Nevermind by Nirvana - 20 years later.

Nevermind was released on September the 24th 1991, over 20 years ago.  It's difficult to believe how long ago that is.  In many ways, Nirvana changed the music industry.  When that record came out I was in third year at high school and I listened to Black Flag, Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and Fugazi.  I thought Nirvana were a pop group initially and it took me a few months to realise that they were a real band.

When I finally started to listen to them I was impressed.  I think I got a copy cassette of Bleach with the Vaselines on the b-side first before finally getting Nevermind.  Nirvana always seemed more 'real' to me than Pearl Jam.  This may have been because the members of Nirvana dressed like I did.  It might have been because they referenced bands like Black Flag in interviews.  Pearl Jam just reminded me of Guns n Roses.

Nirvana sort of became the biggest band in the world and I watched them closely in the music press.  Back then, before the internet, if you wanted to stay up to date with music you had to read the NME and Melody Maker every week.  I did it religiously.

Incesticide and In Utero were released.  I managed not to see them twice.  Once, when they played at the QMU I didn't know who they were and I didn't think I'd get in.  The second time, Kurt shot himself and the tour was cancelled.  The Kurt Cobain death cult went mental.

The music was still amazing.

More and more music became available over the years, initially on bootlegs and later on official releases.  Nirvana shelved some great songs.  Nevermind was probably the best recorded set of songs they put out but I enjoyed some of their other tracks more.

My personal favourite Nirvana tracks (in no particular order) are listened below

Been a son
Sappy
About a girl
Dive
Dumb
Even in his youth
Here she comes now
In Bloom
Love Buzz
Molly's Lips
Opinion (the fragment of a song that we have)
Son of a gun
Stain

I think the tracks I've listed above would make a decent album.  They certainly make a good iTunes playlist.  Now, 20 years later, I'm a rich doctor (somehow) and I've bought a vastly overpriced deluxe edition of Nevermind that I'm looking forward to listening to.  Life goes on.  I'm now 7 years older than Kurt Cobain was when he died and 10 years older than he was when he recorded that album.  At 34 I still feel fairly young and the 20th anniversary of this record is a bit scary.