Nevermind Nirvana

So I felt like covering some 90s grunge today. So who epitomizes 90s grunge? NIRVANA! This album is a spectacular tribute to grunge and shows Nirvana at all their grungy amazingness. It explodes right off with their classic Smells Like Teen Spirit and then plows on to In Bloom. Both of those tracks have awesome music videos. This is THE best Nirvana album. It starts off with 3 of their greatest tracks Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, and Come as you are. The later on there is of course Lithium and Polly. So overall this has more Nirvana classics than either of there other albums. It truly rocks and gives you a real headbanging feel. Cobain's voice is the same grungy unintelligible mess it should be and as one called him “truly the voice of the teens of the 90s.” Nirvana has a lot of classic grunge hits and you have to love their loud gritty sound which often has some brilliant commentary in Cobains lyrics.

Cobains guitar is pretty much all power chords, but that's okay because its grunge. He does love his pedal though. It allows for spectacular explosiveness rarely achieved before. Also one of the greatest grunge solos can be heard in Smells Like Teen Spirit while seeming simple it is actually amazing. In Bloom also features a nice solo, but it is the feel that makes them so good, not the technical skill. Novoselic's bass comes through well on a lot of tracks, primarily as a background for Cobains singing and as a connector for the brilliant power chord dominated riffs of Cobain. The drums really give the music a really good rhythm section and supercharge the explosions of Smells Like Teen Spirit among other songs.

The vocals are sometimes nonsensical and other times brilliant at pointing out faults in their listeners such as in In Bloom. (For the record play In Bloom to any pop music fan convinced that the pop people aren't all drunks and they won't get it and the irony is HILARIOUS). The music is really driven and cool sounding. It is grimy and sweaty and has a great “buzz”. It shows off a bunch of good musicians who come together for spectacular results. Typically the music is loud but when you can really hear Cobains voice you realize it is kinda meh, but it is perfect for the grunge genre which doesn't care about stuff like that. Nirvana epitomizes grunge and garage bands in every aspect of their sound.

Overall this is a really cool album that lacks some musical skill but comes off sounding awesome. It is all about the buzz you get from the music. Unlike a lot of other bands which I like because of their technical skill Nirvana instead just has an amazing headbanging vibe with whatever they play. A side note is that if you are eager to learn some “Vana most of Nirvanas tracks you need a pedal to play. Overall this is a really good album that what it lacks in technical skill it makes up for in the sheer vibe and emotion based in the lyrics of Cobain.

OVERALL 9/10

NIRVANA band profile

Today I'm going to cover Nirvana and do a band profile for them. These guys rocked the 90's and rocked it hard. While lacking technical skill they had memorable riffs and are rightly rated among the rock gods even only 15ish years after Cobain, you know... *sniff*. They were one of my favorite 3 piece bands of all time. They had the brilliant Kurt Cobain, who was a guitarist and singer, he composed legendary riffs that will be remembered for decades if not centuries. Dave Grohl their main drummer was talented and powerful and made the songs steady and powerful. Krist Kristiansen (I think that's his name.) Had a great talent with the bass and people love him even today. His lines were memorable.

This band was a grunge band through and through. Actually they invented the genre. With rather unintelligible lyrics, distorted power chords and a headbanging sound they embodied grunge and everything that it should be. What was originally a simple garage band from Seattle became a legendary group with a golgafrinchan (it means big) following. In the words of “Weird” Al Yankovic “It sure beats raising cattle”. Comment please if you got either of the references made in the last 2 sentences it would be really cool to know that I'm not just babbling on and no one gets my humor, feel free to lie and say you get it even if you don't because then I'll get to feel special and have a tingly feeling on the inside.

They recorded some really good songs that will be remembered for aeons to come. Probably their most popular and important defining song is Smelled Like Teen Spirit. Other cool works of theirs include “Pennyroyal Tea” (the only rock song to mention laxatives), “In Bloom” (I love the lyrics of that one, play them to some weird little kid who like pop, make sure they have no idea what pop lyrics mean/suggest you get odd results.) and “The Man Who Sold the World” (one of my favorite covers of all time, post if you know who they covered,).

Overall this band rocks and rocked hard till Cobain.. committed suicide thus joining the 27 club and causing us to take all shotguns away from rock stars. They had a heavy defining sound and a powerful cause and meaning behind their songs. I like many others see this as THE grunge band and they are my favorite 90s band. They also called me to forever curse my music teacher from last year at school who when we talked about 90s music she was all about boy bands and Aerosmith (who was an 80s band, showing a lack of understanding of the topic.) but never mentioned Nirvana. So music teachers remember Nirvana in your next music lesson!

OVERALL 9/10