Biffy Clyro‘s Simon Neil has recalled the impact that Nirvana‘s genre-defining second album, ‘Nevermind’, has had on him and the rest of the band on its 30th anniversary.

The iconic LP, which was released on September 24, 1991 and featured hit singles such as ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Come As You Are’, saw Nirvana – comprising Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic – bring alternative music into the mainstream, inspiring legions of music fans and three generations of musicians along the way.

One said musician greatly affected by Nirvana’s magnum opus is Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, who spoke to NME about the album’s importance and its hidden track, ‘Endless Nameless’.

“‘Endless Nameless’ was the first hidden track that I ever heard on a record,” Neil revealed. “I just left the album running and this surprise cacophony came bursting out of the speakers. We nicked that trick for our second and third albums with hidden tracks deliberately ripping off Nirvana because we thought it was the coolest thing ever.

“We loved Nirvana so much we used to to perform their records in full while practicing, and when it came to jamming ‘Endless Nameless’, you realise it’s one of the best riffs ever written. I guess they didn’t know that their album was going to be such a smash-hit and knock Michael Jackson off Number One, but the fact that the record to do that has a seven minute atonal heavy monster is just so brilliant. I love that.”

He continued: “It’s one of the first pieces of extreme music that really turned me on. I didn’t love riffing and showing off – I just wanted intensity. That’s what ‘Endless Nameless’ taught me. At that moment in time, nothing was real in music – especially rock music.

“Nirvana were just three normal guys from a rainy and miserable part of the world who were expressing themselves in a really primal way. ‘Nevermind’ gave our band permission to exist.”

Meanwhile, Nirvana have announced a special reissue of ‘Nevermind’ to mark the iconic album’s 30th anniversary.

It is set to be remastered from the original half-inch stereo analog tapes to high-resolution 192kHz 24-bit for a series of reissues, which will be released on November 12.