Nirvana
Nevermind

Nevermind is NOT the best Nirvana album. It's NOT even a great album, if you look closely.

Sure, it's an important album, one that marked a turning point in the music world; but if you're interested in its historical importance, well, read another review.

Here we talk about the songs.

What opens the album? "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the super-ultra-mega-hit of the entire nineties. The song that (alas) has become the Nirvana anthem. Now, this pop ditty with Kurt Cobain singing with a cool/pissed-off voice (try comparing it to "Negative Creep" from "Bleach" or "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" from "In Utero": it's a cool voice!) isn't all that great. It must be said, in defense of Nirvana, that the HORRIBLE production of this album doesn't help any song express its full destructive potential (with a few fortunate exceptions). Indeed, in some live performances, "Smells Like etc.", while still remaining banal, gains a certain hard rock power that the album absolutely lacks.
"In Bloom". It seems more pop than the former, but it actually surpasses it widely both in melody and composition (the chorus is truly exciting and the """"solo"""" is not bad at all). Nice little song.
Then comes "Come As You Are", another famous song. Too famous. Yes, the voice is rougher, but before the little solo, it doesn't really say much. It suffers greatly from the polished production.
"Breed", number 4, is fun, even though it's a song that probably made much more sense live. "Lithium", on the other hand, is certainly pleasant to listen to, but, frankly, it presents absolutely no interesting or innovative elements.
Then we have "Polly". Boring, honestly, and also absolutely devoid of anything imaginative or original, perhaps except for the fact that a grunge band wrote an acoustic piece. But for that, there's "Something In The Way".
Following "Polly" is "Territorial Pissings": the best combination in history between a hardcore punk song and a pop one: totally raw (except for Kurt's voice, thanks to the production, good thing there's Chris Novoselic at the beginning being silly) but very singable. The following "Drain You" is a song that if it had ended up on "In Utero", with Steve Albini behind the mixer, it could have become a terrifying grunge masterpiece. Here on Nevermind, however, it presents itself as yet another little song, but with a "strange" piece inside.
"Lounge Act" is not ultimately one of the most successful pieces, in terms of melody, especially vocally (finally KC's TRUE VOICE!). "Stay Away" seems like an apparently violent track, but it actually has nothing sharp about it. Compare the scream "Staaay awaaay!!" with "Get awaaaayyy!" from "Scentless Apprentice" of "In Utero". There's no contest.
"On A Plain": rather than quasi-aggressive/desperate songs for teenagers, this fun and catchy track is much better, in which Nirvana shows they can do great pop without sacrificing any of their style.
We're almost at the end, now there's "Something In The Way", that is: "See what a beautiful song I can make with an acoustic guitar and two chords". Since the album's production can't pollute it in any way (the cello underneath fits just right), in the end, this track turns out to be paradoxically the most PUNK of Nevermind.
Nine minutes later, the MASTERPIECE of Nevermind: "Endless Nameless". What sounds! What screams! Damn, it sounds like what the Velvet Underground would have played in the nineties! A beautiful song that breaks any mold: it's not even psychedelic, rather psychodestructive. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the anthem? This song truly conveys pure sensations.

Let's wrap it up. Nirvana, along with King Crimson, Queen, and The Beatles, are my favorite band. This album, not particularly beautiful, has then allowed the world to know songs like "Hairspray Queen" or "Aero Zeppelin", and has allowed Nirvana to make that hypermega-awesome "In Utero". So, if it's not very beautiful, at least it's useful.

P.S. I didn't write anything about the lyrics because I don't give a damn. And Kurt said this; and Kurt said that. I'm interested in how it sounded. And it sounded pretty damn good, damn it!