Nirvana‘s ‘Nevermind’ has now spent 700 weeks on the Billboard 200 Chart.
The seminal 1991 album is only the ninth to achieve the feat, and only the fourth studio LP if greatest hits compilations aren’t counted. It means the album has spent 13.4 years non-consecutively on the chart, where it currently sits at Number 120.
Other albums to reach similar lengths are Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, which has spent 990 weeks on the chart, Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ at 767 weeks, and Bruno Mars’ ‘Doo-Wops & Hooligans’ (706 weeks), per Consequence.
Elsewhere, greatest-hits collections tend to stick around, with one from Bob Marley and the Wailers staying for 865 weeks, Journey for 835 weeks, Creedence Clearwater Revival for 724 weeks, Eminem at 714 weeks, and Guns N’ Roses for 704 weeks.
‘Nevermind’ was released in September 1991, and reached the Billboard 200 top spot in January the following year, knocking off Michael Jackson’s ‘Dangerous’. It has sold more than 30 million copies to date.
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana CREDIT: Getty/Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
in 2021, at the record’s 30th anniversary, Dave Grohl spoke to NME about the writing process of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, the album’s – and Nirvana’s – most recognisable hit.
“I liked the riff that Kurt came up with because it’s percussive. Those muted, stabbing strums inbetween the chords really leant to the pattern of the drum riff,” he told us. “To be honest, at that point, we were listening to a lot of Pixies – it was ‘Bossanova’ [era]. And we were just having fun, really. We were just coming up with new song after new song every day. Krist Novoselic, I believe, has boom box recordings of all of these – riff ideas that were never used, songs that were shaped into songs for ‘Nevermind’ (some of them).
“Of course, no-one had any psychic foresight to imagine that the song would go on to do what it did,” he continued. “We just fuckin’ rocked it in a little rehearsal space that was like a barn. I didn’t know what the lyrics were; Kurt’s melody pattern changed every other time we played it and it wasn’t really until we got into the studio to record it that I realised the power of the song. And not just lyrically or musically, but the groove of the song – it was really powerful. I think everyone was more focused on songs like ‘In Bloom’ or ‘Lithium’ or ‘Breed’; nobody really paid too much attention to ‘Teen Spirit’ while we were recording it. We just thought it was another cool song for the record.”
Steve Lamacq reviewed ‘Nevermind’ for NME upon its release in 1991, giving it a score of 9 out of 10. “‘Nevermind’ is a record for people who’d like to like Metallica, but can’t stomach their lack of melody; while on the other hand it takes some of the Pixies‘ nous with tunes, and gives the idea new muscle. A shock to the system,” he wrote. “Tracks like the excellent ‘In Bloom’ and best of the lot, ‘Come As You Are’, show a dexterity that combines both a tension and a laid-back vibe that work off each other to produce some cool, constructed twists and turns.”
In other news, former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic’s new band The Bona Fide Band recently played Nirvana’s debut single ‘Love Buzz’ in Cobain’s hometown of Aberdeen, Washington.
Last year, Novoselic told NME about the chances of a reunion from the surviving Nirvana members in the future.
“I’d like to,” he said. “There was a time after Kurt died when I said to myself, ‘I’m never going to play these songs again’. That was part of the grief I went through. We don’t want to overdo it, we try to make it special and be grateful.
“When the opportunity comes, we do it if it feels right. In the meantime, we just remember Kurt and do our thing.”
Tony Hawk recently reflected on hearing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ for the first time in 1991. “Everyone stopped what they were doing and everyone looked around,” he added. “And you just knew. You knew this was it,” he said.
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