Variation is a big thing in the music business these days. Dare to stick to the same formula for to long and your guaranteed to be disbanded within the next 6 months. Many-a-modern band (linkin park, good charlotte) already receive flack for sticking to the angst filled formula for a mere two albums, petty beyond belief if you ask me. Music is about speaking your mind, and if a band has no wish to be changing it’s mind due to a minority, then it won’t. It was down to this that Nirvana took over the rock world in the early 90’s. ‘Bleach’, the debut release in 1989, showed all the hallmarks of being a punk classic, mixing rawer production with a much inexperienced band itself, led to, if you like, a revolution. However, with the winds of change in effect, the release of Nevermind in 1991, and it’s subsequent 15 odd million sales, came more down to the radio-friendly tracks. Kurt (a man more intelligent than some would have you think), knew that the set formula of ‘Bleach’ wouldn’t last another album, and set about changing the bands sound and in effect, target audience. Of course were I to ask for a track from the album, the majority would respond with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, when in truth there are far better here. Undoubtedly one of the finest and most influential albums in rock history, the one thing that could never be claimed about the album is that it was dull. The band themselves have influenced hundreds upon hundreds of modern bands, with each setting themselves around ‘Nevermind’, a very wise choice indeed.

Kurt Donald Cobain, a man full of more misery and woe than most could ever imagine, managed to keep himself in check to reach the sophomore album. As I’ve stated previously, it is claimed that this was in fact to over-produced for his liking and his personal preference was ‘In Utero’, but that takes nothing away from what this album gave his fans. The album gave his fans a personal and more haunting glimpse into Cobain’s mind, with songs such as ‘Something In The Way’ being very personal. It’s said that had Kurt not been as screwed up as he was, that his music would have been far less interesting and had less personal influence - but to be frank, his fans would relate to anything he wrote regardless of his mental state, there was just something about him that drew you to him. Anyway, ten years on from Cobain’s suicide and Nevermind continues to sell like hot-cakes, something that alone shows you the influence that the man and his band still have today, with the name ‘Nirvana’ being passed down through generations of families (yes it may sound far fetched but believe me, it’s true). Nevermind is, to me, the greatest album in the history of rock, not because of the fact that it’s a Nirvana record, but because each and every song gives a glimpse into Cobain’s soul, almost linking you with him in a way.

I just wish that some people would get a clue and understand there’s far more to Nirvana and their music than one poxy radio-hit. By all means, there’s a lot I don’t know, but I know that it isn’t a one song band. As far as Nevermind goes, the best songs personally, are the superb Lounge Act, a track that begins with a trademark Cobain growl, and Stay Away, a loud raucous ‘grunge’ moment. Of course I could point to the likes of Lithium and Come As You Are and say genius, but you already know that, they are two of the bands finest tracks, but as I say - you know that already. ‘In Bloom’, another of my favourite Nirvana tracks, was previously released through Sub-Pop in 1990, with an accompanying video that has since surfaced in the ‘With The Lights Out’ box-set. It is one of the bands harder songs, consisting of Kurt’s typical quite-loud-quite-loud formula (hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it). As pointed out earlier, Something In The Way, probably the most personal song Kurt ever wrote, talks of his supposed time living under the Wishkah river in his home town of Aberdeen. It’s an acoustic solo again comprising of the quite-loud route to success, and boy does it work. Lyrically, Cobain has generally been a hard man to grasp, yet Nevermind makes clear his intentions, with Come As You Are and it’s well known “and I swear that I don’t have a gun’ being one of the most haunting lines he’d ever written, especially when you take into context what was to happen just 3 years down the line.