Nevermind – Nirvana

CENSORED BY MOD REQUEST

Rating: 9.7

Another one of my favorites. Kurt Cobain's unwilling masterpiece is easily a quintessential album of the 90's and one of the greatest albums of all time. Though the album rages and thrashes with a Seattle punk rock spirit, it never ceases to be melodic and catchy, even if it is a bit abrasive.

Of course, it's impossible to speak of Nevermind without mentioning the four chord blitzkrieg of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', the run away hit that shot Nirvana to the top of the charts, killing the cheesy, pelvic thrusting, mediocrity of 80's glam rock, and putting real rock back on the radio. This song is damn near perfect. Listen to it once and you'll be headbanging by the end of it, and you won't stop humming the melody for weeks. It's one of those rare songs that rocks super hard, but if you slowed it down and softened it up a little (like a piano version) it remains catchy and even becomes gorgeous. And that's just the first song!

The best part about this album, is that even though Teen Spirit is an amazing song with a huge impact on the music scene, it's debatable as to whether or not it's the best song on the album! 'In Bloom' is another great song with an incredibly catchy chorus. It's also pretty ironic, because the majority of the people who loved this song, were actually being made fun of by it, because (as stated in the song) they like to sing along, but they don't know what it means. It was a general attack on that guy at the art house who uses big words to describe paintings, despite the fact he has no idea what he's talking about.

'Polly' ends the first half on a disturbing note. It describes a pretty sadistic situation from the point of view of a torturer with a sort of warm fire-side sway. 'Lithium' is the most playful song on the album that is guaranteed to rock your face off. 'Come as you Are' has a sweet rubber-band-style bass-line that makes you nod your head along to the beat… right before it rocks your face off. ("This album will rock your face off" – Bulldog19892)

It does start to slouch slightly after 'Territorial Pissings', but 'Something in the Way' ends the album on a peaceful, and somber high.

Basically, if you like hard rock, you should already have this album. If you don't, shame on you sir. Shame on you.