Nirvana's album: Nevermind was released twenty years ago, on Sept. 24th 1991, and as most will claim now, it brought a little known "sound" we now call "grunge" into the limelight for a few intense, but short-lived years. For those of you who were alive, how did the "grunge wave" affect you? Were you a fan? Did you despise it? To answer my own questions, I was already wearing flannels and torn jeans, so it just kinda came along and scooped me up. To me it was the cliche'd "breathe of fresh air" I was waiting for, yet didn't know existed. Something raw, loud, and more importantly, genuine. So that said, I was, and still am a rabid fan of "grunge" and probably will always be.

yay :shrug:

I suppose I tended to think of Nirvana as the Oasis of their day in that I never really "got" them but thought they got way too much airplay; that's not to say that I have an immense dislike for them, I'm just a bit curious as to why they ended up being such an iconic sound of their time, especially as they built on not dissimilar work already established by the likes of My Bloody Valentine.

Regardless, my other half likes Nevermind, so I suspect I may be hearing rather more of it once this news breaks.

It was a good genre to break out of the 80s' often silly hair metal and thosemother [censored] keytars. It focused less on cocaine inspired songs, not so nauseatingly flashy, and Nirvana's core audience was teens and young advlts of the time who got sick of 80s rock.

That said, I grew out of Nirvana when I was going out of it with my junior year of high school, and I just couldn't listen to it anymore when I was in college. However, it did die so that Foo Fighters could exist. Also, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam are helluva lot better than Nirvana, imo.

Well, I was one at the time, so I can't say it had that much of an impact on me.

Never heard any of their songs, actually.

Nirvana, in my not-so-humble opinion, has been one of the most overrated, overhyped bands of all time.

Ah Nirvana. Brought some superb musicians into my gaze.

Mainly Dave [censored] Grohl. <3

In my college English class, years ago, they were all talking and getting very emotional about Kurt Cobain having been dead for 12 years. It was really quite absurd, the level of emotional investment they put in a man who died when they were 4. They asked me how i felt, I said I honestly didn't know he was dead. They all looked at me incredulously and started shouting.

I'm just glad I didn't tell them that I'd never heard of the guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q2netN4AaQ

Okay, now I feel old.

Nirvana was just one more band I listened to while driving around. I bought a few of their albums, but they were no better or worse than the other albums I bought and listened to. I certainly didn't find anything unique about their sound, Bleach had that cool Garage Band sound and In Utero was kinda whiny. Compared to a lot of the other music I listened to Nirvana was mellow, easy listening.

Oh, funny, I've been listening to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2tv1ShcVmQ&ob=av2n for the last few days. Nirvana represents for me my teenage years. Them and other bands like Pearl Jam of course, Our Lady Peace, The Breeders, solo Artists like PJ Harvey, Tori Amos... Grunge suited me, hope it'll come back sooner in fashion, as fashion always comes back some 20 years later with a modern touch. I loved how I could wear a dress or skirt with boots like Doc Martens... Hmm, now it's just so out, kids would look at me like a badly aged thirty years old woman... I liked how Grunge was all about I-couldn't-care-less way of thinking, suited me as a teenager.
Come to think of it , Nevermind was the first CD ever we bought. It was all so new and fascinating. Especially that hidden track at the end... so mystifying!

That's interesting, that albums 5 years older than I am, but I was never one for Grunge music I'm more into Punk Rock which Grunge evolved from.

I was two years old, so it didn't affect me...

I had a brief Nirvana phase when I was in school, but I grew bored of them pretty quickly. I like what I've heard from that unplugged album they did but otherwise their music doesn't really hold my interest. I'll get up and sing along if Teen Spirit comes on in a club though, I guess. Actually, we're going out tonight to some sort of alternative night at the uni, so it just might do...

I'm reminded of the day Elvis died. First I'd ever heard of the guy, and I couldn't understand why people were getting so upset... I suppose at least I knew Nirvana (albeit rather better than I'd intended) on the day Kurt's death made the news.

I'd have to agree. M'yep, I'm of age when they were discovered so I remember it well. They had some decent songs, some good and a lot of bad. I think what made them actually famous is Mr. Kobain eating buckshot for breakfast.

It's called hypocritical faking of emotions to be part of the cool crowd ^_^

Loved the collab band they did too before PJ formed. I loved Cornell and Vedder's duet vocals in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjNjJR9jUGo.

I'm not really into grunge but I liked them. Their time was cut too short due to Cobain's suicide. :down:

Suddenly I'm reminded of alt.music.alternative. That would've been about the time I finally gave up on it...

This x 1000


You must of at least heard of a couple of their songs whether you realise it or not. Smells Like Teen Spirit is one of the all time over rated and over played rock songs ever

So weird. I was listening to the album as I saw this thread. Come as you Are.

I would agree. The reason I think they became so famous years later was because of Kurt's infamous death. That said, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as you Are" are pretty good songs. There are a few others on the album that are okay, and some that make me want to stab my ears.

I used to listen to My Bloody Valentine quite a bit around that time and I honestly don't see the influence on Nirvana. Nirvana's music sounds quite different to me.

I think Nirvana is considered iconic simply because they achieved massive commercial and critical success and had some original songs that crossed over because they were catchy. I recall hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit on every hip hop and Top 40 radio station, which prior to that did not play any rock music.

It wasn't just after Kurt's death: though that did set off something of an avalanche, they were way overrated when he was still living.


I wasn't implying that they'd directly influenced them (or at least I hope not), just that Nirvana's sound wasn't as groundbreaking as is often claimed; MBV were just an example.

The fact that it came out 20 years ago makes me feel very old :sadvaultboy: