Nirvana – Nevermind
Back in 1991, a band crept out of the Seattle Grunge underground to release an album which would transform the music industry forever. Nirvana’s second studio album, Nevermind, brought alternative rock to to the large mainstream audience and paved the way for many of the alternative rock bands we hear today.
Nobody in the world, including the band, could have predicted the level of success Nevermind would enjoy. In January 1992, it knocked pop icon Michael Jackson’s album off the top of the Billboard charts and of today, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The album spawned four hit singles—the first being the hugely popular track, Smells Like Teen Spirit, which can still be heard shaking the foundations of nightclubs today. The other three singles released were Come as You Are, Lithium and In Bloom.
Nevermind cover art
The late Kurt Cobain was the front man and main songwriter in Nirvana. He cited bands such as the Pixies and the Meat Puppets as his biggest influences when writing the songs for Nevermind. The album starts with arguably the most famous alternative rock track of all time, Smells Like Teen Spirit. As soon as Cobain’s simple four-chord, clean guitar intro subsides, the song and album come to life, exploding with the sound of crashing symbols and distortion. This is a regular theme throughout the album, with the band sounding quite mellow in the verses before surprising the listener by erupting in the choruses.
Make no mistake though, Nirvana and the album Nevermind have a lot more in their locker than the surprise element. Tracks such as Come as You Are show the band’s talent as it contains perhaps, one of the most recognizable guitar riffs and bass lines ever created. The fourth track on the album, Breed, is full of aggression, driven by drummer Dave Grohl’s relentless drumming and bassist Krist Novoselic’s pounding bass line.
Kurt Cobain’s lyrics add the gloss to these songs. Whether he’s singing lyrics from somewhere deep inside or screaming at the top of his lungs, he has the voice which compliments every song on the album in its own unique way. The seventh track, Territorial Pissings, is just over two minutes of punk rock onslaught where as the song Polly, is a beautiful acoustic track, showing there’s far more to Nevermind than loud amps and distortion pedals.
In truth, there’s not a weak song on the album and every track has something memorable about it. Nirvana opened the doors of success for many of the bands around today, including Flyleaf and Staind who both cite Nirvana as major influences. It’s 21 years on since the release of Nevermind and the album still sounds like it could have been released in this day and age.
For me, albums which stand the test of time are the best ones and that’s why Nirvana’s Nevermind, will go down as one of the greatest albums of all time.
