I mean the follow-up to Nevermind was a disappointment to some (I'm think personally Kurt loved that), but they got back some cred and probably even some new fans with the Unplugged performance. Also he was talking a lot around that time about wanting to grow as an artist, such as do more outside work (Hole), possibly end Nirvana, but most importantly become more than grunge or what grunge was known as at that time (Comparing to what he wanted to do with how the Beatles went from just pop to so much more).

Not that you don't wonder where most musicians that die young would have gone musically but Kurt especially since he was seen as the voice of generation x and was never comfortable doing what was expected.