In the 20 years since Kurt Cobain’s death his influence as a musician and iconoclast is still strongly felt.  Cobain is the subject of a number of biographies and several videographies; seminal albums by his band Nirvana, including Nevermind and In Utero, rank among the best of late twentieth century alternative rock.

Cobain’s musical influences included heavy metal and punk. With their home base in the Seattle music scene, Cobain and Nirvana contributed to the early development of what became known as grunge, though they later tried to distance themselves from what they saw as an increasingly  commercialized ‘lifestyle’ dominated by heavy metal devotees and slackers.

Nirvana is among the Class of 2014 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Original members included Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Chad Channing, and Dave Grohl.