Retro Spins: Nirvana - Nevermind

In 1991, I could take or leave Nirvana, and pretty much left it. I wasn't into the hype of grunge music, nor the "deep" lyrics of Kurt Cobain. To me, they were irrelevant. The problem I soon found myself facing was that they were eating up the airwaves of early 90's radio, and the music I enjoyed from the 80's was quickly disappearing.

The irony of Nirvan's popularity in the 90's was that the band actually got its start in the 80's, and even released their first album, Bleach, in 1989. However, at that time, nobody cared about them or even knew who they were.

As time went by, I learned to appreciate their songs a little more, but I was still by no means a fan. I, like so many others, had their album, Nevermind, because, well, it was 1991 and everyone did. Overnight, the schoolyard started changing. People were dressing different, acting different, and some were just becoming plain unlikable. It was as if grunge music was turning people into miserable shells, or at the very least, telling people they didn't have to pretend to be happy anymore. It actually kind of sucked, and things really haven't been the same since.

Mind you, I'm not blaming grunge music for the turn in youth culture. However, one would be remiss to not say there was definitely some contribution and influence to it. Nirvana was a big part of that scene, and it really showed just how true that was in the spring of 1994 when his dead body was found, allegedly from suicide.

What was interesting about listening to Nevermind as I prepared this post was how I too felt my own mood changing with each passing track. It was actually depressing me a bit. Yes, there were a lot of good tracks, but not in a peppy, want to sing along type of way. It was actually bumming me out the more I heard it. Plus, it was kind of just loud. That's saying something for someone who just reviewed a Marilyn Manson CD the week before.

Overall though, I would be lying if said I didn't immediately remembered tracks such as Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come As You Are, Breed, Lithium, Polly, Drain You, Lounge Act, Stay Away, On A Plain and Something In The Way. These songs were everywhere during the time frame, and you'd have to be going out of your way, or be deaf, to not have them ingrained into your skull. You literally couldn't swing a stick without hitting them back in the day. Quality wise, they still hold up and appear to have aged well with the times.

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