Review: Nevermind-- Music Album by Nirvana

Once I heard Nirvana's sound it was impossible for me to forget them. From the moment I heard the familiar strumming sounds of punk rock I knew I came across something that was worthwhile. For me, Nirvana's Nevermind is one of those albums that is quintessential to understand today's modern era. It is difficult to believe that this 1991-produced album is now 32 years old. Perhaps what is most haunting about this album is that its themes are still relevant even thirty years later.

Nevermind's release was ultimately what propelled Kurt Cobain and his band into critical commercial success. While they were renown before, the album itself made Cobain a household name. Grunge's revival was credited with the release of this album. It also became a critical piece to the 1990s counterculture. Its thematic elements are deep, dark and humorous at the same time. Its anti-establishment themes resonate throughout the lyrics.

For me, revisiting this piece was important in understanding my own personal experience with this genre of music and this band. I was not even born when this was first released...but I could recall it being mentioned by certain family members as I got older. They personally did not approve of the band or the lyrics that they were writing. When I was finally able to listen to the music for myself I remember feeling understood. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come As You Are" were especially resonant. Not only were the melodies catchy but they were in-tune with a lot of the anxiety, depression, loneliness and rage that many youth and adults are experiencing.

While David Grohl's guitar skills are incredible, it's also important to highlight the art that Cobain was creating. His words and his music were meant to find those who felt alienated, unseen, and unheard. In today's age we are talking about how people in the United States and the rest of the world are experiencing increased levels of loneliness and an inability to connect with their peers. While I do see plenty of fault with social media as a cause for this divide...I believe it would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge from the very beginning that the struggles that Kurt Cobain sung about are not niether uncommon or new.

While it is tempting to blame that loneliness on the pandemic, it is clear that the loneliness crisis actually was impacting individuals beforehand. Research conducted by the The Roots of Loneliness Project , yielded disturbing results which found that it was increasing around the globe. In the United States alone, 52% of Americans expressed that they were feeling lonely. They also found that 47% of Americans felt that the relationships that Americans built felt meaningless. It gets more disturbing when you break this down globally, where 18% of the entire population of Europe reported loneliness. The results from these studies were written in reports released by 2020 but the data samples collected were from as recent as 2019.

Cobain's legacy-- while riddled with iconic music hits and sheer talent-- was also riddled with trouble. Born in Aberdeen, Washington he was raised in a blue-collar family and whose childhood was mostly happy until his parents divorced when he was 9. It was after this divorce that Cobain began to exhibit anger and it was that emotional pain that impacted much of his behavior throughout his adolescence. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it was during his adolescence that he began to move from home-to-home of relatives and friends; he even slept underneath bridges with friends. It was there he began experimenting with drugs such as heroin-- which eventually played a role in his eventual suicide at the age of 27.

One of my favorite quotes from the song "Come As You Are" on Nevermind goes:

Come as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend As an old enemy

In hindsight, the lyrics that Cobain wrote in Nevermind and in several of his other albums are those that hit close to home. Many of us turn to music and to their artists to find solace. We see ourselves in their work and we also create images about them from what little we know about their lives. Cobain himself could be the subject of a blog post. Decades after his tragic death though, his art and his legacy continues to captivate fans to this day.