Thursday, September 22, 2011

Nevermind by Nirvana is 20 Years Old

The voice of an entire pissed-off generation, Kurt Cobain, died at the young age of 27 - that's some sort of a mystical age, apparently, since quite a few famous, amazingly talented artists died at that age.

"Nevermind" by Nirvana represented the need of many young people of that time - to listen to a different kind of music, to disengage from the all-too-sweet 80s and to find their own voice. That voice was Nirvana, and specifically - Kurt Cobain.

Through the blurry, unclear, hoarse singing in "Nevermind", Cobain managed to communicate the feeling of a whole generation: we don't belong here, we are lonely and misunderstood, we feel pain but we also don't give much of fuck. It all churned down to one, unforgettable quote:

"Well, whatever, nevermind".

Growing up in the 90s really comes down to this - no one cares, so I won't care either. Nirvana was the voice of those who didn't belong, the outcasts, that didn't fit in and needed someone to express their pain.

The pain was so great, apparently, that Kurt Cobain couldn't really take it. So he took a shotgun to his head, and finished off what could have been a glorious, crazy and painful life.

"Nevermind" is now 20 years old. The album was listed at number 17 on Rolling Stone's list "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and for many good reasons.

Despite the internet, a plethora of social networks and many other ways to connect to each other, a lot of us still feel very much alone and out of place. "Nevermind" speaks of that pain, and continues to be relevant, expressive and amazingly touching.

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