One of the most fascinating parts about being a music fan is learning about what historic artists influenced those who came after them. It is even more fascinating to put yourself in the mind of the artist to realize exactly how they drew inspiration from their contemporaries and/or predecessors. With that in mind, Kurt Cobain once mentioned four albums as major influences for Nirvana‘s innovative and trend-setting album, Nevermind.
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Nirvana’s Nevermind is not a body of work that is completely unfamiliar to devout rock ‘n’ roll fans. In just one listen, one can likely pick up on the echoes of the past that are present in the music. Like all rock ‘n’ roll, and all art for that matter, Nirvana’s Nevermind is a reinterpretation of the forms that came before them. The album itself is not overly experimental. Rather, it is just a perfect culmination of some of rock ‘n’ roll’s finest albums, specifically four of them.
Jimmy Page to Sid Vicious: The Artists That Helped Birth Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’
When speaking with Rolling Stone in 1994, Kurt Cobain voiced his opinion on what ultimately makes a great album. Cobain divulged that a truly masterful album has great song after great song. Not just two or three great songs with a bunch of mindless filler in between.
As a matter of fact, Cobain hated that artists did this. As he told RS, “What I’ve realized is that you only need a couple of catchy songs on an album, and the rest can be Bad Company rip-offs, and it doesn’t matter. If I was smart, I would have saved most of the songs off Nevermind and spread them out over a 15-year period. But I can’t do that.” So, unable to pull back his best work, Cobain and Nirvana delivered Nevermind, and to us, it meets the criteria Cobain mentioned.
Before we reveal the four albums that influenced the creation of Nevermind, just try out what we mentioned earlier. Try to put yourself in the mind of Kurt Cobain and then try to deduce which albums from his youth made their way on this staple album. While it might seem difficult, the albums that influenced Nevermind, frankly, aren’t all that surprising.
“All the albums I ever liked were albums that delivered a great song, one after another: Aerosmith’s Rocks, the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks…Led Zeppelin II, Back in Black, by AC/DC,” Kurt Cobain told Rolling Stone.
Are you surprised by these influences, or do they make just the right amount of sense?
Photo by Jason Childs/Getty Images
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