Two years earlier, the band had released "Bleach" on the independent label Sub Pop, achieving some success in the United Kingdom and catching the eye of DGC, a more powerful multinational label. It was at this point that Butch Vig—a man to whom the album owes much of its massive success—entered the picture. Suggested by Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt, the idea appealed to Nirvana, as they were familiar with the work Vig had done with the band Killdozer.
Consequently, in April 1990, the band traveled to Smart Studios—owned by Vig in Madison, Wisconsin. Although the song structures were already complete, Cobain constantly tweaked his lyrics, and the band struggled with self-doubt until they recorded the first eight tracks: "Immodium" (later retitled "Breed"), "Dive" (which became the B-side to "Sliver"), "In Bloom," "Pay to Play" (later renamed "Stay Away" with new lyrics), "Sappy," "Lithium," "Here She Comes Now," and "Polly."
Unfortunately, Cobain's voice had deteriorated after recording "Lithium," forcing them to halt the recording sessions. Things stalled for a while after that, as the band drifted away—despite having told Vig they would return—and he heard nothing from them for quite some time. Meanwhile, the band circulated a demo to major labels, sparking interest from producers like Scott Litt and David Briggs; ultimately, however, the band chose Vig because they felt more comfortable with him than with other producers who made more demanding requests. A budget of $65,000 was set, and the band headed to Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, California, between May and June of 1991.
One anecdote recounts that, to pay for gas for the trip to Los Angeles, the band played a show where they performed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time; that song, along with "Come As You Are," appeared on the demo they had sent Vig to prepare for the sessions. After all that, the band finally threw themselves fully into the work, spending eight to ten hours a day in the studio.
Having rehearsed the songs extensively, the process was smooth and required few takes; Novoselic and Grohl finished their bass and drum parts in a matter of days. Cobain, however, had a heavier workload due to guitar and vocal overdubs, as well as lyrics that were often still being tweaked in the studio. Indeed, his performance style was so consistent that Vig decided to layer takes to create overdubs—a process Cobain didn't always enjoy. Vig often had to use a bit of trickery to keep Cobain’s spirits up, particularly given his temperament, which could swing wildly from immense joy to withdrawing into sullen silence.
Eventually, the album was finished and the mixing stage began; after a few days, neither Vig nor the band was happy with the results, so someone else was brought in to oversee the mix. After reviewing a list of potential candidates, Kurt chose Andy Wallace—who had worked on Slayer's 1990 album Seasons in the Abyss—and since the band wanted a heavy sound, they agreed to the choice.
Wallace applied his own touch, adding various effects and tweaking the drum sound; the result satisfied both the band and Vig. However, years later—and before his death—Cobain expressed embarrassment over the polished sound given to Nevermind during mixing, noting that it sounded more like a Mötley Crüe record than a punk album.
The album was mastered on August 2nd at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood by Howie Weinberg. It is recalled that Weinberg ended up doing much of the mastering work himself, as neither the band nor Wallace and Gersh showed up at the scheduled time. This explains why the unreleased track "Endless, Nameless"—which followed "Something in the Way"—was left off the first twenty thousand copies of the album. When the band realized the mistake, Cobain called Weinberg to fix it; Weinberg complied, but the track ended up being ten minutes long instead of three.
Following these peculiar anecdotes, the album was released with limited stock in the United States and a slightly larger shipment for England, where Bleach had enjoyed greater success. Expectations were that the band would sell a total of 250,000 copies—matching the performance of the album Goo—and perhaps achieve gold record status the following year. Such were the hopes for success, but everything was about to change when the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released on September 10th, but the decisive boost came when the Samuel Bayer-directed video premiered on the MTV's legendary show 120 Minutes. From there, the network began airing it during the day—a move that proved crucial to the success of both the song and the album.
It was an unusual, dark album—yet one possessing a power and charm that left its mark on an entire generation. It became a pop-culture icon, significant not only for the grunge genre but for alternative rock, effectively ending the dominance of "hair bands" and, of course, pop music. Yet, it also ushered in the darkest period of Cobain's life, marked by drug abuse, depression, and other troubles that would ultimately lead to the band's demise and the lead singer's suicide.
Cobain himself quoted that "Nevermind" was a misunderstood record; he felt the public never grasped its message. The people who made the album a hit—teenagers and college students influenced by MTV—sadly failed to understand his critique of the "youth spirit." Despite this, and despite Cobain's own complaints, the album became a massive commercial and cultural phenomenon, eventually dethroning Michael Jackson's Dangerous in early 1992.
MTV capitalized on the phenomenon by putting subsequent singles like "Come As You Are," "Lithium," and "In Bloom" into heavy rotation, making the band more popular than ever. This did not sit well with Cobain; he had become exactly what he had always hated—a massive, commercially successful artist—and things had spiraled out of control. Despite this, the 13-track album was and it is undoubtedly a gem; it may be overproduced, but the songs are incredibly sincere and beautiful, and its furious message—filled with hatred, sadness, and disillusionment with the status quo—still resonates and remains more relevant than ever, thirty years after its official release.
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