Negative creep (Nirvana) (LP 3357 - 3359)

Nirvana  Bleach (CD, Geffen/Sub pop Records, 1989) ****  

Nirvana  Nevermind (CD, Geffen/Sub pop Records, 1991) ***** 

Nirvana  Incesticide (CD, Geffen/Sub pop Records, 1992) ****

Genre: Grunge, Alt-rock

Places I remember: Music shop in Nelson, a Record Club purchase, Real Groovy Records (in that order)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Drain You (Nevermind)

Gear costume: Blew (Bleach), Turnaround (Incesticide)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5

Active compensatory factors: My first taste of Nirvana was a track from Bleach on a compilation that my neighbour in Wakefield shared with me. At that point (1989-1990) Nirvana were just another of the grunge bands on the compilation, but I instantly liked what I heard and later bought a copy of Bleach (in 1992 after being totally won over by Nevermind).

Nevermind happened in 1991 and the music world changed tack. Grunge had exploded as a genre into the mainstream consciousness - with Nirvana leading the charge - but I had also bought Pearl Jam's first two albums on cassette (some of Vs was used on NZTV as a soundtrack for the FIFA Euro '92 competition) and the Singles soundtrack from 1992 was an important sampler for me. A great introduction to Mother Love Bone et al.

Anyway, back to Bleach. Chad Channing was the drummer on this one and he does a reasonable job to my ears. There are some great songs on the album but it is also a bit inconsistent - a typical first album in many ways as the band limber up. Kurt Cobain's riffing and singing are right in your face. Although his vocals are kind of buried in Negative Creep, the power is still there. Just needed a better producer (and Dave Grohl).

And then along came Butch Vig and Dave and Nirvana became like no other. The sound is crisper but still rocks hard (i.e. Territorial Pissings) thanks to Dave's drums and Novoselic's bass (now distinguishable from the murk). The album became a huge seller and Kurt's (short) life would never be the same again.

You can read more about their finest hour and their singles below, if you have a mind.

The follow-up to Nevermind was an odds and sods collection called Incesticide that included their 1990 non-album single Sliver, B-sides, demos, outtakes, cover versions, and radio broadcast recordings. Yes, it's uneven, obviously, but it's a fair reflection of the schizoid nature of the band and I really like it!

Where do they all belong? Other Nirvana stuff: I've tried a few times with In Utero - I had a cassette of it for many years but it's gone and I'm not tempted to get the CD version. The singles set does it for me. Nor am I that much of a fan of the Unplugged set. I have it on DVD but I'm not drawn to play it. I do have a Nirvana compilation - the one with the black cover just called Nirvana, and that's a good summary of their career.