Nirvana
In their brief seven-year history, Nirvana unwillingly brought alternative music into the mainstream and defined a generation of young people alienated by baby boomers, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
Nirvana's roots lie in the underground hardcore scene of the mid-1980s; the Olympia-based Melvins and New York's Sonic Youth were early mentors of the band. Nirvana's crossover appeal was rooted in their ability to blend the hardcore fury of drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic with Cobain's doleful, introspective lyrics and melodies.

Novoselic and Cobain met in 1985 in their hometown of Aberdeen, Wash., a rural logging community outside Seattle. Their first musical incarnation as the Stiff Woodies featured Cobain on drums, Novoselic on bass and whoever happened to be around on guitar. By 1987 they had morphed into Nirvana; Cobain moved to vocals and guitar, and drummer Chad Channing was added. Nirvana soon gained the attention of the hip Seattle label Sub Pop and their debut album, Bleach, recorded for just over $600, was released in June 1989. Dave Grohl of the Washington, D.C. hardcore band Scream replaced Channing in September 1990.

During the summer of 1991 the band opened for Sonic Youth on their European Festival tour. Nirvana's landmark performance at the Reading Festival was featured in the documentary "1991: The Year Punk Broke" and marked the beginning of their worldwide recognition. Ironically, 1991 marked the birth of Nirvanamania and the beginning of Cobain's mental and physical deterioration. The group signed with Geffen Records to record their much anticipated second album, and when Nevermind was released in the fall of 1991, it symbolically knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the U.S. album charts. The success of the album, which went triple platinum, was fueled by MTV's incessant airplay of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The song was hailed as the anthem of the grunge generation and its appeal broadened the band's fan base to include mainstream jocks, metalheads and alternative wannabes; the very people Nirvana music was supposed to alienate.

Rumors of Cobain's heroin use were ever-present and as the band grew into a multi-million dollar commercial entity, he began to withdraw into his own drug-induced world. The band's stability was questioned in the wake of a variety of bizarre stunts including Cobain's penchant for showing up at concerts in women's clothing and mocking his way through songs, and Novoselic and Grohl's nationally televised kiss following a Saturday Night Live performance. Cobain's marriage to hardcore diva Courtney Love in 1992 only fueled the negative publicity fire.

The recording of their third studio album was delayed by Cobain's health problems -- he complained of chronic stomach pain and was hospitalized several times -- and Geffen released Incesticide, a compilation of B-sides and rarities late in 1992 to appease the cash cow fans starved for new Nirvana material. By the spring of 1993, the band was ready to go back in the studio. They recruited Steve Albini (Pixies, Breeders, Jesus Lizard) to produce In Utero,the long-awaited follow up to Nevermind. The album was released in September 1993 followed by a three-month North American tour, which included their celebrated appearance on "MTV Unplugged."

In early 1994 Nirvana embarked on a European tour that was cut short in February by Cobain's much publicized drug overdose in Rome. At the end of March Cobain entered a drug rehab facility in Los Angeles and on April 1 he escaped from the center and returned to Seattle. Cobain's body was found April 8 in his Seattle home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

After Cobain's death, Grohl and Pat Smear formed the Foo Fighters, whose hit 1995 self-titled album was an invigorating, upbeat departure from the angry, tortured strains of Nirvana.

www.rollingstone.com - Christina Cramer

Tori Amos
Biography of Tori Amos

Born Myra Ellen Amos, 22 August 1963, North Carolina, USA. Amos was compared early in her career to everyone from Kate Bush to Joni Mitchell. She began playing the piano aged two-and-a-half, and was enrolled in Baltimore's Peabody Institute as a five-year-old prodigy. Legend has it that she was formally ejected for "playing by ear" the songs of John Lennon and the Doors, following six years study. After failing an audition to gain re-entry, Amos concentrated on the bar circuit of Washington, DC, which she continued to do throughout her high-school years, gradually moving to better venues and adding her own material. In 1980, aged 17, she released (under her real name, Ellen Amos) her first single "Baltimore"/"Walking With You" on the MEA label (named after her own initials). She favoured cover versions such as Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You", Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", later staples of her 90s live set. Amos then adopted the first name Tori, after a friend's boyfriend's remark that she "didn't look much like an Ellen, more like a Tori". Still the dozens of demo tapes she had recorded since her early teens (mostly sent out by her doting father) failed to give her a break, and she switched tack to front pop-rock band Y Kant Tori Read (a play on words that referred to her previous expulsion from the conservatory). Musicians in the band included guitarist Steve Farris (ex- Mr. Mister ), Matt Sorum (future Cult and Guns N'Roses drummer), Vinny Coliauta ( Frank Zappa ), Peter White (co-writer to Al Stewart ) and Kim Bullard (ex- Poco ), but the production and material (largely co-composed between Bullard and Amos) did her few favours. Amos lowered her profile for a while after this undignified release, though she did appear on albums by Stewart, Canadian songwriter Ferron and Stan Ridgway. As she remembers, "After the trauma I crumbled. I was very confused about why I was doing music." Nevertheless, she persevered in writing her own songs, and eventually a tape of these reached Atlantic Records' co-chairman, Doug Morris. Though he saw the germ of her talent, he decided that her current sound was to the taste of the average American-FM listener, and sent Amos instead to the UK (and East West Records) so that she might enjoy a better reception. Amos moved to London in February 1991 and started playing small-scale gigs around the capital. Her "debut" EP, Me And A Gun, was released in October 1991, and tackled the emotive and disturbing topic of her rape by an armed "fan" as she drove him home after a gig. An acclaimed debut album, Little Earthquakes, followed in January 1992, although the comparisons to Kate Bush continued (not helped by a similar cover design). Much of the following year was spent writing and recording a second album with co-producer and partner Eric Rosse. The result, Under The Pink, included a guest appearance from Trent Reznor ( Nine Inch Nails ), and was recorded in his new home - the house where in 1969 Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's followers. The first single lifted from it, "Cornflake Girl", reached number 4 in the UK charts in January 1994. The follow-up, "Pretty Good Year", reached number 7 in March, and with the album topping the UK chart Amos confirmed she was now a commercial force. She was heralded in the press, alongside Polly Harvey ( PJ Harvey ) and Bj”rk, as part of a new wave of intelligent, literate female songwriters. This was cemented with the release of the sexually charged Boys For Pele. Quite apart from having a baby pig suckling on her breast on the cover, the lyrics were a powerful combination of artistic and erotic liberation. Armand Van Helden's remix of "Professional Widow" gained a huge club following and secured Amos a UK number 1 hit. Several of the songs on the follow-up, From The Choirgirl Hotel, were informed by Amos' recent miscarriage. The album proved to be her most mature and musically adventurous to date, Amos recording with a full band for the first time. A prolific songwriting burst led to the release of the double To Venus And Back the following year.