The Shrine

CBC wrote:

Twenty years ago the band Nirvana released their sophomore album, Nevermind.

It was meant to introduce a larger indie fanbase to the band's grunge-rock sensibilties, instead it changed the world of rock music.

"We had no idea what Nevermind was going to achieve," bassist and co-founder Krist Novoselic told CBC Radio's cultural affairs show Q in a recent interview.

Singles like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are became anthems for teens and music lovers looking for a new kind of sound, one that did away with the excess and pageantry of 80s music.

It also turned lead singer Kurt Cobain into a household name.

To date Nevermind has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Nevermind, Nirvana's first mainstream album, was released 20 years ago from yesterday.

When I was a kid, this was the band that made me really love music and I felt my tastes really began to mature. This was the band that inspired me to pick up a guitar and form a band. They had a profound impact on the culture too, the clothing styles, the social attitudes; a more liberal appeal.

They turned me on to a lot of different kinds of music that I never thought I would ever enjoy. I think the biggest thing about them was they grew big when I was in the impressionable 10-14 range, the time when I started to go out, have fun, get a little crazy. So I associate them strongly with partying, moshing, and all that young fun stuff.

Musically, Nevermind was such a fresh blast of air in rock. It really felt like a new spring. They had two really huge songs, the first was Smells Like Teen Spirit, and then later on Lithium seemed to be on all the time (a lot of people seem to forget about Lithium, but it was their biggest song for a while). I think the radios like Come as You Unplugged in New York best nowadays; the last song I heard was All Apologies last week on the local radio station K-Rock.

I also think that nowadays the image of Kurt Cobain has changed from this:



into this:



So I find it almost impossible to relate to younger Nirvana fans, because my view of Nirvana is so much different than the post-Kurt-death fans. My Kurt Cobain was a crazy guy who loved to party; theirs is some sulking depressed guy. Documentaries, and tributes, and all that stuff seems to push that image.

But Kurt just never really seemed to come off as the serious moody guy that the younger wave of fans like to portray. He's the Kurt that we remember when we were younger.







Oddly enough, it is Come As You Are, not Smells Like Teen Spirit that is ranking as people's favourite Nirvana song. Although the "Other" option is receiving the most votes of all. They had a great and diverse library. I don't even know what my favourite song is, there's always something I want to listen to.

link to article

Lounge Act - From Nevermind


Very Ape - From In Utero