Nirvana

The phenomenon of this record in the early '90s was a definite "before and after" experience. Whether you felt that this album was the apex of alternative music or the beginning of the end, it's hard to deny the strength of these songs. Exceptional pop music, delivered by sludge-dishing punks with just enough polish on them to reinvent radio.

Despite the hand-wringing the fanzines do each time an indie-rock hero signs a major-label
deal, righteous postpunk stars from Hüsker Dü to Soundgarden have joined the corporate
world without debasing their music. More often than not, ambitious left-of-the-dial bands
gallantly cling to their principles as they plunge into the depths of commercial failure.
Integrity is a heavy burden for those trying to scale the charts. Led by singer-gui... More >

After years of hair-flailing sludge that achieved occasional songform on singles no normal person ever heard, Seattle finally produces some proper postpunk, aptly described by resident genius Kurt Cobain: "Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, bad solo." This is hard rock as the term was understood before metal moved in--the kind of loud, slovenly, tuneful music you think no one will ever work a change on again until the next time it happens, whereupon you wonder why there isn't loads more. It seems so simple. (Grade - A)