Editing Nevermind (section)

==Music==
{{Listen
| filename     = 
| title        = "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
| description  = "[[Smells Like Teen Spirit]]", the album opener, illustrates the change in dynamics from verse to pre-chorus and chorus. The band maintains the [[chord progression]] throughout, relying on the changes in dynamics and the reintroduction of the main guitar riff at the end to indicate the shifts between sections.
| filename2    = 
| title2       = "Come as You Are"
| description2 = "[[Come as You Are (Nirvana song)|Come as You Are]]", the second single from ''Nevermind''. Guitarist Kurt Cobain uses a [[Chorus effect|chorus pedal]] when playing his guitar, creating a "watery" effect.
}}At the time of writing ''Nevermind'', Cobain was listening to bands such as [[Melvins]], [[R.E.M.]], [[the Smithereens]], and [[Pixies (band)|Pixies]], and was writing songs that were more melodic. A key development was the single "Sliver", released on Sub Pop in 1990 before Grohl joined, which Cobain said "was like a statement in a way. I had to write a pop song and release it on a single to prepare people for the next record. I wanted to write more songs like that."<ref>Azerrad, 1993. p. 145</ref> Grohl said that the band at that point likened their music to children's music, in that they tried to make their songs as simple as possible.<ref name="classicalbums" />

Cobain fashioned chord sequences using primarily [[power chord]]s and wrote songs that combined pop hooks with dissonant guitar riffs. His aim for ''Nevermind''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s material was to sound like "[[the Knack]] and the [[Bay City Rollers]] getting molested by [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]] and [[Black Sabbath]]".<ref>Lewis, Luke. "Nirvana&nbsp;– Nevermind". ''Q: Nirvana and the Story of Grunge''. December 2005.</ref> Many songs feature shifts in dynamics, whereby the band changes from quiet verses to loud choruses. Grohl said this approach originated during a four-month period prior to the recording of the album, when the band would experiment with extreme dynamics during regular jam sessions.<ref>di Perna, Alan. "Absolutely Foobulous!" ''Guitar World''. August 1997.</ref>

''[[Guitar World]]'' wrote, "Kurt Cobain's guitar sound on Nirvana's ''Nevermind'' set the tone for Nineties rock music." Cobain played a 1960s [[Fender Mustang]], a [[Fender Jaguar]] with DiMarzio pickups, and a few [[Fender Stratocaster]]s with [[humbucker]] bridge pickups. He used distortion and [[Chorus effect|chorus]] pedals as his main effects, the latter used to generate a "watery" sound on "Come as You Are" and the pre-choruses of "Smells Like Teen Spirit".<ref>"Cobainspotting". ''Guitar World''. October 2001.</ref> Novoselic tuned down his bass guitar one and a half steps to D flat "to get this fat-ass sound".<ref name=requiem />

After the release of ''Nevermind'', members of Nirvana expressed dissatisfaction with the production for its perceived commercial sound. Cobain said, "I'm embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a [[Mötley Crüe]] record than it is a punk rock record."<ref name="Azerrad 179 180" /> In 2011, Vig said that Nirvana had "loved" ''Nevermind'' when they finished it. He said Cobain had criticized it in the press "because you can't really go, 'Hey, I love our record and I'm glad it sold 10 million copies.' That's just not cool to do. And I think he felt like he wanted to do something more primal."<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=September 20, 2011 |title=Nirvana Producer Butch Vig Remembers 'Nevermind' |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/nirvana-producer-butch-vig-remembers-nevermind-467504/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref>

===Lyrics===
The album is dark, humorous, and disturbing.<ref name="Congress">{{Cite journal |last=Sheppherd |first=Josh |date=2004 |title="Nevermind"—Nirvana (1991) |url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/Nevermind.pdf |journal=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> It includes anti-establishment views,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jovetic |first=Mirjana |date=October 27, 2000 |title=Rewind to 1991 |url=https://www.scmp.com/article/329870/rewind-1991 |access-date=April 3, 2022 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref> and explores sexism,<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=November 20, 2018 |title=Nirvana's "Nevermind" Made, and Unmade, Alternative Culture |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/touchstones/an-appreciation-of-nirvanas-1991-album-nevermind |access-date=April 3, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> frustration, loneliness, sickness and troubled love.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nirvana: The stories behind every song on Nevermind |url=https://www.kerrang.com/nirvana-the-stories-behind-every-song-on-nevermind/ |access-date=April 3, 2022 |website=Kerrang! |date=September 23, 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Cobain said that the lyrics were taken from two years of poetry he had accumulated, and then [[Cut-up technique|cut up, choosing lines he preferred]],<ref>Steinke, Darcey (October 1993). [https://www.spin.com/2013/09/nirvana-cover-story-1993-smashing-their-heads-on-the-punk-rock "Smashing Their Heads on the Punk Rock"]. ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]''. Retrieved March 10, 2023.</ref> noting that they're "not usually thematic at all".<ref name="Cross1">{{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Charles |title=Classic Rock Albums: Nirvana - Nevermind |last2=Berkenstadt |first2=Jim |date=February 22, 2012 |publisher=[[Schirmer Trade Books]] |isbn=9780857127686 |publication-date=January 1, 1998 |author-link1=Charles R. Cross |author-link2=Jim Berkenstadt}}</ref> On the other hand, Grohl has said that Cobain told him, "Music comes first and lyrics come second," and Grohl believes that above all Cobain focused on the melodies of his songs.<ref name=classicalbums /> Cobain was still working on the album's lyrics well into the recording of ''Nevermind''. Additionally, Cobain's phrasing on the album is often difficult to understand. Vig asserted that clarity of Cobain's singing was not paramount, saying that "Even though you couldn't quite tell what he was singing about, you knew it was intense as hell."<ref name=classicalbums /> Cobain later complained when rock journalists attempted to decipher his singing and extract meaning from his lyrics, writing: "Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?"<ref name="Cross 182">Cross 2001, p. 182</ref>

[[Charles R. Cross]] asserted in his 2001 biography of Cobain, ''[[Heavier Than Heaven]]'', that many of the songs written for ''Nevermind'' were about Cobain's dysfunctional relationship with [[Tobi Vail]]. After their relationship ended, Cobain began writing and painting violent scenes, many of which revealed a hatred for himself and others. Songs written during this period were less violent, but still reflected anger absent from Cobain's earlier songs. Cross wrote, "In the four months following their break-up, Kurt would write a half dozen of his most memorable songs, all of them about Tobi Vail." "Drain You" begins with the line, "One baby to another said 'I'm lucky to have met you,'" quoting what Vail had once told Cobain, and the line "It is now my duty to completely drain you" refers to the power Vail had over Cobain in their relationship. According to Novoselic, "'Lounge Act' is about Tobi," and the song contains the line "I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield," referring to Cobain having the [[K Records]] logo tattooed on his arm to impress Vail. Though "Lithium" had been written before Cobain knew Vail, the lyrics of the song were changed to reference her.<ref>Cross 2001, p. 168–69</ref> Cobain also said in an interview with ''[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]'' that "some of my very personal experiences, like breaking up with girlfriends and having bad relationships, feeling that death void that the person in the song is feeling—very lonely, sick".<ref>Morris, Chris. "The Year's Hottest Band Can't Stand Still." ''Musician'', January 1992.</ref>