By shelz.
There are albums that have left an indelible mark on the industry. Then there are albums that changed the trajectory of the art; LP’s whose influence could be felt for years after their release. There is What’s Going On with its dramatic layering of sounds that were only eclipsed by Marvin’s bleeding social conscious and Three Feet High and Rising’s quirky, almost experimental use of samples in its construction. Both It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Catch a Fire brought to light the crises of their respective nations and London Calling is probably the only album in history to truly put an entire genre on its back. Then there is Nevermind.
It’s hard to describe the disappointment of seeing Grace Slick, the quintessential counter culture maven, dressed like a soccer mom claiming she built a city on rock and roll over a pop track synthesized to within an inch of its life. Or Heart, the band responsible for the brilliant Little Queen dropping the edge and crooning about their dreams over snoozy moog production. But that’s how rock was rolling back in the 80’s. I remember seeing Lita Ford sitting on a blanket in front of her beach house claiming self imposed hiatus until the shit storm blew over. Not that Lita Ford was dope or anything mind you, but folks’ musical misery was finding a lot of company.
The idols aged during the decadent decade of disco and once Studio 54 shut down, glam rock rose from the wreckage strangling the airwaves with music that was mediocre at best. Folks who had turned their style disco pandered to this as well and it was a long ride with a pretty wack soundtrack.
It all came to a head 20 years ago in 1991, an explosive and quite ground breaking year for music. Seattle sent its favorite sons out to fight the good fight. And even though Nevermind was the second installment of the big Seattle trilogy that year nestled in between Pearl Jam’s Ten and Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, it stands in history as the album that killed all that glam nonsense and brought rock music back to its proper path.
The retrospectives have been written and everyone connected has been asked to recount that fateful year. Since this piece is all about influence Planet Ill figured we’d roll out some of the best covers of Nevermind’s great track list. This album reached into areas of style, no one ever thought it would and its reverb can still be felt to this day. So sit back and enjoy our look at Nevermind in covers.
Willie Nelson – Smells Like Teen Spirit
[pro-player width=’450′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9YQYBfE8E4&feature=related[/pro-player]
Polyphonic Spree – Lithium
[pro-player width=’450′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vzUh_55x2M[/pro-player]
Hooverphonic – In Bloom
[pro-player width=’450′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE6RHJLPBkU&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLC02917C4C560A3F7[/pro-player]
Pink Freud – Come As You Are
[pro-player width=’425′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfJ-NU0j78A&feature=player_embedded[/pro-player]
Animal Collective – Polly
[pro-player width=’450′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjH3ib0hS0[/pro-player]
OTEP – Breed
[pro-player width=’450′ height=’323′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlaKJoFomXk&feature=fvst[/pro-player]
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