Nirvana - Nevermind
Grunge Rock – Released September 24, 1991 – 11 songs, 49 mins
REID
This week in TSR world, we throw it back to the unprecedented period of music in 1991 I gushed about in my RATM review . 31 years ago! The true beauty of music and art in general is its timelessness. Think of the joy your favourite music brings you. That feeling is mutual with thousands and oftentimes millions of others. You know what’s even more special? It will be shared by many people out there for the very first time later today. And tomorrow. That’s why we do this. Let’s discuss the incredible ride that is Nevermind.
The remarkable, yet tragic story of Nirvana is well told. The trio of Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic took the music industry by storm, spearheading the Seattle grunge movement along with Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots (San Diego). After gaining notoriety with their first studio album, Bleach, their sophomore effort benefitted from gained experience and the addition of Dave on drums, skyrocketing the band into superstardom.The lift off was initiated with Smells Like Teen Spirit. Nirvana’s attempt at the ‘ultimate pop song’ and a loose imitation of Kurt’s main influence, The Pixies. We often talk about album openers and first impressions. Imagine succumbing to the hype in ‘91, heading to your favourite music shop to grab the Nevermind cassette and hearing this. Just one of the most influential songs of all time, ho hum.
It’s tough to envision these three individuals producing bad music with their talent levels. But many musical supergroups and sports teams have proven you can’t just stack the deck without chemistry. Nirvana had that in abundance. Much of Nevermind, like my favourite track In Bloom, is of the quiet/loud dynamic style. Hearing them start slow, build up and lash out only to settle back down is truly epic. It hits exactly as it should sonically with tight bass lines, edgy guitar riffs and incredible drumming in what proved to be Grohl’s coming out party. Of course, you can’t forget Kurt’s iconic voice. His tormented mumbles and perfectly imperfect screams vaulted him at or near the top of the rock star pyramid where he remains all these years later.
Album composition greatly benefits from that build-up style but the band and producer, Butch Vig, deserve a ton of credit for every touch. In your face punk rock songs like Breed, Territorial Pissings and Stay Away are masterfully positioned next to Lithium, Polly, Drain You and On A Plain. You’re never left too high or too low, just in a state of bliss enjoying the moment. My song notes often read something along the lines of ‘let’s f*ckin gooo’.
Kurt was well known for his deep, meaningful lyrics and this album is full of absolute beauties. A highlight for me is Polly. It was written from the point of view of rapist, Gerald Friend, who gruesomely abducted a 14-year-old girl in Tacoma, Washington in 1987. She was suspended from the ceiling, brutally tortured and sexually abused. Fortunately, she managed to escape but I’m sure the mental anguish lives on. Why would Kurt write about something so twisted and what makes it special? Kurt was a feminist who often spoke out on violence against women. He thought rape was the worst crime of all. To address something so sinister, he believed you had to confront the evil instead of shying away. I think the fact the girl was taken after a rock concert had an impact. Songs with such depth make a lot of music look like children’s finger paintings compared to this Picasso.
The heights reached by Nirvana were deserved but unexpected. This album changed the music landscape forever. The enormous societal pressures and mental health impacts proved to be too much, ultimately contributing to Kurt taking his own life in April 1994. Of the five bands noted above, only Eddie Vedder remains alive as a frontman.
Nevermind is firmly planted on many ‘Greatest albums of all time’ lists and for good reason. It was a key piece in the revolution of mainstream rock and roll. Every song kicks ass. It was awesome then and it’s just as good today.
Overall Rating - 10/10
Favourite Song - In Bloom
LUNDI
Ah, the nostalgic review. A simple yet rare pleasure at TSR. While our main goal is and always will be to find new music for both our followers and ourselves, there is always time to throw it back and show love to the classics. Today TSR takes the opportunity to look back on grunge pioneers Nirvana and their masterpiece album Nevermind.
On early listens of the album I was reminded of a fun exercise in music that has been tossed around by major blogs over the years as to what is the greatest 3 song album run in history. While there are many viable answers pending your go to music style it should to be to no one’s surprise Radiohead is at the forefront of this writers mind (OK Computer; Exit Music, Let Down, Karma Police). To be completely honest there was never much competition in play until deep diving this album for TSR but it’s safe to say a new contender has entered the ring. The opening trio of Smells Like Teen Spirit (a top 10 song of all time), In Bloom, and Come As You Are is hard hitting rock music perfection that simply cannot be denied a spot at the top. To go a step further, if we bump it to a run of 5 tracks there isn’t a single band that can even come close to holding a candle to Nevermind as Breed and Lithium are down right filthy tracks in their own right.
The album doesn’t exactly fall off the pedestal either as you can find redeemable and addicting qualities of the entire back half. Polly’s true story subject and lyrics are so haunting despite being composed over a campfire-esq acoustic guitar and Territorial Pissings is a punk lead direct to mixing deck jam about the importance and strength of women. Drain You’s eleven dubbed guitars highlights producer Butch Vig’s importance to the album and Lounge Act’s title inspired bass line is a tongue in cheek track that Kurt funny enough despised. Stay Away sees Cobain well ahead of his time once again with writing as the focus on hatred for religion is still a major topic in todays world while finishing tracks On A Plain and Something In The Way are quite sad in hindsight as they reflect more on Kurt’s personal struggles and create an everlasting somber effect on the album. This is really just the bare minimum scratching of the surface on what’s great about all these tracks though and you could truly write a 500 word review on each individual one. It should come as no surprise what the final album score is on this one when all is said and done but I’m not quite finished gushing over this album yet.
One of the most often overlooked aspects of Nevermind is its importance in 90’s culture. Today that can often be forgotten because of just how great the music is but Nirvana not only fuelled a left turn in music style with grunge rock they also supported a cultural youth movement. In so many ways similar to today, there were 90’s riots on religion, race, inequality, and politics amongst the younger generation and while there were many surrounding factors that promoted these acts of rebellion, Nirvana were a catalyst and a soundtrack to the movement. Kurt Cobain became a symbol for the people on Nevermind and used his platform to support their efforts. The album is so much more than just excellent rock music and has an everlasting cultural impact even today.
Finally before we part ways it’s necessary to note that the my driving force of wanting to review this album was Nirvana’s drummer and rock god Dave Grohl. The hardship that this man has faced between losing both Kurt and Taylor is impossible to put into words but so is his contribution to music through Nirvana and Foo Fighters. Despite being a self proclaimed awful drummer Grohl absolutely kicks the shit out of the drum kit on Nevermind. There has to be holes in the bass drum after each performance. He has the punk roots to thrash but he can nail the simplistic snare pattern too. While he might not be too complimentary of his own work, it’s a stand out feature on Nevermind that truly puts home how musically talented the man is. I hope he can find beauty in the music he made with both his fallen friends.
Nevermind is musically perfect from every angle with the cultural impact to match.
Simply put one of the greatest albums ever.
Overall Rating: 10/10
Favourite Song: Come As You Are
ROZ
At the forefront of this week's album review, it must be prefaced that this particular album shared the golden combination of being groundbreaking for its time while also having a message so powerful and topical that it could have come out in the year 2022 and would have still been as relevant as it was back in the early 1990’s. A testament to how talented the band was? How amazing the songwriting was? How fucked up our society still is? Why not all of the above! Ladies and Gentlemen: Nevermind by Nirvana.
Enter the first few bars of Smells Like Teen Spirit - a song that completely took over the airwaves and became a sleeper hit in September of 1991 - with its iconic chord progression, drum fill and Nirvana-signature wall of sound exploding directly afterwards. In fact while record sales were modestly forecasted, expectations were completely blown out of the water as copies of the record flew off the shelves (to the point where Nirvana’s record label had to halt the production of all other albums in order to fulfill demand). Smells Like Teen Spirit’s music video premiered on MTV and soon became a staple for the channel, further skyrocketing the album and band as a whole. Nevermind became the band's first number one album by January (replacing Michael Jackson’s Dangerous no less) and ultimately became not certified gold, not platinum, but diamond; selling more than 30 million copies worldwide overall. By God.
Now onto the music itself. No production magic, synthesizer swells or pinpoint-precision programming going on here folks; just pure, unadulterated energy directly focused and rapid-fired as we move track to track. The band uses playing and singing techniques that contrast the dynamics of their sound to maximum effect, bridging soft components into brash, earth shatteringly loud components (Endless, Nameless being the absolute pinnacle of this concept). In Bloom lyrically pokes fun at all of Nirvana’s new fans over a medium-tempo rock masterclass. The iconic songs stretch across the entire tracklist, with Cobain’s dark lyrics (some say stemming from his breakup with Bikini Kill founding member Tobi Vail) matching his catchy guitar play (including his very rare guitar solo seen on Come As You Are), and Dave Grohl’s ever-amazing skills on the drum kit - which is only proven further by his longevity in his still active band Foo Fighters. The lyrical genius of Cobain cannot be understated, as from each song to the next he delivers one memorable line after another. Lithium stands out over the rest for this reviewer, as its constant up and down movement of energy and manic–depressive lyrics perfectly encapsulate what Kurt suffered through - and eventually succumbed to. RIP Cobain.
Nevermind is not to be overshadowed by the (much to Kurt’s chagrin) pop culture sensation and 90’s anthem that is Smells Like Teen Spirit. It retains its legacy for good reason; this album wrote the damn playbook for grunge rock and completely broke the mold for rock music at the time, shifting to a more introspective musical style within the genre and getting the mass populace away from hair rock and everything else carried over from the 1980’s. Is this album arguably a 10/10 album? Yes. Do I absolutely hate Polly’s dissonant drivel? Also yes. Needless to say, Nevermind was the paradigm shift that the music industry so desperately needed - while sparking a cultural revolution in the process.
Overall Rating - 9.8/10
Favourite Song - Lithium