Nevermind
Nirvana
Nevermind comes with a lot of history attached. It changed rock, changed the charts, changed what people wore. Fine. Put all that aside for a moment, because the record itself is a lot more enjoyable than another lecture about how important it is.
Smells Like Teen Spirit still does its job. The quiet verses leave space for that enormous chorus, and Dave Grohl's drums give the whole thing a physical push. But Nirvana don't spend the rest of the album trying to repeat the opening song. In Bloom has a melody that would work perfectly well without the distortion. Come As You Are takes a more uneasy route, with its circling guitar line and Kurt Cobain's almost casual delivery. The songs are direct enough to make an immediate impression, yet there is always something slightly uncomfortable underneath.
The faster tracks are where the album really earns its punk reputation. Breed is short, noisy and wonderfully impatient. Territorial Pissings sounds like it might pull itself apart before it finishes. But even there, Cobain keeps a strong tune within reach. That balance matters: the aggression gives the songs their force, while the melodies give you a reason to come back.
The second half deserves as much attention as the famous singles. Drain You moves from a remarkably catchy start into a strange, noisy middle section, then finds its way back. Lounge Act makes particularly good use of Krist Novoselic's bass. These aren't songs added simply to fill the space around the hits.
The clean production does take some of the rough edges off the band. Anyone after the dirtier sound of Bleach may find it a little tidy. Still, the clarity lets the three players make their separate marks. Nevermind is accessible without losing its temper, and heavy without making everything sound the same. Its reputation is enormous. The songs are strong enough to carry it.
