Nirvana was a popular American grunge band from Aberdeen, Washington. The band broke into the mainstream with the single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their 1991 album, Nevermind, released on September 24, 1991, as they followed a stream of punk rock and alternative rock bands that the media used to call "grunge". Other grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden also enjoyed a surge in popularity, resulting in alternative rock becoming a dominant genre on US radio and television in the early to mid-1990s.
