by Lichfield1979

Created on: November 16, 2008

Nevermind by Nirvana (1991)

On the one hand this was the first record of the 1990s to be canonised by the baby boomer generation of rock critics, and on the other hand, it can be difficult to separate the music from the mythology, ever since St. Kurt's ascension into the pantheon of Dead Rock Stars.

One - Smells Like Teen Spirit (5.01)

Nevermind begins with the first iconic riff of Smells Like Teen Spirit, a song that MTV was long in the business of hyping as the best of all time, even better than Thriller by Michael Jackson, because for them music was invented on August 1st 1981. Rolling Stone can remember back to about 1967 and also chose this track as the only "recent" composition worthy of making a seriously hefty dent in their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, placing it at number nine. Smells Like Teen Spirit was accompanied by a famous promotional video that features the band performing in a grungy gymnasium in front of bored cheerleaders in an apathetic brown and gold light, and which inadvertently became the most influential clothing commercial of the decade. I've long suspected the director had recently watched Heathers. Kurt's anecdote concerning the origins of the unusual title is by now too hackneyed to bear repeating. It's a great song, and I'm sure everyone's heard it. "Here we are now / Entertain us" Kurt growls prophetically in the only line that makes much sense, although the lyrics feel very effective and immediate for words so oblique, which is all that matters, really. His guitar plays grizzly and repetitive power pop in between subdued lulls although the song always retains its tightly coiled kinetic energy. Dave Grohl's drumbeats are crisp and proficient and Krist Novoselic lays down the first of several deceptively brilliant but simple bass hooks to be found on this record. Some of you might want to have an argument amongst yourselves about who Kurt lifted his loud/quiet four chord song structures from. I'm guessing The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr might come up in that conversation. And the songs "More Than A Feeling" by Boston and "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen. The New York Times compared the song's impact to "Anarchy in the UK" and it spawned myriad imitators and catapulted alternative rock into the mainstream of American radio. The band seemed a little uncomfortable with plaudits that sought to bait them into making some kind of generational statement. Listening to the song today it's easy to see why. As a lead single it may have

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