NIRVANA — Nevermind (review)

NIRVANA — Nevermind album cover Album · 1991 · Heavy Alternative Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Time Signature
Smells like teen spirit...

Genre: grunge

Let it be known that I generally never liked Nirvana. I have always thought that they were overrated and that their music was generally boring. Still, this particular release is well nigh a masterpiece for at least reasons.

First off, its stripped down sound and musical minimalism gave metal music a well-deserved kick in the ass. Mainstream metal had become too pompous, too cheesy and the hair too tall. It was all whistles and bells and hairspray and no heart and soul. With "Nevermind", Nirvana and the grunge movement they represented took rock music back to its roots and virtually killed hair metal, cock rock, and all those cheesy metal genres of the 80s overnight. Sadly, more interesting metal genres also fell victim and were thrown back into the underground where they would flourish and develop into new even more extreme forms of metal. "Nevermind" forced metal to take a good look in the mirror and reconsider its life, and, had it not been for releases like "Nevermind" metal might have just kept growing and growing till it imploded on itself.

Secondly, despite all the emo teen shoegazing self-pity on this album, "Nevermind" is nonetheless a very expressive album, and the raw energy of the simplistic music itself is one of the things that make this album truly unique.

Thirdly, simple though it is with its three-chord and four-chord songs, Nirvana's music on this album is really dark, depressive and catchy as hell, as the simple riffs, guitar figures and vocal melodies have something unique and appealing to them (Nirvana stayed simple throughout the rest of their career, but failed miserably at capturing the unique atmosphere of this album).

"Nevermind" is a one-off, and outstanding album by a sub par rock band, which redefined metal and rock music in general. Unfortunately, many people abandoned metal completely because of this album, which was not necessary (I mean if I could listen to Nuclear Assault, Nirvana, Helmet, Judas Priest, and Megadeth on my walkman the same day, then, surely, so could a lot of other teens at the time), but you cannot blame this album for that. "Nevermind" is an inescapable part of the metal landscape.
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