In Search of the Next Nirvana . . .

The next Dylan . . . the next Beatles . . . the next Springsteen . . . the next Guns N’ Roses. . . .

Any time an act breaks through out of nowhere to capture the pop music market, industry talent scouts start beating the bushes for a similar band of their very own. Now the hunt is on for the new Nirvana.

The Washington state trio’s combination of punk intensity, underground sensibility and hard-rock dynamics has made it pop’s biggest surprise success in years--its first major-label album, “Nevermind,” recently climbed to the top of the national album chart and is approaching the 2 million sales mark.

“When Jane’s Addiction got successful everyone said they sounded like them, and after Living Colour a few years ago there were suddenly 10 million black rock groups,” says Marc Geiger, the former rock booking agent who is now heading alternative music development at Def American Records.

Who are the bands getting the attention of the talent scouts? The ones mentioned most frequently are three bands from the same Northwest underground rock scene that produced Nirvana--Tad, Mudhoney and Truly--as well as Kansas group Paw, Arizona’s Cryptics, L.A. bands L7 and Hole, Chicago quartet Smashing Pumpkins, New York rockers Helmet and Minneapolis band Coup de Grace. All except Slash’s L7 are either unsigned or with independent labels.

“It’s pretty obvious that everyone’s out there looking for the new Nirvana,” says Karen Glauber, post-modern music editor for the trade magazine Hits. “But the language in which they couch it is hilarious. Everyone’s referring to ‘the N-band.’ No one wants to say ‘Nirvana’ because it’s so blatant.”

Nonetheless, young bands and their handlers are happy to oblige with a glut of acts that suddenly sound--or claim to sound-- just like Nirvana .

“In many cases it’s the equivalent of bubble-gum bands in the late ‘60s growing their hair long and saying, ‘We’re underground now,’ ” says Nirvana’s co-manager Danny Goldberg, now also the manager of L.A. quartet Hole (whose leader, Courtney Love, is engaged to Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain).

Tom Desavia, West Coast director of repertory for the music licensing organization ASCAP, says that he’s put off by the number of tapes he gets from bands claiming to sound like Nirvana.

“I have trouble getting a tape that says, ‘We’re Nivana-esque,’ ” he says. “I don’t want to be told I’m listening to the next Nirvana, and usually I’m not. But I’m sure it happened with Dino, Desi & Billy--people saying, ‘We’re Dino, Desi & Billy-esque.’ ”