re: What age did "Smells Like Teen Spirit" influence the most?

I actually always liked Pearl Jam more than Nirvana, but fairly or not Nirvana gets the credit for bringing that scene to the forefront. Pearl Jam's Ten was released around a year before Smells Like Teen Spirit got big, and the video for Alive had been in semi-regular rotation on MTV. I don't think it got "big" until after Smells Like Teen Spirit, but I may be thinking of Evenflow. My memory is a bit hazy on the timeline. Bottom line, Smells Like Teen Spirit opened the door for many in my generation to discover PJ, AIC, Soundgarden, etc. That doesn't mean Nirvana was the best of those bands.