1991 the year punk died

For god's sake Nirvana, Sonic Youth and their contemporaries didn't kill punk, nor is punk 'dead'.
Nirvana were not a punk band, but they were heavily influenced by the first wave of punk bands. They were alternative rock, and helped launch the grunge scene.I'm no fan, but I'm willing to acknowledge their impact on rock music.

Some people seem to think "OMG SELL OUTS!" the moment a band signs to major label. What a load of crap. If you're in a band, you want your music to be heard. And being signed to some *beep* half broke independant label isnt going to make that happen. Theres a big difference between complying to your record companies every whim just so you can earns mountains of cash and trying to get exposure for your music and band.

Punk still remains alive today. Ever since its beginnings its been more about just music. I know it sounds cliched, but punk is also about a way of thinking , acting and expression. People see wanker bands like 'My Chemical Romance' , 'Fall out boy' and 'Blink 182' on MTV or whatever and wail and moan , saying "This is the end of punk, oh woe is me".
But really, these groups , with their thin veneer of a watered down version of what they like to think is punk are always going to get more exposure because record companies are going to be able to market them easily , make music videos and get 9 year old boys who like skateboarding and angsty teenage girls to buy their albums.

If you look a little a little harder, you'll find there are still many bands that remain faithful to the punk spirit. Are they going to get the same exposure? No. Ever since the end of the first wave of punk, which many see as the be all and end all of punk, many new punk bands would never reach the same level of awareness as its originators.

Like I said before, only the watered down wanker groups like 'MCR' and 'Fall out boy' will get that exposure, and will achieve commercial sucess.
Johnny Rotten once said "Only the fakes survive". And he's absolutley right.

Thats what made the 1991 alternative/grunge scene so significant. While these weren't necessarily punk bands, these were grounps in the same vein of first wave punk that managed to break free from the obscurity of underground scenes to reach some sort of awareness.

For the record, punk didn't die, and Kurt Cobain and grunge sure as hell didn't kill it. That said, Nirvana never were really "punk". I mean, hell, Courtney Love was 100 times more 'punk' than Kurt ever was (case in point: Hole's first album and singles, TOTAL punk/noise rock). Anyhow, like others have said here, punk "broke" into the mainstream circa 1991. That's very true. But, people who think that Kurt killed punk or who think Nirvana was punk— you're both wrong.

for those of you wondering what the guy above me is talking about, it's the date of GG Allin's death. GG Allin was definitely punk rock--the biggest and most unflinching degenerate in rock history, to be precise.