I caught myself daydreaming this past weekend when the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came on the radio. I found myself wishing I could recreate that same sense of momentous
excitement I had when I first heard that song.
Everyone who knows me knows my obsession with Pearl Jam (74 shows and counting), but they also know Nirvana was a close second in my pantheon of
music.
The moment I heard Nirvana was one of those moments in life that you never forget. I remember the first time I saw an Internet browser. I remember the first time I saw an
iPod with a small video screen. I remember the first time I drove an electric car. Those were all technology-oriented moments, and massively influential on my professional career.
Nirvana was a formative moment in my personal life, but also impacted my thinking about personal culture and my work.
Setting the scene: I had just walked into a house party during my college
years, in Syracuse, late September, 1991, when I heard the guitars crunching on a song.
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I asked my friend Sean Quigley, who had fantastic taste in music, “Who’s that playing on the
stereo?”
“Nirvana. It’s a new record.”
I stood still for a second, which somehow seemed much longer than it probably was, and I soaked in a sound that
seemed to convey chaos in a tightly wound ball.
I was already into a bunch of alternative bands and music was my personal hobby, but Nirvana was a watershed moment that unified so many
disparate pieces of rock music. There are very few musical moments you can point to where one chapter officially closed and a new one began. Most of the time that evolution is
gradual. This time it was not. The ‘80s hair bands and rock were officially over.
I write about this now because one of my professors said, “If you want to be a great
marketer, study all you can about popular culture.” I always took those words to heart. I loved the idea that my passions could help me in my chosen profession.
I read
articles in publications like Rolling Stone and Spin -- and while they debate about so much, they all agree that record was one of the most impactful moments in popular music
history.
I feel lucky to have been part of that moment, and I know many of you reading this article fall into that same bucket. This column is about media, and music is a form of media.
I’m sure many of you have a story just like this one, where you were present at a change in popular culture. Please share them in the comments because I love to read what other experiences
we have all have had.