NIRVANA: Nevermind

Prologue

No other album had such a great impact on my life like ‘Nevermind’. It somehow marked the final stage of my quest regarding ‘the perfect music’ for me. I was 14 when I first listened to this album and even now I’m blown away as much as I was the first time.

Although this happened in 2004, somehow I’ve always been connected to ‘Nevermind’ as I was born in 1991, the same year Nirvana recorded it, released it and eventually changed the world with it. The music that lied inside that cassette marked me in a very positive way. It changed my mentality, my view on music and it also made me discover Kurt Cobain; the artist and the man behind the icon.

The irony is that I had their cassette since forever but I never had the interest in listening to it until I read an article with Kurt Cobain and his tragic suicide. I suddenly became curious and hooked so I rushed after their music, hungry for something new yet so old. And the cassette was still there, on the top of a tall cupboard, lying in dust and waiting to be discovered. The cover case was missing so I did not know what the album’s name was. It could have been ‘Bleach’ or ‘In Utero’, I did not care. But it was ‘Nevermind’, as I found out at the end of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ when Cobain’s haunting voice pronounced the magic word.

Review Style

The review for this album will be written in an unusual and original style. I won’t talk about the songs and the feelings they deliver in past tense but in present time. I’ll be writing the experience like it’s happening now for the first time. Here we go…

SIDE A

Track no. 1

A few seconds of silence before the song begins with a clean guitar intro. After that a very catchy yet hard riff comes to the surface washing away the silence. It’s very dynamic and it has a very ‘larger-than-life’ sound. The drumming is very powerful and it promises us a very cool punk rock song. But after a bit, it slows down and the bass comes in, taking the lead. The drums are still present but not so powerful anymore. The clean guitar has a passive role. And then he starts singing in a very clear voice although you can’t quite understand what he is singing about. The melody is very simple yet so unique and almost haunting. It’s a very powerful voice and the effect that it has on you cannot be described in words. It sounds sincere and comes from the pit of his soul. Then in the heavy chorus the voice becomes angry and rebellion breaks loose. He is almost yelling, ready to unleash his demons through his guitar and mouth. Although it has a very punk sound to it, pop elements are also clearly present. The ‘Hey!’ part at the end of the chorus was clearly made with cool some studio trickery. But it suits the song so well. The storm calms down again and the second verse comes along. You’re already used to his voice and you finally start understanding some of the lyrics. It is pure nonsense, but somehow they still mean something and manage to leave a beautiful imagery behind. The solo copies the exact pattern of the melody from the verse and it’s done perfectly. The echo of the last note fades away slowly in the third and also the last verse, this along with his anguished voice creates an incredible and unique sound. The outro is very aggressive, ‘a denial!’ being yelled over and over again. It kind of makes sense now… the song is about rejection, denial and rebellion. The title is perfectly chosen, capturing the true essence of the song, the album and also of the early 90’s when something new was in the air. The title is Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Track no. 2

Just like SLTS, this second song starts off heavy with another hooky and great riff. These riffs are very important elements of this album. They make it timeless and unforgettable, even after one listening. After the heavy riff, Kurt Cobain starts singing in a very low-keyed voice. After a few seconds it gets louder and then it erupts in an anthem chorus. You can understand the lyrics and they make more sense this time. The word ‘gun’ is used again, indicating a possible obsession of Cobain for them. The drums are powerful while the bass, while not as prominent as in SLTS, still has a very important role. The vocals are just fantastic. I found out in a documentary that Dave Grohl recorded harmonies, this way making one hell of a song. This was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite songs of his own, mostly because of the message behind it. It tells us about people who love Nirvana’s music, sing along their pretty songs although they don’t know that it’s an anti-song against them. Even though I like this fan-favorite a lot, it’s not in my Top-10. It’s interesting to note that the song was written in 1989 and was recorded at first with Chad Channing when the band was still on Sub-Pop. This song is of course, In Bloom.

Track no. 3

The first chords into this masterpiece nearly made me cry. It finally hit me that the song is so many years old and the creator behind it is gone and he will never make music again. The album finally slows down a bit with this amazing melody. Another catchy riff opens the song, and shortly after that Kurt Cobain starts singing in his characteristic grungy voice. The lyrics are not so cryptic anymore but you still can’t fully understand what’s the meaning. It will take you a few listens to realize that that’s the beauty of it. The bridge is very poppy sounding and then a short drum solo leads to the greatest chorus of the album. You become instantly hooked on that melody. There is again a reference to guns. The chorus is ‘And I swear that I don’t have a gun… no I don’ have a gun’ and it goes on and on. It’s my favorite song of the album and my favorite song ever from Nirvana. It was their second single off ‘Nevermind’ and although it didn’t have the same success as Smells Like Teen Spirit it still was a great hit. This song is Come As You Are.

Track no. 4

If Come As You Are had the perfect, poppy and melodic intro, this song is exactly the opposite. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing. On the contrary, the ‘trashy’ intro only proves me once again the bi-polarity of the album: the soft and poppy side of it and the grungy one. And wow, this song doesn’t seem to stop a bit. It’s fast, heavy and the echoes from each verse are just mesmerizing. Then comes the characteristic anthem chorus with non-sense lyrics like ‘we can plant a house and we can build a tree’. It’s a really fun song although it’s clearly not the best one from the album. It’s also pretty short. Well, it’s a punk song, what was I expecting from it? The song is called Breed.

Track no. 5

Just when I thought the album will get even harder, this fifth song surprises me once again. That clean intro makes you very curious how this song will turn out to be. And wow… I’m already impressed. So far, this song has the catchiest lyrics. Kurt sings something about being happy… In the second verse I realized that it was yet another bunch of nihilistic lyrics practically glued together so damn well. The energy is amazing in this one, in the chorus he just yells “Yeeeeaaahhh” over and over again. It’s a perfect example of how strong this album can be. It is the definitive song from Nevermind because of its pop elements, grungy vocals and screams, and of course the nihilistic lyrics. What an amazing song this one is… and it’s called Lithium.

Track no. 6

Wow! This is an entirely acoustic song. You can hear some bass parts and some cymbals but in the rest there’s only an acoustic guitar creating some cool yet haunting melody. The voice sounds different and this is because (as I would find out later on) the song was recorded way before the rest of the album was. Some said that the guitar sounds cheap, and it was a cheap guitar but amazingly the effects that it creates have a deep impact on the feel of the song. At a first listen you might think Kurt Cobain is singing about a bird but in fact the cryptic lyrics have a more serious side. Kurt read in a newspaper about a girl who was raped but managed to escape by flirting with her captor. The story had deep impact on Cobain. So that’s how Polly was born.

SIDE B

Track no. 7

The first side of the cassette is done so I change it to SIDE B. After a brief moment of silence, some weird voice screams something that I would understand only after a few other listens. The aftermath is rather cool: another punk song with awesome riffs and great melodies. The way Cobain screams through the chorus only makes it better. It’s very energetic and the contrast between the slower verses and the volcanic and ‘neverending’ chorus is something that I’m already used to. It’s a short, weird song. You can definitely rock out on this one. There seems to be some cool potential for this B SIDE. The song is called Territorial Pissings.

Track no. 8

Another clean intro with vocals leads to an avalanche of great riffs and hooky melodies. You might think that it’s already boring but it’s quite contrary: it gets better and better. This is a very cool pop-punk song. The drums are very powerful as well. It’s a perfect combination of SLTS and In Bloom. Wish I had some big speakers to blast this one, it must sound cool loud, the way it was meant to be listened. There’s a cool and creepy bridge into the song, you can hear some weird sounds that are definitely not guitar parts. The bridge builds itself up perfectly and a fading scream that becomes more and more prominent from Cobain leads me to another amazing chorus. It’s interesting to note that this song was one of Kurt’s favorite from his own. He loved playing this one live. This is Drain You.

Track no. 9

Just when I thought that the album will get even heavier and electrical, this weird bass intro announces a more quiet yet dynamic song. The bass is just beautiful and keeps playing with your head. The guitar comes along but the bass is still prominent. It’s a beautiful duo between Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. The drums are somehow less powerful but they still make the song sound really tight. It’s the perfect grunge-pop song. It’s dark but very catchy. Kurt’s vocals are just mesmerizing again. In the last verse while he is screaming he sounds like he blew his voice yet it’s just a cool effect a la Cobain. It’s a short song and the outro comes pretty fast. This song is named Lounge Act, because of the feel of the song.

Track no. 10

I thought that this tenth song was still part of Lounge Act, because of the sudden outro of the latter but it’s not. This one starts off very quickly with a great drum solo. It’s one of the fastest songs off Nevermind. The heavy guitar layers and the chorus where the same thing is screamed over and over again make this truly unforgettable. The cool effect at the end of every verse reminds me of SLTS. There is also a very well made destruction effect at the end of the song, indicating that this one, named Stay Away would be an amazing song to perform live.

Track no. 11

The songs suddenly became shorter on this second side and you have the feeling that it’s a long song with various

Pictures of Nevermind - Nirvana (US)

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Baby blue cover

parts. This eleventh piece erupts into a very punk-rock set of verses after the grungy intro. It’s fast yet it’s not heavy. It’s a very fun song to listen to. You can also understand the lyrics and they’re quite mind blowing: “I love myself better than you, I know it’s wrong so what should I do?” is pure cobainesque nihilism. The bridge slows it down, but only a bit, because the song picks up once again afterwards. This song is called On a Plain and it’s one of my most favorite songs from Nirvana. It has a very beautiful outro, by the way. Cobain’s voice without music is very special.

Track no. 12

The first side had 6 songs and I suppose this will be the last song. And wow, after such an electric and fast SIDE B, at the end you get this haunting ballad. It has a very desperate feel to it. The cello on this one is very melancholic. The guitar riff is a very simple one and it’s repeated over the verses. Cobain sings almost in a whispering voice and in the chorus he gets a bit louder but he does not scream. I can’t write it down in words what a creepy effect this song has. It’s not scary but I can’t help but feel a bit blue when I’m listening to the closing song of Nevermind, Something in The Way.

Lyrics

I will not try to decipher Kurt Cobain’s lyrics on this record. I don’t even think he was sure what they meant. What’s important to note is his capacity to say something with words that at first sight didn’t make sense. Kurt was quoted saying that ‘Music comes first, lyrics come second’ making us believe that his primary focus was on the melodies. It’s known that some of the songs weren’t finished until the last second. You can’t quite understand what he’s singing about, that’s true, especially if you’re listening to Nevermind for the first time. What’s important is the intensity of his singing, the way he delivers those lines. All that rage that comes from the first song and the desperation that blinds your eyes in the last one has a very deep impact on you. Music is subjective and everyone should feel the way they want and not how they’re supposed to. Putting aside the cool pop studio tricks, it’s still a very hauntingly melancholic album about depression, loneliness and alienation. Kurt wasn’t famous nor did he have a house when he wrote most of this, and all of this have a great effect on the lyrics.

Music

Nevermind’s greatest legacy is not the fact that it took the no. 1 spot on the Billboard charts away from Michael Jackson, but the symbolism behind it: the fact that almost overnight the underground music became mainstream. I don’t really consider it a Grunge album, though Nirvana had the greatest role in making this genre known. Billy Corgan once said that everybody was acting like Nirvana created Grunge but all they did was to take it and personify it. And he was absolutely right. While most of the Seattle sound is still present on the album, one cannot miss the pop side of it. Cobain was a sucker for great melodies, creating chord sequences that were based mainly around power chords, this way writing songs that combined pop hooks with dissonant guitar rhythms. Dave Grohl’s powerful drumming on the album has now become legendary. He had an amazingly important role in creating the definite sound for Nirvana. It’s a very unique album, wonderfully crafted, and that’s why it still sounds fresh after so many years.

Packaging

Without a doubt, a key factor in making Nevermind so successful was the ‘baby blue’ cover. The photo, showing us a naked baby swimming after a dollar bill has become a pop icon. The CD doesn’t have a complex booklet hence why the lyrics aren’t printed. There are a few lyrics selections made by Cobain from most of the songs of Nevermind, arranged into a poem. The back cover features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Cobain.

Track Listing

All songs were written by Kurt Cobain, except where noted.

1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl) – 5:01
2. "In Bloom" – 4:14
3. "Come as You Are" – 3:39
4. "Breed" – 3:03
5. "Lithium" – 4:17
6. "Polly" – 2:57
7. "Territorial Pissings" – 2:22
8. "Drain You" – 3:43
9. "Lounge Act" – 2:36
10. "Stay Away" – 3:32
11. "On a Plain" – 3:16
12. "Something in the Way" – 3:55
o "Endless, Nameless" (6:44) is a hidden track on some copies of the record.

Epilogue

Looking back, I’m still amazed how an album changed my life. I don’t know how many times I listened to it. At least 200 times, that’s for sure. I’m proud to say that I know all the lyrics by heart and that I will never forget them. The world was gone during those 40 minutes of masterpieces. What’s important after these years is that I still feel the same way about Nevermind: ‘I’ve found you…’

-Copyright @ AndreyToth and andmad. Previously posted on ciao.com