special introductory paragraph!

Bleach

Nevermind

Incesticide

In Utero

Live At Reading

MTV Unplugged In New York

From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah

The Elements

Nirvana

With The Lights Out

It aren't just the tone, though. These melodies are also much more melancholy and minor-key-ly than you might expect from listening to the slaphappy Nevermind; only the slacker love story "Swap Meet" and the carnival-goofy "Mr. Moustache" come close to conveying the sense of youthful celebration and exuberance that would so woo the musical universe in just two short years. And, Mr., here's the thing. This record proves that Kurt had talent, goddammit. Not just songwriting talent, but soundscaping talent. Ever heard "Negative Creep?" The hell is that? "Shoop?" That's the melody? "Jug-jug-shoop-jug-jug-jug-jug-shoop???" Not even a chord, but "shoop?" And how about the way he screams in "Paper Cuts?" "A SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD SONG!!!!!!!!" No wonder the chest pains!

It doesn't "kick buttock," as the kids say, but it's extremely interesting to listen to. Reminds me a little of Black Flag's My War, but a metallicaload better. Kurt had a super lurchy screaming voice, a fantastic ear for feedback (see the amazing intro to "Paper Cuts"), and no intention of playing boring old corporate rock. This was grunge, darn it! Underground hard rock of the late '80s! Something new and special! A splendid combo of heavy metal and punk! Steel Pole Bath Tub! King Snake Roost! And Nirvana, goddammit, Nirvana!!! Kings of Seattle grunge!!!

I really hate the cover of "Love Buzz," though.

Reader Comments

toasty@capecod.net (Nate Eckstrom)
That cover of "Love Buzz" was sooooo good, how can you love the intro to "Paper Cuts" and then say you didn't like "Love Buzz," the outro screams.

on_the_brink@hotmail.com (Bob Blair)
Bleach is awesome - it just sounds so raw.

pmtapia@worldnet.att.net (The Chameleon)
This album like Bob Blair said is so raw. But hey!!! That ain't bad! This album definitely has grunge written all the way through it and you can still feel the garage feel of the songs...but that adds to the album.

SMxMS@aol.com
You didn't like "LOVE BUZZ"?? What the hell is wrong with you? It was so wry and hateful---Perfect! Exactly the way any song called "Love Buzz" should be. And "Negative Creep" is MUCH more the anthem for our generation than "Teen Spirit" ever will be.

rburt@mail.portup.com (Russell Burt)
Bleach is a damn good albumn. I still listen to it all the time. It's much heavier than their other albumns. Maybe that's why Machine Head(metal band) do a cover of "Negative Creep." Someone once told me that if you liked Bleach then you'd like Celtic Frost(another metal band). The two songs that Dale Crover play on are evil!

kavrbck@megsinet.net (Paul)
It's such a great album! Really the one that saved sub pop from going under (although it sucks now). A brilliant album. I love every song. And Dale Crover drumming? Oh yeah! As my friend Javier put it, "He makes a 3-piece drumset sound like a 10-piece."

Resident-Alien@webtv.net (Ryan Francis)
Definetly one of the finest albums in my collection. If Nevermind was recorded on the same budget that Bleach was recorded for, I think over all it would have sounded even better. The raw feedback is just not to my liking on Nevermind, but still a hard rocking album....How could you not like LOVE BUZZ, it blows the original away!

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Ah, Bleach, the Nirvana album that sounds like a very good band with cheapass equipment and mediocre recording quality. Well thats exactly what it is and it kicks almighty ass! This is probably the heaviest band/record that crappy ole Sub Pop ever put out. I can't say enuff bad things about Sub Pop, but anyway, this album is so demented and at times downright scary. This is another one of those records that inspired me to pick up de guitar and strum like a crazy motherfucker! Kurt has one of the most amazing voices ever, and one can hear what he can do with it on "mr moustache", that weird warbling he does, and he also sings a little ditty called "About a Girl" which doesnt even sound like anything else on the album and later became waaaaay too popular on their unplugged. Anyway, who could pass up an album that features the Melvins' own Dale Crover on two tracks? "Paper Cuts" wouldn't have sounded right without his earth shaking beat, and he saves Floyd from having a repetitive beat, (cmon 2 notes could have gotten really reptitious). I don't care what anyone says about this album. "School", "Blew", "Negative Creep", "Swap Meet", need i say more? It's a classic.

drew14@wcnet.net (Drew Hoffmann)
Bleach was the BEST! it shows the dark side of the late 80's and Nirvana. I love the Old Nirvana the best. I believe that every Nirvana Album is Completely Different!

Bleach-Raw, Dark GRUNGE!

Nevermind-Half Alternative and Grunge

Incesticide-Grunge, Dark again, raw

In Utero-Mellow Grunge and Alternative

Live in NY-Mellow (Not really a real Nirvana Album, its just live)

From the Muddy banks of Wishka-Pure Grunge and Live Hard feedback! thats all!

InMyEyes82@aol.com
Sorry to be a crap-ass, but this album out and out blows compared to the classic Nirvana elpees. The production is the epitome of weak, Chad Channing sounds like a little five year old behind the drum kit, and amid superb songs like "About a Girl", "Blew", and the catchy as hell "Love Buzz" are plodders like "Mr. Moustache" and "Paper Cuts". Kurt was still, in my opinion, trying to please the punk community instead of unleashing his full potential as a hooksman. 6/10

geedot@enter.net
I agree that this is undoubtedly my favorite Nirvana album, but as for the comment about the Melvins, they make this sound like a toilet flushing.

fyant@ptinet.net (G.L. Fyant)
You know i think if kurt had the money to make a good record it would have sounded like all the other records nirvana put out. But i think that bleach was a one of a kind style that no one can recopie. You know some times i hear a riff and it sound really good. But then it changes and you dont hear it again and that i think messes up the hole song.So i think kert had the right idea but maybe he should have added a coulp more riffs.

frh74@tca.net (Ray Holloway)
Holy crap! Do I like this record? I do, I do. These songs are so retarded. All together now, "How retarded are they!?" They're so retarded, you'd have to be sane not to like them. Your mama, your daddy, and your greasy granny don't like these songs, and that's because they are reasonable people with reasonable tastes. These screaming yahoos, banging on their drums and committing unholy acts with their guitars, are just too wacky and unpredictable for any red-blooded, pie-eating, car-pooling, wife-swapping Mormon to embrace.

What? You say you wouldn't portray this record or anything else remotely associated with St. Kurtis Cobainus, the Patron Saint of Serious, Integrity-filled Music and Poor Personal Hygeine, as wacky and unpedictable? Well, you, my fine-feathered friend, are wrong. And here's why.

First of all, how much more random could the subject matter of these songs be? Not very much, that's how much. There's at least 2 demented love songs, a ditty about a couple who frequent flea markets, a complaint about lack of playground time, an ode to booze, some sorta weird, half-spoken, political-type thing, and a pleasant tune about homicide in Mayberry. The rest of the songs are random in and of themselves. They sound like songs to serial-kill by, perhaps. (Don't quote me on that, though.)

Then, there's the music. I bought this after Nevermind, so guess what I was expecting. Tight, cleanly-produced, instantly-catchy, radio-friendly, unit shifters. I think I've heard the Bleach version of "About a Squirrel" twice on the radio. Other than that, Roxanne Rolls and "The Skull" and Johnny Homophobe and whoever else your local radio station employs wouldn't dare play any of these songs they deem unsuitable for public consumption. That's fine with me. That means I can blame myself if I get burned out on them. Anyway, I got off the subject somehow, so I think I'll start another paragraph. How you like them apples?

So, as I was spewing. I don't play the guitar, or anything else for that matter, but even if I did, I don't think I would have ever imagined writing songs that not only used but relied on feedback. That's what Squirt Cocaine seems to have done, though. "Paper Cuts" seems to be one huge fuck up as far as the lead guitar is concerned. Hell, I think his voice was feeding back in this song, too. But it's an amazing song, for quite a while my favorite on this record. Now, I tend to enjoy "Sifting" more. The extended insrumental in the middle with Kurt holding that single note (is it even a note? I really am musically illiterate) for an unnecessary amount of time is pretty damn close to stereophonic bliss for me. It's so simple, but unbelievably intense.

Some would say these songs are repetitious, though. Well, they're right. Each song has a main riff that is pounded out over and over. On top of that, the lyrics are repeated over and over. There are all of 3 lines in "School", each repeated 3 or 4 times before the next line is sung, and then they're all repeated again. But the reason this is still such a good album is: none of these songs sound like each other. That's why this record works for me. That's why Nirvana is/was such a great band. Cobain was able to write catchy songs with ambiguous lyrics that were unique not only from the rest of rock music but from each other. That is, until In Utero. Then his smack-riddened mind unfortunately began to repeat itself.

But Bleach is a damn great listen. Buy it for your greasy granny, she's gettin' old and senile. She might just be in the right condition to listen to this mess now.

That is all.

brian@quinte.net (Brian Ferguson)
yeah, bleach was definately influenced by my war

jason_a@earthlink.net (Jason Adams)
Lately I've found the band's debut to be the most fun of their albums. Am I the only one who thinks "Swap Meet" is one of their best? I love the little details. It's like the grunge rock Ray Davies.

Jcjh20@aol.com
Great album. Nice production too. The cover of "Love Buzz" is absolutely awesome. All these songs sound really fucking awesome live too. "About a Girl" is a hint at what Nirvana would become about a year later, and "Sifting" is catchy as hell too. The songs that were recorded on their first ever demo are probably my fave though ("Floyd The Barber", "Paper Cuts", "Downer"). This is Nirvana at their most creative. 9/10.

petros@isoc.net (Poppleton)
are you on crack? bleach is the worst hunk of shit they ever released! It stinks like ass.

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Can't have that tosser above me have the final say on this so i'd just like to say to everyone whos a Nirvana fan, that if you don't have this album you're missing out on a lot. Their most "grunge" album that they produced. Definately an 8 of of ten. Some of Nirvana's best work is on this album. So SCREW YOU if you don't like it !!!!!

chuckatmg@aol.com
well, ill have to admit, this is the only album that nirvana totally with chad channing and thats why its unique i dont have a favorite album, i have heard every song they ever made including the infamous "you know your right" and let me say that bleach is the "pilot" album for nirvana like any other band, they were just starting out and all the songs varied a bit. being a drummer i know how bands tend to change their sounds over time and if you"ll notice, a lot of care was given by kurt to this album (there's less feedback and scratchyness than the other 3 studio recorded albums) because it was the first impression of nirvana. although kurt wouldnt admit it, he did care how the music sounded, at least he did back in the bleach days.

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayebagha)
It's hard to get too excited about an album that was one of the most adored when you started to get serious about "music", but when I just read about these songs that I've heard so many times, I just think that this is a classic. "Floyd The Barber" - that is one of the songs that defines Nirvana, but it's a shame that this had to end up being possibly ,I'm really starting to doubt this though ,the best thing they ever did, without Dave Grohl. And now that song just strikes me as so much more... how could I take it for granted ? Kurt sings OK, but he'd get better...but he rarely got to prove that; I usually like the classics, but Nevermind is boring... I don't see why anyone would need Nevermind now when you have stuff like the Ramones.

Thanks so much for saying what I've always seem to have been the only one knowing: "Love Buzz" sucks.

joshua_ackley@standardandpoors.com
Bleach is brilliant, like a schizophrenic panic. However I have never enjoyed the 'Love Buzz' cover. It goes on way way way too long and doesn't fit the other material on the album.

gag05@bigpond.com.au
Yep it’s a good debut and has restored my faith in Cobain’s talent as a songwriter. “About a Girl” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on “With the Beatles” that’s for sure. And “Negative Creep” is just fucking pure punk aggression…shit when that riff comes in right before the chorus its about the coolest fucking thing ever in rock. “Creep” is the best song Nirvana ever recorded IMO. Oh and the albums great too, because all the songs are catchy and energetic with no tired “Angst” lyrics in site. 9

john.rutsey@yahoo.com
This is the only Nirvana album I actually enjoy. In Utero was just in shards, and Nevermind was pathetically predictable and boring. Maybe I'd enjoy Nevermind a lot more if the songs weren't so god-damned overplayed, seeing as I well enjoy On A Plain and Drain You. I mean, Nirvana had standardized radio-rock formula that is pretty much being revived with all the mediocre modern radio rock bands going on right now: Nickelback, Hinder, etc. Nirvana really weren't all that better, and Cobain was such a bullshit lyricist.

Anyway, back to the album. This album is really nice to listen to: The band take their blooming pop sensibilities and put it into writing songs that revolve around unconventional but kick-ass riffs, dark tones, and feedback.

I'm probably one of the odder sorts in that my least favored song on here is Negative Creep: Nice, simple, even metallic riff, but Cobain going into a screaming fit doesn't sit well with me. He never should've screamed if you ask me. It's not for him. But School is a really great song: It's just one of those Nirvana songs that you can tell is really sincere and intense just by listening to the powerful chorus. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, No recess, no recess, no recess, no recess." Man. What a breath of fresh air, eh?

The band also make good use of key changes with some cool dark vocal harmonizing: Mr. Moustache comes to mind, as does Big Cheese (which has arguably one of Nirvana's coolest choruses). All of the songs do have a pretty basic verse-chorus type of structure, but you don't really tend to NOTICE that with all the cool things they do here.

As a drummer, I quite like Chad Channing, and I think he was better suited for Nirvana than Dave Grohl (though that could just be my personal bias, given that I think all Nirvana records after this one are bloody hogwash). I've not quite put my finger on exactly what his style encompasses, but there's a very raw yet creative feel to it.

That being said, the lyrics on here are pure bullshit, and it's about time people admit it. And possibly the worst part of it all is that they are the greatest lyrics Cobain ever wrote, as they have sort of a freeform poetry feel to them. Just read the lyrics to Scoff, or Mr. Moustache. Oh please. On the later records, he either tried to really elaborate on a subject only to sound Dumb (pun intended, yes), or just improvised bullshit for an ENTIRE FUCKING POLISHED RADIO SONG (ironically, their biggest hit, Smells Like Teen Spirit, is a great example of that).

Still, Bleach is a good record. Definitely their most powerful and most creative. I suppose that Nirvana were always the simple-and-catchy type of band, but this showed that they could be creative and even dark about it. After this album...They didn't really seem to do much, but this record at least says that they had SOMETHING. And the people who say that Cobain was such a bad guitarist might be surprised to find just how good he is at this album. He wasn't special, but he wasn't just playing the basic chords most people hear out of him.

I guess that pretty much sums up what I have to say. A simple record with more creative ideas than should be wasted on embracing a corporate rock direction. Oh well. I'll just wrap this up with a few offensive Cobain jokes:

Q: What was the last thing to go through Kurt Cobain's head?
A: His teeth.

Q: Why is Kurt Cobain a liar?
A: Because he says "no, I don't have a gun"

Q: Why didn't Kurt Cobain like to ride in the back of the car?
A: Because he preferred to ride shotgun

I'm going to get out of here now before some Nirvana fans attack me.

Hossein Nayebagha
I re-read this after seeing that note in the Nevermind review. What I don't understand is why this one gets a ten. Apparently Lithium finally made you drop Nevermind, but is Love Buzz still not crap? Anyway, by 2011 I'll finally accept that in my opinion Bleach isn't a great album. I know it's easy to take it for granted, so I'm certainly not saying it's not good, but I will never ever get crazy about it again. I can understand for someone who loves the Melvins the way you do, this is the right sound, but for me, to get that grungy sludge rock, this production just doesn't cut it. It makes everything just stale and relatively boring. Feedback has never been important to me, and Kurt very rarely plays good solos. In general I don't think his guitar work is impressive. The REALLY exciting and groundbreaking record of the underground grunge era was Soundgarden's Screaming Life EP. That was bold, diverse, had great guitar and bass interplay, better drum sound etc. Even Kurt might have agreed as it's been said that that made him want to sign with Sub Pop. I guess Cornell's screaming vocals weren't "cool" enough to get that MTV teenage riot going, but whatever. Bleach for me gets a 7.

Goddamn worthless sell-out pieces of shit! I remember the day this record came out; I eagerly illegally recorded it at my college radio station, the words of Grant Tennille ("My brother told me that this record is going to change the face of rock music!") ringing in my awfully large intestine.... And it only had two good songs! "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Breed" kicked screaming crunch butt, but the rest was just a bunch of faceless generic pop crap! Aerosmith? Husker Du? R.E.M.? How was this boring dreck gonna change the face of anything?

Er...I stand corrected. After three or four listens, I realized the most amazing thing about this record; although it is one of the most predictable albums ever recorded (If a song starts quiet, it'll get loud and distorted during the chorus - unless it's acoustic, in which case, it doesn't change. It's all 4/4 and midtempo, most of the guitar solos follow the vocal melody to the T, the guitar never plays anything but basic notes and chords, and the tone is so crisp, clean, and lifeless, it might as well have been played by a session musician - basically, each and every dark, weird eccentricity that made Nirvana Nirvana has been completely obliterated), it's also one of the most irresistibly catchy LPs ever thrown at a Mexican! I don't know how you feel about this, but I'm awfully impressed by a band that can create such a powerful record without bothering to do anything interesting the whole way through. You'll notice that none of the sixty-eight jillion amateurish young wanna-bes crowding up the airwaves of "modern rock" stations today come even close to this kind of consistency (most of 'em can't pull off ONE decent song, let alone eleven or twelve).

Crazy stuff. Changed the world, too, just as both Grant Tennille's brother and the guy who wrote the liner notes for the promo tape predicted. Yes, that's right; the last lines of these pre-"Teen Spirit"-frenzy liner notes read as follows: "Nirvana establishes itself as that rare underground group that just might be able to turn the dominant culture counter-clockwise and break through to the mainstream. Nirvana's songs are accessible." Whoa. I think somebody deserves a raise.

Reader Comments

jnw@coastalnet.com (Jim Hull)
Great album. Powerful, thrashing, and just blew the doors off everything on the radio that summer. Great voice, great guitar, great rhythm section. Great album cover. Great melodies. I love "Lithium". Why didn't anyone help him? Why didn't he help himself? Pussy.

shaffer1@prolog.net (Mark Shaffer)
I don't really care for bands like Foo Fighters or Pearl Jam, but there is no denying that this was an excellent album by an excellent group. It takes a good band to sound as good unplugged as they do normally [take Nada Surf for example-suck unplugged). Nirvana wasn't one of my favorite bands, but i certainly admired their talent and musical ability.

denz03@sk.sympatico.ca (Roth)
Shaffer the only thing that sucks is you, you dumb ass.

DougS@aol.com
"A supergroup comprised of Courtney Love's late husband and members of the Foo Fighters" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! this band is so overrated. I still like most of Nevermind though.... And a pox on you for disliking the Offspring.... cut past the FM hits and you'll find some good speedy shit in there.

mattias@diariodopovo.com.br (Alexandre Linhares Matias)
Well, I think everybody has already heard about that equation Black Sabbath + Beatles = Nirvana. Well, Nevermind is really where it's at - a full-length album worthy of both Sabbath and Fab Four albums. As them, Nevermind is efficient and simple, good and great - like the Ozzy years or Abbey Road. There's nothing beyond it, just good musicians (no one's virtuoso) doing the thing they know they can do. And - the real quality of the album - a superb production, taking a band that didn't care to be qualified behind, say, Jesus Lizard as a God's gift. Butch Vig know how to do it (take a look at Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream , the underestimated Sonic Youth's Dirty, that L7 record - party record! - and even Garbage - don't take it seriously, it's better to have this on the radio than Gloria Estephan or Hootie, it's just a pop band).

enik@mail.del.net (Nik Everett)
A classic. Will stand the test of time.

anonymous rock fan
I hate Nevermind and I hate this whole band, except the drummer whose songs I always thought were better. This guy is a loud attention-seeking whiner. When I heard he died, I gave him the nickname "Stumpy", for his newly-cropped neck. All the reporters loved him, because Rolling Stone is basically written by a bunch of socialists who like the everyman album. It sells well. They like angry posturing by genuine rebels, and they follow them around inquiring into every nook and cranny of their hollow existence. For them, the James Dean image captures the true meaning of rock. (Incidentally, a computer recreation of Dean's death shows that he was not speeding when he died, the accident was caused by the recklessness of another driver approaching from the opposite direction.) To me, there is more to rock than "puerile vibes loudly". It is hard to analyze this because it is so subjective, but I honestly can say I hate this group, this singer and this bloody album. Thank the Lord God he's dead or I would have to hear more of it. No apologies necessary.

Klarrabe@frognet.net (Kirk Larrabee)
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is destined to be as overplayed as anything off Led Zeppelin IV but make no mistake about it-- this album is a gem. Hits came in "Teen Spirit," "Lithium," "Come As You Are," and "In Bloom," but the most stunning points in the album come in the harnessed aggressiveness of "Territorial Pissings," "Breed," "Drain You," and "Stay Away." Everyone should have it, but not just for those hit singles.

pmtapia@worldnet.att.net (The Chameleon)
First good and then bad...it's still a classic album in a way...but now i'm just so sick of the songs i don't listen to it much anymore unless i'm desperate. It was a good album just overplayed too much.

jamesd@elink.net (James Vincent Debevec II)
The first side is a rock classic. Second side sucks. 5 stars

bish24@erols.com
Even Kurt was disappointed with the production, since it was so clean he said it sounded "like a fucking Motley Crue record". Nevertheless, it says a lot about this band that this album was so great despite that. Listen to Bleach or In Utero to hear how these guys really sounded. It got me the first time, and it hasn't let go. I miss this band. Oh yes, and Courtney is a bitch who, in my opinion, knows a lot more about Kurt's "suicide" than she's letting on. I guess she's too busy trying to win a fucking Oscar.

Weigelda@aol.com (Dave Weigel)
I'm sorry, I have a bone to pick with Mr. James Vincent Debevec II, esquire. "The first side is a rock classic. Second Side sucks"? Reading that, I find it hard to believe James ever really listened to the record. I've heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "In Bloom", "Come As You Are", and "Lithium" so much that I've gotten a bit weary of them, and I now think that the second side is better. "Territorial Pissings" is a hilarious punker. The four-song suite of "Drain You/Lounge Act/Stay Away/On A Plain" is fantastic, and reminiscent of the second side of Abbey Road. The songs have so much more energy than the radio hits! And "Something in the Way" is gorgeous.

How do these songs "suck"? I have to assume that you're easily influenced by MTV and Top 40. A lot of Nirvana fans are (were). If you're saying that the first side is better simply because the songs are popular, well then, I assume you think REO Speedwagon and Alanis Morrisette are pretty swell too.

Ah, well. At least you're not saying this about Oasis.

forlenza@nassau.cv.net
Every song is good on this album. The songs all have simple guitar riffs, and that makes them more enjoyable to play for a beginner like me. 10 out of 10-their best album ever, although I believe that Unplugged is a close second.

SMxMS@aol.com
Good. But too processed and packaged. Bleach is the defintive Nirvana record, not Nevermind.--- It's a classic, to be sure, but an overrated classic. "Come as You Are" and "Something In the Way" are the standouts. Worthy of a "10" on the cultural landmark scale, but not on the musical scale.

mccort@lst.net (Anna Hitler)
god, i love this disc. definitely tops all of the others of its era. nirvana truly did pave the way for "alternative" i sure as hell wouldn't give eddie vedder any credit for that one. "lounge act" kicks ass. kurt's a great lyricist.

kendall2@pilot.msu.edu (Philip N. Kendall)
Nirvana's overwhelming commercial success is rather explainable. The overproduced songs of Nevermind appealed to the heavy metal, pseudo-alternative, and top 40 consumer all at the same time - a feat no album had accomplished previously. Nirvana is a band of paradox - songs are both depressing and hilarious. The first couple times I listened to Nevermind I would burst out in laughter one minute and then the next minute I would think, "wow, this guy can really scream his lungs out". But in the end, we have to admit Nirvana was a great band, Cobain was a talented song writer and probably had the best heavy metal scream in the history of rock.

patman8@ibm.net (Kevin Ryan)
Overrated album, great band though. Overproduction on this record makes me rate it 8 out of 10. I tend to stay away from the first side unless i want to go back to 8th grade, but the second side still gets me going. "Drain You" and "Something in the Way" are my two personal favorites. All these fifth graders walking around with JNCO's and lunchboxes (cause it is cool) really piss me off though. This album exploded the seattle scene. However cool it was, it will be 100 times harder for it to get its creditability back.

albracht@wins.uva.nl (Arthur Albracht)
This album is just good in its simplicity. It also has a high screamlevel in it! Aren't we yelling with the choruses of "Smells like teen spirit" and "Lithium". "Lithium" is my personal favourite. "Territorial Pissings" is a bit too uncomplicatedly rough for me, but that's nothing about the quality, just about my taste of music.

daniels@actek.com.au (Daniel Schmidt)
The only Nirvana albulm I own, and an excellent, catchy albulm at that, but people should stop calling Nirvana Heavy Metal - there not even fucking close to Heavy Metal - they're grunge or whatever label people give them now. Heavy Metal means bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. And the best scream in heavy metal goes to Tom Araya of Slayer, thank you very much.

mybreed@yahoo.com (Brian Sellers)
Kurt just proved that heavy pop could be smart and doesn't have to sound like some slacker's toilet to be 'important'. All those punk snobbists can kiss my d5 ass!! "On A Plain" is one of the coolest simplest songs ever written - woulda make JWL proud.

nobody@thorung.eeng.dcu.ie (Anonymous Dublin City University user)
Lithuim is the greatest song in the world. Nevermind is a classic and if you leave it for a while and then listen to it you get blown away by songs like "Drain You" and "Something in the Way".A classic

dulcet@webtv.net (Roy J. Burks)
It's funny how whenever a good band starts making money their called sellouts! Damn it if my band ever gets offered a ton of money to play the same kid of music I've been playing for years I'm going to opt on starving the rest of my life! Get over it! NIRVANA was a great band Nerermind was great album and all you "overplayed" queers can f*ck off! If a band etting played on the radio a lot or a song makes you not like the band or song then your nt a true fan and your opinion doesn't matter!

kduffy@mail.imagina.com (Kay Duffy)
i would like for someone to tell me just why "come as you are" is such a cool song. i have never liked it that much, but maybe someone can show me the light. i just don't see why this song gets so much recognition when songs like "drain you" are so much... better.

Nita@gte.net (Nita358)
The Cd was predictable, but it still is a very good disc. While the first side is really radio friendly dreck, the second side has some decent songs. While Nevermind is extremely overrated it was a good record. Despite the fact Smells Like Teen Spirit sucked ASS!

InMyEyes82@aol.com
Nevermind is in my top 5 albums of all time, where it joins the ranks of Zen Arcade, Damaged and Daydream Nation. To all the people whining about the production-I think it's awesome, plain and simple. The drums sound SO heavy.

There wasn't one thing that made this band great (though Kurt screaming at the top of his lungs came close), but a number of things, like Grohl's insane drumming, the use of feedback, cryptic lyrics and Kurt's way with a hook. I suggest to those interested in Nirvana, get Michael Azzerad's book Come As You Are. It is excellent, and it goes in depth about Kurt's heroin use, his upbringing and each Nirvana song. Plus, it all come's straight from the horse's mouth-each of the member's are interviewed. Also, check out some of their bootlegs, with amazing songs like "Verse, Chorus, Verse", "Even In His Youth", and their heavy-as-fuck cover of the Wiper's "D-7". Oh, yeah and my all time favorite Nirvana moment would have to be in "Drain You" when it kicks back into the verse after the weird "ducky" break.

kavrbck@megsinet.net (Paul)
It was pretty good, but it's been played way too much for me (like stairway to heaven with my parents). A good album, although WAY too squeaky clean in my taste. Nirvana kind of lead me on the path to mudhoney, the pixies, and eventually, the melvins, in which I have to thank them.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
well i guess i wont get pissed at everyone writing their feedback on this album. maybe your all suburban morons who have no taste in "real" music, just "technical ability" when it comes to music, or maybe im just an idiot. Whatever. The point is- Nevermind is one of the most poignant, beautiful, angry, blissful but accidental records you will EVER hear. Just put aside the fact that there was so much production on it for a moment. Judge the collection of songs for what they are... a collection of "simple" songs. Now break it down into its most basic elements. About 45 minutes of music. 12 songs. There are so many possibilities for a album like this. This is what Nirvana came up with. Songs that vary from one another between speed, volume, and vocal style. Maybe a chart will help.

Track 1- vocal measure=2, no. of notes in bass riff=4, tempo changes-yes, total no. of notes in vocal melody line=17(just the verse!)

This of course is only scratching the surface, but you'll see what im after in a minute. Now compare this to the average shit thats on the radio.

Average radio song-vocal measure=1, no. of notes in bass riff=4, tempo changes-no, total no. of notes in vocal melody line=4

Of course not all songs are the same, but this is typically what you'll find, give or take a little. Notice the major difference between how much actually singing of notes kurt's doing and what the average vocalist is doing. Believe it or not most vocals in rock only have 1 or 2 notes at best that are repeated. (Ozzy does this alot.) For someone who didnt know shit about the technical aspect of songwriting this is a true testament to Kurts natural talent. Of course if u dont give a shit about melody then what am i arguing for? but i assume most of you are attracted to the melodies of Nevermind as well as the rage.

In terms of the vocal measures what im pointing out is simply this: the ratio of instrument verse to vocal verse in SLTS is 2:1. The riff is played through twice completely, the vocal melody line is sung once. You will find this combination on Drain You as well. Both are complex melody lines for the voice that rival the instrumental melody line of Greensleeves, and the vocal line of "Yesterday".

With that said it is amazing to think that someone who can; 1: sing well in a pleasant voice, 2: write a catchy, simple riff, 3: write a complex melody line for the voice; can then turn a complete 180 and scream his guts out in the most horrible voice. Its simply amazing. Sure all the elements are there in Husker Du, or maybe early Beatles, but they dont ever come together so satisying as they do on Nevermind. Try my chart on the other songs... theyre all different from one another. Look for different aspects. how songs begin, how they end, how are lyrics used to heighten a moment, etc...

Sorry to sound academic about it all, but i think thats the only way to get through to ppl. I could just say the album kicks fucking ass, but thats a given. Anyone who claims to be a musician but turns their nose up at such undenialably great songwriting as appears on Nevermind is a fucking hypocrite. Im speaking mostly to those faggot metalheads who think songs are nothing more than a backdrop for excessive, extravagant soloing. Who cares how damn good you are on guitar if you cant even write a fucking good tune.

Thank you to everyone who commented on Kurts scream. It is the most amazing scream in all of rock (it even blows Morrison away). Also too the ppl who comment on the simple lyricism. Its simple but brilliant. Anything other than yea ah ah ah ah ah on the chorus of lithium would have just sounded stupid. Who cares if this album lead to the beginning of the unholy crappiness of alternative. Who cares if it instigated "grunge" fashion, and the demise of the seattle underground. Its not the bands fault that ppl saw a good thing and then scum sucking leeches exploited it!!!! The album is about pure instensity, about raw power, and about the dualties of life- one moment beautiful and the next horrifying. Its fucking incredible that this comes through all that production even- Breed is violent even after being sugar coated- TP is an all out frenzy. It wasnt meant for all the rich suburban bastards or the corporate execs. This album is for MUSIC lovers. Drain You has brought me to the verge of tears almost every time i hear it. This music is pure emotion.

I dont really know the first fucking thing about music (i cant even read music) technically speaking. Nevermind speaks to me on the emotional level, and thats all that fucking counts. If the music moves you then its great.

Heres my vote of ten for a classic album that is personal. Fuck all the millions who bought it to be "cool". This album will linger as one of the greatest musical recordings EVER. It conveys pure emotion, and thats what great music is supposed to do. Anyway enough rambling- i never say it, but if you dont like Nevermind then fuck you- it needs to be said, anyone who has taste that bad needs to be told to fuck off.

Waterloo78@aol.com
Would someone please tell me what the hell is so special about Nirvana? I mean, besides the unconvincing reasons posted above. They did absolutely nothing to advance the progress of music. Are we better off now than we were before they made Nevermind? Hell no. Not even close. But then, I guess every generation needs a sacrificial lamb. Or a scapegoat. And that honor fell upon Nirvana simply 'cause they were in the right place at the right time. They got lucky, simple as that.

ZINETHOUGHTS@prodigy.net (Muffins)
alrighty...i don't understand all these people who feel the need to post s aying, "this band was soo overrated, ohmigawd, they sold out and bleach was 10,000 times better than nevermind!" my response: bullshit. bullshit, my brotha. sure, for a while, i couldn't even bear to listen to nevermind - it's so crisp and flawless sounding - but, then again, i can't listen to bleach, either. the way the guitars and drums always sound the same gets a little old.

if nothing else, this record proves that dave grohl should keep his little, flat, self-worshipping ass on the drum throne instead of attempting to sing, because he's an amazing (bonzo-like) drummer, but a pathetic songwriter/frontman.

avsouza@webtv.net (Tony Souza)
This album (and group) single-handedly killed off shitty hair metal and synth-driven bands, so for that alone I love these guys. The fact that they also brought back good somgwriting and loud, distorted guitars is the other reason I will always listen to these guys. They gave substance to rock music again, at a time when it really needed it.

jtcable@tir.com (H.V.C.)
I'll say this: Cobain was probably the greatest lyricist to play grunge. And this album did change the face of rock. It buried anyone or anything that tried to make anything other than a Nirvana clone band. Millions of kids headbanged to Smells Like Teen Spirit to be cool, since they had NO idea that they lyrics were about the average retarded middle and high school mentality. When he committed suicide, kids everywhere glorified it. When I first heard Smells... on the radio, I thought "This is a somewhat catchy hard rock tune, but it's kind of stupid. Not really a whole lot of great riffs, and the quiet-to-loud thing was instantly stupid." Over time, the MTV and radio overplay of this song made me hate it. It's not that great. None of their songs were that strong. They aren't even tremendous musicians, other than the drummer. I can't even stand when people say that they like anything this band has done. It's just not that great. It was ok.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Yea it's me again, Nirvana lovers. That dork who thinks Nevermind is a masterpiece even though it was overplayed on the radio, milked for grunge money and idolized by the execs and led to the complete shittiness of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Maybe you guys don't like it because it was so popular and so produced and so.... milked. But dagnamit, it was never meant to be as groundbreaking and popular as the magazines and editors and interviewers toted it as. It's personal music that is both melodic and angry- but just read my above posting if you want to hear about that shit.

Do you really think Kurt found this album to be groundbreaking and influential? Ha ha. No. He even admitted to ripping off the Pixies. This is just a collection of great songs. I can't emphasize it enough. Don't judge this album by the bloated reputation it has. Who cares if this album was influential and groundbreaking or not? Turn the volume up all the way and blast it one more time.

Pickard200@aol.com
"Lounge Act" is pretty fucking cool

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
A few things to say about this album -

This "anonymous rock fan" character who hates the band is an ignorant asshole. I usually don't like to insult people who have different opinions than I do, but he's just an idiot. Sounds like he didn't even give the band half a chance, just decided "I hate them!" the minute he first saw them on MTV. I used to hate them too, sir - then I did myself a favour and actually listened to the band - and they're great! Stop trying to stir up contreversy by making statements you can't back up, Mr. Bittan. I hate Bob Dylan, but I've actually listened to enough of his records to know WHY I hate him. An "attention seeking whiner" doesn't really actually describe a guy who strongly disliked being famous - so much he got himself a lovely little cocaine habit and then commited suicide. And if you're as refined as you seem to think you are, e-mail me with the bands that you think are talented and creative. I'll gladly laugh in your face and name you about five bands that each group has ripped off.

I'll bet you even like Oasis, you dumb pony.

Secondly, I'd like to say that the second side of this album does not, by any stretch of the imagination, suck. Niether does the overplayed first side. Every track is a winner - I never liked "Breed" or "Stay Away" much, but I'll admit they're good. A heap of a lot better than reading an entire letter by that anonymous rock fan!

I love this album, hate that man who said those nasty things about my beloved Kurt. Maybe he just reminds me of my attitude at the time - I felt so guilty for thinking Kurt died an untalented junkie. This album gets a solid ten - the band's one truly great work. Best album of the nineties, by far, and one of the greatest of all time. And I hate "hardcore"!

angus_rap@hotmail.com (Alex R)
The most overated album of the 90`s. After many years, I still can`t understand what the hell is so god damn special about this band. And BTW, Cobain was never talented, does playing 3 chords and doing a wimpy little guitar solo make you a talented musician??.. HELL NO!!!!!. And the guy was a loser anyway. Guitar World magazine named this junkie " Artist Of The Decade ", I felt like tossing my cookies when I saw that. Hey Prindle, I bet that you`re more talented than this piece of trash!!. NIRVANA SUCKS.

InMyEyes82@aol.com
I'd just like to point out how awesome Nevermind sounds when you leave it alone for about two years (as I have) and then listen to it again freshly. Damn! Also, I'm sick of people saying how great the Pixies were and how much Kurt ripped off from them. Basically, Nirvana was everything that the Pixies weren't: talented lyricists, punk rockers and people with senses of humor.

shawnd@shocking.com (Shawn Donaldson)
I loved Nirvana the first time I heard them...when they were called THE PIXIES!

Lithium was a great song when it was called Tame!

Strong bass line builds slowly, to distorted power chords...yep, that's them.

A quote from Kurt Cobain himself "Smells like Teen Spirit just sounds like a Pixies rip-off to me..."

Granted, Nirvana was a great band, but if you're a real fan, do yourself a favor and buy a Pixies album, if you don't already have one in that "diverse" CD collection of yours. I suggest Doolittle or Surfer Rosa. To truly know a subject, you need to do research. Consider this research.

misterkite@mindspring.com (Adam Bruneau)
When I first bought this album (several years after the hype and release) I loved it. I listened to every song and worshipped it. Recently, I picked up a used copy and decided to give it a little re-listen. Well, it surely ain't worth a ten, and side 2 really lets me down. Of course, there are quite a few gems on this album but there's way too much generic punkish filler. "On a Plain" is great, tho. Worth the price of admission, that one!

dstreb@neo.rr.com (Daniel Streb)
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Breed" rock, but this album is pretty overrated. When these guys were big I was out buying all the Led Zeppelin and Doors I could get my hands on. The lyrics don't mean anything (Oh come on! "I'm so happy 'cause today I've found my friends/They're in my head"????? I don't know what all these "angst" fans of theirs saw in Mr Cobain's lyricism). I guess everybody swears by this album because once someone dies they become immortal. Nobody can badmouth Kurt anymore. The critics can't bash them at all because if they the critic will lose popularity. Y'know. When was the last time you ever heard anybody say anything bad about Joy Division? Or The Minutemen? Or Jimi Hendrix? Oh and all this stuff about Nevermind "Changing the face of pop music"??? Whatever. In 1990 pop music in the Paula Abdul/MC Hammer vein ruled the airwaves, and 1992 it was Garth Brooks and "Achey Breaky Heart"!

But as far as overrated albums go, this about fifty googol times better than Slanted and Enchanted!!!!!

murraywest@xtra.co.nz
Look, this is where the confusion lays:Nirvana were never a punk rock group - they were a rock n' roll band for christs sake, same as Led Zep and the Stones and all that other dodgy shit you "too hip to rock" cats have stashed away in your closets. And consider this:the oft-repeated line about everyone who bought the Vevet Undergrounds first record rushing out and forming bands applies doubly-so to Nevermind. Is there a single guitar player out there aged 18-25 who didn't learn SLTS before almost anything else (except for maybe, I don't know, Smoke On The Water)? And there-in lies the beauty of rock n'roll (and by extension,Nirvana):as long as there are manic depressive, pothead teenagers out there, there will always be Nirvanas' (and, sadly, probably Korns as well).

ccj@goldcom.com (Craig Jensen)
No matter how much I hate to admit it, Nevermind was a huge slap in the face for the corporate rock scene. I hate the production. In-Utero amazingly surpasses the song writing and production, I think. And for you stuck up music snobs: Why are the Pixies so fucking special? I love the Pixies, but, like they never ripped anyone off. Besides, countless bands did the quiet to loud thing before Nirvana. They just had the right things going for them at the right time. And the Pixies are the only band Nirvana admitted to somewhat ripping off. Otherwise you snobs wouldn't know a good band from your fucking asshole. Check out Slint, June of '44, the Jesus Lizard (goat or liar), Rapeman, PJ Harvey, the ex, Uzeda, or the Dazzling Killmen. Then give me something to bitch about.

mangashack@home.com (David Rockman)
This album is not only grunge, its real music. All of everything Kurdt Kobain did was REAL music. Its not because of the lyrics, or whos on the drums (The Melvins Kick ass) Kurt Played with REAL feeling. And he wrote his music from his feeling, Raw feeling topped with an awsome talent he had to use the guitar. He didnt even intonate it, It was like part of his body. If you think NeverMind was an attempt to sell out your an idiot. Curt didnt even live in a mansion with some model he payed to be his wife. He lived in a normal home, In a seattle, a pretty normal town before he came to live there, With normals grunge cloths and a normal car, He didnt even want to be succes, The only diffrence was He editted Nevermind, Thats not a bad thing, You can tell from how he played it it has feeling. In Utero was beautifuly raw. As raw as Bleached only with more experiance and time to create it. Nirvana never sold out. And obviousely, they never will be able to. Alot of great songs cant be found on any album, maybe bootlegged. "Sappy", "Help me, Im hungry", "Junkyard" are really great songs. They were as grunge as the Melvins, and equal in talent in my opinion. As for sellouts, May the gods of music have mercy on David Grohl's atempt at a band "The Foo Fighters" A few good songs and then _________________________ Nothing but pop-shit

jason_a@earthlink.net (Jason Adams)
I shoplifted this from Phar Mor when I was twelve. At the time, I thought it was too mean and snotty. As I've gotten older, meaner, and snottier I now see why people loved it so much. It's that great Butch Vig production!

Jcjh20@aol.com
Love this album. One of my all time favorites. Every song, all the way threw is fuckin' great. Energetic, catchy, and highly influencial. Kurt was a genious. I dont think Nirvana sounds like the Pixies at all, either, by the way. I hate when people try to say Nirvana ripped em off, they dont sound alike at all (maybe the soft-to-hard dynamics, but thats about it, although, The Pixies didnt exactly invent that) so, whoever thinks that, i suggest you get your head out of your ass. Nirvana deserved everything they got (even if Kurt didnt want most of it). 10/10 most definatly.

amcquill@home.com (Andrew McQuillan)
Y'all forgot to mention how awesome Endless, Nameless is.

BabyImUrPuppet@aol.com
this is the greatest album to have ever been created. no other band can come close to the genius of kurt cobain. not john lennon not paul mccartney not glen danzig not greg ginn. nobody.

Muggwort@aol.com
I can understand why people like nevermind it is cool alternative pop/rock, but I personally cannot stand it. It is grossly overrated the song writing is also not all that great. Although it is at times extremely catchy. I will admit that if this album is anything more that a sell out that Kurt Cobain did have a good idea about mixing angst and melody, just (like many other revolutionary albums) the results are not all that great.

5/10

DinoSergakis@aol.com
Listen I used to like this band until everybody said they saved Rock n' Roll. Well here is the thing thay didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bands before them like Metallica, Megadeth, and even Billy Idol saved rock so fuck this pussy Kurt Cobain. He couldn't sing with courtney love up his ass(someone else who can't sing). I think even The Clash saved Rock n' Roll. So stop praisng them he has been dead for years and I frankly don't seem to care. Oh yeah Dave Grohl is better off with the Foo Fighters.

WBinder007@aol.com
Argh! Enough already! Zach English, this one goes straight to you. Calling Kurt Cobain a better lyricist than Black Francis/Frank Black is akin to saying Noel Gallagher is a better songwriter than John Lennon. One listen to the between song banter from Surfer Rosa obliterates your "The Pixies have no sense of humor" argument. As for the punkitude (I hate that word, but can't think of a better phrasing at the moment) of the Pixies, they weren't trying to be a punk band. As for which one's a better group, that's up to the listener. Me, I'll take the Ramones over both anyday. Feel free to reply with your arsenal of ten dollar words and worship of MacKaye and Albini, though.

j.z.hernandez@worldnet.att.net (Josephine Hernandez)
I was thirteen the first time i heard the band, Lithium was getting some heavy airplay in Manila then. It was bewildering for someone who never really liked rock music before to latch on to all the noise and apparent randomness of a band like Nirvana, but that was just the case with me.When i finally got a hold of their album (in the form of a cheap cassette hand-me-down from my brother), little did i know how much it would affect my life from that point. Let's just say that the exposure of a poor third-world-kid from a broken home to the genius and artistic empathy of Kurt and Co. turned out to be a powerful and revealing experience. It was a blast of pure emotion. Angry, vulnerable, confused emotions that lived within the simple blocks of tempo, rhythm, dynamics and (hooky)melody which made up the Nirvana songwriting process. Simple forms but potent and effective forms. Some would like to judge an album on how gratifying it is; a metalhead, living vicariously through his guitar heroes will call the album crap, since it's so simple and straightforward. Others, bred on classic rock with the straightforward narratives of the lyrics, will say Nevermind is just nonsense. it's just unfortunate that many don't understand that there is more to music than technical and lyrical gratification. Underneath the abrasive distortion of the guitars and the seemingly disjointed, juxtaposed lyrics (which actually had an organic unity, a structure and sense to them), is an album with a soul. A pained, hurt soul that seethed with anger and despondence, a soul that reached out and connected to those who bothered to listen more closely. This made Nevermind such a powerful and revolutionary record, it was at once both accessible technically and culturally, but had the depth of a true work of art.

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayebagha)
Yeah,right...zzzzzz... People try to understand why Nirvana became so big, trying to find a reason why this record would be so great...and end up foolin' themeselves like that; this album is NOT that great! To me it sounded as the definite best album ever made..almost after the first I listened to it...but there was so many things that I hadn't heard at the time, if I was so impressed the first time, maybe all the other kidz felt the same when it came out ( I bought it in 1997 when I was 15). But now, "In Bloom" ? zzzzzzzzzz... "Lithium" is genius in the combination of lyrics and music, but too long...there was no need for an extra round. "Polly"; too long for being such a repetetive song..."Drain You" a mediocre pop song that is also too long. "Stay Away"..at this point you're beginning to be way too tired of Cobain's lousy vocals. Don't even get me started on "Something In The Way"...I really hate it when people adore every song that is sooooooooo quiet...would you believe those strings at the end ? The problem is that people have inherited the idea that the definition of "nice" or "beautiful" is quiet, and incredibly slow and light. The good songs; "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; has the energy to make it a true classic.."Come As You Are" !why the hell didn't you mention it?! it's the only song that is musically outstanding! "Breed","Territorial Pissings" (now there's a punk song that isn't too long) "Lounge Act"= should have been a pop hit, if it had been released on single..."On A Plain"; good melody. 7/10.

JohnnyB8@aol.com
yo seriously........that imurpuppet fag up there needs to be draged out into the street and shot. how dare you compare shit like danzig and nirvana to classic works of music like the beatles? you really must have mental problems...........i am a huge fan of rock, and i hate nirvana for the one simple reason......the hype that surrounds them. they werent "innovative", they weren't "new", and really, they werent good. I mean sure, they look awesome compared to what rock music came out in 1992. and what good rock music came from 1990-1992? THATS RIGHT! NOT A GODDAMN THING! thats why nirvana looks so good. but for every "innovative grunge band" you show me, ill show you a band A MILLION TIMES BETTER. for every nirvana u show me, i'll show you a who. for every sonic youth you show me, ill show you a beatles, for every eddie fudgin vedder u show me, i'll show you a damn jimi hendrix. bottom line.......nirvana wasnt innovative, wasnt new, wasnt good. Took advantage of a bad time in music, much like pink floyd. thats all

frh74@tca.net (Ray Holloway)
JohnnyB8, you repulsive bedwetter. That's right, you figured them out. The members of Nirvana all predetermined their dates of birth so that they could reach the angst-ridden age of 20-something at just the moment America's youth would be braindead from listening to hair metal for a decade. Their evil plan came to fruition, and they had their way with us via their candy-ass, immaculately-produced, pre-fabricated, unoriginal love ballads. Not to mention their tasty dance numbers. Nothing they did was anything less than derivative and fake.

Please, spare me. Fag.

"Life is like the coldest winter
People freeze the tears I cry
Words of hail their minds are into
I've got to crack this ice and fly"

Chew on that.

thecheapercrisp@hotmail.com (Simon Burgess)
I just saw a video of 'In Bloom' on MTV2, but it was blatantly a different version of the song with Chad Channing on drums - where the hell did this come from? I've read a whole bunch of Nirvana books and there's never any mention of them releasing 'In Bloom' as single before he left and going so far as to make a video with him. If anyone knows anything about this, why don't you post us an explanation on here so we can revel in the enlightenment.

aquaiii@hotmail.com (Karl Mattson)
Christ, don't you people know a joke when you hear it? Mr. Prindle here is obviously making light of the depressing irony inherent in the selling-out (perceived or otherwise) of such a rabid proponent and collector of underground music (that's Mr. Kobain himself, for those of you watching at home.) Seriously, stop taking yourselves so seriously.

chuckatmg@aol.com
well this album is the most famous of them all! because of slts and lithium. those are the radio friendly, unit shifting songs that every station in the known world played over and over and over. kurt cobain never wanted to become big and he hated it that teen spirit and lithium became the only nirvana songs. i have to agree, if the only song that you like is teen spirit, then you arent a nirvana fan.

mercenary_fr@yahoo.com (Brian Morton)
Overrated? Yah. Overproduced? Sure. Overexposed? Oh yes. But it's still a great album. I can't even say if the hits were good songs (save "Lithium", which kills me oh so goodly) because I just can't stand listening to them anymore... which basically means side 1 has been played out for me, except for the very, very awesome "Breed" and the aforementioned "Lithium". Side 2, however, is SUPER! "Territorial Pissings" is great, "Lounge Act" has the frigeen' neat-o-est bassline this side of Mr. Novoselic (except, of course, for "Hairspray Queen"), and "Stay Away"? Listen to those drums! Dunhduh-KAH-Dunhduh-KAH-Dunhduh-KAH KAH KAH! Mr. Grohl could hit them drummies pretty hard. And the melt down at the end! Bass feedback! *orgasms*

Then everything cleans up for "On A Plain", which is a fine song in it sets a nice mood, but it doesn't do much else. Same for the last song. So it's a great album, with some -superb- songs on it, but due to it's popularity, it got fucked over. Tis sad.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
Okay we all know that youre not a poser.so like this album you stupid as hole.i own the first 2 meat puppets cds and i think its on their level.thats my attempt to show you im not a poser.i love the meat pups though.anyway this is the best album of the 90s with apologies to slanted and enchanted.even teen spirit still kicks.in bloom is the best metal song ever.lithium is the best song of the 90s.come as you are is another great pop song even though they ripped it from killing joke.but the best songs are the lesser known tracks once again.there are the 3 punk ragers stay away breed and territorial pissings all equipped with great riffs and drums galore or maybe thats backwards.anyway theres also polly which isnt a lesser known track but i forgot to mention it.theres the 2 power pop tracks on a plain and drain you which are actually my favorites.lounge act is kinda dark for this album but it has nice lyrics and easy riffs which helped my sorry ass learn how to play my 6 string stinger.and then after all this rucus something in the way comes on the airwaves and puts your little soul to rest.you already own it so go listen to it again like is was an old husker du album and see how cool it is.

frh74@tca.net (Ray Holloway)
If I listened to it like it was a Husker Du album, then, after waking up from a boredom-induced nap, I'd have to sell it for beer money. I think it's more like listening to a Zeppelin record: catchy, loud, timeless.

okeydoke0@yahoo.com (Barrett Barnard)
nope i just checked and its more like a husker du record.

CathyB@aires.org (Cathy Brown)
I think NEVERMIND is the best album ever spawned. And all of you ass holes that think that they’re “goddamn worthless pieces of shit” can kiss my ass, burn, then rot in hell! And all of you people with shit for brains that think kurt tries too hard to be “cool” in nevermind can go out and fuck yourselves!! NIRVANA ROCKS!!!

robadobb_2@msn.com (Rob Raymer)
a true classic kurt was brilliant. he obviously took himself too seriously but he was real and his music shows this. even if it was overproduced why not just enjoy it for what it is.the riff in come as you are definately sounds like invisible sun by the police but i never heard the man claimed to be completely original. he combined his influences and his ability to write good lyrics around unforgettable melodies with a simple touch showed he was truly gifted. as far as krist and dave are concerned they formed a great chemistry and in retrospect were more talented and vital than a certain woman would have you believe

nwiger@arvig.net (Neil T. Wiger)
The first Nirvana Album I owned was "Nevermind" (like most of us) I also had Bleach shortly after that....any how, I used to spend hours every night walking parks and sidewalks listening to my "Walkman", emitting sounds of Nirvana and enjoying the ear candy coming from all of the microphones used in the production of Nevermind & "Bleach", enjoying the sounds to the point I could practically see them! (no I’m not schizo and I wasn’t on LSD:) These night long "Nirvana walks" really helped me get through some damn dismal days. I had a totally different view of my environment while listening to "Nevermind" and "Bleach". Nothing else really mattered, except the daunting reminders of having to return to my daily grind of sleeping and other peoples bull-shit brought on by the return of the sun and massive amounts of "sheep" traffic on there way to work. Here’s some of my thoughts on NEVERMIND.

The Song "Teen Spirit" always reminded me of Playing guitar live with reckless abandon and about 50 people totally enjoying the affair, the words brought back feeling of how I could have lead a Revolution in school, had every one listened to good music to begin with:).

The Song "In Bloom", has always had a catchy line and it was built that way on purpose. Basically its just built for the hoards to sing along to. and its really good for it.

"Come As You Are", brought on memories of my parents and how little people really listen to each others problems, and the things that hold us back from not being self-centered...there’s a real "no way out" feeling to that song.

"Breed", now there’s a song I always jammed on my guitar and still do, its fun to play and easy as hell, the words are really good at representing the feelings of obligations to others, I think there’s a little more to it than that. But I’ll leave it at that.

Whenever I listen to "Lithium", I think of one of my best friends, who I havent had the chance to "hang-out" with in the last couple of years. That is probably his favorite Nirvana song. The riff is awesome and so are the vocals….(any of you that have attempted singing this song live will understand why I said the vocals rule). This songs title also reminds me of how sick in the head some medical professionals are! Oh well.

"Polly"…what a well written song to display the feelings of helpless that a victim of rape is subjected to. This song should be played in prisons and mental rehabilitation centers for those who are convicted of sex offenses and they (meaning authorities) should interpert the lyrics to the inmates. Hey its a thought we gotta start preventing this shit from happening!

Now another song that brings on the same thoughts that "Teen Spirit"s chorus to mind is "Territorial Pissings" . Except that I basically enjoy this songs speed and heaviness more than what Teen Spirit has to offer….I guess that’s do to the Heavy/Punk/Metal upbringing I subjected my self to.

"Drain You" gives me the mind set of a really great dream about a girl your totally into. It has the psychedelic dream/metal thing about it that makes it irresistable to enjoy. I personally prefer the version recorded at the Mel-House on the good’ ol’ 4-track machine. But none the less this song is another one of my favorites….Its got a large dose of poetry involved, well atleast in my opinion,….Its a great song to play and sing as well!

The song "Lounge Act" reminds me of the compliments people hand me that I dont totally feel up to accepting….dont get me wrong I like complimentsJ., some of ya will understand and some wont. The title of this song by itself reminds me of playing a Sleepfarmers show at a house party in some ones living room for free beer and while observing your audience half ot them are standing there with their mouths hanging open with awe and the others are practically sleeping….hehe

"Stay Away"..tell me one thing this song stands for besides its title any how its a great vocal song with a catchy rhythm its one of those songs, where if ya had a friend who wasnt totally sold on the music of Nirvana but liked hard rock music you could sell them on this song.

I’ve played "On A Plain" a lot in my band’s cover sets, its great, it reminds me of writing my own material when I was about 13 to 16 and and triin’ to come up with great song lyrics and ending up with words that didnt always make total sense or lead any where but still sounded great when I sung them on top of a good chord progression.

And to cap off the great album Nevermind* we are offered the song "Something In The Way" I love this songs representaion of repressed thoughts and the resulting depression that follows an inablity to full fill your creative out lets….well hell all of lifes needs if ya read enough into it!

* "Endless Nameless for those of us that have the Nevermind pressing with it on it…. Is a great noise song, my favorite part of this song I when they cut to the chorus part that part grabs me every time I hear it.

Written by Neil Wiger on the early morning of 12/29/97.

deadguy1213@yahoo.com (Eric D.)
well then... i'll get my two cents in on this one now: this is a very good album. Like Mark says, there's nothing really wrong with it. My only problem is once again, that production... in the hands of Butch Vig, you can see how the 4 songs after Territorial Pissings could come of as soundalike fodder to clueless MTV watching folk... they're all good songs in their own right, If Endino or Steve Albini were there, they might be more distinctive, losing that poppy commercial shine they have. Still it is a good record from a truly talented songwriter who i respect and understand a little more now then i did a few years back. Wish he could have found it in himself to hang in there (maybe he did... insert Courtney conspiracy theory here). If Kurt did write that suicide note i do have to say I relate to the part about empathy a lot... what can I say, wish he wasn't dead. I do prefer In Utero a little bit more, but I like all Nirvana's stuff about the same.

Bleach - 8
Nevermind - 8
Incesticide - 7
In Utero - 9

gag05@bigpond.com.au (Louise Gagliardi)
I actually got this album last week, and 2 my surprise its actually an awesome pop rock album with one catchy as fuck song after another and it rulz!

Smells Like Teen Spirit: 10+/10
In Bloom: 10/10
Come As You Are: 10/10
Lithium: 10+/10
Breed: 10/10
Polly: 9/10
Territorial Pissings: 9/10
Drain You: 9/10
Lounge Act: 10/10 this underrated song is the real winner on the second side, catchy as nething
Stay Away: 9.5/10
On A Plain: 8.5/10
Something In The Way: 1/10 this dull, boring piece of shit of a song is the only letdown on an otherwise great consistent album

Rojasandres6@aol.com
I know that music is not about technical abilty and is also about feelings. I think that this album is good for being so simple but there is something REALLY Bad about it. It changed the Music. Did Nevermind send the music in a good direction? No it didn't.

I just finnished High school yesterday. That means I'm still a teenager and I'm close to them. The way they praise Cobain is stupid. When the guy killed himself, I'm not sure but I think there were like only 6 morons that killed themselves too following his idol. The fact that this guy brought simplicity to music was what created the bad Rock and served as an inspiration for bands that nowdays sell millions and they suck. The Pop selfcalled "Punk" bands are some of them. Now, my main problem with Nirvana is the importance that people give to it. There are some aspects that we need to remember.

First of all, admit that a lot of the succes of Cobain came because he was good looking and that helped him with his image of a rebel specially with girls.

Then, the way people consider his lyrics some kind of a philosoby doctrine. I don't know about you, but I don't need the lyrics of some songs to be some kind of light that will lead me to a better life. Nirvana's lyrics will always be praised by the teenagers because the mayor part of the teenagers will always need someone that will make them believe in something instead of having their own opinion about different aspects of life. Don't get me wrong. I like the good lyrics in the songs but I will never make a big deal about them and consider them as the answer to the question " Why am I here" or " What is the way I should act". I almost don't know people that love Nirvana that are out of High school. I know some that like them but not that consider them Gods. I only know two guys, one 23 year old guy and a 26 year old girl, that have the "philosopher" Cobain as their idol. They are all fucked up. They barely get a pathetic part time job and they don't even have money to buy the crack that they need. To me, that's pathetic. Consider Nirvana your guide and the basic element of your most important ideas in their lyrics and you will be a person that has NO VOICE.

The last thing I don't like...actually I hate about Nirvana is what they mean to music. They brought such a revolution that they made the industry look into a new direction and they almost eliminated the good Rock. Good Music is not about technical ability? Well that's true sometimes (Only sometimes) but Nirvana is the responsible of making the industry become what it is now. If you know what I'm talking about I don't have to mention the bands that have been ( and still are) influenced by Nirvana.

Kurt Cobain was not like John Lennon. He never was like Lennon.

Nirvana delivered good music with the most simple methods but the responsability that Cobain has (or had) make this album not worth it.

mossinator@hotmail.com (Ian Moss)
When I was growing up and for the longest time afterwards, I absolutely refused to like this album, because it represented everything that wasn't me -- loud, brash, angry, self-hating, and most of all, wildly popular. At the time it came out I was on a daily crusade against everything "mainstream," instead celebrating the music of a past generation--the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, even Boston. There was no way that Nirvana could possibly be any good, for the simple reason that everyone I knew loved them. What's more, I pretty much felt that way about all rock 'n' roll created by bands that formed after about 1980.

Well, over the next decade I slowly warmed up to "modern rock," discovering a certain charm in the endless cascade of power chords, and learning to cherry-pick my favorites from amongst the morass of radio hits. Finally, more than 10 years and several Radiohead and Pearl Jam albums after its release, I decided I had to have Nevermind. Never mind its silly tricks, I rationalized, its whiny themes and its leaden drums. It sure sounded okay blaring from my car stereo on a sunny day in the city last year, waking up the unemployed neighbors from their afternoon naps.

sabrina@voicenet.com (Sabrina Summers)
Oh my God! Mark, Josephine Hernandez! I can't believe finding another female who can articulate how I feel about Nirvana and "Nevermind". She very well sums up how this album impacted on my life although in a slightly different way. And she can talk about the muscial part better than I can.

Altho not of the Third World I grew up in a home that was a contradiction in many ways. I was told to be an "American" and speak English. My parents never allowed us to learn Italian, Spanish or Portuguese from our paternal grandfather. Yet as a girl I was brought up quite traditionally and always supervised and as a result rather immature and late to the dating scene. And that's just the start. Although American, our happy family did listen to lots of Latin music and by the time I was a teen in the late 70s I was sick of bassa novas, Stan Getz, Astrid Gilberto, Los Indios Tabajaros and so on. At that point the Ramones came in and their cartoonish take on life and rather bouncy, short rock really hit the time, the space and point in personal history I was at.

However, the early 1990s were another story. Now a young woman in her late 20s pushing hard to go somewhere as an American, now with an Anglicized name, a huge student loan to pay off and the shitty recession of 1990-91 hitting hard I felt very cheated. Like a bolt of lightning I heard "Nevermind" at a loft party a date took me to. Alot of the snooty MBAs (I'm not, having failed the GMATS) were getting drunk and laughing alot about Kurt's screams. But I was totally taken in. And so I bought a casette a few weeks later and really began LISTENING to all the songs. Although the lyrics were a puzzle, it was a puzzle I didn't mind diving into and the music was something I wanted to swim along with. Usually Most well performed rock music just ends up as background music for me.

It was great to know someone was as screwed up as I was on a very deep level. So that's the personal part. Also, I admired that Nirvana didn't seem to care about slick production or anything like that. Like the Ramones. Only this time I needed something more than the comic book humor of "Sheena is a punk Rocker" to fill in the empty space that always seemed to creep up around me whenever it was after midnight and I was doing what I really wanted to be doing, fashion design, instead of working at a job in financial services. But there was that huge student loan to pay off, and the whole thing about a "secure" future, and all the contradictions.

Plus I'd just been dumped by a boyfriend who'd been enamored of 80s dance music by Cult Jam, Simple Minds, Flock of Gulls and other club type bands. If anyone here remembers that you'll understand why Nirvana and Grunge had to happen.

I always consider rock music releases the encapsulation of not only a musician's vision of the world the band creates, but it also encapsulates the history and mood of the time the recording is made. Of course some groups don't always catch the vibe of the time they are living in. But for me Nirvana did that and more.

So I took to alot of the songs even the Nonsense like "I'm on a Plain". "Drain You" was like a mantra to me since I felt that I'd been drained by all the crap I mistakenly put my faith into. "Rape Me" and "Heartshaped Box" from Utero also spoke to me in personal ways.

This weekend here in NYC, Labor Day 2004, KISS-FM is having a "Resurrection Weekend" and playing among other bands The Ramones and Nirvana. I've not listened to either band in about 8 years and let me tell you the effect was electric after all the Nelly, Tupac Shakur and whoolio, Coolio on radio every day and let me tell you I've been playing those old cassettes once again today. And "Nevermind" is just as much a jolt today as it was then.

I know the guys who are reviewing these albums are pros or almost pros in their knowledge of production, sound engineering and all that but for some of us there's more to something like Nirvana. It's the fact that it serves as a reminder that life isn't perfect, it's fucked up at times and that most importantly there's someone else out there screaming out loud while some of us are screaming inside.

georgeepeorgee@yahoo.co.jp (Ivals George)
I gotta throw in my comments about Nevermind similar to what Josephine and Sabrina had to say above. I'm not old enough to remember any of the big breakthroughs in popular music back in the 60's and I was just heading into puberty when the whole punk thing happened in and around 1977 -- and it scared the shit out of me at the time! Nothing much seemed to happen musically in the 80's and I distinctly remember 1990 being a horrible year for popular music -- mainstream, underground or whatever. At the time MC Hammer was the big thing with his re-hashing of a Rick James groove and even one of the local newspapers pointed out at the end of the year that the stuff that had come out was generally poor with only a few interesting offerings from Public Enemy and Sonic Youth. Add to this a deepening recession and the Gulf War starting up in early 1991 and the general feeling was that the world was a really shitty place to live in especially if you were under 30.

After not being able to get a job with my university degree, I decided to train to be a radio DJ at a broadcasting school in September 1991, which was the same month that Nevermind was released. I clearly remember the excitement that kept building toward the end of 1991 surrounding Nevermind. Initially, it was mostly around "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and I have to admit for a while that was my only interest in Nirvana. I think this song suffers from the "Stairway to Heaven Syndrome". But if you can put aside all the hype surrounding the song, the album and the band and forget about what the group should sound like, it's a good, catchy song. At the end of 1991, Nevermind was chosen by the listeners of an alternative station in my hometown as the number one record of the year and the DJ's announced this as if they were completely amazed that a record from a completely unheralded group would hit number one after being released so late in the year. There was a real sense at the time that the ground was moving underneath us -- at least in popular music -- and we weren't reading about it in fanzines, but watching it happen in real time. My favourite Nirvana moment from this time was an appearance that they made on some awards show (on MTV?) in which the set degenerated into a trashing of instruments with Kurt Cobain leaning his guitar up against the amps to produce huge feedback and Dave Grohl walking up to the mic and just repeating, "Hi, Axle. Hi, Axle!" These guys seemed for real in that they were telling everybody who had come before, that is, those over 30, "Fuck you!" In a strange way, I admired them for this because I probably wanted to do the same thing.

Fastforward two years after a short-lived stint in the radio industry when I had decided to move to Japan and teach English for a living. I managed to get myself a Japanese girlfriend who happened to own Nevermind and she was nice enough to dub the CD onto a cassette tape since I didn't own a CD player, but an old tape deck that someone had disgarded. I wasn't able to take my CD collection to Japan since I had to pack other essential items, so for several months I could only listen to Nevermind and did so religiously everyday. And Nirvana did not disappoint me! The more I listened the more I was impressed with many of the songs in-your-face style. I can't comment on the songs in any technical sense since my musical abilities consist of being able to play "Ode to Joy" on a Casio keyboard, but I was impressed with the hard-driving songs like "Drain You" and "On A Plain" on the one hand and more subdued songs like "Come As You Are" and "Polly".

All the people who have commented that there's really nothing new in Nevermind are probably paying too much attention to the publicity and not listening closely enough to the record. There is really nothing new here in terms of a general style, but the songs that are there really well done in their own right. All those people who have complained that Nevermind is a sell-out after the group had put out Bleach are trying too hard to pigeon-hole this group into a certain genre of music. I like Bleach, Nevermind, Insecticide, In Utero and even the Unplugged record mainly because many of the songs on all of these CD's are well done, but also because amazingly they were all produced by ONE group. There's a versatility in this group that still impresses me.

I have to admit I don't listen to this record so much anymore and I prefer some of the less polished and rawer stuff on their other records, but Nevermind still represents the last time that I ever got even mildly excited about popular music.

weegie@pookielife.fsnet.co.uk (Geoff Saunders)
Blimey I'm a booknote to all those above! Can I just say that "on a plain" might just be the best album track never released as a single?

Yes I can, thank you, good night and god bless (whatever god you beleive in)

pedroandino@msn.com
hey! I have not said a joke in days. I just wanted to know that nevermind I guess just came out when the rodney king beatings came! I was silent until something ring in my head! I am the one who both lighthearted and makes jokes but hey I am here to calm everybody the fuck down!!!!!!!!!!!!! say lil jon is cocksucking faggot nigger who cannot shut the fuck up! fuck u cunt groupie assholes! say did ya'll seen the surreal life chyna got naked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mini me got wasted! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! ya'll need to calm down! say mark let me ask u about 2 arab american assholes that are in the wwe! fucking cocks dissing americans! I was so bummed that johnny carson died! he was my dad's favorite! wwe has christy! tasty! kane is a motherfucker!

champ103@siu.edu
10 stars for Nevermind!!!!! and only 4 stars for Miles Davis's Kind of Blue!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that. "Drain You" and "On A Plain" are copies of "Teen Spirit," - it don't get much more unoriginal than that. Cobain's lyrics are incoherent and his guitar technique is extremely limited.

I used to love this album and the band. After a while, it all sounded like crap. I had everything they released, and called them God. Now I can't stand them. Get some Miles Davis instead, Kind of Blue is pure music Nirvana.

messer4@bellsouth.net
Well most are guilty when making songs for using the lyrics and the music so let us make a hate page on Jessica Simpson, Jay-z and anyone else since Nirvana is hated so much for using someone elses song. Ok maybe they did but most of their songs were original and Kurt had a gift for writing music and lyrics. These hate pages I have checked out to see if it could convince me that Nirvana and Kurt Cobain his self was distasteful and passionless and I still disagree. I hate that I would doubt my feelings and all I can say is that these hate pages are immature so grow up.

sasa.podunavec@yahoo.com
Very good, but really overplayed. It'd be very hard for me to enjoy this record again since it lost a lot of its charm throughout the years.

Mcshane123321@aol.com
Here's a perfect example of an album that sounds great to a musically ignorant 10/11-year-old but that gets progressively worse to his ears as he becomes more aware of what influenced its creation. To these ears, it basically sounds like an attempt at fusing Black Flag's Damaged with the first two Pixies albums -- I'm well aware Kurt was into guys like Sonic Youth and Husker Du and the Vaselines and the Melvins, but to me their influence sounds less prominent -- and it fails at pretty much every turn, IMO.

It's less of a grunge album than an angsty punk-pop album, but whichever sub-genre you stick it under it pales completely. The two acoustic songs are very polarized in terms of quality: "Polly" is an all-time piece of garbage, yet "Something In the Way" actually feels quite heart-felt. All the songs are very catchy, but only on the most basic level -- it's like a substandard Doolittle re-write -- and some songs just piss me off no end ("Breed").

The thing that really tops things off, for me, is the lyrics and vocals, both equally bullshit. Whereas with guys like Henry Rollins and Bob Mould you can hear an earnestness behind the aggressive yelping-cum-singing, and with Frank Black you can tell that the screams are the off-shoot of a battered psyche; Cobains vocals sound like a forced rip-off the aforementioned. And the lyrics...jeezus, I'd be embarrassed handing some of these in as rushed, last-minute English poetry homework -- especially "Polly." Yes, I'm sure the lyrics did capture the hearts of Gen X, but I'd put that down to Gen X primarily being made up of prissy, self-absorbed shitbag teenagers not to far removed from those listening to the likes of MCR and FOB today. I really can't believe that you can slam Morrissey at pretty much every turn available and seemingly turn a blind eye to Cobain's lyrical diarrhoea -- at least Mozza is, you know, witty at times. Kurt wouldn't have known wit if it blew his head off.

Best album of the '90s? Bloody hell, it doesn't even break the top-ten of its respective year. Talk Talk, ATCQ, MBV, Slint, Spacemen 3, The Orb, REM, 808 State, De La Soul, Pixies, Primal Scream, Primus, Public Enemy, Fugazi, Ween.....all put out better material in that year. Much better material.

If Nirvana had missed the hypemobile and someone like Soundgarden or R.E.M. had made the final push for alternative's mainstream acceptance, I'm pretty damn sure this thing would've been widely passed over as a mediocre grunge-pop album. Not bad by any means, but it ain't a fucking masterpiece. Weak 7 if I'm feeling generous, high 6 if harsh.

mr_britbage@hotmail.com
WTF Nevermind, 9? That's like the best album ever, I mean, Kurt singing so fucking hot 'n' horny Lithium, that's like the anthem for us, bipolars! Get back that 10 please! Mark You MUST!

If I were standing on the sidewalk and a young man came up to me and recited the paragraph printed above, I would punch him in the face.

But since I wrote it, it's FRIGGIN' BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reader Comments

mattias@diariodopovo.com.br (Alexandre Linhares Matias)
That's just Kurt Cobain yelling: "We're no greater than Devo or Vaselines, understand it!" He knew it, we don't.

blackbear@mix-net.net (Rice)
Those old school punk covers are what makes that album! Somebody should release all the recordings of Nirvana doing covers of old punk. Thats the best Nirvana there is! Punk-Nirvana!

pespasa@ns.tmx.com.ni
Some people know how to play, some others how to sing, and some others just kick asses, those are NIRVANA.

pmtapia@worldnet.att.net (The Chameleon)
By far...in my opinion the best Nirvana album. These songs just kick ass and they don't get annoying like "Come as You Are" or "Heart Shaped Box"....These songs..like "Dive"..are just so damn cool and catchy. "Mexican Seafood"...the name is good enough to like the song. And besides that, the best song Nirvana wrote is on this album..."Aneurysm".

Resident-Alien@webtv.net (Ryan Francis)
Killer covers, killer sound, Nirvana doing what they do best...

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Yes! Everyone who likes this album is fucking brilliant, you too Mr. Mark! This is one classic fucking album. Aneurysm or however you spell that is probably one of their best songs ever- you can hear 70's hard rock riffage, sonic youthy ascending bits, punk like interludes including the everpopular palm mute, and harmonies and screams all in ONE song!!!!!!!! ARRRGHH! its fucking brilliant! everyone else has complemented the A side shit which is brilliant too. I wanna throw my two cents in for the punk and weird punk on the b side. Hairspray Queen? Downer? Mexican Seafood? This stuff kicks too much ass possible for being so early in their repetoire. There are some riffs in here that sound very unlike Nirvana, but thats what makes it great becuz it is Nirvana which just proves that they were a great fucking band so fuck you ppl who think they suck!!!!!!!

frh74@tca.net (Ray Holloway)
Holy lord! Every time I read this review I damage internal organs from laughing. My lawyers will be in touch.

Jcjh20@aol.com
Lots of amazing stuff on here that makes me scratch my head and ask why they are outtakes (its usually like that for practically every other Nirvana outtake too, though). Some of my favorite Nirvana songs lie on here, like "Aneurysm", "Big Long Now" (probably the slowest song in the whole Nirvana catalouge), the cute pop of "Sliver", "Stain", the hilarious "Beeswax" and "Mexican Seafood" and the song where Kurt shows off his grandiose, although limited guitar skills (and his interest for Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, evidently) "Aero Zeppelin". Definate 9. Ohh, and also why "Dive" was ever left off Nevermind and why "Verse Chorus Verse" (or "Sappy" whatever) was ever left off this album is also beyond me.

dbw17@hotmail.com (Dave Wagner)
This review is one of the awkwardly funniest pieces of genius I've ever read. It should be framed.

chuckatmg@aol.com
ok, this album is a sampler for nirvanas rating chart. geffens idea for this album was..."give the public an album of mostly new, rare songs and see how many bites we get".kurt wrote songs that were stranger and much more emotional than the songs on this album, and unless you collect bootlegs, you'll never hear them. this album was merely a b-side rarity lp.

mercenary_fr@yahoo.com (Brian Morton)
Good stuff. I used to like it alot. Now... well, I still like it alot. The screaming and weird-o bass line of "Hairspray Queen" are probably my favorite bit on this album. And "Dive" kicks some black guy's ass. That weird ass take on a "cock rock" song is pretty funny. All of it is either funny and poppy or weird and eccentric. Which is great!

For some reason, I like the live versions of "Aneurysm" and "Sliver" off of From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah better than these studio takes.

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayebagha)
"Sliver" sucks... and the version of "Polly" on here is the worst one.

Other than that, this is a pretty good record, some songs are even really good and should definitely have ended up on a real album: "Beeswax", "Aero Zeppelin" etc. "Aneurysm" is perhaps a bit too long...I don't know, maybe I've just listened to Nirvana too much. "Dive" - great, but the solo part sucks, so that kinda ruins the song.

robadobb_2@msn.com (Rob Raymer)
this album kicks ass no doubt about it. weird, interesting,rocks

I don't know, and neither did they. No artistic growth is displayed here. It's just an attempt to appease two different fan bases, neither of which Kurt felt fully comfortable with. The songs seem stilted, forced, false, and ultimately, mostly unsatisfying. But that's just me talking. What do I care if two of the songs are complete rip-offs of "Smells Like Teen Spirit?" That's irony, right? Like The Knack? Hmm. It's an intriguing record, especially considering what Kurt did soon after its release, but it's not terribly consistent.

Reader Comments

jblank@erols.com (Jonas)
I would have to disagree with the rather cynical appraisal of this record. Considering the events surrounding the post-Nevermind "Nirvanamania," the record makes a lot of sense artistically if not commercially. IMO, the best Nirvana record. The record reflects 100% the anger, frustration, and fury over the Vanity Fair piece, heroin addiction, falling in love with Love etc. "Rape Me" may be a tad derivative but "Pennyroyal Tea" is purely autobiographical. Though the solo unplugged version is more moving, this song is perhaps the most pointed commentary Kurt ever made about drugs, although it was written in 1991 before the severe heroin abuse began. "Frances Farmer" is more autobiography, casting Kurt and Courtney as metaphors for the oft-abused Seattle actress. Though it may not have the commercial sheen (Albini's punchy drums make sure of that) In Utero brings much more to the table than the last record, and pulls it off lyrically in a way we can all understand.

case@uclink4.berkeley.edu
i personally couldn't care less about In Utero's lyrics (cryptic subtleties don't really jibe with that patented noisy grunge sound) but the music is amazing! true, the songs for the most part lack the catchiness of Nevermind, but the sonic experimentation more than makes up for it. i think it's fascinating to listen to this album and wonder where cobain might have taken things: perhaps a step in the fuzzy direction of sonic youth was in the future? or maybe even (stop me if this sounds too wild) farther into the sheer noise of einsturzende neubaten? mixed with that old juicy 3-chord happy nirvana sound? wow...it blows the mind. anyways, "frances farmer" is a beautiful little song that rocks quite a bit. but the album isn't a compilation of potential individual hits the way Nevermind was. it's a gem in and of itself, meant to be listened to all the way through.

strider@redrose.net (David Straub)
I traded in Nevermind to buy this. It's really the only studio record of theirs I consider it necessary to own. I think this is the real deal! The lyrical tone of the songs and the sound of the music combine to make this an awesome "fuck you!" to the blithering fans that thought Kurt was the new messiah as well as the industry that pandered to the band. Thank goodness they became disenchanted with Vig and got Albini to make this record.... the hairy guitar tone and monstrous rhythm work make this thing tear my face off every time i hear it...

pespasa@ns.tmx.com.ni
Just another great piece of work from KURT, DAVE,and KRIST. It shows that there will never be something better than them.

danzig5@hotmail.com (Nima J)
this is a cool album, although sometimes i get pretty bored with nirvana. "Heart shaped box", "dumb", "scentless apprentice", and "rape me" are pretty cool, though i find the rest of the album to be pretty boring. I give this album a 7.

pmtapia@worldnet.att.net (The Chameleon)
You know, you are right Prindle. These songs do seem false and forced. It seems like Kurt is just trying too hard to bring back the grunge roots he once had. This album just sounds so so....how can I can say this....it doesn't feel like Kurt put as much of his heart and time into this recording. It's really quite sad..this album marks Nirvana's downfall.

bthom@turbonet.com (Ray)
I think you're a fool to rate In Utero their lowest. It's their best. Most of the stuff on Nevermind doesn't grab me at all. It's like, what's the big deal? Insesticide is interesting with a few cool tracks, but In Utero is great. You're a poor fool.

FRANFARMER@aol.com
You idiots this was the best DGC cd made by nirvana. Nevermind sucked - it was way too produced.

shearing@nbnet.nb.ca (John Shearing and Family)
In Utero was a much harder album than Nevermind, less pop-oriented. With some tracks harkening back to the days of Bleach, alternative rock was taken to the next level...I disagree with your statement "No artistic growth is displayed here"...I think Kurt was exploring some new sounds on this album and his lyrics actually started to take on some real meaning. I give In Utero 8-and-a-half stars!

Bflag21361@aol.com
I disagree with your mediocre review of In Utero. Maybe it wasn't as revolutionary as Nevermind, or as cool as Incesticide but it was meant to be a big FUCK YOU to all the trendy preps who started liking the band. I should know, i was in school when Nirvana was popular (they still are, can you believe that?). It more than succeeds at doing that, and it also brings some beautiful songs to the party : "Heart-Shaped Box", "Rape Me", "Very Ape", "Pennyroyal Tea" and "All Apologies" are great. In effect, it was probably the last great american punk rock album. Don't try to tell me that Green day and Offspring and Blink 182 are "punk" because they are not. Being a true punk band means pissing off the adults, writing serious lyrics and sounding messy, which no band does as well today as Nirvana did. Even though their songs might sound a little overplayed to me as they did earlier, the band is still a very necessary part of american musical history. I would say they are in the same Hall Of Punk Fame with Black Flag and the Sex Pistols.

Itchload@aol.com
In Utero is their best. It sounds like a grunge version of Surfer Rosa.

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
in utero is a 9, the great nirvana album...that thing about ripping your face off, dave straub, is the funniest thing i ever read!

nop07454@mail.telepac.pt
Prindle, I really dig your site, I think it's really cool, but you are really wrong at some albums, like almost everything you have reviewed from Sonic Youth, U2's Achtung Baby, and some other ones. About In Utero, it was the first CD I ever bought, and it blew me away... I bought when it came out, about 5 years ago, and I still hear it a lot, it's the one Nirvana album that really doesn't get worn out, Nevermind is a close 2nd, but this one is great. You can't give a 7 to an album that has "Serve the servants", "Milk It", "Pennyroyal Tea" and "All Apologies", every one of these songs is on my Nirvana top10 of favorite songs, and Milk It is brilliant, maybe the best Nirvana song ever. From the drum sticks hitting and the drums kicking in the begining, to the end of All Apologies, this is one of the most brilliant, powerful, complex, amazing and really-no-words-to-really-describe-it album, if you don't worship this album, you can't call yourself a true Nirvana fan.

amcquill@home.com
I think that In Utero is possibly the best Nirvana album. It sounds like the guitars were tuned differently and it was messier grunge and more raw but the tunes are memorable and the lyrics are a bit more weird. I listen to Nevermind a great deal but I'm addicted to In Utero. Bleach kicks ass too.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
I don't worship this album and i call myself a true Nirvana fan so HAH! When i got this album i HATED it. Now i only sort of like it. Mark is fucking right on this one you guys. So don't be idiots, this isnt that great an album. The melodies arent as good as on Nevermind- I already preached about nevermind tho, so see what me and mark say above on that if u want a good opinion. And except for maybe tourettes, where is that uncontrolled rage? Scentless Aprentice (it has a fucking cool beat ill admit) seems rather lame to me. I just dont have appreciation for songs that dont go anywhere, besides how can u say anyone is punk this or that by owning and loving this album? I knew so many suburban idiots who were just into the style and shit and loved this record for its supposed "raw" and "unclean" finish. I just dont fucking know. Cmon, they remixed and reedited more than a few songs on this album, so it wasnt that "raw". Dont kid yourself. Whoever said this is the only one worth owning is a moron- This is Nirvana trying too hard to sound like Nirvana. All the noises seem to be a conscious effort, not stream of mind whatever whatever.... you know what i mean. It sounds contrived.

drew14@wcnet.net (Drew Hoffmann)
This album is nice perfect and mellow. I guess you could tell Kurt was Trying to get back in the Grunge but in a mellow way, For example, Very Ape "Out of the ground into the sky, out of the sky, into the dirt" Kurt was like "I just want to go home, im not in a good mood, ZZZZZzzzzzz.... OH! ummm Aaaahhhhhh!!! crap whats happening to me? to much pressure i guess, the fans will enjoy it I hope" Krist-"Kurt its your turn in again!" Kurt-'" Oh crap! AAAAhhhhhhhhhh!". Well something like that. I have the import of In Utero with the secret song Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol. I think it should have been on there anyway, not as a secret import song. The song KICKS ASS! if you haven't heard it you missed out! its amazing! it would turn the In Utero album all around with the Come back GRUNGE! You can get your hands on it (the import In Utero) by going to www.rockabilia.com and they will send you a catalog with the import cd to order in it (if you do get the cd, the secret song is about 20 minutes after the last song!)

and remember its the import In Utero! You can also buy many Nirvana bootlegs if you ever buy Guitar magazines, its in the back called The Right Choice! its a small part of the book with many bootlegs! then if you buy a Nirvana bootleg cd you can order a larger catalog with about 30 more Nirvana bootlegs, shirts, VHS tapes, hats, you name it!.

Good luck! I would rate In Utero 7, the import 9

InMyEyes82@aol.com
I guess you can pigeon-hole me as being a sucker for an Albini recording. I just simply fucking love the way his records sound, so much so that even if the hooks aren't as great as on Nevermind, I still love listening to In Utero. "All Apologies" is the most moving song the band wrote. Man, is this band ever better than the Pixies. 9/10

PS-The hooks are still GREAT, except for "Frances Farmer" and the aforementioned "Teen Spirit" re-write "Rape Me".

michael.blume@gte.net
Uhhhhh............... Have you people been sniffing glue 365 days a year since the release of this album? Anyone gonna tell me In-Utero is an instant Nirvana classic? I've listened to it, and it's certainly average. "Heart-Shaped Box", "Rape Me", "Serve the Servants", "All Apologies", "Pennyroyal Tea", and "Dumb" rock with the best of them, but the other half sucks. Pfft. What do these fans know about really good music? Just admit that Prindle is right on the money. A lot of these songs seemed false and forced. I doubt I'll ever give it another listen 'til the day I die. Bitch about how great this record is for all I care. Me, I'd rather listen to Nevermind over this tripe. Good night, ?#@%ers!!

malester@cpuinc.net (Lester)
I just found this album this morning, after having lost it for about four years. I listened to it, expected to be blown away by its tremendous power. Instead, I heard a couple of catchy songs that ripped off earlier Nirvana singles (Rape Me, Dumb), a few cool "new" songs (Heart Shaped Box, All Apologies, Serve The Servants), a cool Fugazi ripoff (Milk It), and a bunch of boring "rocking" songs that sound like Bleach outtakes. Maybe this album will grow on me (I remember it was one of my favorites back in the day), but right now, i have agree with Prindle on this one. All the songs off In Utero that they do on the Unplugged CD are much better performances (i.e., All Apologies, Pennyroyal, etc.)

angus_rap@hotmail.com ( Alex. R )
One of the worst albums that I have ever heard in my life.

frh74@tca.net (Ray Holloway)
You be right, Markie Mark. I don't feel the good vibrations or sweet sensations that Nevermind corrupted me with. Yes, that's a dangling participle I ended that sentence on. Doh!

The major malfunction with this record as far as I can determine is the lyrics. Way too literal, dude. With Nevermind, I doubt any god-fearing, English-speaking, degree-holding American-Indian could decypher 90% of what Curtis was trying to eloquently convey to us about his angst-ridden youth. But that, to me, was the point. I didn't need to understand the lyrics, I knew where he was coming from without having the slightest ideer what he was saying. I wish now that I hadn't bought the Lithium single for the lyrics.

Most of the NU2Ro songs have a theme or something (I'm not sure, I'm not into themes, so this is all rumor and conjecture.) What's more (it's an adjective), I can understand what Cobie is saying without the help of a pre-printed, laminated, postage-paid lyric sheet. What's up with that shit? I want garbled, pointless, demon-evoking Esperanto.

There's still some good crap here though. Milk It, Very Ape, just to name, well, two. Oh yeah, Dumb is keen as well. There are nice parts and pieces on most of the tracks, but its not worth my time to have to eat the chocolate around the edge to get to the peanut butter.

Another gripe I have, while I have the attention of the masses: where in Kim Deal's name is Krist Milosevic. I can't conjure up a bass line in my mind off this album (may have something to do with the funky J.P. Jones slap-happin' in the background as I type.) Some of the best hooks on Nevermind are actually bass lines. Oh and can you say Sliver or how about Dive. My Lord and Savior Jesus Krist. I'm thinkin' Mr. Novoselic was a-feudin' with Mr. Cobain or sumthin' when they mixed In Your Perot, cause dad burnit he just got left at the train station, while Khurdt and Dhafve waved from the boxcar.

That brings me to the saving grace of this record. John Bonham. He was resurrected by Steve Albini (who later woke the other Zepsters from their living death 'cept for the previously mentioned Jones) and proceeded to lay waste to any and all drumsets that the Great Albino could procure. But seriously folks, it's no wonder Dave Grohl had to run off that pansy from Sunny Day Real Estate and play the skins for the Food Fighters on The Colour and the Shape. He knows he's the best, we know he's the best, that pansy knows he's the best. Hell, I bet Dale Crover knows he's the best (that should get a response from the grunge purists.)

All in all is all we are. Truer words never spoken. All in all this record was mediocre for Nirvana. It's prolly better than average in the grand scheme of rock and roll though.

That is all.

LSTEPHJON@aol.com
tourettes & milk it kick ass the rest of it is mildy entertaining. Kurt once again made violent screams & lyrics with absolutely no meaning to no one but him a piece of art.

InMyEyes82@aol.com
I'd just like to say that Ray Holloway's post is one of the funniest fucking things I've ever read. 10/10 for that thing.

TheSeizures@aol.com
C'mon kids. This album rocks. It's heaps more enjoyable than Nevermind. Now, Nevermind had some good hooks, but it sounded lazy, 'specially the second side. "On A Plain" and "Lounge Act" sound like they've had every ounce of energy sucked out of them. Like David Geffen came back from the future, put a gun to their heads, and forced them to write Third Eye Blind songs. Are you going to tell me that Kurt doesn't sound just like David Yow a good chunk of In Utero (particularily "Milk It")? "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" has scary Sonic Youth feedback, but they make it ROCK! The guitar riffs are full of bends and quirks and jerks that should make any Drive Like Jehu (or late-period Black Flag, for that matter) fan happy.

I mean the Eagles were better songwriters than the Sex Pistols, but they didn't mean it, maaaaaaaaan.

I think this is one of the rare moments where energy is more important than songcraft. I wouldn't give this album a 10, all their albums were really hit-or-miss, but I'd give this one a 9, or at least a high 8.

Jcjh20@aol.com
Nirvana is probably my favorite band, and i have so many fuckin' favorite bands too. I love In Utero. The production is great (although some people say its too flat though, but i like it a lot), the drums sound really loud and powerful, the guitar sounds grinding, and everything sounds real live and raw, which is great. Love that sound at the beginning of "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter", thought it was a fuckin' broken Violin or some shit, the first time i heard it. "Dumb" is beautiful (although the Peel Sessions version is definatly better), and "Heart Shaped Box", "Pennyroyal Tea", "All Apologies" and "Serve The Servents" are fuckin great songs. "Milk It" is probably my fave, love those weird little guitar things in the verses, and the bass is all over the place, great song. Overall, a nice album. 9/10.

BabyImUrPuppet@aol.com
anybody who says the version of pennyroyal tea on unplugged is better is stupid. it doesnt even have the solo.

Thatcoolbrotha@aol.com
I don't have much to say about this album, I've only heard it once and thought it was pretty good. I have much more pressing matters I'm concerned with. The lead singer of my band can be a total asshead sometimes. He worships Nirvana and thinks this album is their best. Me, the Lead Guitarist and the Drummer have just realised over time that his voice sucks ass. It's a pale imitation of Cobain and that Billy guy from Smashing Pumpkins. Now, let's think about this briefly folks: When your main vocal idols are two people whose voices and vocal styles weren't particulary beautiful will your vocals be good? No! He sings the songs by entirely disregarding the vocal melody of the song and going into his own stuttering "I'm so Sad and depressed version" He once sang Blackbird from the White Album in style and almost ruined the song for me. And his version of London Calling is so gob smackingly boring it's insane. How could you make that song boring? His songwriting style sucks too. He listens to way too much Tool, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins and other depressed idiots and it affects his style. It's all boring barre chord punk rock with lyrics about "It doesn't really matter what you do cause the wants to put it's fingers in you" He's really lazy too and spent an entire rehearsal reading magazines instead of writing his damn pompous lyrics. He sulks alot and wear black all the time. The black thing isn't bad at all but the sulking thing gets annoying after a while. But besides all these things he's one of my best friends but we have two different ideas about the band. He wants to be this ultra-sad punk rock band and I want to be a more avant-garde pop-rock band. He could be saying the same thing about my style, I don't know , what should I do?

atewaysatan@hotmail.com (Lord Kennedy)
Nigger please. this is THE best Nirvana album...nothing more. Nevermind sucks the ass ass-hole of Inutero. and for 50cents. not like one of those classy whores on 5th avenue that you have to pay like 10 grand to. this album IS the nirvana sound. Butch vig is a homely looking homosexual with a sissyy band who's production value sounds like he's trying to capture the "whitney Huston Sound". lets face it, he's no comparison to PRINCE Steve ALbani.. steve is an all american male that had an all american band . all american producing too. makes it sound like who ever he records is playing out of a large tin can. oh well fuck you for being a faggot. and exuse ME for not being "P.C". i truely apologize.

alh182@eircom.net (Alan Hennessey)
THE BEST SONG OF THE 90'S WAS HEART SHAPED BOX AND THE BEST ALBUM OF THE 90'S WAS IN UTERO!KURT WAS A LEGEND AND WILL ALWAYS BE A LEGEND BECAUSE OF THE SIMPLE FACT HE WAS A GENIUS AT SONG WRITING! PEOPLE WHO CANT SEE THIS SHOULD OPEN THEIR EYES AND THEIR EARS TO HIS COMPLETLY UNIQUE SOUND THAT SO FAR NO ONE IN THE WORLD HAS COME CLOSE TO RECREATING OR EVEN BETTERING!

four_to_one_knee@yahoo.com (Rye)
okay now, all you put in utero on... okay here we go.

click, clik, clit,..bang! now all i can say (except click clik clit)is that any band that starts an album this way has alot of confidence in the music that they created.ever song ,EVERY SONG, has its own "kurty" characteristic as it was his last hurrah in his often critisized career.The drum beats marching like a hearse wagon on a death ride shock like lightning at the teddy bears picnic, the driving bass lines that seem to consume the song itself as it progresses through the digestive process that was kurts intense stomach problems.The album lets you feel a TRUE modern artist's feelings and he sure takes you for a ride.The circumstances surronding this album makes it all the more enjoyable since it was almost un-released due to underproduction.even the B-sides of this album(Moist Vagina,I hate myself...,Gallons of rubbing...,and the grohl written marigold)convey the emotion of raw hatred and confusion and empathy of an excellent song writer at his peak existance in the ludicrously retarted music industry.

All in all is all we all are.... ....to bad though i really wanted to hear "You know your right" on an album, maybe when courtney gives up on her own money making shemes we can experience the last of the music that was never meant to be written.

chuckatmg@aol.com
this album is the last of the what i like to call "summaries of kurts world", by that i will explain...

bleach------------------------------------first impression album, early days of kurts music, cleaner fun era

nevermind-------------------------------only chart topping album, album with new drummer and a depiction of kurts heart-break and troubled life, tour era

incesticide-------------------------------b-side album, collection of songs that portray kurts attitude towards his life at the time, rarity era

in utero------------------------------------last, most heart-felt album, kurts views on his daughter, his fascination with the body, his wife, and his various illnesses and drug addictions

^ the above is a summary of the albums and the summary of in utero is pretty much in there.

mercenary_fr@yahoo.com (Brian Morton)
I love this album! The first two songs just grab you! ELECTROLYYYTES SMELL LIKE SEMEEEN! KAHdundunKAHdun-KahdundundundunKAHdun! I love it! "Heart-Shaped Box", I agree, just kinda plods along like any slow Nirvana song does. But "Dumb" is a lovely song, really gives a feeling of detachment that goes great with the lyrics... speaking of which, I really love the lyrics on this album. "Very Ape", "Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter", and "Milk It" are great songs. I love the way Kurt screams on the latter one. I love the "dueling" guitar "solo" (I love quotation marks!) on it, too. "tourette's" can be neat if I'm in the right mood, and "All Apologies", as much as I hate to say it because I'm tired of damned idiots saying it, is a good song.

Probably the Nirvana I listen to most! Save the live album. Which I OLOVEO! HAH!

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayebagha)
I pretty much agree here. Trying to be inaccessible or not, it just sounds to me as if it's just too lazy; with better concentration, this could have turned out to be a lot better. But it's a moody one, and I always like these bits... most good bands have one moody album in the collection that doesn't always present the best of songwritings, but there's some unpleasant aura of sickness and repulsion around it that makes it sound really raw. I never cared for "All Apologies" though, I just hate that stupid melody that is played at the beginning, and the rest just sounds like a sing-along tune...which may be fun to do, but it shouldn't be recorded for the album. Add this to that list of crap songs that you picked out so well.

"Heart Shaped Box"... yes, the problem is that it doesn't go anywhere... if they'd just cut out one of the chorus parts, it could have been so much better.

Another thing - I usually don't really care much about the lyrics, unless they're really terrible and you can't really escape them. But in this case, I'll have to say that Kurt has written some great lyrics for these songs. All in all; I'm pleased that In Utero was released, it's not bad at all. But apart from what has already been said, it could have also been helped by a couple of B-sides that really should have been included here.

Zophael979@aol.com
I've pretty much gotten over my "Nirvana is the devil" stage, but something about this particular album just bugs the shit out of me. I can listen to Bleach and enjoy it as long as I don't think too hard about it. I probably enjoy Incesticide the most, even though the songs do get sort of samey sounding (which I suppose can be said of almost any Nirvana recording) and the Vaseline covers are crap (just standard pop-punk interpretations of already great songs). Fuck, I can even enjoy Nevermind to some degree because the hits off that album have been hammered into my head for so many years by mainstream radio.

Yet the last studio album by Nirvana just bugs the shit out of me. Maybe it's because I don't think very much of Kurt Cobain. I mean, he was an alright song-writer and a pretty decent rhythm player (and I'll concede to him being a good performer...in the studio at least...), but how many times can you hear "voice of a generation" and see him so ridiculously high on those worthless "best of" whatever lists until you can't help but let forth the bile you've been choking back? Perhaps I've just learnt some sort of negative association.

Trying to be objective though, what really bugs me about In Utero is the press tagline about it being an "uncommercial" album. Yeah and The Police invented punk rock. How many commercial songs on this album...let me count them...there's "Serve the Servants", "Heart-Shaped Box", "Rape Me" (which I'm convinced is merely a rip-off of Mudhoney's "Need"), "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle", "Dumb", "Pennyroyal Tea" (perhaps the best example of a totally cliche "grunge ballad", taking the place of the infamous powerballad...well, somewhat anyway....Creed is no stranger to that crap), and, of course, "All Apologies" (which, structure-wise, is just another "Lithium"). That's more than half the album! About four of their songs still get overplayed on the radio today! That's about as much as Nevermind! So how are any of those above listed songs uncommercial?

Well, some may say that it's because the songs were depressed, grumpy, and pissed off...wow...I bet Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains weren't doing the exact same thing at all around that time! Yeah, "Daughter" is a really happy song and Dirt is the happiest album ever. Angst certainly wasn't selling back then!

None of this is a knock on the album's quality, however. It's just that to insist this thing was step away from commercial success is pretty ludicrous. If anything, In Utero was a big giant leap into the traditional commercial "grunge" mold. A bit more objectively though, musically this is pretty average (a good melody here and there..."Serve the Servants" is perhaps the follow-up to "Freak Scene" that Dino Jr. never wrote) and I personally find Cobain's depressed lyricism on this album to be pretty self-indulgence and, well, boring. I don't mind depressing music (I love The Cure), but when everything is "I hate myself and wanna die" (original album title or so I've heard) than it gets tedious. You just keep waiting for the guy to get onto another topic and he never does. At least Eddie Vedder had scope. To me, Kurt Cobain said a lot more with the simple refrain of "Grandma, take me home" than with any of this drivel. Judging from "You Know You're Right", it looks as if Nirvana were going on to streamline their sound further. Pretty disappointing, considering the potential the band showed.

gag05@bigpond.com.au
Hmmmmm, Nirvana’s predictable formula of quiet verse, loud chorus, quiet verse, loud chorus, shit guitar solo….was getting old by this point and naturally Kurt wanted to expand his music and become more creative, raw, and diverse so as not to “sell out” again like he did with “Nevermind”. The problem is, writing catchy, melodic pop songs in the vein of “Nevermind” was his strongest feature..the production on this album is shit and works against it in a negative way, face it people. The lacks of hooks on the album don’t help either… I mean they weren’t as diverse, weird, talented or anywhere near as interesting as a band like Mr. Bungle so they couldn’t possibly experiment with their sound and make it interesting without the hooks, Cobain just wasn’t that talented and he knew that… If I want a moody albums ill stick with “closer” by Joy Division, “dirt” by Alice In Chains or ”pornography” by the fukin Cure, all these guys kno how to create dark, depressing good music. This album is as about as inspired as a Motley Crue record…and about interesting as Bob Dylan live. In other words it’s fucking shit. 1

sasa.podunavec@yahoo.com
Pretty damn excellent! All the songs are rocking and catchy, all the lyrics are smart and interesting, all the melodies are right where it's at. Nirvana hit their peak on this one, and it will always stand the test of time. The production and the mixing are also really good. 10/10

So Steve Albini produced this album on Geffen and then got pissed off at the Jesus Lizard for releasing "Show" on a Warner Bros. subsiduary?

Hi pot my name is kettle and you're black.

Look, let's just face it: I love Nirvana. It's 2009, all these songs are over 15 years old and I must've heard them at least 100 times each, but they still sound perfect to me. Not only have I always enjoyed Kurt's gravelly yet tuneful vocals, but the band wrote a ton of melodies that I enjoy. Absolutely, Nevermind was overproduced and squeaky polished, but the songs are little grunge-pop diamonds! The oddball bass line of "In Bloom," the sing-songy vocal melody of "Drain You," the lilting lazy fuzz of "On A Plain"... I can't even imagine not liking them. As such, even though there is nothing particularly special about this live CD, I'm awarding it a 9 because, even after all these years, the songs still refuse to be unenjoyed by my conscience.

They perform 11 Neverminds (everything but "Something In The Way"), 4 Bleaches, 3 Incesticides, 3 soon-to-be-In Uteros, 2 non-LP covers (Fang's "The Money Will Roll Right In" and Wipers' "D-7") and the Sub Pop compilation track "Spank Thru." K(c)(h)ris(t)'s bass is loud and booming, K(c)ur(d)t's guitar is raw and fuzzing, and aside from my personal non-favorite "Lithium" and a deliberately repugnant version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the set list is impeccable.

There are several mistakes present -- some charming, others simply awful. For example, when Kurt discovers he can't hit the low notes in "Sliver," he ruins the first two verses by vacillating insecurely between his high and low registers. However, when he encounters the same problem in "In Bloom," he has fun with it, allowing his vocals to degenerate into hilarious croaks when the notes exceed his range. (ex. "We could have some...uuuuuu"). Similarly, when he forgets the second verse to new track "All Apologies," he gets flustered but tries to hold it together, which just makes him screw up the guitar line too; the result is a truly nauseating piece of music. On the other hand, when he hits a wrong note at the beginning of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," his decision to just say 'fuck it' and rely on his charisma (rather than trying to maintain decorum) allows him to turn a regrettable error into an uproarious pile of foul-note hilarity.

Here's something interesting: a couple of days ago, for the first time ever, somebody on the street recognized me from my web site. "Hey! Mark Prindle!" he said to me. "Love the site!" Being the jaded celebrity I am, I of course responded by gawking at him incredulously and asking, "REALLY!?"

Then later the same day, the encounter was cancelled out by some drunken man at the Neil Hamburger show shouting at me, "Mark! You were the best bass player the Melvins ever had!"

Do I actually look like Mark Deutrom? Or was he making some strange drunken attempt at a joke? As Roger Daltrey once sang about what was going on in Tommy's head, "Ooo ooo, I wish I knew. I wish I knew."

Or maybe I just have Tommy on the brain because a guy named Ernie has been molesting me all morning.

Reader Comments

bpony@mts.net
On the DVD of this show, Kurt hits a wrong chord at the beginning of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and it turns into a hilariously god-awful cover of Boston's "More Than A Feeling". Of course, none of them know the words, so they just mumble a bunch of things that sound like words. Too bad they edited this out of the CD release.

There's a lot of cool stuff that the CD release has edited out. The DVD is much more worth buying. But I have to agree that it's a pretty good live album. It's better than that Wishkah piece of crap.

billyb@gmail.com
Yes, I agree the songs are fantastic and have held up extremely well over the years. However, this is really a pretty boring concert and adds nothing to the original songs. My review is "well, this is okay but I'd rather listen to the studio version of the songs." 7/10

Lesssseeeeessesseseee...how to close? Oh, I know! I wish Kurt hadn't killed himself. Following up Nevermind scared him, so he went a little haywire and put out a mediocre record. Howe'er, the task of following up In Utero wouldn't frighten even the wimpiest little puppy, so chances are good that the next Nirvana album would have been more interesting and self-assured (instead of just overbored). Kurt Cobain was not a god. He was a depressed, talented, but fallible man with a fantastic sense of humor and questionable taste in women. That's all.

You know, it says a lot that the spokesperson for our generation put a gun in his mouth, but it says even more that we're allowing worthless crap like Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, and (ironically enough) Hole to replace him in our hearts and CD players. Just say no to false angst! And go buy a Foo Fighters record. At least Dave was there, for chrissake!!!!

Reader Comments

jnw@iglobal.net (Jim Hull)
Mark, you forgot "heroin addict" in your description of Kurt. Let me state for the record that I really thought Nirvana was a great band, and Kurt Cobain (as well as Kris and Dave) was really talented. Now he's dead. For whatever reason. Like other people who used heroin and died. Like Janis, and Stiv, and Sid Vicious, and Johnny Thunders, and Jerry Nolan. Heroin may not have killed Kurt Cobain, but it certainly didn't help him.

laura@gseal.mdn.com (Galen Clavio)
Grrrr! After Unplugged came out, it's all anyone with a guitar and no creativity wanted to play---and all anyone ever wanted to listen to. I just don't see what's so damn great about this album.

dave@mgagray.com (David Aurand)
I guess I would have to blame this band for the complete depressing, boring, unmasculine-type of music that has polluted the airwaves during the 90's. I must be getting old, but I really hate this "grunge"-Seattle-type-of-mung-music. To me, it is no wonder why Kurt blew himself away. He probably listened to the music and completely regretted the fact that good ole' Rock-n-Roll was being forgotten for this drivel. I know there are people who like this and Foo-Fighters, Everclear, Pearl Jam...and whatever the names of bands like them, but I just don't care for it. Just my opinion........and for those who do....enjoy the craze now, 'cause someday....there will be something even worse than this to listen to. Can't wait........

cbibby@ms.stclair.con.ca (Christopher Bibby)
Well, Mr. Kurt Cobain is gone. There's not much we can do, so keep the music alive for generation to generation. Alright. I am bloody brilliant!

bergeron@WPJ.EDU (John Bergeron)
Unplugged is the worst piece of shit I've ever heard! Anything that's on Mtv 24 hours a day sucks!

pmtapia@worldnet.att.net (The Chameleon)
Now this isn't the Nirvana I remember from the days of Bleach and Incesticide!! What the hell happened here?? I wouldn't call this album "the worst piece of shit I've ever heard", but still this album isn't that good. It's just so laid back..music you listen to in a lounge or coffee house. And then besides that Kurt is wearing a sweater in the photos!! How can he do that?? That's not the garage band-grunge guy we knew.This isn't a bad album by any means...it's good!! I've had it for a little over 2 years and I can still dig the songs on it, but this just doesn't sound like Nirvana much. And that is a real let down.

SMxMS@aol.com
"Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" has got to be Kurt as his rawest and most exposed. A killer. "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"--all that anger --Delicious! Worth the price just for those 2 songs, IMO.

azitelli@stevens-tech.edu
First of all, David Aurand's comment is pretty dumb, considering how god damn macho Pearl Jam and most of the modern rockers out there are. and what's wrong with being un-macho, or even feminine for that matter. you probably like lynard skynard. anyway, this album is just ok, but it's got the meat puppets' songs on it.......6.5

Resident-Alien@webtv.net (Ryan Francis)
Now listen up all you "Nirvana" fans, This album shows a band maturing....Nirvana was influenced by alot of bands, not just heavy metal, punk and rock. Kurt was a big fan of Ledbelly which he covers on unplugged, ledbelly is an amazing FOLK singer. My point being that you can't catagorize music, mabe certain albums, but in the end, "It's all in he music man, all in the music"-K.C.

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
THIS ALBUM BLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT HOW NIRVANA WOULD WANT TO BE REMEMBERED. The only redeeming things are the good covers and "Polly". The rest is fucking annoying, and i think i just might kill all the yuppies and posers who loved this album right now.

ZINETHOUGHTS@prodigy.net (Muffins)
go by a foo fighters record? at least dave was there? ahhh...sad sad sad. dave of old was there...dave up until 1996 was there. this new dave grohl, the one who lies about things and records over his drummer's drum tracks, he isn't worth listening to in the least. sure, foo fighters was a good album, although a lot of the songs sound just like nirvana (yeah, yeah, they were all written when he was in nirvana, blah blah blah), but the colour and the shape is a proverbial piece of dogshit. plud, live he tries to sound like kurt. NO ONE BUY A FOO FIGHTERS CD! DAVE GROHL IS SATAN (no, i'm not crazy :). thank you for your time.

Cop663@aol.com (Andy Stark)
Wow, so many negative comments directed toward this album...geez. Myself? I think it's a masterpiece, easily the best Unplugged show I've ever seen. The band shows that their intensity lies as much in the words of the songs as in the guitar noise. How could anyone not like "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Or "About a Girl," "Lake of Fire," the Bowie cover, and "All Apologies," for that matter.

michael.blume@gte.net
I thought Nirvana's Unplugged performance was truly a very impressive aspect for the band. It showed their true, moody, depressing side that was unfortunately overproduced on their major debut, and was awkwardly (and I don't mean that in a good way either) presented on In-Utero. Too bad Kurt killed himself too soon. What a pity. I wonder what would happen if he was still alive today. Any thoughts?

LSTEPHJON@aol.com
I agree with Andy nirvana up has gotta the best up perf ive heard. About a girl Sunbeam& Where did you sleep showed curt at his best without all the elec & distortion. Which shows he was versatile able to perform and be entertaining in any atmosphere. Curt was the best musician of the decade and he will propably reign into the millenium.

bgreenstein@nctimes.net (Ben Greenstein)
I've just gotta comment on this album now, because I just caught a few seconds of a sort of "behind the scenes" MTV thing on it, and am more pissed off than a Cobain. The program is basically a half-hour commercial for the original, with segments of the songs and clips of people who never met Kurt Cobain (or even Dave Grohl, for that matter) in their lives, and seemingly have no purpose but to piss off actual fans by saying things like:

"I think the only big hits for them that they played were 'Come As You Are' and something off of Bleach."

Brilliant. Fucking genius. Except for the fact that, as anyone who has listened to music in the past thirty years knows, THERE WERE NO HITS OFF OF BLEACH! It's an underground classic! Next time that Mtv decides they want to do a program on the last artistically important band of the century, get someone who knows what they're talking about. Like me!

Oh - that was way off the subject, wasn't it? As for Unplugged, I really like it, especially the Bowie cover. I don't care about the Meat Puppets songs, but the rest is above fine. An easy nine.

Freakymime@aol.com
Ahem, I liked Nirvana a lot, as I think everyone here writing did. I love listening to the raw intensity of Bleach and Incesticide. Nevermind took the band to glory, with a whole album of great tracks.

InUtero has been slammed waaay to much. It's a great album, one I find supperior to any other Nirvana studio album. A measure of a great band is what the produce after the great success. InUtero was beautifully orchestrated and flowed from Serve the Servants to All Apologies seamlessly.

My favourite Nirvana album is the Unplugged. It perfectly captures the band in their post Nirvana-mania state. The versions of Pennyroyal Tea, Dumb, All Apologies, and the chilling Where Did You Sleep Last Night are classics.

You people don't seem to understand life. Nirvana couldn't go back to Bleach. So, instead of producing pale mimics and imitations of the past, the evolved with InUtero. And finally evolved with the Unplugged. Who knows how much further they could have gone?

Muggwort@aol.com
i think unplugged is the best album cause it shows the calmer folkier side of nirvana.

Jcjh20@aol.com
I dont see what the big fuss is all 'bout. Its apparent that Cobain had a knack for that soft acoustic, laid back cathartic type mood, and im really glad that Nirvana has been able to express that on this here album before Cobain died. Also, a couple people who knew Cobain and/or Nirvana (Micheal Stipe for instance) have stated Nirvana's next album was probably gonna be soft and acoustic anyways. But regressing back to the album, its great. Really nice to see Nirvana songs get the acoustic treatment, and the covers are funny (who'd ever thought Kurt would pick Meat Puppets songs!? and they rule too!) but beautiful. "Where do you sleep last night" never fails to give me the chills, either. A definate 9 from me.

latown2@home.com
this album is a totally geniouse and shows nirvana at it's best. i like a band that can play hard and also sit down and play unplugged, ya know? all the people that say it blows or whatever are just unartistic macho dumbasses. ;)

johncarson@ntlworld.com
Definately not Nirvana at their best....at least not what Nirvana were about. If this is your favourite Nirvana album, why even bother with the rest ?...cos this is nothing like what they sounded like. Just some mtv thing......actually saying that i think i heard if Nirvana had been still around they'd probably be a lot more mellower....maybe even as mellow as this. Was Cobain that said it....or something to the effect of it. And no im not talking shite....it's true. So i heard....somewhere. Shows how good an all round band they were...if they can do this and play live like on Muddy Banks of the Wishka then you can see why they were one of the best bands ever.

chuckatmg@aol.com
for the record, this is a mtv album, not a nirvana album!!! it is a live, unplugged, cover album with the meat puppets. not a very important album, but definitely a good stoner cd.

mercenary_fr@yahoo.com (Brian Morton)
I happen to be a big fan of acoustic music. The covers are top notch! I guess I have the Puppets to thank for half of them, but that Bowie cover is STUPENDOUS! So good! As a result, though, the Nirvana songs kinda pale in comparison for me. But I still like this album alot.

Zophael979@aol.com
There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to this record. Either you love it or you hate it. I love it, but I don't think it's perfect. "Come As You Are" doesn't work as good in an acoustic setting. The three Meat Puppets covers, while good, are grossly inferior to the originals (which can all be found on their second record...one of the best indie records ever recorded). Other than that, I find this CD absolutely awesome. It sounds less like Nirvana and more like early R.E.M.

Whether that's good or bad is up to you.

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely loathe the majority of "In Utero". That being said, the versions of "All Apologies" and "Pennyroyal Tea" presented here are both light-years ahead of their lesser studio counterparts. "Dumb" is also here. It's okay. "About a Girl" is the only song off "Bleach" (sadly) and it gets a good treatment here. Slower and closer to the Beatles than the original was. The "Nevermind" songs are great, of course. "Something in the Way", in particular, sounds a lot better than it did on the record.

The best two songs here are both covers, though. "Jesus doesn't want me..." by the Vaseline's is absolutely stunning and having listened to it again this morning, I am now compelled to go seek out the original version. The closer, Leadbelly's "Where did you sleep last night", is one of the most chilling songs that I've heard in all of rock music. Perhaps only second to Husker Du's "Diane" (go buy "Metal Circus"...NOW!) when it comes to songs that creep me out.

Maybe I should look into getting myself some Leadbelly?

Anyway, this is Nirvana's best post-stardom record. It's not as good as "Bleach" or "Nevermind", but most 90s alternative records aren't. It's probably not the best unplugged record ever, but arguably the most important. I give it a low 9.

Xylophagous@aol.com
all these people are saying that it doesnt sound like nirvana, and by that i take it they meanlike in the old days of bleach. and shall i tell you why it doesnt sound like the rest of the nirvana albums, cos its unplugged!! and anyways, anyone who apricciates music and isnt narrowminded enough just to like one type of music cos thier friends say so should apprieciate this album.

robadobb_2@msn.com (Rob Raymer)
love this album! nirvana unplugged why the hell not! it sounds good, is good plus the meat puppets!

gtrman88@msn.com (billyboy thornton)
you know, for nirvana "fans" you guys have very little eclecticism. i'm probably one of those nirvana fans that scare people with my intensity for the band. i've heard every album kurt claimed to like and found the melvins to be the best band he listened to simply because they DIDN'T become packaged and boring. by cutting this record he showed his most diverse side and evolved as an artist. (and did anyone notice that he played the entire thing in one take? incredible.) just because the album was sinfully overplayed and didn't fit the grunge stereotype you all love, doesn't mean that it was a bad record. you all ought to be ashamed. go hang your heads and listen to pearl jam. (read: fuck you)

bdoleac@wesleyan.edu
Correction: Unplugged in New York was released in the fall of '94, not 1995. I know because I got it for my 12th birthday on November 15th, 1994 (Christ, that's almost a decade ago...) Sorry to be a smart aleck but this is my favorite Nirvana record behind "Nevermind", probably because it was the first one I had. Chilling, beautiful stuff, especially the scream that closes "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". I've always had mixed feelings about "In Utero" (though there are some great songs on that one), "Bleach" I don't have much use for, and "Incesticide" is teriffic, but "Nevermind" and "Unplugged" are five-star records (or 10 out of 10's to use your scale). Fucking timeless.

georgeepeorgee@yahoo.co.jp
If Nirvana begins and ends for you with songs like "Love Buzz" and "Paper Cuts", then skip this record. But if you can forget about what Nirvana "is supposed to be all about" and just try to listen to a group that isn't afraid to do something different from its previous records, even if it might piss off some of their fans, and that's smart enough to realize that songs with liberal amounts of feedback, distortion and studio sound affects aren't going to work well in an unplugged format, then you might understand why this record is the way it is and what makes it a good listen. Nearly half the songs on this record are covers that are more fitting for an acoustic set. Songs like "Come As You Are", "Pennyroyal Tea", "Dumb", "Polly", "On A Plain", "Something In The Way" and "All Apologies" are generally well done, but I probably prefer the studio versions. I've never heard the Melvin's version of "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam", but for me Cobain's version is mesmerizing. I'm not big on "About A Girl", but the unplugged version shows a maturing in Cobain's style. The Bleach version of "About A Girl" sounds like it was played on instruments bought in the toy section of the local Aberdeen thrift store and, to my ears at least, halfway through the song Cobain's voice goes a bit nasally and he ends up sounding like "Weird Al" Yankovick. The unplugged version shows a more self-assured guy singing with a huskier voice. I think what mars this record is that the beginning and end of all the tracks have the audience clapping like they're trying to set a new record on an applause-o-meter. This is the only unplugged episode I have ever listened to and watched more than five minutes of and even though I think the whole concept of unplugged performances is anathema to rock music I still admire a group that can make do with such a limited format. Many people have presented Kurt Cobain as some kind of music industry casualty, but listening to this, he sounds like he had more control over his own destiny (and music) than people give him credit for.

msennello@aol.com
First off, I didn't read the all of the reviews because I got about half-way through and just couldn't take it. Also, I'm not one of those super-huge fans of Nirvana who for some reason consider them the greatest band of all time - I don't even think they were the best in their time. Yes, On-line polls have proved that Led Zeppelin and Nirvana (as awesome as they both were) are better than The Beatles.

KURT NEVER WANTED TO DO THIS SHOW. That's right, for those of you who consider him a sell-out for performing on MTV, know this: MTV came to Nirvana, and Kurt said "no". They hounded him for over a year, then he finally gave in. Then, at the last possible second, he BAILED. That's right: the MTV Unplugged CD you bought is actually a reschuled event.

Also, the performance was pure gold. It needs to be taken in by both ear and eye, but the only means of doing that is either downloading low-quality bootlegs (which, btw, aren't that low if you know what you're doing) or to wait and pray Courtney decides to let this be released on DVD. This may not be the sound that hard-core grunge fans are used to, but this is just one performance of their songs, and they decided to mix it up a bit; to experiment. Wait...don't you normally PRAISE experimentation? Remember, this was a one-time deal. "About a Girl", for example, is nothing like the original recording, and, in fact, ALL of the songs are in Eb tuning, and, therefore, none of them are even in the same key as their original.

Finally, Kurt pissed off MTV hardcore on this one. He told MTV after his bail-out that he would only do the gig if he could have some guests. In the hopes that - and possibly under the assumption that - by "guests" Kurt meant big name bands at the time like Pearl Jam or the Red Hot Chili Peppers, MTV agreed. Needless to say, the Kirkwoods were not what MTV had in mind. And the ultimate sign that this was the peak of their career: they didn't play "Teen Spirit". As great as the song may be, Kurt realized that to convert SLTS to an accoustic number would have just sounded aweful, not to mention how sell-out that would have been. MTV was not pleased about this.

Personally, I think all the songs are great, but this is a matter of taste. The album was experimental as hell, and you can't deny them that. As odd as it may sound, for a band who is remembered most for being loud and heavy, it is the eery silence at the end of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" that truly stands out for me. If only you guys could have seen the look on Kurt's face when he takes in that last breath before he starts playing again, you'd all understand. RIP KC, this was your swansong.

jwh.saintjacques(AT)gmail.com
I can understand why you wouldn't like this album, but if you haven't seen the DVD it's a totally different experience. It seems to crackle with an energy that the album by itself doesn't have - it sounds really good, and there's all sorts of hilarious stage banter you're missing out on (check out their cover of "Sweet Home Alabama")! It's really like a completely different album!

Aww man, this is what Nirvana was meant to be all about. No wussy social conscience (except for the jarringly out-of-place "Heart-Shaped Box," and a ridiculously ugly early version of "Polly"), no pretty little angst ballads - just straight-up kickass good time concert action. I applaud them a hundred jillion times for sticking mostly to the noisy stuff here. Who needs your "Penny Royal Tea?" I don't need your "Penny Royal Tea!!!" Well then. Oh! And Kurt screams his little heart out the whole time! No wonder he had chest pains, yowling like this every single night! It starts a little iffy, with him struggling valiantly to reach that elusive high note in "School," but after that, he's got it down. Oh! And they picked tracks from a lot of different concerts, so they don't tire out halfway through! Yes sir! I never would have dreamed that a live Nirvana album could have aroused such happy feelings in my soul, but it did, goddammit, it did. If you own no Nirvana, start here. Then go buy Nevermind.

Reader Comments

bergeron@WPJ.EDU (John Bergeron)
This record is just an attempt for the record company to squeeze a little more money out of Nirvana "fans". By "fans" I mean all those stupid pop-listening-to posers out there who are glued to Mtv.

on_the_brink@hotmail.com (Bob Blair)
Gee Mark you sure like Nirvana don't you? They were a great band and foo fighters are great too but i can't see what makes them better than Dinosaur Jr.

burk4351@tao.sosc.osshe.edu
I don't think Kurt ever sold out. Too many people jumped on the bandwagon too soon, and he couldn't deal with it. I don't see what's wrong with grunge clothing - yes, it's a stupid name and yes there are lots of dumb people who have no idea what it's about (rejecting materalism, fuck the mainstream, fuck fashion). As for their music, I think he was a great musician poet and I have a hard time picking out fav songs. They are all so good! His voice sucked, but it fit with the music. If he could have sung, it would have sounded shitty. I think that Unplugged shows the songcraft at its best and From The Muddy Banks shows the live energy they had on stage. Those two albums together show what Nirvana was really like. It's really sad that what he was trying to drive music away from (corporate cock rock interested in the almighty dollar) is what ended up killing him in the end. Fuck capitalism and no pity for the majority.

BigGunNum1@aol.com
All of Nirvana's albums are terrible. I'm glad they don't make "music" anymore.

ScoFF20@aol.com
This is by far the best Nirvana album. It is not a greatest hits album, that would just be selling out way too far. At least the rest of the band kept their dignity and released a record that is more representative of what Nirvana was. They were first and foremost a punk, grunge, live band. This is evident on this record from the beginning with the sound check intro and Kurt testing out his scream. After that there are only two bad parts to the album, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart Shaped Box." In these songs it seems like Kurt is just going through the motions and trying to please the crowd and not himself. His lack of emotion in "Teen Spirit" is really disturbing because the band hated that song. I think DGC must have insisted these tunes be on the album just so it would sell. But luckily they didn't turn it into that greatest hits album. The highlights of it are definitely "Drain You", one of Kurt's faves, "Spank thru", a rarity, "Sliver", and "Polly", which IMO is the best cut of the record. I really liked how the live cuts weren't just like the originals. I love the way Kurt screws up the lyrics on purpose like in "Breed" and "tourette's". "Blew" was a great choice to end the CD with that ending post-chorus "you could do anything!" which is just an eerie reminder of what could have been. The other songs are all equally awesome and i really recommend this album to everyone. It's a must have for any Nirvana fan or your classic wannabe who needs to look cool.

strider@redrose.net (David Straub)
This is the most representative Nirvana record available. Bitter, emotional, jaded-but-still-caring garage punk played with the amps turned to 11. I agree whole-heartedly that Kurt didn't have much business playing an acoustic. He was a great feedback stylist, and that strengthened his material.

tedaldi@acsu.buffalo.edu
I just don't see what's so great about Nirvana as a whole. You can't understand any of their lyrics, the songs aren't exactly melodius, and it's a really pathetic commentary on American life when a depressed herion addict is suddenly elevated to the status of rock god after willingly blowing his brains out. Nevermind is OK, I guess, but the only songs the band will be remembered for are on the first side. The rest of it just sounds like any other grunge recording. Again, just can't understand their appeal. I like Alice in Chains, but even they've tried to copy their "Seattle Sound" (whatever that means) way too many times...in fact I'm shocked that AIC and Pearl Jam are the only "survivors." Anyway, can't say I like Kurt & Co.!

bhanu@expressindia.com (Bhanu Megarajan)
Nirvana is a sad band and Kurt on his own is all the more sadder. The first time i saw Kurt, i knew he was potent....the video of "smell like....." was a facelifter for a generation to follow the new era that was everything but rock'n'roll.

It was pure fuckin' grunge....owe all that to kurt kobain....who is the eight wonder of the world...more fascinated by death than life...more crazy than "Dali" more horrifying than Stephen King's grotesque creations...more....more than your imagination can take you with a puff of a nine-inch stick of grasss.

Brak102@aol.com (Red)
NIRVANA SUCKS, ALL OF NIRVANA'S ANNOYING ALBUMS SUCK, I'M GLAD HE'S DEAD THAT MESSED UP MUMBLING FREAK!!!

Sunn401690@aol.com
This is the best live album everymade. Nirvana Rules!!!!!!

Impedyment@aol.com
this demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt what nirvana is all about. forget all this pathetic nit-picking about kurt and nirvana. it seems as if sometimes in your considerations of these albums, you forget this is rock and roll. forget all your lame preconceptions and your own personal agendas as to what you think rock should be. this is pure rock and roll and theres no way to deny it. nirvana has something that cannot be defined. you feel it in your soul, as kurt felt it in his. His genius is that he could translate this deep, and often painful emotion into something that could be felt by everyone willing to open their ears and their hearts to it. this is the mark of one of the few truly great rock band. muddy banks of the wishkah proves nirvana had this.

Nita@gte.net (Nita358)
MORONS!! Nirvana is not grunge, Pearl Jam isn't grunge. Grunge has nil to do with Seattle. The real grunge bands are the U-Men, Poison 13, The Melvins(somewhat), and TAD( sort of). Grunge was a combination of blues, punk, and real rock and roll.

JonShaftPI@aol.com
Nirvana is a very trendy band.

First, they say that they hardly make any money, but they are all pretty well- off. Dave Grohl starts a band, and is an immediate commercial success. Second, they say they are not a punk band at all. Punk is a style of music, and so is seattle style grundge, which is pretty much made up by guys in record companies with their suits trying to make a quick buck. That's why they suddenly had another guitar player in the band when they got popular. And bands like Blink~182 and Green Day are very punk. They stay as underground as they can, and play with underground bands and so on, while nirvana is playing with bush and veruca salt, two other untalented hack bands who make hoards of money and are on major labels and contribute to the ignorance of the underground scene.

NIRVANA IS NOT PUNK!

Neskobe@aol.com
Excuse me jon SHAFT(!) but both veruca salt and bush came out after Kurt's suicide.So how in the hell could nirvava have "played" with them you stupid shit!Is everyone to assume that kurt rose from his grave in order to play a concert with those untalented whoremongering hacks ! You sir are seriously retarded !Check your facts before you open that sewer you call a mouth you swine !Second of all how in the hell do you justify calling blink 182 or green day punk? Both are happy,feel good pop bands with occasional swear words thrown in here or there.I am so sick of you so-cal indie boys calling yourselves punks.Punk rock(the REAL Thing is dead.It's been deadfor a long time.All the classic punk bands ala dead kennedys,ramones,misfits,sex pistols,stooges,husker du,black flag,clash ,crass,circle jerks and so many more that i can not name are gone.Broken up.Vamoose.)is dead and you guys are only pretenders .Little boys dressing up in daddy's clothes for a kick.It was hacked away by public indifference and in it's place has been erected an underground california scene that won't mean shit to nobody in ten years .You guys are the 90's equivalent to those 70's aor guys who would play the MIDNIGHT SPECIAL(A tv show) and do cover versions of great generic rock tunes and then take all the raunch and excitement out of them and still have the nerve to call themselves rock bands!

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Alright Mark, im gonna kill every single motherfucker who responded to this shit. Every one of you stupid pricks must @#&$#* MTV or something i dont know!! Im so Pissed right now... Nirvana is TRENDY?!??!?!?!?!? FUCK YOU!!!! Nirvana is totally against that you shit for brains! Mark is right, this is a good compilation of stuff here on this album. This shit is cheaper than any fucking bootleg i know, so it is also something id like to own. I HATE ppl who think they know everything just becuz theyre opinionated about what punk rock should be and when bands have sold out and shit. Just becuz you have more bootlegs doesnt mean youre a bigger fan, (maybe a bigger idiot), it just means youve obviously got more time and money to throw around. Myself, im pissed becuz i havent gotten a single record in 7 months!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whatever! I still know what GOOD fucking music is, and this is it. It's necessary to have the live sound of Nirvana if you love them, and this is an accessible way to get it. Just dont go to Mega Stores or the Wall or Tower Records cuz they will rip your ass off. Get it cheap. No CD is worth 17 fucking dollars. Anyway, enuff ranting, oh and sorry i ripped ALL you guys. Some of you respondents actually know what the fuck youre talking about.

Anyway, Nirvana might have been the best band of the 90's, but they blew it (literally). So its personal choice now, becuz no band was as good as Nirvana, but Nirvana ended in 94 so whats to talk about. My choice for best band now would be somewhere along the lines of.... damn i cant decide yet!!!!!! Anyway peace and love and never forget how much Nirvana fucking rocked.

Bootiker@aol.com
I agree with Neskobe, jonshaft is just a little pseudo punk rocker. He probably read that thing on Nirvana in his little anti corporate punk magazine. Nirvana hated all the other big bands around, they spent their whole time plugging their indi bands. They weren't trendy at all, bands around nowadays that sound like them are.

sadal@flash.net (Sadagopan)
sometimes in my truest, most honest moments, i find myself hoping that dave grohl dies a pathetic, disgusting, horrible death.

LSTEPHJON@aol.com
She laughs about it shriking inflections if the wind blows just right. Jacking themselves off polyester I wanna jump this isnt right. hey when am I getting back. Like PePe would say hey hey hey then we clash. Fiber glass insulated has gave us cotton candy. Who else could make such pointless blabber so goddamn entertaining. I think we all know . the late an the great kurt cobain

StingRage@aol.com (Mark Crouse, Jr.)
Dear Mark,

I read your reviews and most of them I agree with. I don't agree with you totally on In Utero because it is an interesting album. The whole record is easy to listen to most of the time. Yes, Heart Shaped Box gets annoying as hell and so does Rape Me.

But I never get tired of listening to "Scentless Apprentice", "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter", "Very Ape", "Milk It", and "Dumb", which is basically "Polly" anyway. Also "Pennyroyal Tea" is a classic song.

I do agree that some of the songs sound false and forced. I also agree that their sound improve. No, but Kurt's songwriting improved with this album.

I mean I have all the Nirvana albums and yes I am a big fan. I liked them when "Teen Spirit" came out. But soon it got old, which is what happened to a lot of the fake fans. I didn't get back into them until I listened to Bleach. I believe their best studio album was Bleach.

Yes, I do like Nevermind, but only for the second side. "Something in the Way" is just so hypnotic, it's a great song even though the lyrics to it are kind of lame, I guess you would say. And yes, "Teen Spirit" sounds like a Pixies ripoff, Kurt did say that. That song is not trash though, it's a great song, it's just so overrated and over played. The only songs that really stand out off of Nevermind for me are "Stay Away" and "Come as you Are".

Now, I read about someone posting about Kurt wearing a sweater during the Unplugged Session. Well, I'd hate to inform you, but Kurt wore those sweaters all the time. And the unplugged performance, not matter what people believe was a great show, the best show ever did, in my opinion.

But I hear about how Nevermind killed Rock and how it brought forth all these "Alternative" bands. Well Rock was alreayd dying at this point anyway. I mean you had Micheal Jackson at the helm of the music industry for christ sakes.

I also hate it when people think of Nirvana and just think of Grunge. Grunge is just a fucking trendy word people created for the Northwest Music Scene. It's stupid, Nirvana were more than a "Grunge" band. Yes, they are overrated and basically I don't care. Their albums are still esstiental for most people. But, just let the word "Grunge" die. I am sick of it.

TonyDucks4@aol.com
Muddy Banks was just such a good album, even smells like teen spirit kicks off a flowing solo, with that loud effect linched in, really moves the song along like ive never heard it before amazing. Amazing how kurt played songs on this album live, he must have been leveled out on some crazy drugs but who cares, he was an entertainer right? Na kurt cobain will always live on with me his lyrics and music inspire my daily actions, the last decade in the century never saw anything like kurt, or how bout the whole century? I love nirvana, the best feakin music ive ever heard, foo kicks ass too now, grohl is awesome--Keet it up Up there

Stumppdumb@aol.com
It is so hilarious looking at all these Nirvana bashing, Guns and roses listening close minded morons reply to this review. You people are so ignorant and moronic its fuckin funny. First of all, its Prindles opinion, and i totally agree, Nirvana was fucking great. They were powerful, groundbreaking, everything. You people are totally ignorant to use "duhh...Kurt took drugs, Kurt killed Himself" as an excuse for not liking Nirvana. What about 400 billion other crappy bands with people taking drugs? You are clearly talking out of your ass. Who gives a fuck if Nirvana is "overrated" or not, i dont think so at all, they definatly deserved their fame, and Kurt wanted NOTHING to do with that whole bullshit "seattle scene" "grunge'" era bullshit. He denyed it all the time and wanted nothing to do with it and if you seriously think that Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, and Pearl Jam ALL sound the same, then you seriously need to go get a fucking CAT scan right now because you must be fucking mentally unstable. Fuck the media, fuck the Hype, FUCK everything, just listen to the music, thats all that matters, who gives a Flying fuck whos "overrated" or not. Go back to listening to Poison and Winger and shut your fucking mouth if you dont agree. Oh and by the way Nirvana sound NOTHING like the pixies, go listen to "The Happening" then go listen to "Hairspray Queen" if you think they sound they same, then kill yourself. Dont TALK shit if you dont KNOW shit...

Ganesh.Rao@gs.com
One of the greats as far as live albums are considered. and hey brak102 , arent you one of the soddy MFker's who raped a girl while listening to Polly?

jltichenor@earthlink.net (James L. Tichenor)
Buy the complete radio sessions for the ultimate Nirvana experience. Muddy Banks of Wishkah is close second but anyone who is familiar to death with the songs will appreciate the radio sessions album. IMO it has the best version hands down of Endless/Nameless. Listen to that and try to tell me Nirvana was trendy. Staggering cover of Here She Comes by VU. Interesting basslines throughout. The radio sessions well document interesting times in the band's creative flow. Check it out

Jcjh20@aol.com
Nirvana were definatly an amazing live band, no doubt in my mind about that, and a live album was definatly a great idea. All the songs on here could of been surpassed by superior versions of other shows of different era's in Nirvana's unfortunatly short career, but this will do. I agree with the 9. The electric version of "Polly" on here is great.

DixRob2@aol.com
Heart Shaped Box Rules! ITs pure grunge and has a great chorus! But i have to agree with you on the muddy banks of wishkah its proof that nirvana are better live than in the studio! Really wish they had some hidden stuff i hadnt heard i really miss there stuff!

Muggwort@aol.com
no, no, NO! From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah suck, it is shit that the public is supposed to eat 'cause we all feel bad about Kurt killing himself, my answer to that is if you want to see his vision not his band member and his wife trying to squeeze a couple more pennies from the guilty public then buy unplugged (wow I must really be listening to way too much fugazi!)

2/10

johncarson@ntlworld.com
If you think you're a Nirvana fan or if you believe you're a "rock", "grunge" whatever fan and this album doesnt make the blood race through your veins then it's time you went and ......i dunno, died or something.

chuckatmg@aol.com
this is a collection of live shows from beginning to end. it is a precursor to the vhs live, tonight, sold out! and is merely a tribute to kurt from the band (even though it was started when kurt was still alive, thats how it ended up).

mercenary_fr@yahoo.com (Brian Morton)
This record kicks so much ass. I think a few donkies died because of this.

Get it?

Anyways, this goes to show that Nirvana were a pretty decent live band. Everything here is pulsing with energy, and the musicianship is much better than I expected. I always thought it would be Krist and Dave holding the song together as best as they could while Kurt struggled. But it wasn't like that for all these songs! In some cases, like the version of "Scentlesss Apprentice", it was vice-versa(unless that's Pat Smear)! "Sliver", "Milk It" "Negative Creep", "Aneurysm"... bah, they're all great! I love this record so much. And it goes through different stages of their career! How 'bout that?!

I'd like to say I don't give a damn about Kurt Cobain's problems. I don't care about the reasons he killed himself. He was just a guy who wrote music... he was talented, but he really shouldn't have been immortalized and analyzed like he was/is. It is sad what happened to him and his legacy.

And I apologize for the sucky forkin' joke at the top.

Stockhomeattotem@aol.com
to the idiot that insinuated all Nirvana fans were MTV posers--hrm, apparently you forget that Nirvana didn't START OUT a commercial act. Ever heard BLEACH, poser? or INcesticide?

All your little message was a pseudo-intellectual attempt at making a diatribe against MTV watchers but it failed miserably, it was terribly cliche, and it did nothing but attempt to lift your own ego, which it didn't even do.

uglytruth@hotmail.com (Hossein Nayebagha) PreTTy blasphemous to refer to Sub Pop 200 as "a crappy Sub Pop compilation". Okay, so it's a joke, but still - it's the coolest compilation ever released.

"Spank Thru", the studio version, is one of the best songs Nirvana ever released... It has pretty much has a bit of everything you could find on Bleach that came later on, so it kinda is THE Nirvana song. I had all their releases a couple of years before I got SP200, so it was a great feeling, as if I'd started to neglect Nirvana a bit and not consider them as "cool" as the rest of the Seattle bunch, but then in this context it was totally different, oddly, I felt PROUD of them when hearing the song and seeing their picture in the booklet.

Anyway, this is a good live record, no denyin', but sometimes I wish Kurt could get a bit more inspired doing these songs... I don't buy that whole "punk" attitude thing, they should stick to what they were, and they weren't really a punk band. The most interesting songs here are the In Uteo numbers, apart from - as you mention - "Heart Shaped Box", because of the crappy sound production (which did have its benefits though) of that album, here they sound more rocking.

Apart from HSB, "Sliver" and "Polly" don't really belong on a 16-track live album by Nirvana. Sliver because it's just a really stupid song, and Polly because there were already 4 versions of it available on official releases by the time this album came out, so frankly, I'm fed up with it. There are some other songs that don't really work on here... "Lithium"... "Smells Like Teen Spirit"... But whatever, you can't have it all... "Been A Son" and "Negative Creep" both sound awesome.

Good, but not great... I'd probably give it a 7, but I could go for a weak 8.

The Elements - bootleg.

Also, if you like Nirvana, you should check out Epoxy's Nothing Else, a 2002 release on Pollen Records. Epoxy is a three-piece band from Washington, DC led by Brett Kimberlin, a former prison dweller guy who made national headlines in ’92 for the mistreatment he received when he told the media that he had sold pot to Dan Quayle in the ‘70s. Solitary confinement for the Republican agenda! Whether he was telling the truth or not is irrelevant – the fact is that he was PUNISHED for trying to exercise his freedom of speech. Apparently those in the know felt that the Republican voter base would be too ignorant and closed-minded to be able to decide for themselves whether to believe Brett or not – or, more importantly, whether it MATTERED EITHER WAY. If a guy smokes pot in the ‘70s, he’s not qualified to lead in the ‘90s? Of course not. Because Republicans are assholes.

But I’m here to discuss the Epoxy CD, not to wax nostalgic about constitutional violations real or imagined! Brett plays fuzzy distorted guitar chords and solos, an unbelievably talented bassist named Wade Matthews tears up the jalopy with all kinds of great, great lines and drummer Robbie White “lays down a col’ wicked backbeat” as Brett (we’re back to Brett now – we’ve come full circle! A full 480 degrees!) screams and taunts the listener with a hate-filled whine reminiscent of the Crucifucks guy, but with a Cobain gruffness added in. The songs – all written by Brett as he did the prison thing – discuss the miserable doldrums and loneliness of incarcerated life ("Donuts"), his anger at then-Texas governor George W. Bush (perhaps you know him as shitty current president George W. Bush) for sending that woman who had an orgasm while bludgeoning a guy to death to the electric chair ("Killing Fields"), the attempts of conservative society to impose their values on him ("Doing Fine") and, in the CD’s final and finest song "Keyhole," the amazing feeling of finally embracing freedom again (I think he was in prison for over 10 years for some violent acts committed in his younger youth).

This Brett feller comes up with some great chord sequences throughout the CD and the bassist is REALLY good at keeping everything hoppin’ and musically interesting. There’s a very Nirvana-esque feel to it too (they’re one of Brett’s favorite bands), so if you’re looking for something to get you bangin’ the old head again like nu-metal just isn’t doing, give Nothing Else a look-see. See www.epoxyband.com for more info!

Reader Comments

Lithium31773@cs.com (Mark)
Is the "Smells Like teen spirit'' (the one with the funny voice) on there about 5 min. long?

dondunn84@yahoo.com (Don Dunn)
Most people writing dont even know what there talking about calling nirvana one hit wonders. Putting them in the category with MARCY PLAYGROUNDS, THE NEW RATICALS and other gay bands like that. Nirvana doesnt deserve for people to be ragging on them claming the had no talent, the talent was not only in there music put there LYRICS. If only people tried to LISTEN to the music. Ignorent people make me sick!

JohnnyB8@aol.com
Hey. I just wanna say that nirvana was nothing more than a worthless piece of crap band with not a bit of talent from anyone of these guys. the only reason that cortney love got any recognition is because everyone already felt sorry enough that she had a no-talent loser for a husband and when he died, people felt really bad. yeah i no, harsh words, but c'mon. all these guys were doing was trying to rip-off the who and zepplin, and they failed.....MISERABLEY!!! Nirvana is to the who and zepplin as prince is to hendrix. THEY BOTH SUCK.

getrealgeezer@hotmail.com
Oh give me a break!

This lot don't deserve a place in the higher echelons of rock history.Why do so many people bow down to Nirvana?Cos they are American!I couldn't give a toss where they are from.All their fame is built around attitude,grunge and soft drug abuse to indulge spotty drop out Yankee teenagers/students.If they weren't American no one would want to admit they had even heard of them.They haven't got a catalogue of work to compete with far better,influential and innovative foreign bands.

EVERYONE KNOWS THE VERY BEST ROCK MUSIC IN HISTORY HAS ALWAYS BEEN DONE BY BRITISH BANDS.ONLY AN AMERICAN WITH HIS/HER HEAD STUCK UP HIS/HER ARSE WOULD EVEN TRY TO ARGUE DIFFERENTLY.

jesushchrist@seductive.com (Pig Millions)
Speaking of the "noise tapes" made by the young Kurt Cobain, boy is the Fecal Matter Demo a fantastic collection of a three year old boy making masturbatory noises and playing his guitar off-tempo and quite poorly, yet passionately. The instrumental version of "Downer" is nice, as is the earliest version of "Spank Thru"...and "Buffy's Pregnant"...now THERE'S a gem that should have made it onto an album, however, the thing loses any point of interest after about twelve seconds due to Mr. Cobain's screetching and...and...oh...oh..ah...oh...the poor man can't climax yet. The guy's like thirteen and is definitely going through puberty, he voice is cracking like the Gary Coleman of Different Strokes fame. Say, did anyone see Gary Coleman's cameo on Married With Children? That was fantastic.

WBinder007@aol.com
Hmmm. Maybe this guy who claims the only good music is British has a point. Let me check my CD collection. The Beatles, The Who, Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols, The Damned, The Clash, Subhumans (oh, sorry- ]SUB][HUM][ANS[ ), Crass... hey, he could be right... Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Black Sabbath... wow, I never realized this before.

Oh, wait a minute, here's a pretty big stack of cases right in front of me. Let's see- Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Frank Zappa, Ramones, Jimi Hendrix, Ramones, early Metallica, Ramones, Bob Dylan, Ramones... I could go on, but I think instead I'll just say HA HA! Fuck you, limey. History repeats itself, and the colonies rule again.

P.S. Aren't Bush and Phil Collins British? I mean, the worst we've come up with as of now is like Blink-182, who, admittedly, gargle nutsacks... but not nearly as much as Phil Mother Fucking Collins. He alone cancels out like 2/3 of the British groups I listed above. Plus there was that useless guy from The Monkees whose biggest musical accomplishment was hitting a tambourine without accidentally killing his midget self. I figure he knocks off at least two more.

atewaysatan@hotmail.com (Lord Kennedy)
I have to admit there are some Rare Nirvana songs on RARE cd's like 'OUTCESTIDE' and 'HORMOANING' where songs like: "Verse Chorus Verse" (aka "SAPPY"), "you know you're right" ,"In his hands", "Blandest", "Junkyard", "Asshole" "laminated affect" and stuff like "Pen cap chew" all reside. and all utterly magnificent songs that were perfromed sometimes in a studio, that just can't fit into an album. but MOST of them played LIVE than for some odd reason forgotten about Minutes later. and jesus God, are there alot of them. and 99% of them are just as good as all there "comertail LP's" lets face it Dr. Cobain probably drove a Civic. and lets face antoher fact, Courtney Love is a dumb winch-whore for not letting the remaining members of Nirvana put these rareties on the soon to be released box set. FUCK YOU SWINE WHORE KUNT I HOPE YOU GET YOUR FUCING THROAT SLIT!! no seriously folks, im a loving guy. infact, i'm an affectionate pre-school tecaher i just dont't like Muslims. who can blame me? they smell bad.... REALLY BAD.

Thatcoolbrotha@aol.com
"Lord Kennedy is scary and racist, Getreal Geezer really likes the British" If I was a pop song-writing of a great caleeber I would apply an excellent vocal melody to these amazing lyrics and write the best song ever....but i'm not so i'll just talk a bit bout Nirvana!

The main thing about these guys is that Kurt was gifted with an super duper melodic power! and applied that to a really good pixies-esque atmosphere to create Nirvana! There's a reason why people like Nirvana with hits and a lead singer who died will be remember and be bowed down to and not people like Sublime who had hits but basically stole a Beatles melody to make really bad white boy rap. Cause the Melody. I cannot stress the importance of a good melody. It separates the dregs of pixies ripoffs (Bush) from the really great ones(you know..) It makes your songs good. And for the British guy, i understand why you would think this but theres no need to be a bastard about how great the english bands are and to Lord Kennedy, you are scary and racist.

Jcjh20@aol.com
As far as B-sides and rarities go, Nirvana had a lot of great ones that shouldnt even been b-sides or rarities (see Incesticide), like "Aneurysm", "Sappy", "Blandest", "Even In His Youth", "Dive", these are all amazing songs! I urge any person the least bit into Nirvana's regular albums to try and track down some of the main rarities because a handful are just as good as the main album tracks (even some songs only played live a few times!).

chuckatmg@aol.com
bootlegs, not only are they great pants, the're also great attempts for locked away rarities to be released and circulate umong the public. the categories of these bootlegs are...

the early years,
into the black,
the outcesticide collection,
the live collection ,
and the 6 seasons in hell

each category contain every song ever done. it is the box set before the box set and i have the files and burned cds in my posession. they are the complete songs and are worth more than any other set in circulation.

hawkeye@dssworld.org
The absolute best band of all time!

Every Nirvana song we listen to brings the band back to life!

Reader Comments

mudshark@intergrafix.net (JWB)
TO jesushchrist@seductive.com (Pig Millions):

The "Fecal Matter Demo" you are talking about is FAKE. It's not really Kurt Cobain - just some kid screaming into a boombox.

All you need to do is read any FAQ to learn this - Genius.

AkaMandiD@aol.com
Hey what's up, don't know exactly who i'm writing to. Just figured hey, i'm bored.. and pretty stoned, might as well give my self something to do. just want to say that Kert Kobains lyrics have had a huge effect on my life. The way he views the world his how exactly how i view the world. He's just amazing. If i could only put my thoughts into lyrics the way he did. well anyways, i'm out, Peace.

Nirvana - DGC 2002.

I was just minding my own business, doing my nighttime activities, but six hours later than usual because I spent 14 hours at work doing bullshit work for one of the assholiest clients you're ever going to meet, when suddenly the craziest notion hit me: What if - now suspend your disbelief a bit so you can get into it a little -- What if... we lived in an alternate universe.... where Courtney Love was just using Kurt Cobain for his fame and money?

Why, such a universe would be a WONDERFUL, MAGICAL place! Her half-assed songwriting would suddenly become 500% better - and sound just like Nirvana! Kurt would blow his head off not because he's a hopeless junkie but in fact mainly to escape the endless marathon of emotional pain she was putting him through every day of his life!And best of all, the entire WORLD would get the chance to read his private diaries!!! And get this --- they'd have to PAY TO DO IT!!! The final chapter in such a zany underexpected doppelganger Nirvanaverse could be nothing less than a short compact collection of (the best songs he ever wrote, Mark?) Nope! (the most innovative guitarwork he ever created, Mark?) Nope! (a fair, select portion of tracks from every Nirvana release, showcasing all of the considerable stylistic ground he was known to cover in his short career, Mark?) Nope! A GREATEST HITS album!!! Because for Chrissake, who on Earth would want to pay through the nose for all THREE of their studio albums, all available in every used bin in America for $8 each? Then to have on top of that a rarities collection, an acoustic concert and a loud DISTORTED concert album! That's too much! Please just limit my listening pleasure to the five songs I used to hear on the radio all the time, plus some songs that weren't hits in any possible sense of the word AND! THATS NOT ALL! Ignore those dozens of great unreleased and rare Nirvana and Cobain tracks that have been floating on bootlegs for years and years and instead give us the absolute WORST GENERIC PIECE OF CRAP "GRUNGE" SONG EVER RECORDED BY SOMEBODY WHO'S NOT CANDLEBOX -- and call it a "hit"! Do so, Courtney, and you'll earn even more money for nose candy!

("Nose Candy" is slang for "Pixie Stix filled with chewing tobacco," by the way. Say! Did I ever tell you about the time when I was a little kid and my Dad took me to the convenience store to get some candy and I noticed that he - a non-reader by trade - had surreptiously purchased a behind-the-counter magazine which he now carried in a brown paper bag? I innocently asked him what magazine he'd purchased and thinking quickly, Ol' Pop swept one right past me with the brilliant cover-up "National.... Fish.")

Y'know, it's been a long time since I was a child. But as far as I can remember, I don't know that there was ever a magazine publisher quite so inept as to name a magazine National Fish. So don't think for a second that I don't know what Daddy was doing.

He was purchasing art supplies in order to launch a new best-selling periodical all about the wondrous variety of underwater life we have here in the U.S. of A.!

As for this Nirvana "Greatest Hits" CD, I'll defer to some notes I typed up while listening to it at work today:

only 49 minutes? Only one song from Bleach? Nothing from Muddy Banks of Wishkah? This showcases only the VERY normal aspects of Nirvana, when it was their weirdness that made them so great (but then Nevermind doesn't either and I gave that one the 10. Yay for inconsistency!). None of these songs make it clear what an inventive guitar noisemaker Kurt could be, and it was one of his greatest strengths. But this is the kind of collection that "normal" people would want, I guess. Straightforward catchy songs.

11/14 = 8 of 10

1 new
1 Bleach
2 Incesticide
4 Nevermind
4 In Utero (including the worst two songs on the album!)
2 Unplugged
0 Wishkah

You Know You're Right - terrible "grunge" song Minus Point.
About A Girl - Bleach
Been A Son - Incesticide (this and Sliver are too cutesy to BOTH be on here. Minus half-point)
Sliver - Incesticide
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nevermind
Come As You Are - Nevermind
Lithium - Nevermind
In Bloom - Nevermind
Heart-Shaped Box - In Utero (i've grown to love the bass swoops in the chorus. they used to bug me, but now i love 'em!)
Pennyroyal Tea - In Utero (still don't like it too much. Minus half-point)
Rape Me - In Utero. Godawful parody of Nirvana (Minus FULL-Point)
Dumb - In Utero
All Apologies - Unplugged
The Man Who Sold The World - Unplugged (even though someone is clearly playing an electric guitar)

I couldn't (and didn't!) have said it better myself. But can you imagine some asshole record reviewer taking off "points" and "half-points" and then grading the overall album based on the number of total "songs + half-songs" he likes divided by the total number of tracks on the album? Such a person must be operating under the ludicrous assumption that art is to be dissected and graded GOOD, BAD or OKAY based on each individual element of the whole. Such qualities as overall flow of the record, imagery created by the intersection of lyricism and musical composition, and creative range and grasp displayed by the artist would have no effect on this person's "rating," which essentially turns the enjoyment of listening to records into a boring academic "all-or-nothing, black-white-or-exactly-middleground-gray" exercise in mediocrity.

So I say SHAME on you, George Starostin. SHAME SHAME SHAME.

Best,
The Pot

Reader Comments

SucreSommeil@aol.com (Angel Martin)
It's sickening. I didn't buy the album, seeing as though I have alllll of the songs already because I own all of the albums. I even have that "unreleased" one because it was "released" on Napster ages ago and sounds far better than the one on the Greatest Hits album imho. Courtney has fallen on tough times financially, and it's painfully obvious that this Greatest Hits album was just a move to remedy that. I actually didn't expect her to take the blatantly commercial road to this thing, but gawd, did she ever. While I do think it is sick that she published his diaries, I received one as an x-mess gift and read it. I read every single page at least 3 times. Hehe. Hehehe. But it's still fucked up that she did that, because I don't think everyone has a right to read it. I do, of course, because I'm me, but most people don't. It's funny how the diary conviniently lacks mention of Courtney for the most part. Either she had it all removed, or she was just not important enough to write about. Either way, she looks bad. I doubt she'd remove stuff that made her sound good, so I'm lead to believe that it probably wasn't very good. I'm surprised she didn't add a page that said "Courtney would never have me killed. She's so wonderful. If I die I want her to come out with a super-commercial Greatest Hits album and make a lot of money off of it, I also want her to commercialize anything else she possibly can, including this diary. Forever ensuring that people will look at me not as the genuine artist I would like them to see me as, but as a commercial hog that most of the critics see me as. Yay!"

chris.clare@bt.com
Appalling.

Well, since Universal, Sony and Warners began thier mission to buy every other label under the sun and then attempt to savage our wallets with best ofs it was inevitable that Nirvana were going to be compiled at some stage... I mean Kiss have had over 11 compilations of one form or another since '87....

But lets not jump to conclusions, I mean Nirvana did make 3 studio albums, the majority of thier oooh, 6 or 7 hits residing chiefly on the one with a blue watery cover... so, given that since Kurt finally put a wrap to his career we have had 2 live releases in the form of MTV unplugged (note to the Prindmeister : its not an electric, its an acoustic put thorough a distortion pedal but it does totally negate the unplugged issue...) so I was thinking what we need now is A BEST OF!

Ok, i see the bosses at Universal and Courtney (who in the last 15 years has made it clear to all of us is not fit to be left alone with a tin-opener let alone a small child and a seattle musicians legacy) have decided to hump the cash cow for last years xmas market (because most people I know who liked Nirvana at the time, me included, dont actually dig em that much anymore!) so the kiddies can find out about em.... I see that - like Janis Joplins greatest hits!? NO because us longtime fans wanted a legit release of the b'sides and outtakes (just 1 disc is all we ask, something rather than rehashing songs we all know AGAIN!) but instead we get 1... and is it any good?

Truth be told, yes it is as Nirvana goes, trouble is where it was recorded long ago, weve all moved on so its not the same (Kurt didnt sing to 25 year old telecommunications advisors that I knew of)... the other side is not matter how much I chew or gargle with water I refuse... REFUSE! to swallow the bitter pill of forking out £18 for 1 song.

So as opposed to reviewing what we know already I have some advice and options for people pondering wasting thier hard earned money on this exaggerated beermat....

1) Download the singles - if you are seeking this comp and you do not own Nevermind you likely are either in a state of caedavour or simply didnt like the album tracks.
2) Alternativley (no pun intended) buy Nevermind.
3) Finally I offer the suggestion people stop pushing the myth that Nirvana were in any way groundbreaking or special or that Kurt was a great guitarist - sure they had catchy songs (sorta) but the majority of the material is third rate garage punk which Mudhoney do 100% better than these guys. Go buy "March To Fuzz" - a best of package designed to include something for EVERYONE.

Dont get me wrong, I just dont feel the same and everything offered Nirvana wise just taints the memory (seeing clips of Kurt behaving more like a spoilt rock star than the people he was ridiculing, Courtney selling the history like they were always the corporate giant, hearing the same songs over and over despite a wealth of buried treasures) - and looking at rock music since Nirvana? Well, its not cool to be happy anymore, sloppiness now counts as passionate....

This gets 1 out of 10 and an extended middle finger from me on charges of relentless mediocrity.

john@hotmail.com (die_u_phoneys)
nirvana are the greatest model for an efficient, powerful and talented band. fuck off you stupid metalheads/indie fascists who diss this kick ass band. I like metal too i like punk i like fucking bjork i like shellac and even goddam return to forever and thats the whole point you diss-happy crackers. it's about music.. forget your cliques, your studded jackets, nose rings or tiny 8 year old indie-ass T-shirt fashion sense and admit it nirvana is one of the greatest bands ever. Along with hendrix the beatles, mtallica, black flag, judas priest, whoever else.

lazarus_come_forth@hotmail.com (Paul Clarke)
Okay, I'm going to be picky for one brief moment in time. Okay, I lied. Two moments. But bear with me. For starters, the version of "Been a Son" on Nirvana is actually the version from the Blew EP, not Incesticide. Secondly, I know that it sounds like there's an electric guitar in "The Man Who Sold the World," but those lovely sounds are actually coming from a cello. Of course, I imagine that the cello is plugged in (since when is any instrument on Unplugged actually unplugged?), so you can yell about it being an electric cello to those hypocritical MTV executives who created the horror that is Unplugged. Oy. I am such a Nirvana geek. I could've been a Star Wars geek -- but no! I had to be a Nirvana geek.

Okay, with that out of the way, on to this attempt at a "greatest hits" album...

"You Know You're Right" certainly isn't Nirvana's best song, but the chorus is reasonably catchy ("PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN" and then the snarl of "you know you're right"). But, Nirvana had plenty of bad songs with catchy choruses, so "You Know You're Right" is nothing terribly special, except for the fact that it started "leaking" (can we say "promotional stunt by Ms. Courtney Love"?) on my birthday. How neat is that? It's like a Nirvana fan's Nirvana.

Anyway. Next on the CD is "About a Girl." I can't believe that Bleach is only represented by one song -- "About a Girl." What about the sludgy classics "Blew" and "School"? What about the punk rocker "Negative Creep"? Even "Floyd the Barber" or "Paper Cuts" would have been welcome inclusions on such a collection. A lack of material from Bleach is certainly a bad start.

Unfortunately, the representation of the early years of Nirvana gets worse with the inclusion of "Sliver" and "Been a Son." The fact that these two were chosen over early b-sides like "Dive," "Stain" and "Aneurysm" is almost as shocking as the rating you gave Incesticide. Your review of Incesticide, however, WAS indeed "FRIGGIN' BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Perhaps the only semi-redeeming part of this CD is the selection of songs from Nevermind. It seems pretty logical that they would include all the singles, which are good, but the inclusion of a few other songs (especially "Drain You," a personal favorite of Cobain's and perhaps the best song on Nevermind) would have been nice. "Breed" would have been an equally nice addition to the album; it displays the noisy guitar work that Cobain was so good at creating. But, I have to admit that the collection of songs from Nevermind isn't too bad as is.

However, the selections from In Utero are horrid. "Dumb"? "Rape Me"? "RAPE ME"?! What about the brilliant "Serve the Servants" or "Scentless Apprentice"? Even the not very "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" would have been a welcome and appropriate addition. "Heart-Shaped Box," although "remastered," is still terribly under-developed, but a reasonable choice. "Pennyroyal Tea," although remixed by Scott Litt, is still horrible. I'm rather disappointed that the coughing at the beginning was edited out, too. I always thought that the coughing was intentional, as it seems to fit in with the medical theme of In Utero. Alas, more disappointment. Such is the cycle of life: one disappointment after another.

It seems logical that they would choose the version of "All Apologies" from the Unplugged show over the version on In Utero, so I don't have too many complaints there. While the version on In Utero certainly reflects the sound of Nirvana better, there certainly is something haunting about the calmly eerie version on Unplugged. And have you ever noticed that on all the TV specials about Nirvana or specials that include a segment about Cobain's "suicide" there's always footage from the Unplugged version of "All Apologies"? So, it does seem somewhat appropriate to include that here. "The Man Who Sold the World" was definitely a good choice, seeing as how its popularity inspired David Bowie to include it in his own set again (and it's better than Bowie's in my not so valued opinion). European versions of Nirvana also have "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" which is another fine highlight from the Unplugged show, and it should've been put on the American versions as well so that we can listen to it again. The selections from the Unplugged album are good ones, but it would have been neat to include more of the cover songs (especially the Meat Puppets songs) from the set.

And there we have it: perhaps the worst "best of" compilation ever, or at least out of all the ones that I've heard (which, counting Nirvana, is one). The sad thing is that it's not even fifty minutes long. Twenty-five minutes worth of songs could have been added. And what about some decent b-sides? It would have been apt to include "Spank Thru" from From The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah. And what about such b-sides as "Even In His Youth," "Sappy" (a.k.a. "Verse Chorus Verse") and "I Hate Myself And Want To Die" (which every hardcore Nirvana fan has heard anyway)? Even the inclusion of "Moist Vagina" or the Dave Grohl-penned "Marigold" would have been nice since it would evidence an ATTEMPT at giving us SOMETHING. But no! We're left with this. Kids, this is what happens when you marry bad people.

Speaking of which, I would now like to take the time to point out why Kurt Cobain is dead. He is dead because either:

a.) he married the leader of the world's most horrible band ever, so she was bound to murder him out of jealousy anyway, or,

b.) he just needed a hug.

Of course, this does not mean that we should go out and hug my generation's angsty rock icons in an attempt to save them from a similar fate -- good heavens no! The world would be a much better place if they happened to receive a fatal shotgun wound to the head. We won't be so lucky, of course, and these people will continue to pollute radio stations and MTV with their "depressed" "music" while they make more money than Kurt Cobain ever did. It's funny, because a lot of them are ripping of Nirvana, a band that wasn't that great to begin with, but at least they were real and witty, instead of trying to give the masses what they want. My generation is doomed. God save the queen.

Oh, wait. This is YOUR album review website. I really didn't mean to ramble like that, honestly. And yet, I'm going to go back and edit this rant (edit: fix spelling/grammatical errors and expand when necessary) and then send the whole thing to you. So, I guess I'm not that sorry. Besides, being able to submit something that's actually a "worthy" comment to the Mark Prindle site is like a dream come true for me. Thank you for inspiring me to live my dream, Mr. Prindle.

andrewpala_20@hotmail.com (Andres)
Nirvana more than a musically talented band as... I don´t know how to call it, say ...virtuosos, They were not! but they sure knew how to mix their music influences and make them sound alike but not necesarilly the same plus helping Rock and roll music to develop in a whole different way, the only thing I regret is that people like the british guy above... didn´t get what the music, the lyrics and the attitude was all about, like everything in life is a circle, everything ended and started again since Nirvana, they are not the best musicians ever, Cobain is not the greaest songwriter ever, but he is pretty damn important for the ones who were born in the past 30 years, if don´t agree, fine! I´m not that a big fun of the mainstream, but don´t you think it was great to see them amaze the world with their attitude, shutiing frustrated yuppies all over! I was only 15 when the Nevermind album came out and It was a great moment in my life! if you dare to watch Mtv these days.... you´ll find yourself vomiting ver, very soon.... it´s all just crap, I understand that music before the 80´s was all about music, but after the appearance of Mtv everything changed and music became infected with bands like Poison or people like MIchael Jackson and stuff.... because you had to see them as you were listening to their ¨music¨ but Nirvana did something that the world doesn´t really digest yet... nor they figure it out, they cared about the message, the guy was a poet, an artist, someone who wanted to express himslef anyhow, did you know He wanted to be a Painter and that´s probably what He might enede up doing if He had the support of his parents, well.... He translated that into music!!! the other two were real people, one who dind´ty really have the abbility nor the will to continue pursuing a career beacuse He wasn´t exactly mainstream matterial as the world was hangover after the grunge party and the other one who had what it takes to be up in there, well that´s all I can say.... I´m just happy that Nirvana is still a topic, wether you love it or you hate it.... you just can´t stop talking about them!

Flamingbodies24@aol.com
Get a life...Nirvana did the things they liked...they didn't put on costumes and stupid Goth make up and clothes and talk about how much they hate their parents and the world...they were mellow who may not have enjoyed life to the fullest, but honestly who does? They were just real, and money didn't mean anything to them, they just wanted to be known for their music,Whats wrong with dying being heard, then dying being silent?

nirvana_is_pus@yahoo.com (Michael Haber)
It would be a LITTLE nice if Nirvana had at least a LITTLE something to offer to the world of music... Nirvana were NOTHING more than simpleton commercial (Nirvana commercialized like none other - hmmmmmmmm, how many videos have been made from Nevermind alone, how many concerts, how mant interviews, pathetic performances on SNL and eMpTV etc etc etc) plagiarists (oh yeah Nirvana plagiarized AT LEAST 3 songs and were being sued for plagiarizing 1 but Kurt did the best thing he could and blew his brains out) with no talent (after all it doesn't take much to merely twang your instrument), certainly no passion (try having passion for anything if you are constantly "bored" and "faking it" as Kurt has admitted several times = it will be a BIG FAT ZERO!!!!!!!!) and no originality (you want original????? listen to Rasputina, Melt-Banana, The Residents - none like them) after all EVERYTHING Nirvana has done has been done by FAR better bands such as Big Black, Joy Division, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Wire, The Buzzcocks only to name a very select few... hmmmmmmmmmm oh yeah, and Kurts ridiculious words... well in Kurts OWN words... "Almost all my lyrics have been cut-ups pieces of poetry and stuff. And the pieces of poetry are taken from poems that usually don't have meaning in the first place."... and he also stated "At the time I was writing those songs, I really didn't know what I was trying to say. There's no point in my even trying to analyse or explain it." Kurt trying ever so desperately to explain the songs on Nevermind. And then he stated "When I write a song, the lyrics are the least important thing. I can go through two or three subjects in a song, and the theme can mean absolutely nothing at all." and still more - "I very rarely write about one theme or one subject. I end up getting bored with that theme and write something else half way through the rest of the song, and finish the song with a different idea."... so, I'd like to see you TRY to come up with ANY type of meanings for Kurt's ridiculious lyrics... and THEN I'd like you to put yourself in Kurt's shoes... How would you feel if you were to tell an audience that your lyrics "don't have meaning in the first place... the lyrics are the least important thing... and the theme can mean absolutely nothing at all... finish the song with a different idea"... just how would you feel if you were constantly idolized by adoring fans and you told your audience that your lyrics were "meaningless"... you'd feel pretty shitty... have a nice day

jeff11693@hotmail.com
nirvana sux omfg im h4r|)|<0r3

Metalistaind1015@aol.com
Everyone who says this band sux is missing out. Nevermind, along with thier other albums kicks ass. I usualy only listen to metal but nirvana is one of my favorite bands of all time. Some of thier songs are simple but they get the feelings out. Each note was crafted perfectly to fit the feeling of the song and that is what song writing is all about. imagine "something in the way" with alot of changes like guitar solos and more chord progessions. If the song were recorded like this it would f*ck up the point of the song. The idea of hating a band for being played on the radio is unorigional and ignorent. If you are going to insult nirvana do it with a rational thought. Who the f*ck whould go to a web page on a band they hate just to talk sh*t anyway? I don't like blink 182, but Im not going around to their web page just to give my opinion. what the hell is wrong with you? Do you need attention or do you just need something to do. If this is the case I feel sorry for you. I pitty you as I say F*CK OFF because NIRVANA IS THE BEST BAND EVER!!!!!!

connor.kilpatrick@trinity.edu
Hey Mark,

I was reading your section about the dreadful Nirvana best-of and thought I'd point something out to you. You justifiably dislike "You Know You're Right" (as do I), but I think you should check out how Kurt played it live (on the Aragon Ballroom bootleg, if you can't find it, I could find a way to send it to you). He introduces the song as "On the Mountain," but it's definitely an early (and hopefully more representative version of where Nirvana was going) YKYR.

It's a very different arrangement and a completely different mood. It's this weird, spooky song that builds upon itself into what sounds like a more interesting, better-arranged Heart Shaped Box. Where the official release of YKYR kicks into distorted guitar/scream time in just a few seconds, this version creeps and shimmers along. I think the Nirvana survivors either mis-mixed/arranged it, or Kurt shlopped it out in the studio, as I'd been listening to the bootleg for years anticipating its release. You seem like a fairly big Nirvana fan, so I just thought I'd pass this along.

jjdiazsanchez@hotmail.com
The above review reminded me of something. It's really lame that the liner notes of an official release contain incorrect information. You Know You're Right was never called "On A Mountain". When the band performed the song at in Chicago, 10/23/93, before the song Dave Grohl said "this is the last song it's called ALL APOLOGIES", because that's the song they were supposed to play at that point in the concert (like they did on every other show on the tour), but then Kurt started playing the YKYR riff and the rest of the band joined. As "released" bootlegs with that track have it in very poor quality Dave seems to say the muntain thing. The general pubic, including the guy who wrote the liner notes, has only heard the track on these "released" bootlegs. Traders have much better sounding copies of the show where you can hear what Dave says more clearly.

chrisjsutton@gmail.com
Man! reading these replies is worse than reading YouTube comments! Yes, they were good once, but seriously I'm so bored of these records now. Actually that new reissue of Bleach, with the live set tacked on the end is pretty neat, but only because the entire show is devoid of any Nevermind era tracks. I'm not surprised they got sick of playing them so often. Who wouldn't?

Ironically its the weird and rare stuff (Hairspray Queen, Scentless Apprentice, Paper Cuts, etc...) that endures all these years later. Oh and the echoed "production" (or whatever its called tomorrow) of In Utero makes that album worth listening to IMO. Even if some of the tracks aren't so super.

These SIXTY (!?!) bonus tracks include b-sides from the band's singles, some one-off artist compilation tracks, early versions of Led Zeppelin songs recorded when Chad Channing was still in the band, a few Kurt solo acoustic demo tracks, and a whole slewlot of studio outtakes, shiitakes, matsutakes, portobellos, oysters, woodears and - OH! The liberty caps! Speaking as a jingoist, those fuckin' patriotic hats have got IT, mama! But my point albumwise is that at every point in his career, Burt Kobain quite frankly couldn't tie his shoes without coming up with a great riff. Hummable, weird, twisted, creative, bizarre - often quirky and always likeable, with Cris Novoselic's hilarious bass lines, Melvins-style sludgery, and a true sense of love for innovative racket.

No wonder I used to love this band so much! Out of 61 tracks, I'd say there are maybe FOUR lousy songs ("Opinion" is an ugly mess with gross phlegmy vocals, the acoustic demos of "Pennyroyal Tea" and "You Know You're Right" are as miserable as the officially released versions, and smacked-out, amazingly out-of-tune Vaselines cover "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam" is an early warning of the heroin addiction that would eventually lead to KC's decomposition). The rest range from okay to just fantastic. Many of the tracks are unpolished of course, they being studio and homemade demos not initially intended for release, but god you can't hide a great guitar or bass line --- half-written noise masterpieces and strange grunge classics with names like "Anorexorcist," "Mrs. Butterworth," "Raunchola" (featuring a sudden interpolation of Led Zeppelin's Moby Dick"!), "Marigold," "The Other Improv" and "Token Eastern Song" say more about heavy metal and childish wonder in two minutes than three hundred Stone Temple Pilots songs say in 45 seconds.

Also on hand are early versions of tracks you know so well, including a pre-cello "Dumb," "Stay Away" as "Pay To Play," and a mostly sloppy track with sorrowful vocals that would ultimately be converted into into "Smells Like Teen Spirit". And let's not even BEGIN to discuss the Heddy Ledbetter tracks! Okay, let's do. Kurt covers "They Hung Him On A Cross" and then performs a thick, silly cover of "Grey Goose" before continuing to detail the history of Heddy Ledbetter (with "Ain't It A Shame") and finally concluding with "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" -- my least favorite song!

If you like Nirvana at all, this is a must-buy. Ckurdte CKobaiyne was absolutely at the peak of his creative juice power during this brief time on our planet, and the loose, crangly, messy performances consistently fail to mask the blood-soaked asskickosity of the strangled yet catchy guitar riffs buried beneath. In another first, this collection FINALLY makes it clear as a car made out of water to me why people always say Nirvana was influenced by The Velvet Underground: it's their cover of "Here She Comes Now"! This realization makes it all that much more unfortunate that The Velvet Underground didn't go on to record 500 more albums, each one of them increasing the chances that they'd finally write a decent song.

Do you like good music? If not, stick to your beatnik SHIT like the Tarney/Spencer Band and Red Rocker because us Positive Change Kids don't need your Old Man Squareness killing our buzz with your bogus attitudes!

(*slam dances in a gigantic stadium arena with half a million other people*)

(*gets hit in the head by a shoe*)

Fuck you, Nirvana! You made me get hit in the head with a shoe!

(P.S. It also comes with a DVD, but they don't sell those through illegal MP3 sharing services so I haven't seen it.)

Reader Comments

soul_crusher77@hotmail.com
There's enough stuff on here that's more "historically interesting" than "good" that a decent argument could be made for just taking the more developed songs and making some sort of Incesiticide 2: Electric Bugaloo (in fact I might take the ol' cd burner and do just that sometime), but overall I'm pretty satisfied with this. There's all sorts of great unreleased Bleach style sludge-grunge on disc 1, and there's also the pretty entertaining Leadbelly covers (all of which are technically performed by The Jury, a sort of impromptu collaboration thing between Kurt and Mark Lanegan from the Screaming Trees. I only know this because I actually bought the thing like a good consumer. And by "bought the thing" I of course mean "got it as a christmas present"). Discs 2 and 3 are a bit more heavy on demo versions of album tracks/b-sides we already know, but pretty good too. The Wipers covers and "Oh The Guilt" (which is actually surprisingly Bleach-ish for something that was recorded around the same time as Nevermind) kick ass, and "Old Age" is just hauntingly beautiful. Also, even though they're not all that different than the Nevermind versions, I dig the early mixes of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Breed"; they're just slightly less slick and I think maybe the bass is turned up a tiny bit louder, but it's just enough to add a slight extra kick. That 9 minute instrumental noise jam version of "Scentless Apprentice" is something else too. And finally, in defense of "Opinion", Kurt's voice cracking all over the place does make it hard to listen to, but I do like the melody enough to think it would have sounded pretty good developed into a full band version, sort of somewhere in between "Verse Chorus Verse" and "Taxman". I mean the chorus to the acoustic version of "Lithium" found here has the same problem, and that turned out to be a pretty damn good song.

Also, the DVD is a bit short, but cool. Lots of live performances (including 9 songs from their first "gig" at a house party where Kurt is singing directly to the wall paneling for some reason and someone keeps mischievously flicking the light switch on and off for a "strobe" effect), some miscellaneous behind-the-scenes-type touring footage, a rare pre-Nevermind promo video for "In Bloom" featuring a totally different version of the song, and finally a montage of the band goofing around set to a jokey but also sadly listless cover of smaltz "classic" "Seasons In The Sun" featuring Kurt singing and playing drums at the same time.

themightygreegor@yahoo.com
This comment could go anywhere on your site that readers respond to punk rock, but it was reading your Flipper reviews that really made me write. Maybe put it under Nirvana?

"I just love that! So, apparently, did Kurt Cobain."

"****" Hmm. I saw another one, which I can no longer find, in which an old (punk) sage is quoted with some banal words of wisdom. I can't even remember the GIST of it, because the wise old sage was then revealed to be none other than "Splatter" Cobain himself.

It doesn't matter what the quote was, because if I went through your site carefully, I could find any number of similar sentiments.

How old are these readers? They obviously don't realize that Cobain himself was just a fan who was sorry to have been born ten years too late to have taken part in The Movement, and the very fact that he got so damned huge, as cool as that simple fact was at the time, discredits him as a punk. That was through no fault of his own, and hell, it may be why he shot himself. I dunno. But he's no wise old sage of punk rock. He wasn't old enough to have had any first-hand knowledge of the scene. He may have remembered it as a child, but that's what he was.

I know these kids now don't know where to find out about the way it really was, from people who were there, but you should direct them to some sources, like Mr. Watt, or Mr. Rollins, or any number of other survivors and veterans. The very act of quoting Kurt Cobain, regardless of the content or even validity of the quote, almost negates the point you are trying to make, if punk rock is the topic of discussion.

davethefish42@gmail.com
A full ten years after the death of lead singer Kurt Cobain, and possibly the final chapter of Nirvana is finally released. For years, it was a pipe dream. The single most important band of the decade had promised an issue of B-Sides and Rarities, but it was held up with court cases and harsh words between Krist, Dave, and Courtney, former band members, friends, and wife of Cobain. Geffen must have felt like they had to deliver with so much downtime between releases, as there's more material here then on all three of the studio releases put together. Three disks, plus a DVD with a combined total of just over 80 tracks is a lot for a band who have three albums. Not surprisingly, a lot here isn't exactly relevant to any but the biggest Nirvana followers, but this box has been a long time coming, and it certainly shows that, because it is the authoritative word on unreleased Nirvana material, which is the second greatest thing about this set.

Not every unreleased song in the vaults is here, but virtually all of the truly interesting stuff is. In fact, only the obscure KISS cover "Do You Love Me?" and the Fecal Matter Demo are absent (and neither of those are really missed as the KISS cover is quite basic, and no one's even sure if the Demo tapes even exist anymore, and even if they do, terrible quality is almost guaranteed). Other then those exceptions, every humble or little known Nirvana song from a single, EP, or compilation is here. To be sure, a lot of it is here for the sake of completeness. Americans who did not get their hands on "Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Though the Strip", for instance may find it's inclusion vital, but as with "Endless, Nameless" and "Beans" many do not even consider them songs any more then meandering jams or novelty pieces (which to be fair were a part of Nirvana's sound too as proven by this compilation). Likewise, no one knew "The Other Improv" existed before 1994, and frankly no one would have probably cared if it did. Some of the actual songs here are from the bottom of the barrel, or at least the back of the vaults. "Pen Cap Chew" fades out at the end because the band could only afford one roll of tape when they actually took time to record it. Various clipping and sound issues plague bits and pieces of the entire set, but it's still nice to have so much rare material issued in completeness.

With the Lights Out also chronicles the band's history wonderfully. It's all here, and it's apparent that they started out as an ugly, almost vial sludgefest, before making their way to radio-friendly stardom, and then to a violently distorted climax before the quick descent into tender acoustic works after simply being burnt out. The songwriting itself follows the sound's fate. A lot of the earlier tracks are underwritten and simply too intimidating to enjoy fully, but it's easy to find the promise and talent they would one day fulfill, even if it's only a great riff hidden behind walls of distortion. For example, "Mrs. Buttersworth" was probably recorded after one hell of a party, but it still has a great chorus and a very interesting lyrical section, demonstrating that some of these historical pieces (yes, you don't exactly listen to Kurt playing "Heartbreaker" for a note-perfect cover) work well with material you would normally find on a rarities release.

The demos are, quite simply, demos. Some of them are interesting, as they include alternate lyrics and are still in developing stages, but some of them just aren't, partially because bad quality seems to hit the demos hardest of all. One of the exceptions is the take of "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" with it's accentuated cello that really makes the song beautiful. These aren't songs that the average Nirvana fan would worry about anyway, but they are here for the more devout fan base, and the demos will certainly be enjoyable for them.

Fortunately, a good portion of the songs here are first-rate, and rank among Nirvana's best. "Blandest", "Token Eastern Song", "Verse Chorus, Verse", "Sappy", and "Marigold" (penned and sung by drummer David Grohl), are just great songs. Also, some rumored gems that have gone unheard up to this point are included, and they really are very good. "Old Age" and "Do Re Mi" are highlights of the whole box, and several others rank up there as well, as long as the listener realizes that these were work in progresses when Kurt died. There were also a few great covers that even Nirvana's hardcore fan base simply did not know about until now, including "White Lace and Strange" and three Ledbetter compositions, which all fit in as historical pieces just as much as songs to just enjoy. These better pieces are all in good quality, except for "Opinion", which is ruined by phlegmy vocals and a bad radio take, and some of the oldest material where Kurt was still growing as a songwriter.

Other final discrepancies are small, yet notable. Some demo versions of rarer songs are here, instead of their final cuts, which is peculiar. More specific drawbacks include the fabled Butch Vig's 'Raw Mix' of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" being a near exact replica of the studio version, and a sub-par acoustic take of "You Know Your Right"'s inclusion rather then the stunning studio take that was meant to be in this box from the beginning, instead of an uninspired Best Of. Overall, the collection is quite nice. Newer fans will have a wealth of great material to sift though, and big fans that may have the most important recordings already should be ecstatic that With the Lights Out is finally here, in better quality then any bootlegs they might have. Also the booklet is spectacular, with a timeline of the band, linear notes, and two essays, one by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. The DVD is decent, and its highlights include "Big Cheese" and "Talk to Me", the final rarities not included on the CDs, a live version of "Sappy", a part of the first show with Grohl on drums, and a touching cover or "Seasons in the Sun" with Kurt on drums, Krist on guitar, and Dave on bass recorded in Rio.

The single greatest thing about this set is that it's the best it could possibly be. There was lots of love (coming after a period of a lot of hate) put into this, and where else are you going to get that cover of the Velvet Underground's "Here She Comes Now"? As for the final verdict, is it recommended? Not really. If you don't already have it, or are just waiting until you can get a hold of some extra cash (i.e. If you aren't a huge fan) then it probably isn't for you. It's been ten years since this material was promised, so for the casual fan another year or so for the leaner, single disk collection (which they definitely should pick up) wouldn't be a hard wait. Those bigger fans will find a lot to love, and should obviously get it as soon as they can, as it closes a rather large hole in Nirvana's discography. In terms of controversy and influence, very few bands can claim what Nirvana can claim, but after all is said and done, they simply have some really great songs to enjoy, even if it took a bit for them to be released.

motleymanjonesysixx66@musician.org
NIRVANA is possibly the worlds worst band, here is five reasons why:

1. THEY FUCKEN KILLED ROCK N' ROLL (if it wasn't for NIRVANA I reckon that Guns N' Roses would have been even bigger. Lets face it, NIRVANA killed Rock N' Roll, and it has yet to make a comeback

2. THEY WERE PAEDOPHILES (Just look at that filthy picture of the naked baby on that shithouse album, FUCKEN SICKOS)

3. THEY HAD ONE GOOD SONG (and Smells Like Teen Spirit had no lyrical meaning and musically it was boring)

4. KURT COBAIN WAS A WUSS (oh poor little Kurt, can't handle the fame so he has to kill himself wah wah wah)

5. KURT COBAIN STOLE AXL ROSE'S THUNDER (a bunch of stone heads and critics said that "yeah like Kurts lyrics were like deep man" well so were Axls, and they also entertain, not like KURT using music to tell the world how miserable he was, well man you had youth, millions of dollars, legions of fans and a beautiful wife, yeah that sounds real misersble

THERE ARE MANY MORE REASONS BUT IM TO LAZY TO TYPE

sherrylight@houston.rr.com (Jill)
Your Sick I Hate You If It Wasnt For Nirvana We Wouldnt Have All The New Shitty Emo Bands So SHUT THE HELL UP! The Guns N Roses Suck and So Do You Man.

Peace, Love, Empathy(though i have none for you),

jeff11693@hotmail.com
Warning: not for sissies, so if you worship their Unplugged show, don't bother

zapi_0@yahoo.com
You fu*king, worthless piece of shit! Kurt stole Axls thunder, and there's nothing wrong about it, becouse Axl was one big motherfu*king arrogant hillbilly, just like you. So, get a fuck out of here, and go listen to Guns n' Roses, Motley Crue and whatever shit you listen to!!!

apollo@apple-o.com
Just in case you weren't aware, the Nirvana "sliver - best of the box" CD has 3 tracks or so not on the box set. The reason I even bother to bring this up is the 1st track is a 1985 demo by Curd and Melvins Dale Crover (on bass & drums) of "spank thru" that's just as good (or at least as interesting) as anything on Bleach... Supposedly the demo has 15 songs total, where can I hear this stuff? So anyway, find that tune Good day, sir!

ricardo.nunez@poliformusa.com
I’m not a Nirvana fan and never was. But those of us who clearly remember the pathetic music scene of the late 80’s- early 90’s know how dismal it used to be (although I should say that today’s music scene is even in a worse state) and because of this most of us think that Nirvana simply had to happen. Think about it, the music world today is in desperate of a Kurt Cobain (or for that matter anything or anybody) who can change the direction of the music scene. Again, although I never disliked them, I never was too crazy about Nirvana, but I have to admit that listening to “Smells like teen spirit” for the first time was very exciting. Then all of a sudden young people where exposed to different kinds of alternative music genres, not just grunge. And that’s one of the most important influences Nirvana had, they not only helped to bring down all those crappy bands from the 80’s, they helped awaken the musical and artistic curiosity a lot of people had with them but didn’t have the exposure they needed to discover what the underground had to offer.

jfoxatlanta@yahoo.com
I'll keep this short(for me,anyway). Fuck what anyone says- Nirvana was the greatest band since the Beatles-the only artists I like even nearly as much would be Dinosaur JR, The Pixies, Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, David Bowie, The Stooges, and Patti Smith. Oh, and Frank Zappa, Smashin Pumpkins(except Mellon Collie), and Leonard Cohen- oh, and also, ok ok, you get the point, alot of bands came close to this infernal awesomeness, but only the beatles and nirvana hit it. Now, OBVIOUSLY it is hard to compare such widely varied forms of music-almost pointless- but I do so anyway, because life is pointless. What would life be like if it WEREN'T futile. Futility is the only foundation upon which it can possibly be based. And while all other concepts can be eventually undermined by or evolve into a newer, more 'hip" philosophy- futility is unalterable, unyielding, STEADFAST. Why is so much cogitation required to realize this? I know this by instinct- it is my very nature to know this.

Back to the point. Even Nevermind, BY FAR their worst album- was phenomenal. And live- they could do with three guys what most bands could never do with 10. Bleach(their BEST album- was perhaps the best punk album of all times. They were the only band who managed to stretch the gamut from an underground punk album like Bleach and also hit amazing mainstreamm success with Nevermind- PLUS put out an incredible acoustic album AND the BEST live album I have ever heard with Live from the Muddy banks... (and BLEACH WAS A PUNK ALBUM- even without silly makeup and mohawks- i used to love how my punk friends would say "I dont give a shit what anyone thinks about me." To which i would respond, "Is that why you spent 45 minutes putting your mohawk up and spent 2 days putting safety pins strategically througgout your clothes." These guys were REAL punk- they didn't care what you thought- even if you thought they smelled from not bathing). Actually Kurt did care intensely what people thought- which is why it bothered him so much that alot of underground people showed disdain for him after Nevermind.

Regardless, EVERY album was a masterpiece and every human out there should be forced to suck the dick of Cobain's corpse upon birth- ok, maybe they should wait until they are 18- I'm not a fan of infant molestation- especially necrophilia infant molestation.

Every other grunge band sucked- Bush, Pearl Jam, and especially Stone Temple Pilots- one of the worst bands in history. SUCK SUCK SUCK.

Ok, I'll admit it- The Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block, and N'Sync are alot more talented than the Beatles or Nirvana. And more original and creative too. The cool thing about these 3 bands is their spontaneous origins. And th funniest part is alot of insipid people out there wont realize that I am..........

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