SYN Media

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Welcome to Moshpit on SYN’s 10 Albums in 10 Days with Salomae.

When challenged to take on reviewing 10 of my favourite albums, I was excited then a bit nervous. I submit my writing for editing every day in my job but writing about music for some reason, makes me nervous. Maybe it’s because musical tastes are so personal, sharing it has a sense of vulnerability that I am really sharing a piece of myself.

There was no process to what I chose except for it being an album I loved. There is a diverse range from 1991 right up to 2020 and there’s grunge, rock, emo and punk. I hope, if you enjoy these albums yourself, you like seeing another perspective, if you haven’t heard them, you check them out and that some of you even learn a new fact about them regardless of if they’re an album you already love or not.

DAY ONE

NEVERMIND, NIRVANA, 1991

I feel as though I cannot kick off any sequence of album reviews without including Nevermind, it is such a part of who I am, my taste and a staple of my collection it would be rude not to delve back into this 90s classic that kick-started so much inspiration for the bands I went on to love later in life, as intimidating as it is to take on such an icon.

Of course, this album opens with Nirvana’s most famous song, Smells Like Teen Spirit, so the bar is set high from the get go. However, I want to give some love to the other songs that the more casual Nirvana fan may overlook in favour of this classic favourite.

First of all, I have to talk about Breed, namely Dave Grohl’s incredible drum roll that kicks the song off into Krist Novoselic’s crunchy bass line. Then Kurt Cobain begins his signature scream, which he was so dedicated to the cause on he actually blew his voice while recording the four vocal takes required for this track.

I love Breed’s dizzying effect, especially as it flows into the more stripped back follow-up tracks Lithium and Polly. Then the Nevermind rollercoaster goes on its way back up again into Territorial Pissings (which incidentally, reminds me of my daily walks with my doggo).

There is a reason Nevermind is one of the most highly acclaimed albums of the 90s, it is so appropriate to its generation yet so timeless people born after its release (e.g. me) love it just as much as their older siblings, parents, cool uncles etc. before them.

You often read that grunge died in the 90s, namely with Cobain in 1994. Maybe. It’s still there if you look for it, modern grunge acts are probably well aware of how scary it can be to cover a classic favourite song, so they know if they’re going to do it to an entire genre, they need to absolutely nail it!