Every Nirvana Project Ranked From Worst To Best
2. Nevermind
It's still inconceivable to imagine how much the music world changed with the release of Nevermind. As the '90s first started to get underway, rock was still firmly in the glam rock mold, with one band after another getting sillier and sillier with every song. After one listen of Smells Like Teen Spirit though, it was all over.
On the other hand, one song does not a great album make, and Nevermind certainly lives up to that opening track across its runtime. Growing up extremely quickly, the band ducked into Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California with some of the most infectious alternative rock songs ever created. Even though the tunes were still powerful enough to hit you in the face, you couldn't help but groove along to the fantastic melodies behind songs like In Bloom and Drain You.
Despite having some of the more indecipherable lyric sheets in modern rock, Cobain's lyrics on this album are also pretty poignant when you take the time to look through them, like on the sarcastic pastiche of bandwagoners on In Bloom or a woman's real journey out of sexual torture on Polly. While these three guys may not have intended to become bonafied stars right out of the gate, this is the perfect example of when an album is so good the mainstream comes to you.
Best Tracks: Come As You Are, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Breed