I didn’t shoot many live close ups at this time, but I’m glad I got this one. In a record store at that. The closed eyes add extra poignancy and mystery (plus it’s how he often sang). Used for the cover of the Life magazine special Nirvana edition. - Charles Peterson

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, a small yet vital music scene was brewing in the Pacific Northwest. A new sound, created by combining garage rock fuzz and metal riffs with scroungy punk nihilism, started to coalesce. This musical genre dubbed ‘grunge’, originally created by outsiders for outsiders, took off like a rocket and changed the musical landscape forever. The architects of this new sound were captured from their humble beginnings to meteoric success primarily by one main photographer: Charles Peterson. He became Sub Pop’s unofficial house photographer and his relationships with the bands Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and more pushed Peterson’s work to global prominence.