Nevermind (Review)
Hi. Hey. Hello. ItzSonny...and Nirvana, them' peoples for real, for real. I am very familiar with Nirvana and though I can only count on one hand all the songs I've heard from them, I have grown up with their music and are one of the very many reasons I got into rock which is probably my favorite genre right next to electronic music and I really loved re-visiting the now personal favorites of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come As You Are" from my music experiment ("Why Music Matters" on ItzSonny/YouTube), so why not only check out the LP those songs originate from, yet also an LP that is considered an all-timer and debated upon as Nirvana's very best release in...Nevermind. Aside that crazy ass cover, let's dive into why this is such a grunge rock staple.
BACKGROUND
In early 1990, Nirvana began working on their second album. They selected Butch Vig as their producer and got into recording their album with most of the arrangements completed before Kurt Cobain (lead) had worked on songwriting. After going on tour, Chad Channing (drummer) left the band, leaving them to look for a new drummer, thus finding Dave Ghol whose band (Scream) had disbanded, leaving him to ultimately become Nirvana's new drummer. As time passed, the band's record label (Sub Pop) had financial problems, even being absorbed by a bigger label, leading Nirvana to dip and look for a bigger company, landing with DGC Records after floating their tape recordings of the album around and being impressed by many. Despite being offered new producers, they still had Vig produce the album, thus Nevermind was born with a new intention put into its music, so let's see what's up.
REVIEW
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
...we all know this fucking opener, you must be living under a rock buddy, if you don't know this motherfucking song. I don't even have to explain myself, I already done talked about this song enough, and as an opener...yah this is fire, you want to kick off your rock album to a mothafuckin' bang, this is how you do it, it's electric, it's explosive, it's mature and gritty about it though, it's both enraging and edgy in all the best ways, I don't got to explain myself, this song's a banger, next song.
"In Bloom"
I don't know why, maybe I'm just odd like that, it's just this song...weirdly gives me hippie vibes? I don't know, this is a very enjoyable track that continues a more toned down, yet similar energy from the opener where it's more-so Kurt detailing this man who likes to fit in, yet will still end up pulling the trigger in a very dark and twisted way with the instrumental still being of course rock-heavy, yet the overall melody has it be more effective in its ideas and hits on the exact coordinated right notes to really give off the right kind of vibe that is great.
"Come As You Are"
Again, already listened to before, generally fantastic. It's like a more mature and even further toned down rock song, even when it get explosives, it's moody about it, dark, depressive, like holding that violence inside of us within until we can't hold it in anymore, great instrumental and tempo, it works well as a continuation to the record, it stands on its own and I think deserves to be equally treated with respect alongside the opener, I don't know why, I just picture myself as Daredevil, walking around like a badass and kicking ass from time to time in an afternoon abandoned apartment, it's just one of those songs, man.
"Breed"
On first-listen through, I didn't hate this song at all, yet wasn't really feeling it for some odd reason, yet on re-listen, yah, I enjoy it a lot further. I think the reason this doesn't stand out too much as it's more-so of a serviceable song, it's got a great tone to it, fun delivery and overall writing with a guy not caring about specific things, and it is fun, just nothing truly standout-worthy, yet not every song needs to be for an album, it just all has to work together individually one by one into one complete package which is the "album" itself and for this track, it works well in not ruining the creative flow thus far.
"Lithium"
This is the only other song on first-listen I wasn't vibin' with too much...but nah...this one a favorite of mine, NO CAP, cause it's really the lyricism that holds this up for me...it's just fucking hilarious imo, like just this dude who sees himself in a negative light and keeps saying all these positive things so he doesn’t crack is just so damn ironic and shit, I love this album's absurd and fucked up, yet ironically funny and childish sense of violence that makes this a great song so far.
"Polly"
Kind of Lithium, this one isn't funny, yet follows a similar tone as it continues the fucked up ironic aesthetic, only this one kind of feels like a folk rock song than the traditional stuff established so far off the LP with more emphasis on the delivery and the chord progression being in the back, allowing for the interesting delivery and writing to play out, detailing a sense of somber that never becomes full-on depressive...it feels...like irony.
"Territorial Pissings"
I love how the previous tracks were not exactly chill, yet on the down-low, and then this fucker right here just GOES ALL OUT AND I LOVE IT, it's just Nirvana going crazy for 2 minutes straight and Cobain screaming out of his lungs with that good ol'-fashioned punk energy I like from rock, so yah. Short, simple, and sweet.
"Drain You"
Why is this so...romantic? Fucked up...yet romantic. This is actually kind of the most creative play on words for a twisted and fucked up description of falling in a love with a great rock instrumentation that is honestly very creative, kind of underrated honestly, this is just...very creative, I like it, I like it very much, let me write some damn poetry like this too, this was some fucking heat, man.
"Lounge Act"
I'm starting to notice just how ironic this whole album is...the damn name of this is "Lounge Act" and yet from my examination is just Cobain screaming about him wanting to kill a man whose with his girl (Smell her on you), so yah...this is funny. Nice chords, nice vocals, nice everything. So far I'm noticing none of these songs are anything that truly TRULY sticks out...and I like that, an album considered one of the greatest of all time and most of the songs are just a nice individual track expressing a core idea and being rock-out creative, me like.
"Stay Away"
Ok, this one might actually be the funniest fucking song in the entire project, this boy keeps screaming to stay away and then calls me out by saying monkey see, monkey do, like this clearly a personal vendetta and then ends it with god is gay, like "…", is you good fam? If you ever wanted to just not scream, yet still tell someone to STAY AWAYYYYYYY, you play this damn song, alright? Remember this, I might actually use this from now on, on some real shit.
"On a Plain"
This one's just so...simple...and I like it...man, this album is so weird to me like...it's just so simple...and...I like that, like this is probably the most simplest song of them all...and yet...I'm starting to understand why this album is so simple to me...but for this song on its own, I enjoy it, it's got a great progression and overall fun production scheme to it. I like it.
"Something in the Way"
This the best one of the whole album...sorry...NOT SORRY, I mean yah man, this shit is just so moody and not gritty...heavy hitting, it gets you in that depressive mood, it's one of those songs where you could be having the best time of your fucking life, hell, you could be at a party with the entire world and this song come on, you all just...dead inside instantly and I love this song, it's just the complete opposite of the entire rest of the album that's been explosive or as chill as you can get with grunge rock and this here...reveals the hidden amazement of this album.
"Endless, Nameless" [Hidden Track]
Nirvana just said "fuck it" and did whatever and I enjoyed it, I'm a simple man. That's it...THAT'S ALL I GOTTA SAY (I'm chuckling as I'm writing this, I don't know what to say, it's just a mesh of sound I enjoy.)
CONCLUSION
I think what I realize with this album is that...it is quite deep and complex, it's just that in my eyes it's only simple because...I know of the deep and complex, it's become second nature to me, yet for this album, it's going to be so eye awakening to others, I love how this album feels so bi-polar, consistent...yet bi-polar, it starts off with such an explosive electrifying typical rock to it's ironic and funny, yet still disturbing ass fuck middle section, and though having dark lyrics throughout the entire project, doesn't really fully home into depression with the closer which reveals everything you need to know. I think, no, I believe the reason this album is so special, especially for its time, is how this album...is different from most rock, aside it's incredible creativity, what makes this LP special is that when you picture "rock" you think of just people screaming out their pain and sorrow until the whole damn building explodes with a crazy ass fuck arrangement of drums and guitars and though this record still has those roots...is more than that, it's adult and smart with its concepts, being adult by...not being adult, it's childish, it's ironic, it's funny, it's fucked up, it's disturbing, it's depressing, it's bat-shit insane, I mean just look at the damn cover...the cover...reveals the truth: a baby drowning itself in the depths of the water after money. This album is deep for its representation of how fucked this world is with its anti-values and revels in its philosophy by utilizing rock not to lash out...yet to speak out and that's why Nevermind...is a masterpiece. It's been Sonny and so long, farewell, and goodbye.
“It’s okay to eat fish ‘cause they don’t have any feelings”
