Nirvana (Official Thread)

Jantine

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Im one of a very few people who think Nevermind was overrated. It was a good album, but bleach could have been the same game changer if people had given it a chance back then.
Overrated doesnt mean suckish, just over-valued than the other albums way too fking much :)

I feel that way aswell. Also, Lithium, Polly and the basics of Smells like Teen Spirit was all written and preformed in the Bleach era. Alot of good songs never made it on to the Bleach Album.
 

Lavender10

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I feel that way aswell. Also, Lithium, Polly and the basics of Smells like Teen Spirit was all written and preformed in the Bleach era. Alot of good songs never made it on to the Bleach Album.

Im finding alot of acoustic demos I never heard before on spotify, and they have a bleach/fecal matter feel to them. Im starting to realize that if some had made the cut to bleach (subpop didnt let some of them on for various reasons) grunge, or at least nirvana, would have been made mainstream faster... not that thats always a good thing :bonk:
 

Cosmic Harmony

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Im one of a very few people who think Nevermind was overrated. It was a good album, but bleach could have been the same game changer if people had given it a chance back then.
Overrated doesnt mean suckish, just over-valued than the other albums way too fking much :)

I disagree a lot here. Contrary to what you might be thinking, there are a ton of people out there who find "Nevermind" overrated (I myself am not one of them however). I also think "Bleach" doesn't hold a candle to it nor could it have made the impact that it's followup did. "Bleach" was rough sounding and abrasive, which I understand is a great deal of it's appeal for some people. "Nevermind" on the other hand was sleek and had the melody it needed to crossover in the way their debut did not. Besides, whether people want to think it or not "Nevermind" is the real Nirvana. The band tried not to alienate their underground roots with "Bleach" and made a point to drive away less dedicated fans with "In Utero". "Nevermind" however was the ideal marriage of distortion and melodies that Kurt Cobain really wanted to make.
 

Lavender10

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I disagree a lot here. Contrary to what you might be thinking, there are a ton of people out there who find "Nevermind" overrated (I myself am not one of them however). I also think "Bleach" doesn't hold a candle to it nor could it have made the impact that it's followup did. "Bleach" was rough sounding and abrasive, which I understand is a great deal of it's appeal for some people. "Nevermind" on the other hand was sleek and had the melody it needed to crossover in the way their debut did not. Besides, whether people want to think it or not "Nevermind" is the real Nirvana. The band tried not to alienate their underground roots with "Bleach" and made a point to drive away less dedicated fans with "In Utero". "Nevermind" however was the ideal marriage of distortion and melodies that Kurt Cobain really wanted to make.

Bleach has the distortion and apathy of grunge, while nevermind was more melodic and decisive lyric-wise. Both great albums, but people usually regard nevermind in a higher light. It made grunge mainstream, and accessible to people outside the seattle area, worldwide. I think that ultimately became the death of grunge. Underground became mainstream, it lost its roots with bush and STP and garbage and birthed bands like chevelle, where apathy became empathy and connecting with fans with lyrics that mean something to the individual, which recording companies loved. Alt became the norm, nevermind started it all and ended it all. My opinions. I dont think it died with kurt, it died with time and pop.
 

AboutAGirl

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I would strongly contest that the band was trying to drive anyone away with In Utero. Everything about it being this big eff you album was invented by the media (unfortunately not the only complete fabrication the media invented about Nirvana...) and unfortunately Albini bought into it, being the good little rebel leader he's supposed to be, but he later retracted his statement when he found out the truth of the matter. Nirvana did with In Utero exactly what they wanted to do with it, even when Kurt's excellent pop sensibilities overtook him and he unfortunately nixed Albini's original mix in favor of a more commercial one. In Utero is as close to a clone of Nevermind as humanly possible, there's no attempt to alienate anyone on that album.

As for my two cents on their catalog... I barely listen to Bleach. Good songs but the recording is too claustrophobic and Sub Pop was pulling too many strings -- sinching both the pop extreme and the experimental extreme, resulting in a rather one-sided album. On Nevermind the songs are still good but again the production is just too thin, I listen to the Smart Sessions more often than not. In Utero I enjoy greatly but still the material I listen to most is With The Lights Out. Raw, rich production on most of that material.

Lavender I love me some dirty, seething grunge too! Though I think it shines most brightly on a track like Pen Cap Chew or Anorexorcist. :)
 

Lavender10

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Lavender I love me some dirty, seething grunge too! Though I think it shines most brightly on a track like Pen Cap Chew or Anorexorcist. :)

Demolition is a nice demo, it was one of kurts favorites but neither subpop or geffen would publish it, citing "pointless aggression to a nameless, faceless entity"
as if they really knew what makes a song fking awesome :|
 

Riff Raff

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Im one of a very few people who think Nevermind was overrated. It was a good album, but bleach could have been the same game changer if people had given it a chance back then.
Overrated doesnt mean suckish, just over-valued than the other albums way too fking much :)

Again so glad someone else actually realises this. A lot of people seem to think over rated equates to disliking.
 

Bocephus

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Count me among the Nevermind is overrated crowd, i would still give Nevermind a 10 though. In Utero is just as good imo. Bleach is about an 8, Incesticide is a 6-7 by my reckoning.

Nevermind is definitely the cleanest sounding album they did, even though i'd give it a perfect 10 based on it's best songs, it does contain a bit of filler.
 

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