The Year Grunge Broke: Irish author digs into the history of Nirvana and the rest of the genre  

Clive Barnes was a huge fan of the bands that helped shaped popular music in the 1990s. He's now turned his passion into a book documenting the genre's greatest albums 

Nirvana were the best-known band in the grunge scene. (Photo by Paul Bergen/Redferns)

In September 1991, Dublin teenager Clive Barnes had what he calls his ‘JFK moment’. He was sitting in bed eating a packet of Taytos watching TV. “Next thing you know, this song came on a late night music show… and it was Smells Like Teen Spirit. And I’ll never forget the moment,” he says. “I thought – I’ve been striving to hear something like this… and here it is. And I wasn’t alone in thinking that. It was just amazing.” 

The Washington-based act behind the song was, of course, Nirvana, the defining band of the grunge era. Now Barnes has written a book called The Year Grunge Broke: 50 Essential Grunge & Alternative Rock Albums of the '90s & Beyond. It features albums from well-known bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, as well as lesser-known acts like Truly and Brad.