Nirvana Nevermind (DGC) With the force of a nuclear explosion Nevermind shattered the airwaves, tearing the pretentious soft-pop music scene to shreds and leaving nothing in its path untouched. It screamed the frustration of a generation battered by yuppie values and spat disgust at the trendy, beautiful set. Enough materialism. Enough sell-outs. Enough lies. Not since UK punk had one album changed so many lives or so thoroughly given voice to the anger of youth. It was like nothing before. Its manic and frenzied energy, power and pain blew minds. From psychotic fury to melodic angst, singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain was the detonator to bassist Chris Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl's rythmic gelignite. Smells Like Teen Spirit became an anthem. Nihilistic, and anti-establishment, it was strong enough to admit its own self loathing. Come As You Are gave out the war cry again and Lithium enforced it with: 'I'm so happy, cause today I found my friends, they're in my head/I'm so ugly, but that's OK, cause so are you...' We could do and be what we were. But the band that so vehemently opposed mass commercialism became victims to it. Unwittingly, the maelstrom that was Nirvana had brought 'alternative' music to the mainstream. Long hair, black t-shirts and jeans were cool again. 'Grunge' was the flavour of the month. The anti-establishment warriors got absorbed by the very thing they were at at war with. But Cobain chose not to stick around long enough for the 'best of' album.
