Nevermind's 20th

[tannyhoban]

So today is the 20th anny of the release of Nevermind. Holy crap! Honestly I didn't get how huge Nirvana was until Kurt Cobain passed. There were a lot of bands from that era that I enjoyed listening to, Nirvanna included.

That period in music was a bit of a rejuvenation for me, I'd lost interest in the direction of what was popular until the Seattle scene seemingly took the world. Thoughts?

 

[joel27]

I can't believe its been that long. Nirvana was the band that got me into music other than easy listening. The sound and style shaped my junior high and high school years as far as musical interests/tastes go.

 

[gmku]

I was into Nirvana before they broke. I found them through my interest in the Melvins. I was living in Salt Lake City in 1990 when I saw a poster for a Melvins show with Nirvana opening for them. I asked the owner of the local hip record store who Nirvana was and he said, "Oh, one of those Sub Pop hair bands from Seattle. But the kids are a lot more into the Melvins."

So I picked up Bleach and some Nirvana singles. That was about a year before Nevermind.

 

[Permanent Waves]

It is one of my favorite albums from that period, a period when I was in high school and just getting into music "seriously" (as in buying my own cds by the dozens; before I just had a few tapes and listened to the radio).

I'd go so far as to say it is a classic, however I also feel that it is somewhat overrated imo as too much credit is given to it for "re-creating rock" and not the other great '91 releases (to mention just that year and not also other early 90's releases as well as the overall somewhat underground late 80's movement which birthed grunge/alt. and gave it mainstream cred). I really don't feel it is any better or more influential than many others from peers of the era iow. I think the "Cult of Kurt" distorted just how good Nirvana really was: it inflated them to a status they didn't wholly merit imo (again, they were a great band, but so were many others as well).

I'm not the biggest Nirvana fan in general (Nevermind is great, the other material is ok) but I think I will pick up the 20th anniversary edition of Nevermind anyway. I have the original pressing (from when I bought it at age 14!) and the gold MFSL so far.

I too am having trouble comprehending that so many classics from '91 have or will soon be turning 20 this year. I've been listening to much early/mid 90's material lately (though I do fairly regularly anyway) and most of it still stands up just fine, even though my favorite rock/pop has always been in the "classic" period (mid 60's to about '80).

 

[gmku]

Nirvana gets credit for breaking punk, so to speak. And probably rightly so. But in my mind, there were several albums before Nevermind that should have cracked things open too, namely Goo (Sonic Youth), Repeater (Fugazi), and Doolittle (Pixies).

What Nirvana had going for them was the momentum of a solid local scene, the Seattle Sub Pop thing. Fan bases for the other albums were a little less localized.

 

[Permanent Waves]

Good points gmku.

I was right there in high school when several of these "big name groups" broke in '91. PJ's Ten, Soundgardens's Badmotorfinger, and RHCP's BloodSugarSexMagik were all extremely popular in addition to Nevermind. All had their fans and detractors, but neither was really more popular than the others.

Then a "Cult of Cobain" slowly emerged and reached a fanatical level with his suicide in '94. Suddenly Nirvana was THE group out of all of those above (and several others who had come along by this time, including Tool, STP, NIN, and AIC). This had a lot more to do with Kurt's persona and subsequent mythical status after death than it had to do with Nirvana and their music in my experience. In fact, I distinctly remember many (including me) were moderately to severely disappointed with Nirvana's "In Utero" and the status of Nirvana dipped as a result, especially in light of the fierce competition from several other great albums from big name bands of the time. But after Kurt died that seemed to be forgotten and all of Nirvana's material became extremely popular and even revered.

I never got caught up in all of this and was often criticized as a result by more rabid (and emotive) fans who converted to the "Kurt Cult" seemingly overnight. I simply maintained, as I do to this day, that Nirvana was ONE of the greats and Nevermind ONE of the great '91 releases that helped to usher in grunge/alt in the mainstream, but not THE greatest...just as most every other general rock fan did, at least until Kurt died and they seemingly forgot their previous stance.

Such is the power of cults of personality.

 

[daza152]

I discovered Nirvana when listening to Nevermind, and also Pearl Jam's Ten same time so for me both were equally as good, subsequently I have both original issues on Vinyl NM and play both....not at the same time

One word sums up Nevermind and thats 'Iconic'. :yes:

 

[parman]

Smells Like Teen Spirt was F**kin HUGE

 

[68custom]

Twenty years damn.. Nevermind was a good album though overplayed a bit. I remember seeing the band (Nirvana) on a interview once, and Kurt saying how In Utero was going to alienate his fans, for me at least it was a much better Album. also enjoyed Unplugged. have to thank Tori Amos for singing Smells Like Teen Spirit so you could understand the words!

 

[gmku]

The production on Nevermind is amazing. On a par, in its own way, with production of Aja, in my humble opinion. The attention to detail and nuance on that recording is superlative.

 

[1973BuickGS]

The production on Nevermind is amazing. On a par, in its own way, with production of Aja, in my humble opinion. The attention to detail and nuance on that recording is superlative.

Good ol' Butch Vig. :thmbsp:

 

[gmku]

Yep, Butch did some good stuff.