Nirvana ‎– Incesticide

I remember seeing an interview with Kurt where he said he thought of Nirvana as a punk band, or that he wanted them to be more like one. This surprised me because back then I was younger and didn't really think about the labels that the industry slaps on things to promote them, and I "knew" that Nirvana was 'grunge' or 'alternative', which were the buzz words of the day. I knew this because I saw them call it that on MTV. So I hear him say it is punk or that they follow punk ethics, and I was like 'whaaaaa?'. I never thought of them as having anything to do with 'punk'. Yet, if you look at their music, it really did have a more stripped down sound to it, as the song structures were straight-forward and the music itself was pretty simple too. Bleach mostly relied on Kurts anguished and powerful vocal delivery (just check out 'Negative Creep'), paranoid and generally dark lyrics, dirty guitar tones, and over-all grungy sound. These things painted a kind of powerful emotional (although possibly confused and very flawed) picture. To me that album could be called 'punk' as per the ideas usually associated with older punk (pre-90s) music. Then came Nevermind.

Someone at Geffen saw potential in Kurt, and with the raw emotion oozing out of those vocals (Bleach), who wouldn't? So they give his band a deal. Set him up with a producer, and proceed to tease a more 'mainstream' friendly album out of the band. All of that post-production probably has something to do with it too. I find it pretty funny that Grohl is known for his heavy drums, but they actually overdubbed drum samples over his drums on Nevermind!? Sounds sacrilegious doesn't it? Read some interviews one the subject and you will start to see that a lot of the sound of Nevermind came from post-production. When I first heard Kurt say he didn't like the album I thought 'yeah, right', thinking he just said that to look like a typical intellectual 'artist', shunning his own fame and wealth yet in all honesty loving every second of it. Now I can see it though. It DOES sound like a bubblegum pop record compared to Bleach.

Then comes Incesticide. A loose collection of the more rare tracks from earlier in their career. The Bleach era, mostly. Is it a coincidence that they too sound more in alignment with the 'punk ethic'? They come off as quickly executed, wham-bam, yet energetic tracks. If you check out any of complete pre-Nevermind recording sessions that have leaked out (or tracks on the box set), they too exhibit this attitude. Sure, Nevermind is still composed of straight-forward songs with simple music, but the sound and overall attitude is so *polished* and radio-friendly. This was more because of Geffen Records' demands and less to do with the band members themselves.

Basically, I feel that the irony is that while Incesticide is a little known disc from the world famous band, it may be the most representative of them. It is at least more representative of them than Nevermind, their more famous release. Check out any of their live performances and see. I will say that In Utero did go in a new direction from this to something further removed from 'punk', but I think that album is great too and still more honest of a representation of where the band was at when it came out, than Nevermind was when it came out.

Incesticide is full of simple, grungy, straight-forward, slightly 'punky' songs, and is a fun listen. Kurts vocals usually give their songs an edge over any similarly crafted ones from other lesser bands.

This is a FAKE release.

Nirvana's Incesticide tends to be glossed over when people talk about Nirvana, because it doesn't contain the classics "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Heart-Shaped Box," or "Rape Me." However, Incesticide is worth getting if you have already have Nevermind of In Utero. At the first listen, you'll notice that the production values are different. The songs are in a more raw form, and sometimes, the balance is off, making some songs really bass-heavy while some of them lack the bottom end. This gives Incesticide much variety. In addition to the depressed grunge normally associated with the band, there are also some optimistic-sounding punk songs.

Some notable songs include the following:
"Sliver" is a grunge song with some punk influences. The lyrics don't make much sense to me, but they sound kind of humorous.
"Molly's Lips" and "Son Of A Gun" are the punk gems that really stand out on this album. First of all, they are clearly much more punk than grunge, and they're pretty optimistic, which is a big deviation from the depressing grunge on the rest of the album. These two tracks are definitely worth listening to.

This album is the punky brother to Nevermind and In Utero. Personally, I think the other two are better made and they sound better, but the three songs I cited above are especially good. This isn't a fantastic album, but it is an enjoyable one.