Customer Reviews

Nevermind

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's the end of 2010, 19 years after this record was released, and I'm going to buy this record for about the 4th time just because Amazon has it on sale. Kurt Cobain didn't make a very good hero or role model, and he didn't want to. His personal life was horrible, his guitar work was mediocre, and the lyrics were often shallow. But he somehow managed to enthrall so many of us, and make music that spoke to us like few did. At the same time, the popularity of Nirvana branded rock music to the extent that little new has come out since. The bluesmen influenced the Beatles and Rolling Stones, who spawned the great golden era of rock in the late 60's and 70's. During that time Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath helped define the hard rock and heavy metal genres that continued after them, and then the grunge movement hit in the early 90's. Most of the music we hear on rock radio today is just Nirvana rehashed the way most rock music before them was just Led Zepplin rehashed. A great example is how much this record doesn't feel dated at 20 years old, but when it came out records that were 20 years old at the time sounded incredible dated. Think about Elvis, early Rolling Stones, or some of the residual hippy music from the early 70's.

Anyone who acknowledges grunge as a good time in rock n roll, has to have this album.

Having listened to Nevermind in this remastered form (Super Deluxe Boxset), I must say it is quite good. The sound is very clear when compared to the 1991 CD. The volume has been slightly increased but it luckily is not a victim of the loudness wars. The Smart Sound Sessions tracks show the band's beginning and are decent sound quality but those versions are hardly essential. You won't find yourself using the repeat button. The Boombox Rehearsal tapes, although recorded on what appears to be a crappy tape deck, are cool to hear. There is something genuinely amazing about hearing the band in such an intimate yet powerful way. You wouldn't necessarily put those songs on repeat either but within the context of the boxset, they are a welcomed addition. The finest part of this boxset is perhaps the most anticipated, The Devonshire Mixes a.k.a. The Butch Vig Mixes. This is basically the version of the finished record before mixer Andy Wallace got his hands on it, or the way the band thought it should sound. To be honest, the results aren't all that different. They're the same songs with the polish scrubbed off. If anything they sound less focused and more grungy. I was expecting these to sound radically difference but they really don't. You won't hear it and have a "second-coming-of-Jesus" experience because in truth it wasn't the production that made Nevermind so good. It was the songs and if you need three hours of them to make you realize it then you weren't listening closely enough in the first place. In truth, I believe the Andy Wallace mix of Nevermind, as originally released, is the essential version. So, while this collection is impressive, unless you are a hardcore fan who needs to have everything, your original version of Nevermind or the remastered single disc version will do just fine.

Nevermind wasn't a 90s sensation for no reason. Kurt Cobain's obscurity to his lyrics is what made Nevermind the gem that it is. I understand if you don't appreciate his voice, or simple guitar riffs, or grunge/alternative in general, but the songs were obscure, carefully crafted pieces that made people see that you didn't have to be a rock star to make fantastic music.
I feel one of the biggest reasons people criticize this album so readily is because they don't understand the rhetoric each song is using, therefore they don't understand the true meaning, resulting in a confused listener who hears random words and thinks, "this makes no sense". The metaphors he uses in the album are nothing short of amazing. A perfect example of this is "Polly", which describes a woman who held against her will and raped, using the parrot analogy to describe her imprisoned (caged) condition.
Aside from brilliant metaphors and word play, Nirvana keeps the songs at a level of simplicity that is approachable musically. Simple guitar riffs with Krist Novoselic's well timed bass and Dave Grohl's tight drumming keep Cobain's brainchild carefully knitted into an album that reminds us of childhood and helps us realize we're not the only ones who see problems with the way the world was and still is.
Nevermind was a breakthrough in that it gave us songs to listen to that had a serious artistic goal planned. I understand Kurt Cobain was not the most talented vocalist or guitarist and Nirvana was not the most talented band ever, but this album introduced us to a different side of music and rock that is rare to find in any previous or current artist. From the baby penis to the paper-thin vocals, Nirvana showed us that vanity and being radio-friendly is not what music is about, but rather being real in a desire to just rock, and Nevermind does exactly that.

One of my favorite CDs of all time, I'm sure I've listened to it hundreds of times by now. You should already know what you're getting, but if you're somehow new to Nirvana when you listen to this just realize there was no mainstream music that sounded like this at the time. YES -- I get it music snobs, they ripped off _______ (insert name here). Whatever, I don't care. At a time before the Internet, when the music you knew was because you heard it on the radio this music was very different. This was the album that killed hair bands and created an entirely new generation of music, Alternative Rock.

First off, to be writing a review for a 20 year old record, discrediting is wierd When Teen Spirit got airplay, it changed things. They just were the first band to break through on the radio. Dave Grohl said that Teen Spirit was a Pixies knock off to begin with. The idea that this album is in all time lists in the top 10 is crazy. Sorry, an all time has to be great start to finish. Tracks 9,10, & 11 are average songs. Not a knock. It's very romantic to think that Kurt Cobain died for his art or his music or whatever. If he were alive and Nirvana still existed in some way, Nevermind would be looked at in a similar way to Pearl Jam's Ten, AIC's Dirt, & Soundgarden's BadMotorFinger. All great albums in the Grunge heading, but none of those albums get anywhere near the love Nevermind does. I just don't get it. Anyone who really enjoys this type of music should revisit & listen to Nevermind, Dirt, nd Ten again. Or Surfer Rosa & Doolittle by the Pixies.

I don't usually like rock but this one is truly special! one of the best rock albums of all time, there are a few reviews by other users who are prob. too young to understand how legendary this group is/was! I don't agree with someone giving a 1 star for this album or group period but it's your opinion.

Nirvana's debut album "Bleach" was undoubtedly their worst effort, which was nothing but a Mudhoney (who sucked) ripoff. They tried to fit in with the Seattle grunge scene, but it wasn't meant to be. Nirvana's true calling was MTV music videos, selling out stadiums and forever having songs for teenage boys to play on guitar, and that's why they're so great! "Nevermind" is not only full of catchy songs with angst-ridden lyrics, but Nirvana ended up having a lot of cool t-shirts sold at Hot Topic, so it's win-win. Also, avoid their later works because Kurt started name-dropping Leonard Cohen (ugh) and covered lame bands like Meat Puppets.

Nirvana destroyed kurt k's life is some ways , and in some ways it helped to make metal one of the most unpopular forms of music on the planet. The reason wasn't nirvana's fault , they just wanted to make their own kind of metal which was fine. and this is a good type of metal, The disaster occured when this was put up as the ONLY good type of metal , noone could have withstood that tag. metal should have been seen as a varied thing, instead we got now it's grunge or nothing. which was the start of the fall of metal, previously metal was a openarmed affair with all sorts of it accepted as valid from melodic , to pop metal to thrash you name it. then the pinheads touted this as the answer, not only as the answer to metal but also a social answer! (heroin ethos?) and that was a death sentence for metal. I like this cd , it's good alt metal but it's no better than other types of metal and it wasn't the answer. In fact after this all other types of metal were squashed , grunge lasted a few years and then we were in a situation of now it must be very hard or thrashy or nothing, this effectively destroyed the wideopenness that metal had been, killed off the format to most of the world and then laid waste to listenership completely. bad radio stations like colorado spring's kilo helped this disaster and bear the blame as well. why?, that was the station that for a while set the standard. So this should have been seen as a decent metal cd of it's own brand and put up alongside the many other types of metal including what was popular at the time, instead it was the answer to the end of a genres popularity in the long run. Still metal fans should enjoy this one because it's a good metal cd. with decent to great alt metal songs and that's all it ever really was , and that's why k.c. labeled with a messiah tag was doomed as eventually metal itself was in some respects ,doomed to be a shell of itself with little variety and little melody or listeners.

This is the best album by Nirvana. If you have not listened to the album, you are missing one of the greatest rock albums ever released. This review sounds like hyperbole, but it is not.