60 Fun Facts About 90s Rock

Nirvana's Nevermind hit number one in January 1992 by knocking which album off the top?

Geffen had hoped Nevermind might sell 250,000 copies; it was certified Diamond by 1999.

Who produced Nirvana's Nevermind, giving it a far more polished, radio-friendly sound than Bleach?

Sub Pop head Bruce Pavitt suggested him. He later played drums in Garbage.

The swimming baby on the Nevermind cover, who sued the band in 2021, is named what?

He was four months old and the son of a friend of the photographer. Cobain's proposed compromise for the nudity was a sticker, not a crop.

Nirvana left Sub Pop and released Nevermind on which Geffen imprint?

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth helped steer them there. The advance was $287,000.

Which famously principled indie producer recorded Nirvana's In Utero in two weeks for $25,000?

The sessions were at Pachyderm Studio, where PJ Harvey had made Rid of Me the same year.

Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love were married in February 1992 in which location?

The wedding came days after Nirvana's Pacific Rim tour ended. Their daughter Frances Bean was born that August.

Which fellow frontman was chosen as godfather to Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love's daughter?

He and Cobain had planned to record demos together in 1994; Cobain cancelled at the last minute.

Kurt Cobain wanted the MTV Unplugged set, with its lilies, black candles and chandelier, to look like what?

The show was taped in a single take on November 18, 1993, less than five months before his death.

Members of which band joined Nirvana on stage for several songs at the MTV Unplugged taping in 1993?

MTV wanted bigger names such as Eddie Vedder or Tori Amos. The album won Nirvana's only Grammy.

Pearl Jam recorded Ten under what earlier band name, borrowed from an NBA player?

The name was changed after Epic worried about rights once the player signed a Nike deal; the album title kept his jersey number.

Pearl Jam's Vs. set a first-week sales record in October 1993 with roughly how many copies?

It outsold every other album in that week's Billboard top ten combined.

In 1994 Pearl Jam accused which company of monopolising concert tickets?

The band spent years playing makeshift outdoor venues to avoid the company's exclusive contracts.

Which 1994 Soundgarden album debuted at number one and produced two Grammy-winning singles?

The winning songs were Spoonman and Black Hole Sun. Soundgarden had been the first grunge band signed to a major label, in 1988.

Which 1994 Alice in Chains release became the first EP ever to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?

It was written and recorded in a single week and went triple platinum.

Which album became the first from Seattle's grunge scene to be certified gold, in September 1991?

It sold under 40,000 copies in six months until MTV put Man in the Box into daytime rotation.

Stone Temple Pilots won the 1994 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for which song from Core?

Weiland and Dean DeLeo had also played it acoustically on Headbangers Ball. Purple then debuted at number one that June.

Under what band name did Stone Temple Pilots record a demo before a bluesman's claim?

That demo included funk and even yodelling that never made a studio album.

Which R.E.M. single from Out of Time was the band's highest-charting and best-selling hit?

Out of Time picked up seven Grammy nominations. The follow-up Automatic for the People hit number one in the UK.

The Smashing Pumpkins planned Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as a double album partly in tribute to which band?

It debuted at number one with 246,500 first-week sales and earned seven Grammy nominations.

Radiohead recorded much of OK Computer at St Catherine's Court, a mansion owned by which actress?

The album won Best Alternative Music Album at the 1998 Grammys and was added to the US National Recording Registry in 2014.

Under what name did Radiohead first play, referring to their usual school rehearsal day?

They met at Abingdon School and turned down an early Island Records offer so they could go to university first.

Weezer's 1994 Blue Album was produced by the frontman of which band?

Ric Ocasek got the job. The album's cover was inspired by a cheap Beach Boys cassette.

How many awards did Weezer's Buddy Holly video win at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards?

The prizes included Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Video. Spike Jonze pitched the earlier Undone clip as 'a blue stage, a steadicam, a pack of wild dogs'.

How many copies of Beck's Loser were pressed for its March 1993 12-inch release on Bong Load?

After DGC picked it up, the song reached number ten on the Hot 100 while Beck was living in a rat-infested shed.

Which single from Beck's Odelay won Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1997 Grammys?

Odelay sold two million copies and killed off the one-hit-wonder talk that followed Mellow Gold.

Which guest played the one guitar part Dave Grohl didn't on the 1995 Foo Fighters debut?

The Afghan Whigs singer played on X-Static. Grohl recorded the album mostly alone in six days.

The name Foo Fighters comes from a World War II term for what?

Grohl had hoped to stay anonymous with a limited-run release under the name.

After signing a major-label deal for Dookie, Green Day was banned from which Berkeley punk club?

The fanzine Maximumrocknroll piled on too. Dookie went on to be certified double diamond.

Green Day's Woodstock '94 set became infamous for what?

Opening with Welcome to Paradise after three days of rain provoked the crowd, and Armstrong taunted them back.

Which independent label released The Offspring's record-setting Smash (1994)?

It has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide. The band jumped to Columbia in 1996.

Blink-182 formed in 1992 in which suburb of San Diego County?

Tom DeLonge met drummer Scott Raynor after being expelled from the local high school for showing up drunk to a basketball game.

In the August 1995 'Battle of Britpop', Blur's Country House outsold which Oasis single?

The scores were 274,000 to 216,000 in the best week for UK singles sales in a decade.

Oasis's two Knebworth shows in August 1996 each drew an audience of roughly how many people?

They were the largest outdoor concerts in UK history at the time. Be Here Now then sold 696,000 copies in its first week.

A 1970s Canadian group owned the name, so Bush released Sixteen Stone in Canada as what?

Sixteen Stone is certified six times platinum by the RIAA; Razorblade Suitcase followed it to number one in 1996.

Live's Throwing Copper reached number one on the Billboard 200 in which week of its chart run?

Only Fleetwood Mac's 1975 album and Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl took longer to climb to the top.

Metallica hired Bob Rock to produce the Black Album after admiring his work on which Mötley Crüe record?

The album sold 598,000 copies in its first week and became the first of the SoundScan era to pass 20 million in the US.

Where was the self-immolating monk photo on Rage Against the Machine's 1992 debut cover taken?

The monk was Thích Quảng Đức and the photo dates from June 1963. The album came out on Epic that November.

Before Tool took off, singer Maynard James Keenan supported himself in Los Angeles doing what job?

Bandmates Paul D'Amour and Adam Jones had moved to LA hoping to work in film.

Nu metal pioneers Korn formed in 1993 in which California city?

Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999) both debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Which Nine Inch Nails album was recorded at 10050 Cielo Drive, where Sharon Tate was murdered?

Reznor named the home studio Le Pig and lived there for 18 months before Tate's sister confronted him.

Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded Blood Sugar Sex Magik in a mansion once allegedly home to whom?

Producer Rick Rubin suggested the house. Drummer Chad Smith refused to sleep there, convinced it was haunted.

With Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette became the youngest artist ever to win which Grammy at the time?

The album took five Grammys in all and has sold more than 33 million copies worldwide.

Hole's Live Through This came out on April 12, 1994 — how long after Kurt Cobain's body was found?

The album reached platinum status within a year and was recorded in Marietta, Georgia, in October 1993.

Steve Marker discovered Shirley Manson after seeing an Angelfish video on which MTV show?

Manson moved from Edinburgh to Madison, Wisconsin, to make the band's debut.

Tragic Kingdom was the last No Doubt album to feature which founding member, who left in 1994?

Gwen's brother disliked giving up creative control. The album went Diamond in both the US and Canada.

PJ Harvey recorded Rid of Me (1993) at Pachyderm Studio, later used for In Utero, in which US state?

Island signed the PJ Harvey Trio in a bidding war in mid-1992. She later became the only two-time Mercury Prize winner.

Before her solo career, Sheryl Crow toured from 1987 to 1989 as a backing vocalist for which superstar?

Tuesday Night Music Club later won her three Grammys, including Best New Artist, at the 1995 ceremony.

Lollapalooza began in 1991 as a farewell tour for which band?

Perry Farrell was inspired by Britain's Reading Festival. It toured North America every summer until 1997.

Woodstock '94 was held on Winston Farm near which New York town?

Nearly 24 million households bought the pay-per-view, a record for a music event at the time.

Woodstock '99 was staged at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in which New York city?

The site was a decommissioned B-52 base and a designated Superfund cleanup site.

The Woodstock '99 bonfires grew from vigil candles honouring victims of which tragedy?

The vigil was meant for the Chili Peppers' set; instead the candles lit plywood and trash and the fires spread to both stages.

Metallica sued Napster in April 2000 after a demo of which song leaked before release?

Radio stations started playing the leak, which tipped the band off that its whole catalogue was on Napster.

U2 began recording Achtung Baby in October 1990 at Hansa Studios in which city?

They arrived on the last flight into East Berlin on the eve of German reunification, and found the city gloomy.

U2's Zoo TV stage used a lighting rig partly built from which East German car?

Bono played characters including The Fly, Mirror Ball Man and MacPhisto across the 157-show tour.

Scott Stapp wrote that Creed first performed in a Tallahassee bar under what name?

My Own Prison started as a self-release that sold 6,000 copies around Florida; Human Clay went Diamond.

Which absent artist did the unknown Counting Crows fill in for at the 1993 Rock Hall ceremony?

Robbie Robertson introduced them and they played a cover of Caravan. August and Everything After arrived that September.

Sublime's mascot Lou Dog was what breed?

Bradley Nowell adopted him from a shelter in 1990 and named him after his grandfather.

Sublime's self-titled 1996 album was released roughly how long after Bradley Nowell's death?

Its singles Santeria and What I Got both hit number one on the Modern Rock chart.

Dave Matthews was working as a bartender in which Virginia city when he formed his band in 1991?

A lawyer friend talked him into recording a demo and approaching drummer Carter Beauford.

Rob Thomas won three Grammys, including Record of the Year, for singing on which Santana single?

He was only meant to write it until Carlos Santana heard the demo vocal.