Finally getting around to putting something Nirvana related in my journal, because as far as I can tell, it's lacking in that department. Being from Seattle, I figured a "worth the hype?" of Nirvana would be more than appropriate. However, it's not all that easy, since I hold the opinion that only one out of their three studio releases are even worth a listen more than once. Perhaps that changes my perspective on the band, but I don't really see any reason to listen to any of the other releases after hearing Bleach for the first time. Fantastic album, definitely the grungy garage rock feel that I really would have come to expect from a band like this. It's unfortunate that Nevermind gets held up to such high standard and Bleach just gets left in the dirt, since for me personally, Bleach does a much better job at portraying what the band was going for instead of sounding overly polished, cough cough In Utero. But enough about that, i'm ready for the flame war on that.
Anyway, as a band, Nirvana were incredible successful, and they still lead one of the popular arguments of if they were really the guys behind the structure of grunge, and they are also behind the popular argument of if Kurt Cobain's death was a suicide, or a murder, but who can know for sure. Perhaps somebody does, but I don't. They're a fantastic introduction to grunge if you're looking to get into one of Seattle's most successfully crafted genres, along with many other bands of course. As far as it goes for the hype they receive, it's a tough one, since most of the hype they receive comes along with people holding Nevermind and In Utero in such high regard and leaving Bleach behind. I was once caught in that hype and thought Nevermind would be the best album I ever heard, but then once I heard Bleach, that opinion changed quickly. But unfortunately the verdict comes to this...
I find them worthy of a listen if you're planning to start with Bleach, and then lead into their other albums to see the changes that were made production wise, but in terms of whether or not the hype for Nevermind and In Utero are worth it? Don't even bother. I mean, yeah, they're great albums, but like i've said before, it's a shame that the band is hyped up so much due to those album instead of being hyped up over the one album that really introduces the sound of grunge. Anyway, that's that.