90’s Nostalgia - my first record purchase (album)

My first album purchase - Nirvana’s 1991 classic Nevermind - was a significant improvement on Will 2k (my first single, see previous post). It was early 2001 by the time I bought this record - nearly a full decade after its original release date - and not long before my 15th birthday. By this time, most of my friends at school had started listening to a blend of early 90’s grunge and late 90’s nu-metal, and my initial preference for the slightly softer sound of grunge led me to purchase Nevermind.

‘Mosher music’ was the unflattering label given to grunge and nu-metal by the unconverted, which had more than a kernel of truth to it. The very expectation that the kind of people who listened to the likes of Nirvana would automatically jump around uncontrollably on hearing their music, made it attractive to any teenagers wanting to appear slightly edgy and cool. Put another way, besides the accumulated wisdom that Nevermind is a brilliantly dark pop record (a view which I wholeheartedly agree with), the lure of Nirvana’s music was found in what it said about you.

Although Kurt Cobain would almost undoubtedly turn in his grave at my typing those last few words, the music we like often has as much to do with our own sense of identity as it does the quality of the music itself. In the intervening years between Nevermind’s initial release and its gracing my ears (and those of my peers), Nirvana had come to be seen as sufficiently alternative so as not to be considered painfully mainstream, yet not so alternative as to be thought of as downright offensive.

By becoming a fan of grunge and later nu-metal, I was effectively ensuring that my musical tastes wouldn't make me a complete social outcast at school, whilst also guarding against the possibility of being lumped in with what was considered the ‘townie’ or ‘trendy’ demographic of the majority. Although my decision to purchase Nevermind and become a Nirvana fan was hardly as calculated as the preceding analysis implies, with hindsight, it seems clearer that it was partly a function of how I wished to be seen by my contemporaries, and which social groupings I wanted to be part of at school.



If you've ever wondered what happened to the baby on the album sleeve of Nevermind, click here.