Smells Like Nirvana

Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the release of such an album. Since its original marketing in September 1991, the EP has gone on to sell so many millions of copies worldwide that it has been certified ‘Diamond’; the pinnacle and very inner circle of awards with which any artist could hope to be blessed.

However, this was no ordinary, mainstream pop album. The overwhelming success of the piece caught short sighted retailers by surprise, as within days the infamous album had sold out of all retail stockists worldwide. Production of all other material had to be halted by the studio in order to compensate for the level of demand across the globe.

Unusual though this appears, the lack of preparation is quite understandable, even today, when we acknowledge that this was an alternative rock album, with sounds far heavier than anything on the mainstream radio in the early 90s.

The album? None other than the notorious Nevermind from Nirvana. The scale by which the album altered the rock music scene is almost immeasurable.

Before the 1990s, music was dominated by electro synth and pop that rings as the stereotype of the 80s even today. People appeared attached to cheesy, one hit wonders and throw away, feel good time singles.

Probably since the heyday of Led Zep in the early to mid 70s had no band created such instant waves from the depths of metal rockers. Of course, the likes of Metallica and Guns ‘N’ Roses should not be undermined, but their stories are longer and fame was a gradual addition to these bands repertories.

By comparison, by the start of 1992, the release of single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (almost interchangeable with the word ‘Nirvana’ nowadays) and the subsequent second album Nevermind quickly established the band to a platform through with they had become an entire generation’s zeitgeist.

Attributing the sudden success of the band to any particular factor is much more difficult, but naturally, the main initial boost was being signed by a major record label through the repeated recommendations of Sonic Youth.

Whilst this allowed their material to be produced on a larger scale than previously, the band still opted to work with a number of the same producers and writers as they had done on first effort Bleach. Remaining uncompromising in their approach to music, Nirvana came crashing and screaming into the mainstream in order that they should exploit and expand the unfulfilled niche of mainstream rock. A recording contract did not mean substituting the soul and essence of the music.

Brash and abrasive, the offering is one that rewards the listener. Firstly, the obvious talent and skill in the mastering of instruments is evident and there is a dynamic established in the majority of tracks by guitars and drums playing off each other: a negative space in which the quieter sections speak louder than the amped guitars. In many ways, the effort glamourised rock in how these quitter sections were almost reminiscent of pop music hooks: thus drawing and appealing to an ever diverse crowd.

In addition, with each replay, the audience gains a deeper and darker insight into the workings of the band and particularly Cobain. Since Cobain lived by the mantel that “music comes first, lyrics come second”, the turn of phrase and brawling notes are reflective of this fact. Yet, in many ways, the album exists as an exoneration of the demons of life. The anguish, pain and torture of a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with Tobi Vail is always an undercurrent, as are flirtations with various illicit substances.

Unique and individual, the album may talk of such universal issues, but each listener interacts and reacts in a different fashion.

Similarly, the album was promoted as something that was in itself distinctive and inimitable. Whilst in production it was nicknamed sheep, alongside a slogan that read: "Because you want to not; because everyone else is." Adapting non-standard forms of English, the band highlighted themselves as something outside the norm.

Accenting this was the eventual cover art: a baby swimming towards a dollar bill: reference to how we are all instantly programmed to adhere to a social system wherein money = power.

The untimely death of Cobain following a self-inflicted gun-shot only serves to add to the legacy. Indeed, there is a school of thought that this allowed Nevermind to transpire the ordinary and assume a position amongst the most legendary of albums. However, whether or not Nirvana would have continued to release a plethora of albums, this moment would still have been notable as a turning point in the contribution of alternative to the mainstream.

In 2005, the Library of Congress added Nevermind to the National Recording Registry, which collects "culturally, historically or aesthetically important" sound recordings from the 20th century.

Consequently, although the album may not be as earth shaking as it was upon its first conception due to the influx of rock, it is an earth affirming album: one that displays and demonstrates both melodic skill and the pressures of life in one overtly simple, yet all the same covertly complex, piece of art.

Nevermind in numbers:

7,305: Number of days since Nevermind was released.

46,521: Number of copies of Nevermind originally shipped to retailers.

144: Nevermind's debut position on the Billboard Top 200.

9: Number of weeks after its release that Nevermind was certified platinum.

253: Total number of weeks Nevermind spent on the Billboard Top 200.

30 million: Number of copies Nevermind has sold, worldwide.

0: Number of Grammys Nevermind won.

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