When Nirvana's Nevermind ousted Michael Jackson's Dangerous from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 200 on Jan. 11, 1992 -- less than four months after its unassuming release on DGC Records the previous September -- there was no longer any denying that winds of change were blowing in. 

Nevermind had already made an unexpected mainstream dent thanks to the instantly unforgettable single "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but larger forces were at work and a scorching little punk-rock trio from Aberdeen, Wash., was caught in the middle of a perfect cultural storm. Soon, "grunge" and the "Seattle sound" and flannel shirts and Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains and the Singles soundtrack were freakin' everywhere and Nirvana was at the forefront of a sudden revolution in commercial tastes, with every single label on the planet suddenly on the hunt for "the next Nirvana" and its openly troubled frontman, the late Kurt Cobain, being dubbed -- much to his chagrin -- "the voice of a generation." 

We all know what happened after that. But Nevermind really was that record, is that record -- living proof that if you put good music in front of a wide audience, as DGC very smartly did, it will tend to find a wide audience. And ever since, popular ears have been a little more open to what became known as "alternative" sounds that previously would never have found purchase on the radio or the charts. Nirvana and Nevermind didn't start the revolution, but they definitely rallied the troops to victory.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. In Bloom
3. Come As You Are
4. Breed
5. Lithium
6. Polly
7. Territorial Pissings
8. Drain You
9. Lounge Act
10. Stay Away
11. On A Plain
12. Something In The Way