Heavy Consequence contributor Greg Prato is the author of several rock books, including 2009’s Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music. Here, Prato looks back at Nirvana’s groundbreaking 1991 album Nevermind on its 30th anniversary, sharing quotes from his aforementioned book.
Few albums have played a major role in changing the direction of rock music. Not only did Nirvana’s Nevermind do just that, it also started a cultural revolution.
Upon the release of Nevermind on September 24th, 1991, it seemed like almost immediately, hair metal was pronounced dead, as radio and MTV suddenly embraced likeminded bands hailing from the Seattle area. Beyond the music, young people began adopting “grunge fashion,” while also embracing the more progressive and introspective thinking from this new wave of bands.
And the change occurred largely because of singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain’s songwriting, who captivated the world with Nevermind‘s first single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” From there, hits like “Come As You Are” and “Lithium” also connected with millions of fans, and a complete listen revealed the entire album to be a tour de force from front to back.
Interestingly, quite a few of the tunes on Nevermind — particularly “In Bloom,” “Lithium,” “Polly,” and “Breed” — were worked out with drummer, Chad Channing, who played on Nirvana’s 1989 debut album, Bleach. When Channing’s replacement, Dave Grohl joined the band in 1990, Nirvana (who also included bassist Krist Novoselic) opted to have Grohl re-record most of those drum parts. “Overall, all the parts were the same,” recalled Channing. “In fact, when I heard that, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was flattered that they kept my stuff, the things that I had done. Kind of the greatest compliment I’d ever received. For instance, ‘In Bloom’ — I had the single kick drum thing going on for the main verses, and then Dave added an extra one. But the majority of that stuff is all pretty much the same.”
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