Record industry legend Steve Albini speaks in a thread on a poker message board.
Genius is a weird and inappropriate word, and hard work is underrated, but Kurt Cobain had a distinct and personal take on the world, and generally, when someone strikes a chord with his audience, that’s what people respond to.
There were a lot of bands the “sounded like Nirvana” at the time Nirvana made it big, but none of them have had the same long-lasting influence. I have to admit that I wasn’t particularly a fan of Nirvana when I was asked to work on In Utero, but during the course of making the record I came to appreciate that they were genuine about their band and their music, that Kurt was capable of sophisticated thinking, and that they and their music were unique.
If you think of the other bajillion-sellers of the Nineties, not very many of them have survived as significant influences today. I think there’s a reason beyond luck for that to be the case.