Nearly a decade after his suicide changed the face of rock music in America, Nirvana fans still search desperately for clues as to why Kurt Cobain wanted to end his life.
Released just in time for Christmas, two new Nirvana memorabilia items – a self-titled retrospective album and a collection of Cobain’s journal entries – have been selling successfully, presumably to slightly-more-adjusted-than-they-used-to-be twenty-somethings who want to pore over every word their hero wrote, hoping to find the reason, once and for all.
The album’s debut at No. 3 on the Billboard charts disappointed record label executives and surprised Nirvana fans. “Nirvana” only contains one new song, “You Know You’re Right,” which was recorded during Cobain’s last session with his band members; the remainder of the tracks can be found on the three albums Nirvana recorded, which could realistically be considered Nirvana’s greatest hits volumes I, II and III.
After much legal wrangling between surviving members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and Cobain’s late wife Courtney Love, Geffen Records finally got permission to release the missing Nirvana track, eight years too late.
But was all the hassle worth it? Die-hard fans have already been listening to bootlegged versions of the song for some time.
People usually purchase greatest-hits albums if they like a few songs from a band, but aren’t sure which album to buy first. This way, they’re assured of not wasting their money on an album full of songs they don’t like. With a band as pervasive as Nirvana, though, it’s hard to believe there are many people out there who think they might like Nirvana, but aren’t sure.
A major selling point of most retrospectives is the inclusion of previously unreleased songs. The fact this album has only one original song is unimpressive. Geffen has a veritable vault of unreleased Nirvana songs that could have been included on the album.
Courtney Love is being stingy, so it’s understandable that the label is taking what it can get, but a band like Nirvana should get red-carpet treatment – a two-disc set with several new songs, at the least.
The album, not surprisingly, is flawless. “You Know You’re Right” is growling and powerful but typical Nirvana fare. The song manages to stand above most of the new rock it’s sandwiched between on the radio.
Its lyrics – “I will move away from here/you won’t be afraid of fear/No thought was put into this/I knew things would come to this/Things have never been so swell/And I have never felt so well/Pain…” – aptly provide some insight into Cobain’s mindset during his final weeks.
The rest of the songs are a nice blend of the best of the best, though the selections are a little light from “Incesticide.” The liner notes are also worth taking a look at; they touchingly explain how the album came to be.
The secret to the album’s appeal is that each song is still bursting with Nirvana’s energy and innovation. Other iconic ’90s bands are still trying to recapture the magic of that long-lost decade of music – see the Foo Fighters’ dismal latest release or Pearl Jam’s mediocre “Binaural” – and end up producing washed-out facsimiles of their former successful songs.
Nirvana’s sound didn’t get much of a chance to substantially evolve, much less get stale, before Cobain’s death. Every song on the album sounds just as fresh and edgy as it did the day it was released.
