Nirvana - Nevermind

Of all the Grunge bands that enjoyed major success I think Nirvana may be the one I care for the least. Well, I may dislike Soundgarden more, but the jury's still out on that one. I also think Nevermind is the most over rated of all Nirvana albums. For the sake of argument, when it comes to my preferences for Nirvana it goes; In Utero, Nevermind, Bleach (To be fair I haven't listened to this album in over a decade). I own two of those three as well as Unplugged, which was a gift I asked for because it was cool at the time, but now I think it's complete shit.

I remember when Nirvana's Nevermind erupted into the full blown monster that it has become. I remember liking it, but thinking it was over rated, and couldn't understand why they were as big as they were. To this day, I still have this problem. I view Nirvana as the 1990's answer to the Sex Pistols, except I think I like the Pistols more. They never tried to pretend to be serious musicians. Certain members of Nirvana will tell you that the album was meant to be childishly simple, but I think the issue was that children (young musicians) were making the album.

The album opens with Smells Like Teen Spirit. We all know the song, and we all know the the anarchy clad cheerleaders from the video. Not because they were hot (they weren't), but because they were so fucking boring to watch. Seriously, go watch the video, it's really fucking boring. It's more boring than this song is. If it wasn't for the chorus, this song would put you to sleep without even trying. It's Lullaby Punk. Also I've heard the solo in this song given way to much credit because of how much it mimics the vocal line. That's all cool, until you realize how lazy and unimaginative it actually is.

In Bloom is where this album actually starts for me. It has a great hook in the rhythm section for the entire song, even with the changes, and I even like the lyrical content. For example the second verse, "We can have some more / Nature is a whore / Bruises on the fruit / Tender age in bloom". However, for a guy that said he didn't want to be commercial, he did a fantastic job or writing repetitive choruses that we're totally commercial sounding. "He’s the one / Who likes all our pretty songs / And he likes to sing along / And he likes to shoot his gun / But he knows not what it means / Knows not what it means / when I say / He’s the one / Who likes all our pretty songs / And he likes to sing along / And he likes to shoot his gun / But he knows not what it means / Knows not what it means / when I say yeeeaaahhh". That lazy lyrical writing made up eighty percent of the song.

I still enjoy Come As You Are to this day. It the only one of the four singles I don't want to instictively turn off when it comes on. Also this one is fun to sing along with. "Come as you are, / as you were, / as I want you to be. / As a friend, / as a friend, / as an old enemy. / Take your time, / hurry up, / choice is yours don't be late. / Take a rest, / as a friend, / as an old memoria, / memoria, memoria, memoria. / Come dowsed in mud, / soaked in bleach, / as I want you to be. / As a trend, / As a friend, / As an old memoria / Memoria, memoria, memoria / And I swear / that I don't have a gun. / No I don't have a gun. / No I don't have a gun." Breed is the first song on the album that makes me actually wanna get up and Rock. It's the first real sign of a pulse. Krist Novoselic (credited as Chris Novoselic) is laying down a simple bass line, but it sounds wicked cool on this track especially with that fuzz on it.

Lithium is the only song on this album I dislike as much as Smells Like Teen Spirit, but in this song's case it is purely from overplay. This song has a great counter dynamic within itself. The mellow downtroddenness of the verses, mixed with the raw angst ridden anger of the chorus is fantastic. If someone asked me to pick one song that described what Grunge was all about I would point them to Lithium.

Of all the songs on Nevermind Polly might be the one that is the most confusing. The song is the only pure accoustic guitar number on the entire album. The lyrical content can be taken many different ways, and I'm sure it has been explained in just as many. Either way it's a very enjoyable tune, if not a little cryptic.

Territorial Pissings is the song we all get to thank for Screamo. This is the first Screamo song I can think of, and now that I hear it again for the first time in five years, I would feel the need to shoot Cobain if he hadn't already done so himself. I'm sorry to anyone that finds that in bad taste, but I really can't stand Screamo. The first song on this album to show any real musicianship is Drain You, and it's more just due to it having a structure with various dynamics to it. It's just as simple as the rest for the most part, though.

Lounge Act is a decent song, but at this point in the record it's all starting to sound very simular to the previous eight songs, and this has the singing coming across as more of a filler at this point.

The better songs on this album are the ones where Krist Novoselic and David Grohl (drummer), are totally locked into a solid rhythm pattern. For example Stay Away has something going on with the guitar, but it's pretty much background noise, and the vocals work more as an effective instrument, mixed with the rhythm, than the guitar does. I also love the Surfer Rock feel to this one, which is only wrecked by Kurt's screaming.

On A Plain would be a cool song if it was done by a different band, on a different album. Lyrically I think it's pretty cool, it's the one song I find totally poetic. "I'll start this off without any words / I got so high I scratched 'till I bled / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / The finest day that I've ever had / Was when I learned to cry on commmand / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / I'm on a plain, mmmm / I can't complain, mmmm / I'm on a plain, mmmm / My mother died every night / It's safe to say, quote me on that / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / The black sheep got blackmailed again / Forgot to put on the zip code / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / I'm on a plain, mmmm / I can't complain, mmmm / I'm on a plain, mmmm / Somewhere I have heard this before / In a dream my memory has stored / As a defence I'm neutered and spayed / What the hell am I trying to say? / It is now time to make it unclear / To write off lines that don't make sense / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / And one more special message to go / And then I'm done, and I can go home / I love myself better than you / I know it's wrong so what should I do? / I'm on a plain / I can't complain". The last two lines repeat until the end of the song.

The album officially ends with Something In The Way. This is a very heavy, thick and ominus song. If it weren't for the annoying Grunge drone, I might enjoy it even more. However, the song doesn't simply just end there. Oh no, I have one of the copies with the hidden track, Endless, Nameless.

Basically, once you get passed the almost four minute long dronefest, you get nine minutes of dead air until Endless, Nameless starts. If it were not for the screaming and lack of real lyrics, this could have been a decent song, or even be taken as a really awesome abstract instrumental piece. Instead it comes across as Cobain being too fucking stoned to work on the song properly.

I know it seems by this review I really don't care for this album, and that is very true. In the grand spectrum of music, specifically anything Rock related, this album is only worth anything because it was the first major mainstream Grunge album. As the test of time keeps pushing on I find that this album actually means less and less. In fact I will throw on a Foo Fighters album before this one any day of the week. However, that doesn't mean that this isn't a god album. Okay, "good" may be over stretching it. It's a decent album, that reflects a confusing time in music.

7/10 - content

6/10 - production

6/10 - personal bias