Nevermind the Hype ... Here Comes the ... um ... Nirvana
Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10 Nirvana were nothing but a stupid congregation of hairy hooligans with torn-up jeans. Kurt Cobain was one of those lead singers who might have been able to physically stand in front of a microphone, but that doesn't mean that he was physically able to *sing* into this microphone... Okay, now that I currently have all the rabid Gen Xers either e-mailing me a nasty comment or pounding their computer monitors to bits, I now only have the attention of the group of individuals who I would rather address: SMART PEOPLE! ... Namely only those who were born in or around the early 80s ... We have brain power, baby! Just look at me, for example! I'm reviewing a Nirvana album and my brain hasn't yet exploded! ...Before I get out of hand with 'Nirvana albums making my head explode,' I wish to inform you that my anti-Nirvana comments are utter lies. In fact, I like Nirvana. I think this band and the influence they had on resurrecting some of the artistic integrity in rock music for the nineties was a very positive thing. (And, only heaven will know how they managed to do this without really doing anything particularly innovative ... although, the punk movement resurrected rock music for the late 70s and 80s without doing anything particularly innovative ... in fact, 'grunge' is just resurrected punk music with a different sound, isn't it?) Keep in mind that 'the revolution' might very well have happened without them! All they did was bring 80s alternative music into the mainstream (with brilliant music). Nevertheless, Kurt Cobain and his band had enough spark and energy to be the ones who made the underground music of the 80s into a rock music staple of the 90s. And, countless artists followed the lead from Nevermind to make albums of their own. (Of course, most of these 'other artists' absolutely sucked, but that's a different story, and that's really no reason to put down Nirvana. However, by "selling out the underground," it did reportedly lead to Cobain's eventual suicide. But I still think that the underground would have been "sold out" anyway. It was simply an event waiting to happen. Although, I admittedly don't have evidence to back that up.) My biggest complaint about the grunge movement in general is that the music is uuuugly! This was probably the biggest reason that rock music failed to attract my attention when I used to exist in the 90s. (Back then, I claimed to be a big classical music fan ... and I was able to recite every song from The Music Man word for word.) And Nirvana is ugly music! (Hey! Either accept that fact or bugger off into your own little world of denial!) However, ugliness isn't necessarily a bad thing ... it's just very difficult to make a decent song with that sort of mentality. Fortunately, Kurt Cobain had more-than-adequate songwriting abilities! If you write songs like the ones that appear on Nevermind, you can make them as danged ugly as you want and they would still be great. I am going to mention that Nevermind is an overrated album. (Heck, some people are calling it the greatest album in rock history!) I don't really think Nevermind qualifies for such an honor, although the hype this one gets is mostly deserved. So, I'm willing to call it *one* of the best albums of rock-and-roll. It was certainly revolutionary. Overall Album Score: 9.4 out of 10 (Say what you like about Nevermind, but this is one of the world's few major moments when a rock album's massive popularity coincided with its brilliance.) Average Song Score: 9.1 (Hmmm... I'd say that this score was a little bit low for what's generally considered to be the greatest album of the 1990s ... or is it? Just the same, this is a stellar set of tunes.) Album Tilt: 9.5 (I do feel that giving this one a 9.5 is perfectly justified. Listening to this album is just a nice and VERY memorable experience. No wonder it was, and still is, so danged popular.) Artist Rating: 9.5 (It's no more innovative than the punk movement was back in the 70s ... and the punk movement wasn't even all that innovative ... but Nevermind is still considered to be the album that convinced the music world that the underground music from the 80s was something that's worth capitalizing on. And thank goodness for that, because that's exactly what the music world needed at the time.) Track Reviews Smells Like Teen Spirit 10plus/10 Now, who would I be to put down the world's most famous song from the 90s (that's not "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls)? This one was utterly popular for a great reason ... the ripping electric guitars, the angst ridden lyrics, the gut wrenching vocal performance, and to top all that off, an instantly-memorable melody. It's classic. There's nothing that you can do to reverse that. So, you had might as well just live with it! So there! Hrarghth! In Bloom 9/10 This is the first track in Nevermind that isn't "Smells Like Teen Spirit." As you would expect, of course, this track would have to be pale compared to it! Most notably, the major thing that pales is the melody! It's much simpler and much less interesting. Nevertheless, "In Bloom" is still performed very well. And I must add that I am enjoying it for the most part. Come As You Are 9.5/10 This one has a great riff in its bag! And, the way that Kurt Cobain utilizes this riff is nothing short of cool. This one doesn't get incredibly gut-wrenching or anything (although, it does pick up on its dynamics). It's mostly just a cool track that's fun to listen to. Breed 9/10 Whoah! These guitars are heaaaaaaaaaaavy. I must say, I've got to dig them heaaaaaaaaavy guitars! The song, featuring a particularly whiny vocal performance from Cobain, is still interesting. I'm glad, though, that the track doesn't last too long over three minutes. It doesn't get any more exciting than it did within the first minute of it. Lithium 10/10 This one might be the second-most famous song from Nevermind. It's also probably the second best song from Nevermind! I'm probably not describing it adequately enough when I say that this one is 'quirkier' than the rest of these songs (taking, almost, a light jazz aura). The melody and instrumentals are fun and memorable. I also really enjoy the lyrics ... even though I always like to claim to myself that lyrics never matter to me ... Polly 9.5/10 This one only uses an acoustic guitar as an instrument! Even though I like to think that 'more is usually better' when it comes to track layering, my little theory doesn't hold water at all with "Polly." It's exceptionally strong without all the excess instruments! Bob Dylan wasn't even always able to convince me of that. Territorial Pissings 7.5/10 Well ... they just all of the sudden got ugly! I guess that's not too surprising considering that this is grunge, after all! The beginning of this one features an intentionally poorly-sung excerpt of The Youngbloods' "Get Together." And then it just gets very noisy! Noiiiiiiisy! And, Cobain screams his head off. This one definitely isn't one of the highlights of Nevermind. Drain You 8/10 Ummmm... I'm sorry, but "Drain You" also isn't one of the best songs on here! Although, it's still pretty good ... I'm interested ... I'm just not enthralled with it ... Lounge Act 9.5/10 Cool! We're back to the nice melodies! This has one of those nice hooks that's the whole reason that I enjoy Nevermind. Basically that's all this song has. (Cobain starts screaming his head off at the end ... but what else is new? ... He was a nice songwriter!) Stay Away 9/10 More inviting hooks on this one ... in spite of the screams "stay awaaaaay!" Much of the same stuff here, but this is yet another fine, memorable song. On a Plain 8.5/10 Mmmmmmmm... Hey! "On a Plain" still enthralls me and everything ... but it's not anything particularly enthralling when you compare it to all the other stuff from it. Is this album becoming saturated? I don't know ... I don't care ... Something in a Way 8.5/10 And the album closes with a quiet, acoustic passage. It's not quite as brilliant as "Polly," but it's nice, I guess. I'm not too enthused about this final song ... I'm sorry. Don't nevermind this stupid review! Leave me comments about YOUR THOUGHTS of this album here! |
All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He is very jolly.
