Nevermind this; Buy the Album!

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Everyone knows this album, but I wanted something really special to review (since this should take me to my first £50!) and it just had to be this. My regular readers may well know I can never decide on an all time favourite album (see my ‘thumbs up’ list for some clues) but this was the first album I ever bought (originally for £8.79 on tape) and still one of my favourites.

I’m assuming you all know who Nirvana were, they revolutionised rock music in the early 1990s, wiping away big-haired glam rock and bringing grunge to the masses. This album was by no means the start of it all though. Grunge was pioneered within Seattle by the likes of Mudhoney and Soundgarden. Nirvana formed in 1987 and released their first album (‘Bleach’) in 1989. By ‘Nevermind’ however they had their classic line up in place:

Kurt Cobain – vocals/guitar

David Grohl – drums/vocals

Chris Novoselic – bass/vocals

The album was released in 1991 by Geffen (by arrangement with Sub Pop) and brought grunge into the mainstream, selling well over 10 million copies. Producer was Butch Vig (now a member of Garbage) and mixing was by Andy Wallace. The cover of the album shows a naked baby boy, floating in water and a dollar bill on a hook just in front of him.

Anyway, on to the music! What better way to start an album than ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’? It’s the one you all know, ten years after its original release, I’ve still heard it played in nightclubs! That introduction is instantly recognisable, starting off quietly, then more instruments come in as it ‘rocks out’ before quietening once more for the start of the vocals. The beginning is quiet and sad, “Load up on guns and bring your friends/ It’s fun to lose and to pretend” but as soon as the chorus kicks in it defies you not to dance around like an idiot.

There’s not much more I can say about the song itself; you must know it and it regularly features highly in ‘greatest songs ever’ polls. Their most popular song, however, became something of a shackle for the band. Many people were unable to look beyond this, and Kurt soon grew fed up of having to play this at every show. The shambolic performance on Top Of The Pops was just one demonstration of his frustration, and ultimately it perhaps contributed towards his suicide in 1994, when the fame became too much for him.

Next song, ‘In Bloom’ is something different. Again, it begins with a soft, almost-spoken verse, before launching in to a high adrenaline chorus. The song seems to be a message to those who think with this album, or the previous hit single, Nirvana had in some way ‘sold out’. The tremendous sing-along chorus mocks bandwagon-jumping ‘trendy’ fans:

“He’s the one who likes all the pretty songs

And he likes to sing along

And he likes to shoot his gun

But he knows not what it means”

A song striking out against society, encapsulating angst and rebellion. Pretty angry stuff, given it was apparently written about one of Kurt’s friends.

The mood changes for ‘Come As You Are’, a quiet reflective song, and another popular Nirvana classic. There’s a gentle repetitive beat throughout most of the song. Kurt’s singing is again closer to softly speaking than traditional singing, but he has a wonderful voice, and the gentle acoustic and repetitive song is very soothing and relaxing. It’s a good demonstration that, when Nirvana turn down the volume and distortion, they can write quality melodic tunes, something demonstrated better on ‘Unplugged In New York’, but rarely so clear on their studio output.

After this lull in the energy, however, they crank it up again for the heaviest song on the album. ‘Breed’ is fast, punky and full of runaway vocals, seemingly nonsense, but dealing with the expectations and promise of a relationship:

“We don’t have to breed

We could plant a house

We could build a tree

I don’t even care

We could have all three

She said”

And my personal favourite, ‘Lithium’, which is a song in two parts. Quiet verses deal with paranoia and isolation, before cries of ‘yeeeaaahh’ and then once more quiet, mellow choruses. It sounds slightly disturbing in the chorus, but it’s catchy, dynamic (with the changes from loud to soft) and beautifully moving.

Possibly more moving is ‘Polly’, a slow-paced acoustic song. It’s very sad, mournful sounding vocals and soft guitar strings. You get a fair clear idea of Kurt’s not fitting in and possible self-loathing conveyed. Some people think it’s another beautifully moving piece. Personally, it’s never had such a great affect on me, and I prefer the ‘new wave’ (harder and faster) version on ‘Incesticide’, but it’s still a good song. On the cassette, this closed side one, ending the run of hit singles, and leading on to a second side that some considered not as good, and a pale copy of the ideas that had come before.

Personally I think the high quality is maintained. The difference is that the second half has songs that aren’t singles; they’re not as immediate. In fact, I’d say they’re ‘album tracks’, but this doesn’t mean fillers by any rate, just those songs that take a while to grow on you, but then absolutely take hold, becoming personal favourites and works of under rated genius.

The second half of the album kicks off with the furious ‘Territorial Pissings’. Opening with a strange, twisted sounding voice encouraging people to come on and love one another, it bursts into another speedy rocker, reminiscent of ‘Breed’ from earlier on. The chorus is a thunderous one, full of unrelenting energy and, although this may not be such an obvious hit as what came before, it’s still a very good song, even though it does lose some coherence towards the end, threatening to descend into mindless thrashing.

Following this comes ‘Drain You’, beginning with Kurt singing over very minimalist instrumental, but building to a more energetic conclusion. Again, the style changes throughout the song, and if I had to compare it to something from the first half, it’d probably be ‘Lithium’. Whereas that was introspective, however, this has more of a ‘good time’ feel to it, although still seeming to describe a dysfunctional relationship.

My favourite of the second half though is ‘Lounge Act’. It’s a compromise between the full-on rock songs and the gentler moments of the album. It’s quite melodic and tuneful, but still with room for another energetic chorus.

Next up, ‘Stay Away’ repeats the ideas of isolation:

“Monkey see, monkey do

I don’t know why I’d rather be dead than cool

Every line ends in rhyme

Less is more, love is blind

Stay away”

It’s another fast, energetic song, Kurt practically screaming the chorus, repeatedly ‘stay away’. It manages to do this, however, without losing its structure. The content is another reflection of disaffected youth, protesting against norms imposed by society (“God is gay, burn the flag”). Pretty similar to what’s come before, but fresh enough not to appear formulaic.

‘On A Plain’, the penultimate song proper, returns to the gentler sound of ‘Come As You Are’. Again, its beauty is arguably best appreciated in the acoustic version (from ‘Unplugged’) but even here it’s a pretty good song, with some of the most tuneful singing on the album:

“Somewhere I have heard this before

In a dream my memory is stored

As a defence I’m neutered and spayed

What the hell am I trying to say”

Last proper song on the album is the moving ‘Something In The Way’; a pain-filled tale of Kurt’s life as a homeless runaway, living “underneath the bridge”. It’s slow and understandably sad, and not a song I usually like much. Occasionally, however, I appreciate that it is not only a very moving but also beautiful song, and I have to say it’s probably grown on me, even after all these years! Not the best in my opinion, but an appropriate ending.

It seems to last much longer than 3:45, but is followed by just over ten minutes of silence, before a ‘hidden’ track, ‘Endless Nameless’. Most hidden tracks are a joke, often mere random noise or the sound of the band playing around in the studio. This one, although not of regular album quality (it was used as a b-side) is pretty good. It’s 6:40 duration alternates noisy choruses with the respite provided by gentler verses, featuring a ‘fuzzy’ kind of background noise, with screeching distortion. Slightly repetitive, but a nice cyclical pattern to the song, and a pretty good end to a classic album.

In fact, this is undisputedly a classic album, and I’d expect anyone interested to own it, almost irrespective of preferred musical tastes, if they went to school in the early 1990s. The album launched a musical revolution, and gave a voice to alienated youth. A whole new alternative culture was thrust from the underground to prominence. The subject matter largely concerned ‘teenage angst’ and alienation, although in a far more sophisticated way than the current Limp Bizkit style (which would probably never have evolved had Nirvana not changed the alternative music scene ten years ago)

Die-hard fans sometimes see this album as something of a sell out, preferring the even more angst-ridden ‘In Utero’. ‘Nevermind’, while enjoying commercial success, is far from a happy pop record though. True, Kurt had the ability to write catchy hooks, and described Nirvana once as a very heavy pop band, but their subject matter was far darker, even here.

I’d be torn between this and ‘In Utero’ if asked to recommend their best album. ‘In Utero’ may have been truer to Kurt’s inner feelings of pain, but this contains most of the big hit songs. ‘In Utero’ has more effectively realised variation between songs (in particular, the quieter songs, ‘Dumb’ and ‘All Apologies’, work better than those here) but, while consistent, it never reaches the peaks here. Overall, it would be a difficult choice, but I’d say if you like this music, and bands like Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl’s post –Nirvana outfit), Everclear, Silverchair or Creed, it’s probably worth getting both. If pressed to choose one, I’d probably say this, as it’s the one that made the more significant historical impact on music, and a legacy that endured throughout the 1990s and beyond, still influencing the likes of Bush and Offspring.

In case you’re interested, there were four singles off this album:

1 Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Even In His Youth/ Aneurysm (also available in another version featuring those three tracks and Drain You)

2 In Bloom/ Sliver (live)/ Polly (live)

3 Come As You Are/ Endless, Nameless/ School (live)/ Drain You (live)

4 Lithium/ Been A Son (live)/ Curmudgeon

The Lithium single also features printed lyrics to all the songs on the album (except ‘Endless, Nameless’). Unfortunately, the words aren’t included with the album itself, although there is an inane poem made from assembled bits of lyrics. If you can’t find the singles separately, they should still be available as a box set with the two from ‘In Utero’ (‘Heart-Shaped Box’ and ‘All Apologies’) for £20-25. There’s also a new Nirvana box set scheduled to be released autumn 2001 (although currently delayed because Courtney Love is refusing to allow the inclusion of their last, previously unreleased, song).

The only hesitations I’d have in recommending this would be:

a) It’s fairly old, and it might seem better to get something new and fresh, although I don’t think this holds a lot of weight as much of this contemporary alternative music is only a watered down re-hash of this.

b) It might be better to wait for the box set anyway, to see what that offers.

Really though, you should have this album anyway. It’s a 10/10 classic.

From www.dooyoo.co.uk

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