Nevermind hits the three quarter century of reviews on Ciao and I though it would be nice for someone who was actually there to write a review about it. Way back in the late 80’s music was stagnating and there was no good rock music getting to get general public in this country. Hair Metal and Thrash ruled the day, and the days were long dark and horrible. Hair metal was evil and needed to be killed, Thrash had the initial anger of punk but failed to live up to the limited promise that it had. Indie music at the time had too few great bands, rave culture was becoming increasingly moronic, and by ’89 there was a feeling that something was going to hit. I got into the Pixes at this time through a friend and he dragged me to see Nirvana at the Calton Studios in Edinburgh sometime in 89 or 90 or 91, I can’t remember exactly when mainly due to the amount of fantastic drugs around at the time (1). However I was completely blown away by them, apparently the night after they played an acoustic set in the Southern bar on South Clerk Street, I wasn’t there but I could easily have been.

A mere six months was all it took to turn that around, and you could not go to any half way self respecting rock club without hearing one of the many singles of this album, and Hair Metal was gone for another 13 years.

Opening with “Smells like Teen Sprit” the album launches into one of the most recognisable riffs of the last 20 years. This riff now annoys folk in guitar shops all over the world; I never play guitars in guitar shops as it is a very sad and pathetic activity. Check the action, and intonation then get out is what I say. The song is definitely a Pixies rip of with the loud / quiet thing going on with but a good Pixes rip off so they are forgiven. The line “Here we are now imitate us” points to their already pissed off with the record industry state of mind. The song was brutally overplayed and only now can I listen to it and enjoy it again now years later. “In Bloom” points in the direction of the Pixes again Kurt's vocal and guitar playing are both dirty as hell and Dave Ghrol’s drumming really drives the song. With “Come As You Are” they blatantly rip of Killing Joke’s “Eighties” the bass line being virtually identical but a lot more laid back that Killing Joke could be, and there still are nods in the direction of the Pixies. “Breed” has Dave Ghrol driving the song from behind the drum kit a superbly overdriven fuzz bass line with Curt laying out sound scrapes on his guitar before strumming the hell out of it for pure energy it doesn’t get much better than this.
“Lithium” take the proceedings down a bit with a relaxed drum beat and melodic bass line before the chorus hits and continues to go on like this, and I hate to say it again but they were really copying the from Pixies, but they were doing it well. “Polly” slips an acoustic slant of things and makes a refreshing change from the abrasion of the rest of the album so far. That is brought to an abrupt end by “Territorial Pissings” which is 2 minutes and 23 seconds of the best abrasive punk rock and roll in the world, by far the best track on the album, and no obvious ripping off of the Pixes either, well a little bit but only a little.

quiet bit with melodic bass line and singing, loud bit with fuzzy overdriven guitars and screaming and repeat until the song is over……and the odd acoustic number to end the side.

My own feelings on the album are mixed on one hand I love its energy and power, on the other I can see just how much they ripped off the Pixes on this record. I also feel that this album and the band have been vastly overrated in the years following Kurt’s death, yes they were great, but they did heavily rip off other bands that were truly ground breaking.