Adam Lynn

In the late 1980s, a small community of talented, sludgy local bands began attracting attention in the Pacific Northwest. One of those bands was from Aberdeen, Washington, just outside Seattle, and called itself Nirvana. Nirvana had a reputation for writing surprisingly catchy songs and for putting on chaotic live shows. Their first album, the heavy and noisy “Bleach,” from 1989, had been produced for just $600. It was their second record, “Nevermind,” released on this day 35 years ago, that brought the trio of underdogs into the mainstream. When Hua Hsu listened to “Nevermind” for the first time, he was just a teen-ager, casting about for something new. The divide between mainstream and alternative music still seemed meaningful, and Nirvana still felt like a secret: “The band was a gateway,” Hsu writes. Revisit Hsu’s interactive 2018 essay about the history, creation, and legacy of the seminal grunge album: newyorker.com/culture/touchs…