The 90s experienced a rise of grunge music through many bands, and some bands had songs or albums inspired by the rise of grunge. Similarities can be seen through many bands from the 90s from all around the world. Many of these bands experienced sudden fame from a particular song. Good examples of this are Nirvana from “Smells like Teen Spirit” and Radiohead from “Creep.” With fame came attention from the media, and the world, so to cope with sudden attention these bands put their feelings about it into songs, channeling their struggle and mental health issues that came from the constant attention from all over the world.
Nirvana experienced their rise of fame from the album Nevermind, specifically from the song “Smells like Teen Spirit,” a song that soon became the anthem for Generation X and played a part in bringing grunge music mainstream. Two years later, their next album, In Utero, was released in 1993. This album explored themes of drug abuse, childhood trauma and reactions to fame. The song “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” is a reference to “Smells like Teen Spirit,” a play on how the title is radio friendly and catchy and meant to sell. Their record label was concerned with whether the album, with its raw emotion and crude lyrics, was going to be successful; yet success was never the goal Nirvana tried to achieve. The song “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” was not meant to be “radio friendly” or to gain commercial success. Similarly, the song “All Apologies” is also a satirical response to Nirvana’s fame. The song almost seems like a premonition for Cobain’s Death in 1994, arguably caused by the sudden fame. The lyrics to “All Apologies” were meant to mock people who took his lyrics at surface level and didn’t understand them and people who believed him to be a lyrical genius. The album deals with many emotions caused by Nirvana’s sudden rise in popularity.
Like Nirvana, Radiohead experienced a similar struggle with unexpected success. After the release and success of Pablo Honey, particularly the song “Creep,” the members of Radiohead felt pressured to create a new album with songs similar to the one that got them famous. This theme is explored in the song “My Iron Lung,” a reference to the full body encasing life support. The lyrics reference “Creep.” “This, this is our new song, just like the last one, a total waste of time, my iron lung” describes that pressure to conform to what other people want to hear, not what they want to write or produce. They felt that it kept them in a box, that they weren’t allowed to think out of. In the song “Just,” the lyrics say, “You do it to yourself, just you, you and no one else,” which could be seen as Radiohead blaming themselves for the fame and the pressures that came along with it. Another song, “The Bends,” refers to a condition that happens when divers rise too fast from deep waters. It symbolizes their sudden rise of fame caused by “Creep.” All of this adds up to creating an album heavily influenced by societal pressures and popularity all over the world.
Overall, shown through the lyrics in albums written and produced after unexpected success, these bands were impacted immensely. It is incredibly interesting to look at how outside factors impact what bands write and create and similarities across different bands. It helps to understand what the songs are about and how it affects band members.
Sources:
https://ourculturemag.com/2020/06/07/a-deep-dive-into-nirvanas-all-apologies/
