which Scottish singer is the group’s frontwoman?
12 Garbage’s hit single ‘#1 Crush’ appeared on the soundtrack to which Baz Luhrmann film? For which 1999 James Bond movie did the band provide the theme tune?
13 Released in 2002, eight years after Cobain’s death, what was Nirvana’s final single? Which cover of a David Bowie song, originally released on MTV Unplugged in New York, is the only cover to appear on the 2002 best-of compilation Nirvana?
14 Whose debut album, dating from 1991, was Pretty on the Inside? What was their connection to Nirvana?
15 Who directed the 2005 film Last Days, a fictionalised account of the end of Cobain’s life? Under what title did an edited version of Cobain’s diaries appear in 2002?
Here are tracks from 15 albums – they’re not all grunge, but they’ve all helped to define the grunge sound. Simply identify the band and the album title.
16 ‘Where Is My Mind?’, ‘Bone Machine’ and ‘Cactus’ (1988).
17 ‘The Trick Is to Keep Breathing’, ‘Special’ and ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’ (1998).
18 ‘Wargasm’, ‘Everglade’ and ‘Pretend We’re Dead’ (1992).
19 ‘Bright Yellow Gun’, ‘Snakeface’ and ‘No Way in Hell’ (1995).
20 ‘Immortality’, ‘Tremor Christ’ and ‘Spin the Black Circle’ (1994).
21 ‘The Day I Tried to Live’, ‘My Wave’ and ‘Black Hole Sun’ (1994).
22 ‘Standing on the Edge’, ‘The Turning’ and ‘Orange Airplane’ (1986).
23 ‘Very Ape’, ‘Scentless Apprentice’ and ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ (1993).
24 ‘Sedan Delivery’, ‘Powderfinger’ and ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)’ (1979).
25 ‘Pokin’ Around’, ‘Broken Hands’ and ‘Generation Genocide’ (1991).
26 ‘Porkfist’, ‘Forever Means’ and ‘Swallow My Pride’ (1988).
27 ‘On the Brink’, ‘Yeah Right’ and ‘Feel the Pain’ (1994).
28 ‘These Days’, ‘Arlandria’ and ‘Bridge Burning’ (2011).
29 ‘1979’, ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ (1995).
30 ‘Hoover Dam’, ‘The Act We Act’ and ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’ (1992).