7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

gun-related escapades—a number of which involved his
wife, Courtney Love, leader of the band Hole.
Like Nevermind, the band’s third album, In Utero
(1993)—which contained clear articulations of Cobain’s
psyche in songs such as “All Apologies” and “Rape Me”—
reached number one on the U.S. album charts. By this
point, however, Cobain’s heroin use was out of control.
After a reputed suicide attempt in Rome in March 1994,
he entered a Los Angeles treatment centre. In a mysterious
sequence of events, he returned to Seattle, where he shot
and killed himself in his lakeside home. Subsequent concert
releases, notably Unplugged in New York (1994) and From the
Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (1996), only added to Nirvana’s
legend. In 2002 the greatest-hits album Nirvana appeared
and included the previously unreleased single “You Know
You’re Right.” That year a collection of Cobain’s journals
was also published.

Radiohead

Formed in the mid-1980s at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire,
Radiohead comprised singer-guitarist Thom Yorke (b. Oct. 7, 1968,
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, Eng.), bassist Colin Greenwood
(b. June 26, 1969, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.), guitarist Ed O’Brien (b.
April 15, 1968, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.), drummer Phil Selway (b.
May 23, 1967, Hemingford Grey, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Eng.),
and guitarist-keyboardist Jonny Greenwood (b. Nov. 5, 1971, Oxford,
Oxfordshire, Eng.).

T

he British rock group Radiohead arguably has been
the most accomplished art-rock band of the early
21st century. This revered quintet made some of the most
majestic—if most angst-saturated—music of the post-
modern era.
Strongly influenced by American bands such as R.E.M.
and the Pixies, Radiohead paid early dues on the local