I would be remiss to love rock music as much as I do, and neglect to include 1991’s Nevermind in this series. The album comes up on every nineties list of best albums of the decade. Nevermind is the grunge genre’s magnum opus. There were a host of good grunge bands in the early nineties but there was only one Nirvana. Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain was a Beatles fanatic, and his band travel in the same circle of rock lore as the Beatles in that they weren’t around long enough to put out any bad albums. Around long enough to establish greatness and then gone in an instant, like too many in the business, a suicide way before their time.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” is simply an all time great song, and it kicks off this record with overwhelming force. If I’m honest it’s between this and, “Wonderwall” for song of the decade, a yin-yang argument I would gladly have any time. I love playing this song, everybody with a distortion pedal loves playing this song on guitar, but it’s the drums that are the glue. It is worth watching any live version of this song where Dave Grohl is absolutely abusing the drum kit to perfection. Say whatever you want about Foo Fighters, Dave is at home on the drums for this album and it’s where he feasts with godlike ability.

I was one of those people with Nirvana who, “Knows not what it means” to skip any of the songs on this album, but particularly the first three. Teen spirit comes to its conclusion and then you are immediately greeted with some more massive power chords with, “In Bloom.” The dynamic of quiet verse with a loud distorted chorus was perfected by Nirvana early in the decade, and imitated by many. There isn’t a lot there lyrically, but it works and the trio sound great here.

Following those two tracks would be a nightmare unless you are Kurt Cobain, who had, “Come as You Are” up his sleeve. The great guitar line repeats throughout, and includes the immaculate alt-rock apathy line, “Take your time, hurry up, choice is yours don’t be late.” It can be debated whether the song is about heroin, but it doesn’t matter, it’s just a great song. So much so that it was added to the welcome sign in Kurt’s hometown, it reads, “Aberdeen, Washington Come As You Are.” It’s so sad to think about the music we didn’t get from him, but this is what I call a proper memorial.

Before he retired, my father was a guidance counselor, and thinking about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain always reminds me of how he first came to know their impact. The day after news circulated that Cobain had passed, a student came into his office beside themselves in grief. He was busy raising my brother and I, so forgive him for not being up on grunge back then, but their musical impact on people was clear. The reach of their music was far and wide, harnessing the melodic and the chaotic with equal brilliance.