Nevermind (CD - 1991)

Additional personnel: Kirk Canning (cello).

Recorded at Sound City, Van Nuys, California.

Personnel: Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar); Dave Grohl (vocals, drums); Krist Novoselic (vocals); Kirk Canning (cello).

Audio Mixers: Craig Doubet; Andy Wallace.

Recording information: Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA.

Photographers: Kirk Weddle; Michael Lavine; Kurt Cobain.

Unknown Contributor Role: Kirk Canning.

Nevermind was never meant to change the world, but you can never predict when the zeitgeist will hit, and Nirvana's second album turned out to be the place where alternative rock crashed into the mainstream. This wasn't entirely an accident, either, since Nirvana did sign with a major label, and they did release a record with a shiny surface, no matter how humongous the guitars sounded. And, yes, Nevermind is probably a little shinier than it should be, positively glistening with echo and fuzzbox distortion, especially when compared with the black-and-white murk of Bleach. This doesn't discount the record, since it's not only much harder than any mainstream rock of 1991, its character isn't on the surface, it's in the exhilaratingly raw music and haunting songs. Kurt Cobain's personal problems and subsequent suicide naturally deepen the dark undercurrents, but no matter how much anguish there is on Nevermind, it's bracing because he exorcises those demons through his evocative wordplay and mangled screams -- and because the band has a tremendous, unbridled power that transcends the pain, turning into pure catharsis. And that's as key to the record's success as Cobain's songwriting, since Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl help turn this into music that is gripping, powerful, and even fun (and, really, there's no other way to characterize "Territorial Pissings" or the surging "Breed"). In retrospect, Nevermind may seem a little too unassuming for its mythic status -- it's simply a great modern punk record -- but even though it may no longer seem life-changing, it is certainly life-affirming, which may just be better. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

A few years after the matter, even the album cover appears vaguely symbolic: an innocent babe, braving the hazards, lunging for the seductive prize at the end of a hook. Few would've given good odds that the youngster would actually be able to snatch the green, swim back to shore, and laugh triumphantly in the fisherman's face; and history has made fools of those who thought it couldn't be done. NEVERMIND not only gave Nirvana the prize the band had reached out for, it included some epic consequences in the bargain--raising the Seattle grunge trio to the status of Godhead, and forever changing the face of the pop music market.

As ground-breaking albums go, NEVERMIND seemed expressly designed for a post-modern existence. The punk energy and aesthetic ("Territorial Pissings," "Drain You") were its lifeblood; melody, harmony and structure ("Something In The Way," "Come As You Are") were its selling points; the roaring guitars and sub-conscious intellect ("Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom") were its heart and soul. Nobody had come up with an album like NEVERMIND before, because no one could conceive of an album like it--not since Husker Du had broken up, anyway.

But the place where NEVERMIND struck the most firmly and personally was in the gut. Cobain's throaty roar, mumbled speech, fumbled appearance all confirmed that he was of us, with us, and for us; his gift for combining melodies with acerbic insights showed that he was unlike us. "Here we are now, entertain us" may have come and gone as a catch-phrase, but as an insight into a generation's bitterly restless tide, it ranks right up there with "I can't get no satisfaction." minimize