How important is Nirvana's Nevermind album

A.� Opinions vary about the significance of Nirvana's second album, but it put Seattle - previously a rather low-key US city -�firmly on the map as a style centre, and turned 'grunge' into a music/ ashion buzzword.

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Q.� What did it follow up �������������

A.� Nirvana's debut album was Bleach, a far denser and punkier effort�- muddy production and�an almost commercially suicidal abandonment of melody and dynamics�might well�have consigned it to obscurity. But, with hindsight, it was seen as a sort of "prequel" to Nevermind, and the cultural shift that followed that album's impact.

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Q.� What was so special about the second album

A.� In a�was that few bands manage, Nirvana - and, in particular, singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain - managed to synthesise the energy and force of�raw�punk with a fresh and melodic approach. This�ensured some serious crossover pop-chart action. As�usual, music�writers were�quick to provide a�convenient label - and to give lots of coverage to any band�they could even loosely apply it to, including established bands such as Mudhoney.

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Q.� What exactly does 'grunge' mean

A.� Grunge - like punk - was�intended� to cover the music, the fashion and the youth movement. It came to denote both the sound of bands like Nirvana and the clothing style of�their�followers. The latter, in this case, was less a hip, free-floating fashion statement than a practical way of coping with the often grey and cold Seattle climate, which made thick woolly tops and woollen hats pretty much a necessity.

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Q.� But the album did ensure some hits

A.� It did�- the most famous being Smells Like Teen Spirit,�named after a 'famous' brand of deodorant. Actually, the brand is virtually unknown outside the US - which led to some debate in the UK about the title's meaning of the title (unhelpfully, the phrase doesn't crop up anywhere in the song). Sheer power and a catchy pop hook line ensured that both the single and album were massive hits.

Q.� Was the sound that catchy

A.� Not really. Apart from Teen Spirit and Come As You Are� - the most accessible tracks - the�album is fairly uncompromising. But the press and the style gurus had adopted their look and their label, so Nirvana really couldn't fail. Though Nevermind is a world away from the dark and edgy Bleach,� it could still could hardly be described as�hip�pop. However,�it was f�ted enough to�guarantee Nirvana�fame and fortune. With all the misery that can come as part of that �package.

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Q.� Misery

A.� Kurt Cobain just couldn't�deal with fame - or with�the�heroin habit he developed. By August 1994 he was dead from a shotgun wound to the head. The Teen Spirit lyrics, which open with "Load up on guns, bring your friends, its fun to lose and to pretend," proved eerily prophetic.

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Q.� Is Nevermind an important record

A.� Yes - as�a harbinger of the�whole grunge scene. But only time will tell if all the initial hysteria was based on solid musical achievement. Cobain's 'martyrdom' and the�subsequent disintegration of the band�lent�their music�the patina of 'what might have been'. From the viewpoint of�what actually was, Nevermind is probably best seen as just a really great punk/pop crossover album.

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By Andy Hughes