Yep, it's time to finally get the overall consensus of Nirvana here at Metalreviews. Are (were) they a "hit" or a "miss"?
Although I don't at all hate Nirvana or even really dislike them, I ultimately voted "Miss." Yeah, they may have killed glam rock, MC Hammer, New Kids On The Block, etc. But what was the replacement? Bush, Hootie and The Blowfish, Blink-182, etc. Pretty much every shitty alternative/pop-punk band since about 1994 has owed at least a little to Nirvana for their sound. And even the better/good alternative bands like Weezer, Offspring, and even Green Day borrow heavily from Nirvana.
Plus, their music is generally too vague for me to really use as mental background music. I mean Come As You Are's lyrics sound like they're about friendship/acceptance, and yet its main riff somehow reminds me of walking through an Office Supply Store (like Office Depot). Smells Like Teen Spirit reminds me too much of an episode of Saved By The Bell (actually, come to think of it, most of Nevermind's music reminds me of that - In Bloom reminds me of the SBTB cast at the beach, for Christ's sake!). Radio Friendly Unit Shifter has Kurt Cobain sounding like one of the "dumb jocks" he often rails on. And so on.
Granted, they have some good songs (Serve The Servants, Dumb, the aforementioned In Bloom, Very Ape, etc). But overall, Nirvana's a Miss (albeit a fairly high-grade "miss") for me.
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