Published on Nov 8, 2004
When grunge hit the air waves in 1991, I was only six years old
and more concerned with watching cartoons on Saturday then keeping
up with the explosion of alternative rock. As such, the hugely
successful release of
Nevermind passed me by. Flash forward to 2004, as the
nineteen-year-old version of me decided to give a listen to what
has been deemed one of the best and most influential rock releases
of the 90’s.
I can definitely see where the “influential” aspect comes in. In
terms of style and songwriting,
Nevermind is a definite foundation for most of the rock that
would come out of the 90’s. for better or worse. Loud, distorted
guitars, raging, sometime screaming vocals, and lyrics that range
from the pessimistic, to the positive, and to the apathetic. It is
the latter that most impressed me. The words Cobain crafts
perfectly encapsulate the Generation X mindset, of isolation,
non-conformity, and yes, depression.
I’ve given you some good news, and here is some more.
Nevermind at times is very, very good. There is some strong
material, as evidenced by the classic single, “Smells Like Teen
Spirit.” This song should be placed in the Smithsonian, as one of
those tracks that defines a genre, combining all the elements of
grunge into an effective, and indeed catchy piece of work. The band
also finds success when they tone it down, as in the acoustic
tracks “Polly” and the album closer, “Something In The Way.”
“Polly” is a song that captivated me from the first listen, for
reasons I don’t know. There is something haunting in the
performance of Cobain that keeps me interested.
What about the rest of the material you ask? After the halfway
point of the album, I started to lose interest. The legend of this
album led me to believe I was in for a mind-blowing experience, but
it was not too be. Simple put, most of the songs on Nevermind sound
the same. Cobain was a very talented lyricist, but the same could
not be said of his skill with a guitar. The rest of the band failed
to impress, except for bassist Chris Novoselic, whose ability to
shift from McCartney-esque melodic type playing to heavy metal-type
playing gained my respect. Overall, unfortunately, these are simple
songs the get by because of the solid leadership and words of
Cobain, and the work of Novoselic.
Nevermind rocks like any other album, but not in the way it
should. The whole idea of grunge was that it was “not clean.”
Distortion, sloppy guitar work, anger expressed through music. Here
is the paradox of
Nevermind; it is too well-produced. While there are some
songs the band offers up to dispel this notion, such as
“Territorial Pissings,” the rest of the album sounds too much like
what Nirvana did not want to be. There are some quite decent
harmonies to be found, e.g. “In Bloom,” and they sound nice, but
they go against the notion of what
Nevermind should sound like.
Nevermind is considered to have that “sacred cow” status of
the great albums, which made it tough to review this album. I’m
aware of what people think of it, and I know what this album did to
the music industry, and realize its significance, but with the
passing of time and the tragic death of Cobain, its actual quality
may have been exaggerated.