Nirvana's Nevermind Is Old Enough to Drink

Nirvana's second LP Nevermind was released 21 years ago today, on September 24, 1991. If Nevermind was a person, it could buy beer now.

I was in my twenties when Nevermind was released, caught in the demographic eye of the grunge hurricane, and while its impact on music was indeed seismic, it wasn't as instantaneous as many would like you to believe.

I first became aware of Nirvana watching MTV one afternoon (in true Gen-X slacker fashion, I was unemployed and living with my parents at the time), and the veejays kept talking about this hot, hot new song called "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Based on the title alone, I assumed it was some sort of bullshit teen anthem along the lines of something by New Kids on the Block. 

And even when I first saw the video and heard (and loved) the song, part of me thought it might be a cynical corporate take on "alternative" rock. Indeed, Kurt Cobain said that he wrote the tune as an homage/rip-off of the Pixies. 

My brother Super Dave picked up the CD and it wasn't until I listened to it a couple of times all the way through that I started to realize there was something special going on here. For me, it was some of the deep cuts that were the most powerful, such as "Drain You." Nirvana did a pretty amazing version of this at MTV Studios one day. 

I was home that day too, not working. Kurt had died his hair red that week and I read later on in a biography that it was the same time he started using heroin. Dude was done before he even got started. 



Nevermind was the last rock & roll record that can reliably be expected to pop up on a "10 Greatest Records of All Time" type of list, whether it was in Rolling Stone, Spin or Martha Stewart Living. Many landmark albums have been released since Nevermind, including R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People, Radiohead's OK Computer and Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, but none of them have the sheer awesomeness of Nevermind. 

Nevermind rocked without compromise (though it did have a radio-friendly mix), and the musical power trio of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novacelic and David Grohl was almost overwhelming. But most importanly was that buried underneath the sonic attack and distortion was a colection of tunes with as many catchy hooks as Rubber Soul and in Kurt, a singer with the shredded vulnerablity of John Lennon.

The Beatles connection was clearly drawn when Nirvana made their video for my favorite Nevermind track "In Bloom." They poked fun at Nirvana-mania by posing as a hep new band on an Ed Sullivan type of show. 



Nevermind is now as old today as say Sticky Fingers or Abbey Road was when Nevermind came out. And if you don't believe me that it was a long time ago, here's the cover baby today:



Buy Nevermind on iTunes here. But I'm sure you already have it.