Customer Reviews

World's Greatest Tribute to Nirvana

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This CD is a prime example of why punk has never really broken into the mainstream - not a single one of these bands can sing. The renditions on this album, while seemingly for a noble cause - in tribute to Nirvana's legacy - are so bad it actually only serves to tarnish that legacy. I was embarrassed just listening to this album. Like the sucker I am, I saw this sitting in Best Buy for $11.00 and thought to myself, "Self, you're a Nirvana fan, surely these tribute renditions would be something different, so - why not?" Now I know why not, indeed. Yikes!

I had some vague notion that this would be a punk album because the only punk name I recognized was Dee Dee Ramone, who cannot sing at worth a lick. Even so, I bought it anyway. While it looks as if this album was meant as a tribute, the last 4 songs (plus one bonus song) are not Nirvana songs, as far as I could tell. I believe they are originals from the bands Hawkwind, Iggy & The Stooges, Germs, Venom, and The Numb Ones. The inclusion/introduction of these songs (#s 9 to 13) are prefaced by the words "The roots of Nirvana," as if these artists are self-proclaiming themselves as having made Nirvana come to be. Again, while it seems like a noble tribute, it's not. It's an arrogant, self-serving CD to promote the punk bands on this album, something Nirvana may have been influenced by in some way, but never was. Take this example that is written on the back of the CD case: "On this heartfelt tribute record, some of the very punk legends who influenced Kurt & the boys..." They refer to Noveselic and Grohl as boys - wow, how condescending; that's not the kind of tribute I would like to have someone give to me.

To let whoever is reading this know that this album is NOT made with sincerity, there is a big mess-up on the album. Track 4 is titled "Serve the Servants," but it is actually "On a Plain." Surely anyone who loves Nirvana and would want to produce a tribute album would not make that kind of mistake. It's a shame too, because I was looking most forward to hearing "Serve the Servants" more than any of the other songs. And don't think you can hope to find solace in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium." Those are the two worst songs on the CD.

With all this said, I'm giving it 2 stars because two songs managed to even make it to less-than-mediocre status for me: Track 1: "Come As You Are" by Vibrations, and track 4's "On a Plain" (mislabeled as "Serve the Servants.") by Agent Orange.

Trust me; if you aren't into punk, you aren't going to care about this album. Just try playing Amazon's 30 second clips above and you will see what I'm talking about. If you want different renditions than what you get with the official commercial Nirvana albums, pick up the 3-CD/1 DVD set "With the Lights Out" or see if you can find yourself a copy of the 6-CD box set "Nirvana: Into the Black."