29 August 1991 - At 7pm, DJ Kurt St. Thomas from US radio station WFNX in Boston gave Nirvana's album Nevermind its world premiere by playing the album from start to finish. Nevermind went on to sell over 10 million copies in the US alone and 26 million copies worldwide. It regularly features in greatest album ever lists, and was voted number 17 in Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Although it fares considerably less well when such lists are discussed at OMM, it must be said.
More Nirvana from the Observer archive:
Why he died before he got old - Pete Townshend reviews Kurt Cobain's diaries 'Read this book to see that the human spirit, even at its most sublime, can effect monumental damage on itself and its fellow souls if addiction enters the story. I mourn for Kurt. A once beautiful, then pathetic, lost and heroically stupid boy.'
Barney Hoskyns charts the meteoric rise and tragic suicide of rock's last great star.
Reaching Nirvana - The life and times of Kurt Cobain
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