When Nirvana released Nevermind in 1991, shit changed in a big way. Many who decided to dig deep into the “grunge” subgenre developed a better understanding of self. It opened our eyes and minds — it got us in touch with emotions our parents, television, and tabloid media kept telling us to suppress. “Don’t worry, be happy” was stomped in the nuts by “I feel stupid and contagious”. “Rockin’ steady in her daddy’s car/She’s got the stereo/With the big guitars” was replaced by “Shower in the dark day/Clean sparks diving down/Cool in the waterway/Where the baptized drown”. The excess of the Eighties tried to worm its way into the first few years of the Nineties, but there wasn’t any more room for spandex, acid-wash jeans, Hulkamania, and pearly white cocaine smiles.
Grunge (and hip-hop) kept us in the know in a way that the nightly news never did for our parents. The Rodney King beating, the Gulf War, the arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer, the end of the Soviet Union, Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, and the death of Freddie Mercury from AIDS were all eye-opening moments that aged many of us beyond our years. “Shit, the world is crazy — what the fuck is Jon Bon Jovi so happy about? And what’s with that tiny-ass Superman tattoo?”
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”, the song that would turn the record industry upside-down, send the fashion industry scrambling, and impact a generation of apathetic kids who were sick of the vapidity and excesses of the current rock scene, wasn’t supposed to be anything more than some silly wordplay and a way to drive a bass player insane. Its genesis was little more than a joke.
One night the previous year, Kurt Cobain hung out with Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna, drinking Canadian Club and taking turns spray painting a pro-life teen pregnancy center with phrases like Kathleen’s “Fake Abortion Clinic Everyone” and Kurt’s 6-foot tall and sarcastic as hell “God Is King” tags.
That same night, while the unwitting future face of music slept, Kathleen wrote “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit” all over the walls of his room, a throwaway line meant to poke fun at his relationship with Bikini Kill drummer (and wearer of Teen Spirit deodorant) Tobi Vail.
When pre-production for Nevermind began, Kurt had a silly, sped-up, jangly riff stuck in his head. He noticed that whenever he played, it drove bassist Krist Novoselic near insanity. Novoselic’s outbursts only emboldened him, and Kurt peppered the bassist with it ad nauseam. The torture lasted for days, eventually sending the bass player into such a state of madness that he began to like the sound. He asked Kurt to play it slower.
When producer Butch Vig listened to a rough demo that the band did as a goof, he, um, smelled a hit. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was born. Kurt thought it sounded like the Pixies, which was a nice bit of synchronicity because on the same day Nevermind dropped, the Pixies put out their final album (well, until the siren song of the money grab led to infinite reunions), Trompe Le Monde.
Nevermind is a perfect pop record in disguise — a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It throws plenty of Hüsker Dü-like haymakers, but Nirvana separated itself from so many of the similar-sounding bands of its era thanks to Kurt’s pop sensibilities. He might’ve had a lot of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. in him, but one listen to songs like “In Bloom”, “Lithium”, and “Drain You” and it’s impossible to think otherwise — they’re pop masterpieces.
Kurt Cobain helped usher in a more truthful time for music — when substantive topics were discussed in a loud and honest voice (and not just with a doctor looking to overmedicate you for having feelings). We started addressing suicide, mental health, drug addiction, and depression. Kurt deserves some credit for that (though many of those discussions came after he turned a shotgun on himself). Where many fans went wrong was in thinking of him as a messiah. Hero worship is weird (and Kurt was no hero). He was a father, a husband, a friend, and, sadly, a junkie. He just also happened to be a brilliant pop star capable of spinning his pain into gold.
Track List:
- Smells Like Teen Spirit 10/10
- In Bloom 10/10
- Come As You Are 10/10
- Breed 10/10
- Lithium 10/10
- Polly 10/10
- Territorial Pissings 8/10
- Drain You 10/10
- Lounge Act 8/10
- Stay Away 9/10
- On A Plain 8/10
- Something In The Way 10/10
Grade: 94
Illegal Foreign Object 
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