Nirvana- Nevermind

I almost hesitated to review this album since what more can be said about one of the most influential albums of the last 20 years? Released in 1991 on Geffen Records, it took rock music into a totally different direction. The “Hair Metal” scene of the late 80’s seemed passé after Kurt Cobain and his crew assaulted the ears of suburban America.

As Nirvana’s first major label release, the band blended punk and metal, added some Seattle flavor and went into the studio to make the album that defined the early 1990’s. Looking back at the band, Krist Novoselic was a talented bassist, Dave Grohl was a great drummer, and Cobain was competent enough on guitar to make it work, while possessing a voice that perfectly fit the music, if nothing else.

The album beings with “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, and to be honest, even though I have heard the song literally thousands of times, whenever it is on the radio or on my Ipod via shuffle, it’s always worth a listen. When it comes to songs that don’t get press, “Territorial Pissings” is the most underrated song on the album. With a pounding beat by Grohl, who was at his best in this song, and Cobain combining singing with a howl that brings to mind “Enter A Uh”, it is truly a Nirvana classic that not enough people heard.

Was it the album that created the alternative music scene in the USA in the 1990s and into the current day? Some may argue yes, some no. I see it somewhere in the middle. Nevermind was an album that was ‘alternative” in the purest sense of the word. In that sense it was the start of the movement. Still there were bands like Jane’s Addiction that had created masterpieces in the late 1980s and it can be argued that Nevermind was the tipping point of the revolution. Overall, it was a great album that has stood the test of time. Almost 20 years later, it still sounds as fresh as it did in 1991.

Thanks to Jim Dutch for the Japanese import version of this album.

Grade—A-