Rock Is it kind of surprising that Metallica outsold Nirvana in 1991?

[Knockout_LR_Freshmart]

I understand that Metallica was massive, but that Nirvana album seemed like a much bigger cultural shift and overall moment for the entire decade.

Anyone who was around care to give insight?

 

[KnickstapeCity]

Cac music babble

 

[Mike the Executioner]

I wasn't around for that, but my reasoning is Metallica was already an established group while Nirvana was brand new. Metallica had that built-in fanbase, and they deliberately changed their sound to be more radio-friendly and appeal to a wider audience. This was their biggest album yet, their first one to top the Billboard charts. And they had hits right out of the gate. They were hitting their stride in terms of commercial success.

Nirvana came out of nowhere. They could have easily dropped "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and it wouldn't have sold anything. Expectations were low. It became a big cultural moment later on, but it wasn't until the end of 1991 and early 1992 that they became a big deal. It wasn't like that in the beginning when the album dropped. The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video is what started to get them attention.

It happens a lot with newer acts that blow up. It's more of a slow burn. New Kids on the Block was this close to getting dropped from their label and being erased from history when one of their songs just happened to become popular on a radio station in Boston. By the end of the year, they were superstars. Even someone like Michael Jackson, the expectation was that Thriller probably wouldn't sell as much as Off the Wall. And when it came out, it was treated as just another album. Once "Billie Jean" came out and the video got played on MTV, that's when things shifted.

 

[King Sun]

Metallica was Jay Nirvana was Nas for hip hip heads

 

[Sbp]

I wasn't around for that, but my reasoning is Metallica was already an established group while Nirvana was brand new. Metallica had that built-in fanbase, and they deliberately changed their sound to be more radio-friendly and appeal to a wider audience. This was their biggest album yet, their first one to top the Billboard charts. And they had hits right out of the gate. They were hitting their stride in terms of commercial success.

Nirvana came out of nowhere. They could have easily dropped "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and it wouldn't have sold anything. Expectations were low. It became a big cultural moment later on, but it wasn't until the end of 1991 and early 1992 that they became a big deal. It wasn't like that in the beginning when the album dropped. The "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video is what started to get them attention.

It happens a lot with newer acts that blow up. It's more of a slow burn. New Kids on the Block was this close to getting dropped from their label and being erased from history when one of their songs just happened to become popular on a radio station in Boston. By the end of the year, they were superstars. Even someone like Michael Jackson, the expectation was that Thriller probably wouldn't sell as much as Off the Wall. And when it came out, it was treated as just another album. Once "Billie Jean" came out and the video got played on MTV, that's when things shifted.

This is it breh. Metallica spent a decade building a huge loyal ass following and were selling out stadiums already. The Black album was just tge icing on the cake for them.

 

[NZA]

i was extremely young but from what i can remember, the shift only really hurt the hair bands. harder edged stuff like pantera was ok after that, and then metal started hyrbidizing with rap and electronic sounds in the mid-90s.

 

[Chip Skylark]

Metallica was basically THEE thrash band of the 80s and some of those fans carried over. I remember Chris Jericho saying once they slowed it down on the black album that sound was more accessible and transferred over to the mainstream

 

[BulletProof]

I dont really consider Metal and Grunge to be all that comparable besides a group of loud white guys with guitars.

Like others have said Metallica had a huge, once religiously loyal cult following. The stars were aligned and all they had to do was not play so fast. I mean, Jesus, even Cobain was a massive fan.

Both bands, between their sound and content, served as the artistic elixer to that superficial Hair Metal fatigue plaguing the mainstream.

Whats more interesting to me is that Metallica was years of hard work and releasing revolutionary S-Tier albums finally paying off. Their album run in the eighties was the stuff of legends. On the other hand, Nirvana came seemingly out of nowhere and unintentionally brought a movement with them.

Both bands benefitting greatly from the stale, manufactured bullshyt that music fans had grown tired of it if they didnt hate it before. Plus they benefitted from a new generation of young people who couldnt be defined by the Reagan charged 80s glorification of greed, excess, and decandance. They needed a sound and a culture to represent them.

The stars were aligned.

 

[cheek100]

Not even in the same bag nirvana wasnt shyt

 

[Knockout_LR_Freshmart]

I brought this up cause their albums were #1 & #2 in sales that year, not because of their sound.

Nevermind seems to be considered the album that defined the decade and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was much more inescapable than “Enter Sandman” growing up even years later.

Today, Nirvana’s singles from that album get played across a broader spectrum of stations on SiriusXM and Metallica is relegated to rock/metal only from what I’ve noticed.

Nirvana also averages about half a million more Spotify listeners, and the majority of their listens come from Nevermind. The Black Album likely leads for Metallica’s listens, but their larger discog guarantees listeners are more spread out among their albums.

Even if Nevermind was just bigger in retrospect, it’s still surprising Kurt’s death didn’t push up the numbers far out of TBA’s reach.

EDIT: I think a couple posts itt explained Metallica’s impact well, just rerunning what went through my head when I saw the numbers at first glance.