43. Nevermind - Nirvana 1991
Rock music needed something when the 90's rolled around. The Glam-Metal bands that were mainly from the Sunset Strip in L.A., were now not enough, and had had begun to spawn many second and third rate copyists that were more about style, over actual substance. The world was going through radical changes, and the party boys that were associated with the excess of the 80's were becoming irrelevant and flaccid. There was a world recession and it just didn't fit. Thrash Metal, although filling arenas, was still largely, an underground, cult like genre that was too exclusive a club, and too extreme for many. You couldn't just learn some chords and form a Heavy Metal or Thrash Metal band, you had to be extra-ordinarily talented to be even considered, average. Similarly to when Punk Rock broke in the late 70's, there was a real need for a musical movement that was played by the kid on the street, for the kid on the street. The frustration ran deep, and with the release of 'Nevermind', there seemed to be a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Nirvana, seemingly overnight, turned the world's attention to the North-West American city of Seattle. There had always been a great music scene there but it had never thrown up more than one or two notable artists every now and then. Hendrix hailed from there, as did Heart, but now, there was a whole slew of groups that were suddenly being thrust into the spotlight because of Nirvana's second album. Forget the whole 'Grunge' label that the press coined, it never had any real meaning. The big four of Seattle, all labelled as 'Grunge', were Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, but they didn't really have much in common, other than they were all Rock bands and had some overlapping influences. That is really where the similarities ended. There were other outfits from Seattle that were much more in the same vein as Nirvana, perhaps these were the
real 'Grunge' bands. Tad, Mudhoney, the Melvins...Sludgy sounding punk bands that were far more interested in the sounds of Sonic Youth, The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr and other Alternative Rock bands, as well as Hardcore Punk, than where Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden where drawing their inspiration from. From the now infamous opening chords and intrusive drum intro of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', to the downer that is 'Something in the Way', every song on this album was unlike most had ever heard, and Kurt Cobain's aim for the album to sound like "The Bay City Rollers, being molested by Black Flag" was hit pretty, dead on. If you wanted all out Hardcore, then there was 'Territorial Pissings'. For a Pop-Rock song, you got 'Drain You'. A campfire style punk rock song was even present in 'Polly'. All four singles ('Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come as You Are', 'Lithium' and 'In Bloom') of course, were completely inescapable, for years after 'Nevermind's' release. The amount of groups that formed in the wake of this release was staggering, and is still, 22 years later, the reason a lot of kids will decide to pick up an instrument. In the resulting musical revolution, things happened that Cobain never wanted - 'Grunge' became a fashion, with flannel shirts and ripped jeans appearing on the cat walk, unwashed hair and wool hats appeared 'hip' and Seattle became infested with major record label A&R men, all looking for the next big thing. There is little argument to say that this is
the album that the 90's will be best known for. Ironically, the band ended up hating it, saying it was too polished sounding and the songs, more accessible than they would have originally liked. What it would do was change music forever, and love it or loathe it, there has been no album since, that has affected things more, than 'Nevermind' did.