365 project, "one baby to another says im lucky to have met you/i dont care what you think as long as its about me."

182.

Artist: Nirvana
Album: Nevermind

I hold some opinions on music that are not the social norms, and especially vary from my peers. I talked before about how I just didn’t “get” Radiohead, while most others in the same scene drool over Thom Yorke like he is the best thing to happen to Earth since sliced bread. Nirvana is another band that I just don’t really have much desire to listen to.

Back in like1994, I asked for a slew of cassettes for Christmas, and received a few of them from my Aunt Chris. Nevermind was one that I unwrapped that holiday season, and I remember feeling so bad-ass because I had a cassette that had a naked baby on it. What can I say? I was a kid. Anyway, I used to listen to this album inside and out, and I was really into a lot of the other “grunge” acts of the time, mostly because that is what my friends/the people I thought were cool were listening to, but I never really felt a connection with Nevermind the way I had with albums previous to or since this time. I just shrugged that off and told myself that I liked it. I was a “grunge” kind of kid and these were the bands that I was supposed to be listening to, otherwise I wouldn’t fit in.

Since that time, I have come to the conclusion that I do not really like Nirvana, but I think what it boils down to is that I just do not like the hype. I know that Nirvana changed the face of music when this album was released. Boy bands and bubblegum pop were the rulers of the airwaves and it was starting to look like nothing was going to be able to dethrone them, until out of nowhere (or Seattle) comes this shaggy looking dude with long hair and a flannel shirt, and a new era of music was born. Labels were tripping over themselves to sign similar artists, and Seattle was the place to be. There was an army of kids in plaid flannel shirts, mostly stolen from their father’s work gear (I know that is where mine came from) and Doc Martens, hanging out in the malls and movie theaters, and feeling like they finally had a voice. It was a movement. Absolutely.

But I got bored of it after a while. In the 20 years since that album came out, it has really started to drain me to turn on the radio and still hear these songs every single time. I don’t know how often I’ve flipped through the six presets on my car stereo and heard 1 song that I didn’t know, three stations worth of commercials, and 2 stations playing Nirvana. It got old, and instead of getting mad at the radio stations who are STILL forcing this band down my throat, I got mad at the band. I mean, I never really liked them anyway, right? So what does it matter, and its not like I’m going to hurt Kurt Cobain’s feelings…he took care of that on his own.

But im sitting here tonight listening to this album, and am realizing there are some songs here that I legitimately like. I don’t feel like I am listening to fit in with any group, because at 31 years of age, I have my friends and I don’t know that what music I listen to matters as much to them now as it did in high school. I am listening and singing along and there is a chance that I am alternating between typing this entry and playing the drums on the desk.

Now I may have to rethink the way I feel about this band. LB will be happy.