[joe]

I received an email from Spin.com linking to an article covering Dave Grohl's dedication at the Reading Festival to his Nirvana bandmates, and it got me thinking about my first experience with the music of Nirvana -- Nevermind. (They also included a link to last year's look back at the album which also inspired me to write this post.)
 
Music-wise, I was a late bloomer. I didn't love the radio in my early years. In fact, I never listened to much music unless it was in the car with my dad playing the local classic rock station. (Not that that was a BAD thing...) I was more about my Commodore 64 than music. Sure, in fourth and fifth grade, a friend got me into a bit of Def Leppard and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, but until then, most of my listening was the Who, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and "Weird Al" Yankovic. (Quite the grouping, eh?)
 
And then, it happened.
 
One day, while passing by the local pop station on my radio dial, I heard it. "Smells like Teen Spirit" blew my mind open. My jaw dropped, my eyes popped, and I was floored. The energy, the excitement, the raw
power. This was no Bel Biv Devoe. This was music that spoke to me. This was the new face of music.
 
My entire group of friends opened our minds to bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and so many more. We couldn't get enough. We went through every music magazine we could, getting all the info we could about these bands, examining every millimeter of the CD inserts. It was amazing. It still is. I still go looking occasionally for any tidbits I can learn about the guys from Nirvana, and any of the bands I discovered through them.
 
To this day, Nevermind still sits as a mandatory road trip CD, and it's a benchmark for me to compare other albums to. Nirvana still wiggles their way into my playlists when I'm trying a new set of headphones, and when I shuffle the whole music collection, tracks from Nevermind always seem to jump in and make me smile at just the right moments.

 

[MorbidToaster]

I have a lot of respect for Grohl as a musician even though I've never been particularly keen on any of the music he's played. I have never been a Nirvana fan. I honestly can't listen to it (I dislike it that much), but I will openly admit that they've changed the face of music and still do today. 
 
I really enjoy a lot of the bands from the 90s that could've pulled from Nirvana for inspiration (fan of all the ones you mentioned) so though I don't like it...They've played a huge part in a lot of my favorite music.

 

[EnOYiN]

This thread inspired me to listen to Nevermind again and play along on the guitar. What an awesome album indeed.

 

[samsquanch]

It's always weird to read about how much of an impact this album had on music, I was 9 when it came out, and to me it didn't seem like a huge revolution, to me it was just another band that I got into.  I had been into metal since I was six, thanks to the video for Metallia's "One," after that I was having my cousin make me mix tapes of other metal bands.  I guess I hadn't really hit the point where I started saying, "This is the music I like, it's called this, and everything else is bad."  I just liked the music, still do.
 
Then I hear stories from guys 20 years older than me who were in bands at the time, like my uncle, he had a pretty good gig being the drummer for a band that played covers of the music that was happening at the time, lots of hair metal, and classic hard rock.  He's told me several times about how he would play a few shows a month at random bars, and make enough money to be able to play music and not lose his ass on the deal, but once Nirvana hit, he was old hat.  Bars stopped booking them, it was over.  He's rather bitter, still, about how Nirvana ruined things for him.  You can hear this same story from big bands from the time like Poison, Warrant, Winger, etc.  One band, one band destroyed thousands of careers.  That's crazy.
 
And I think back and how it didn't mean that much to me then, but now I can definitely trace back a lot of how I am to that record.  It's weird.  The first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" I got really excited, I went out and spent my allowance on it that night, I played it a lot.  I remember one Saturday sitting in my room listening to "Nevermind" on repeat, for hours upon hours, until my dad walked in my room and yelled at me, "You were playing this damn album when I left, I come back and you're still listening to it!  Put something else on!"  I'm hard pressed to think of any other album that I would listen to like that...

 

[TexasBuck]

I was 23 when "Nevermind" came out.  I listened to a lot of metal and classic rock before that.  I always marveled at how the classic rock spoke on behalf of that generation.  I liked the aggression of 80's metal, but very little of it had any kind of lyrical message that I could relate to.  "Nevermind" and the grunge wave changed all that for me. 
 
I had just graduated from college.  The economy was in recession and jobs were tough to find.  I had the feelings of "Is this really all their is?".  "Is this what I prepared my whole life for?"  Grunge really hit home for me.  There was finally lyrical content and attitude that I could relate too.  Grunge was more about the song/feeling and less about partying and musical gymnastics.  The music and feelings were "real".  It wasn't usually a pretty picture but there was also some hope buried in it.  Empathy, if nothing else.  It was a huge change from the excess and "over the top" attitude of the music grunge replaced, on the radio/MTV at the time. 
 
I love rock music from the 1960's all the way to current stuff.  However, I still consider early to mid 90's as my generation's statement.  It was cool to claim a few important bands as my own.  It's really a shame it only lasted for a couple years, before the scene got over exposed, and thus became stale.

 

[RushNerd]

I remember in the late 90's my mom got sent this "naked baby" album (which she didn't like because of the cover) by mistake through a cd subscription service. Eventually I listened to it after my brother pointed out that it was a rock band and I loved it! I didn't realise the significance of the album until later on and by now it's either a classic, or rock radio fodder.
 
I also had a tape of Alice in Chains "Dirt" at the time too (Probably not a great choice for a 13 year old but...) which I liked a hell of a lot more. Both are classic "grunge" albums, but Dirt is by and far technically superior (even if they all recorded it completely strung out on drugs and alcohol). Though Nevermind has a lot going for it beyond raw musicmanship and Andy Wallace.
 
Also, I am one of the very few people that prefer "Bleach" I just think it's a lot more raw and authentic. Gotta love the $500-to-record album!

 

[samsquanch]

Dirt is a metal album, if you ever get a chance, watch the movie Hype, it's all about the explosion of the Seattle scene, in it Alice In Chains talks about how confused they were that they got lumped into the whole "grunge" thing.  More or less saying, "We're a metal band, then these noise rock bands got huge, next thing you know we're called a grunge band."  Same thing with Soundgarden.  Dirt is a great album, Junkhead is probably my favorite song off it.
 
Also, I totally agree with you on Bleach.  For me it goes in this order:  Bleach > Incesticide > Unplugged > Nevermind > In Utero > Live From The Muddy Banks.  All that said, any time I put on Nevermind, In Utero, or Live From the Muddy Banks, my first thought is, "Why don't I listen to this more???"  One of the few bands that never put out a bad record, but I guess they never really had a chance to...

 

[RushNerd]

Quote:

Dirt is a metal album, if you ever get a chance, watch the movie Hype, it's all about the explosion of the Seattle scene, in it Alice In Chains talks about how confused they were that they got lumped into the whole "grunge" thing.  More or less saying, "We're a metal band, then these noise rock bands got huge, next thing you know we're called a grunge band."  Same thing with Soundgarden.  Dirt is a great album, Junkhead is probably my favorite song off it.
 
Also, I totally agree with you on Bleach.  For me it goes in this order:  Bleach > Incesticide > Unplugged > Nevermind > In Utero > Live From The Muddy Banks.  All that said, any time I put on Nevermind, In Utero, or Live From the Muddy Banks, my first thought is, "Why don't I listen to this more???"  One of the few bands that never put out a bad record, but I guess they never really had a chance to...

That's why I put grunge in quotes, I think the whole genre is kind bulschiit anyway (from a labeling perspective). Metal is too simple for AiC, they just are what they are.
 
The LP I picked up of Bleach at hot topic years ago is wonderful, "school"

 

[MorbidToaster]

Yeah. That. Dirt is a legendary album, IMO. Still listen to it regularly. 
 
Quote:

I remember in the late 90's my mom got sent this "naked baby" album (which she didn't like because of the cover) by mistake through a cd subscription service. Eventually I listened to it after my brother pointed out that it was a rock band and I loved it! I didn't realise the significance of the album until later on and by now it's either a classic, or rock radio fodder.
 
I also had a tape of Alice in Chains "Dirt" at the time too (Probably not a great choice for a 13 year old but...) which I liked a hell of a lot more. Both are classic "grunge" albums, but Dirt is by and far technically superior (even if they all recorded it completely strung out on drugs and alcohol). Though Nevermind has a lot going for it beyond raw musicmanship and Andy Wallace.
 
Also, I am one of the very few people that prefer "Bleach" I just think it's a lot more raw and authentic. Gotta love the $500-to-record album!

 

[lmswjm]

Wow, while shopping at Amazon, saw that Nevermind has over 1,800 reviews written. I don't recall seeing that many for any other album.

 

[Achmedisdead]

Never liked Nirvana.  Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, absolutely! Not Nirvana.   

 

[roadcykler]

I'll never forget the first time I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit. I finished my Air Force work day, and got in my car to drive home. Before I'd even gotten out of the parking spot, this song came on and it was like nothing I'd ever heard and I liked it a lot. I don't remember if they said what the song was after they played it but I soon found out and bought the cd and played it a lot. I've grown less fond of some of the songs over the years, some due to the screaming, and some due to the fact that radio stations in the Northwest that play alternative music overplay Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Even my favourite song gets old if I hear it too much.
 
There's no denying the impact that album had on music at the time. I was primarily a metal/hard rock fan with Rush being my favourite at the time, but Nirvana had a lot of crunchy guitars and some heavy metal type sounds. They weren't that far removed from the metal at the time but they sure dressed differently. 

 

[JuanseAmador]

I hate that people say they love Nirvana and they have only listened to Smells Like Teen Spirit.

The first Nirvana song I heard was Come As You Are.
And I found out about SLTS a year later, after I heard About A Girl and Polly. I was 5 or 6.

Their studio albums go this way, according to me:

Nevermind
Bleach
In Utero
Incesticide
Hormoaning [EP]

Live Albums:

Both MTV Unplugged and Muddy Banks are great. Can't say which one is better.

 

[joseph69]

I was also 23 in the early 90's. In my opinion these bands mentioned above are and always will be awesome. I still listen to AIC, PJ, STP, SG, GNR,  and I always will. I just curious to know why nobody has mentioned the FOO FIGHTERS or AUDIO SLAVE in this thread because to me these two bands have prettty much kept that great sound/style from the 90's (or as close as it could be) also ALICE IN CHAINS in my opinion is the most talented band from that era CANTRELL/STALEY were gifted (CANTRELL STILL BEING).

 

[JuanseAmador]

I was also 23 in the early 90's. In my opinion these bands mentioned above are and always will be awesome. I still listen to AIC, PJ, STP, SG, GNR,  and I always will. I just curious to know why nobody has mentioned the FOO FIGHTERS or AUDIO SLAVE in this thread because to me these two bands have prettty much kept that great sound/style from the 90's (or as close as it could be) also ALICE IN CHAINS in my opinion is the most talented band from that era CANTRELL/STALEY were gifted (CANTRELL STILL BEING).

Well, I have Audioslave's discography, they were great. And also Foo Fighters's, they are one of my favourite bands.