I think the original reason I went out and bought
\nNevermind<\/i>, the major label debut by Seattle grungesters
\nNirvana, was because I was curious. My family didn’t have cable, so
\nit wasn’t like I could turn the TV on and see the video. I guess I
\ncould have turned on the radio… why I didn’t, I don’t know.<\/p>\n
The first time I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blaring out of
\nmy speakers, I thought it was okay, but I didn’t understand why
\npeople were going ga-ga over this band. I put the tape aside for a
\nwhile… a week later, I found myself listening to it on a regular
\nbasis.<\/p>\n
Of all the groups that came out of Seattle during the grunge
\nfad, Kurt Cobain and crew probably put out the best album of the
\nwhole scene in
\nNevermind<\/i>. Wrapping up anger, angst and strung-out energy
\ninto one distortion-laden package, they created an album that is
\nalready being touted as a classic.<\/p>\n
No doubt about it, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is a song that
\ndefined the whole scene. Part nonsensical (“A mulatto \/ An albino \/
\nA mosquito \/ My libido”), part crunch provided by Cobain, bassist
\nKrist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl — all honesty. Nirvana
\ncaptured the moment so well in these four minutes in a way that I
\ndon’t think any other band ever came close to.<\/p>\n
If this were the only shining moment on
\nNevermind<\/i>, it would still be worthy of praise. But Nirvana
\nfollow that up with a slew of songs that hold their own just as
\nwell. “Come As You Are” shows that Cobain and crew don’t always
\nneed the guitars cranked up to get your attention — a fact they
\nprove later on the album with the acoustic numbers “Polly” and
\n“Something In The Way.” (In a sense, the acoustic setting of
\n“Polly” helps to hammer home the sinister theme of the song.)<\/p>\n
Nirvana also shows on
\nNevermind<\/i> that they know the importance of the occasional
\nharmony vocals (“In Bloom”, “On A Plain”), as well as when to just
\nthrow caution to the wind and charge full throttle into the abyss
\n(“Bloom”, “Territorial Pissings”). Fact is, there is not one bad
\nmoment on this album. Cobain and crew’s songwriting was at its peak
\nwith this album – and, in a sense, that also proved to be their
\ndownfall. As a band, Nirvana was expected to create albums that
\nwere on par with
\nNevermind<\/i>; as an anti-hero, Cobain unexpectedly struck a
\nvein of disenfranchised members of Generation X who now looked to
\nhim as a role model, a role he was never comfortable with.<\/p>\n
The only drawback — if there is one — to
\nNevermind<\/i> is that you have to be patient with the shifts in
\nstyles that Nirvana undertake from song to song. Going from the
\nsurprise poppiness of “Lounge Act” to the orgasmic release of “Stay
\nAway,” or from the rumblings of “Lithium” to the gentleness of
\n“Polly,” sometimes it feels like you can never get settled into the
\nalbum. (And, I’m sorry, but I have to cringe every time I hear in
\n“Come As You Are”: “And I swear that I don’t have a gun.” After the
\nsuicide of Cobain, those lyrics are a bit ironic — and painful —
\nto listen to.)<\/p>\n
\nNevermind<\/i> is the masterpiece of the grunge era of rock – and
\njust may be compared in the same breath to albums like
\nSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/i> in about ten years.
\nWhatever the case, it’s worth your attention now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5680],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36157","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nirvana","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36157"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36157"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}