NVM, NVMD, or nm Nevermind, not much
Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana,
released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's
first release on Geffen Records, which signaled its move away from Seattle-based
independent record label Sub Pop. Front man Kurt Cobain sought to make music
outside of the restrictive confines of the Seattle grunge scene, drawing
influence from groups such as the Pixies and its use of loud/quiet song
dynamics.
Nevermind was a surprise success by late 1991, largely due to the success of its
lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". By January 1992 it had replaced Michael
Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard charts. Nevermind was
responsible for bringing alternative rock to a large mainstream audience[
citation needed ], and would subsequently be regarded as one of the best rock
albums of all time[ citation needed ].
Background
Nirvana was a band from Aberdeen, Washington, formed by Kurt Cobain and Krist
Novoselic, that had signed to Seattle independent record label Sub Pop. The
group released its debut album Bleach in 1989, with Chad Channing on drums.
However, Channing left Nirvana in 1990, and the band was in need of a permanent
drummer. After seeing a show by hardcore punk band Scream, Novoselic and Cobain
were impressed by the group's drummer, Dave Grohl. Following Scream's unexpected
disbandment, Grohl contacted Novoselic, made his way to Seattle, and was soon
invited to join the band. Novoselic said in retrospect that when Grohl joined
the band, everything "fell into place".
Meanwhile Cobain was writing a number of new songs. Feeling disillusioned by the
heavy detuned rock popular in the Seattle grunge scene and which Sub Pop had
built its image upon, Cobain at the time was listening to bands like R.E.M., The
Smithereens, and the Pixies, and began writing more melodic songs as a result. A
key development was the single "Sliver", released on Sub Pop in 1990 (before
Grohl joined the band), 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." Grohl said that the band at
that point often made the analogy of likening their music to children's music,
in that the band tried to make its songs as simple as possible.
By the start of the 1990s Sub Pop was experiencing financial difficulties. With
rumors that Sub Pop would sign up as a subsidiary for a major label, the band
decided to "cut out the middleman" and start to look for a major label. A number
of labels courted the band, but Nirvana ultimately signed with Geffen Records
based upon the recommendation of its management, who also managed the band's
idols (and recent Geffen signings) Sonic Youth, and Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon.
Recording and production
In the spring of 1990, Nirvana began planning its second album for Sub Pop,
tentatively titled Sheep. For the album, Sub Pop head Bruce Pavitt suggested
Butch Vig as a potential producer. Nirvana particularly liked Vig's work with
Killdozer and called Vig up to tell him, "We want to sound as heavy as that
record." In April of 1990, the band travelled out to Vig's Smart Studios in
Madison, Wisconsin to begin work on the album. Most of the basic song
arrangements were completed by that time, but Cobain was still working on lyrics
and the band was unsure of which songs to record. Ultimately, eight songs were
recorded: "Immodium" (later retitled "Breed"), "Dive" (later released as the
b-side to "Sliver"), "In Bloom", "Pay to Play" (eventually renamed "Stay Away"
and given a new set of lyrics), "Sappy", "Lithium", "Here She Comes Now"
(released on Velvet Underground Tribute Album: Heaven and Hell Volume 1), and
"Polly". The band had planned to record more tracks, but Cobain blew his voice
out on "Lithium", forcing them to shut down recording. Vig was told that the
band would come back to record more songs, but the producer didn't hear anything
for a while. Instead, the band used the sessions as a demo tape to shop for a
new label. Within a few months, the tape was circulating amongst major labels,
creating a buzz around the group.
After signing to Geffen, a number of producers for the album were suggested,
including Scott Litt, David Briggs, and Don Dixon, but Nirvana held out for Vig.
Novoselic noted in 2001 that the band was already nervous about recording on a
major label, since the producers suggested wanted percentage points for the
album, and they optioned for Vig, whom they felt comfortable collaborating with.
Afforded a budget of $65,000, Nirvana recorded Nevermind at Sound City Studios
in Los Angeles, California in May and June of 1991. Nirvana was originally set
to record the album during March and April of 1991, but the date kept getting
pushed back in spite of the band's anxiousness to begin the sessions. To pay for
gas money to get to Los Angeles, Nirvana played a show where they played "Smells
Like Teen Spirit" for the first time. The band sent Vig some rehearsal tapes
prior to the sessions that featured the Smart Sessions songs along with some new
ones, notably "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Come as You Are".
When it arrived in California, Nirvana did a few days of pre-production where
the band and Vig tightened up some of the song arrangements. The only recording
carried over from the Smart Studios sessions was the song "Polly", which
included cymbal crashes performed by Chad Channing. Once recording commenced,
the band worked eight to ten hours a day. The band members tended to take two or
three tries at instrumental takes; if the takes weren't satisfactory at that
point, they would move on to something else. The group had rehearsed the songs
so much before recording started that often only a few takes were needed.
Novoselic and Grohl finished their bass and drum track in a matter of days, but
Cobain had to work longer on guitar overdubs, singing, and particularly lyrics
(which sometimes were finished mere minutes before recording). Cobain's phrasing
was so consistent on various takes that Vig would mix the takes together to
create overdubs. Vig often had to trick Cobain, who was averse to performing
multiple takes, into recording additional takes for overdubs. In particular, Vig
convinced Cobain to double-track his vocals on the song "In Bloom" by telling
him "John Lennon did it." While the sessions went well generally, Vig said
Cobain would become moody and difficult at times: "He'd be great for an hour,
and then he'd sit in a corner and say nothing for an hour."
After the recording sessions were completed, Vig and the band set out to mix the
album. However, after a few days, both Vig and the band members realized that
they were unhappy with how the mixes were turning out. As a result, they decided
to call in someone else to oversee the mixing, with DGC supplying a list of
possible options. The list contained several familiar names, including Scott
Litt (known for his work with R.E.M.) and Ed Stasium (known for his work with
The Smithereens). However, Cobain feared that bringing in known mixers would
result in the album sounding like the work of those bands. Instead, Cobain chose
Andy Wallace (who had co-produced Slayer's 1990 album Seasons in the Abyss) from
the bottom of the list. Novoselic recalled, "We said, 'right on,' because those
Slayer records were so heavy." Wallace ran the songs through various special
effects boxes and tweaked the drum sounds, completing about one mix per day.
Both Wallace and Vig noted years later that upon hearing Wallace's work the band
loved the mixes. After the album's release members of Nirvana expressed
dissatisfaction with the polished sound the mixer had given Nevermind. Cobain
said in Come as You Are, "Looking back on the production of Nevermind, I'm
embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a M?tley Crόe record than it is a punk
rock record."
Nevermind was mastered on the afternoon of August 2 in The Mastering Lab in
Hollywood, California. Howie Weinberg started working alone when no one else
showed up at the appointed time in the studio; by the time Nirvana, Andy
Wallace, and Gary Gersh arrived, Weinberg had mastered most of the album. One of
the songs mastered at the session, a hidden track called "Endless, Nameless"
intended to appear at the end of "Something in the Way", was accidentally left
off initial pressings of the album. Weinberg recalled, "In the beginning, it was
kind of a verbal thing to put that track at the end. Maybe I misconstrued their
instructions, so you can call it my mistake if you want. Maybe I didn't write it
down when Nirvana or the record company said to do it. So, when they pressed the
first twenty thousand or so CDs, albums, and cassettes, it wasn't on there."
When the band discovered the song's omission after listening to its copy of the
album, Cobain called Weinberg and demanded he rectify the mistake. Weinberg
complied and added about ten minutes of silence between the end of "Something in
the Way" and the start of the hidden track on future pressings of the album.
Release
Nevermind was released on September 24, 1991 with 46,251 copies of the album
shipped to American record stores; 35,000 copies were shipped in the United
Kingdom, where Bleach had been successful. The lead single "Smells Like Teen
Spirit" had been released on September 10th with the intention of being a
base-building cut among alternative rock fans, while the next single "Come As
You Are" would be the song that would possibly garner more attention. The band
set out on a short American tour four days before the release date to support
the album. Geffen Records hoped that Nevermind would sell around 250,000 copies,
which was the same level the record company had achieved with Sonic Youth's
Geffen debut Goo. The best estimate was that if the band, the management, and
the label all worked really hard, the record could possibly be certified gold by
September of 1992.
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at position 144, which was high enough
for the album to also top the Heatseekers chart. Geffen shipped about half of
the initial US pressing to the American Northwest, where it sold out quickly and
was unavailable for days. Geffen reputedly put production of all other albums on
hold in order to fulfill demand in the region. Nevermind was already selling
well, but over the next few months the album momentum increased significantly as
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" unexpectedly became more and more popular. The song's
video had received a world premiere on MTV's late night alternative show 120
Minutes but it soon proved so popular that the channel began playing it during
the day. The record was soon certified gold, but the band was relatively
uninterested in the achievement. Novoselic recalled, "Yeah I was happy about it.
It was pretty cool. It was kind of neat. But I don't give a shit about some kind
of achievement like that. It's coolI guess."
As the band set out for their European tour at the start of November 1991,
Nevermind entered the Billboard Top 40 for the first time at number 35. By this
point "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had become a genuine hit and the album was
selling so fast none of Geffen's marketing strategies aimed at different sales
levels could be enacted. Geffen president Ed Rosenblatt told the New York Times,
"We didn't do anything. It was just one of those 'Get out of the way and duck'
records." Nirvana found as they toured Europe during the end of 1991 that the
shows were dangerously oversold, television crews became a constant presence
onstage, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was almost omnipresent on radio and music
television.
Nevermind became Nirvana's first number one album on January 11, 1992, replacing
Michael Jackson at the top of the Billboard charts. By this time Nevermind was
selling approximately 300,000 copies a week. "Come As You Are" was finally
released as the second single in March of 1992; it peaked at number 32 on the
Billboard charts. Two more singles, "Lithium" and "In Bloom," were released from
the album. Nevermind eventually spent two hundred and fifty-two weeks on the
Billboard 200.
Nevermind was certified Gold and Platinum by the RIAA on November 27, 1991, and
was certified Diamond on March 24, 1999. It was also certified Diamond in Canada
(1,000,000 units) by the CRIA on March 19, 2001. By April 2007, Nevermind has
sold 26 million copies worldwide.
Critical reception
Upon the album's release, several mainstream newspapers and magazines gave
Nevermind positive reviews. Karen Schoemer of The New York Times wrote, "With
'Nevermind,' Nirvana has certainly succeeded. There are enough intriguing
textures, mood shifts, instrumental snippets and inventive word plays to provide
for hours of entertainment." Schoemer concluded, "'Nevermind' is more
sophisticated and carefully produced than anything peer bands like Dinosaur Jr.
and Mudhoney have yet offered." Entertainment Weekly gave Nevermind an A-
rating, and reviewer David Browne argued that on Nevermind Nirvana "never
entertain the notion" of wanting to sound "normal," compared to other
contemporary alternative bands. Concluding his very enthusiastic review for the
British Melody Maker, Everett True wrote that "When Nirvana released Bleach all
those years ago, the more sussed among us figured they had the potential to make
an album that would blow every other contender away. My God have they proved us
right."
Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars; reviewer Ira Robbins
wrote, "If Nirvana isn't onto anything altogether new, Nevermind does possess
the songs, character and confident spirit to be much more than a reformulation
of college radio's high-octane hits." The Boston Globe was less enthusiastic
about the album; reviewer Steve Morse wrote, "Most of Nevermind is packed with
generic punk-pop that had been done by countless acts from Iggy Pop to the Red
Hot Chili Peppers," and added "the band has little or nothing to say, settling
for moronic ramblings by singer-lyricist Cobain."
Nevermind was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz &
Jop critics poll; "Smells Like Teen Spirit" also topped the single of the year
and video of the year polls. Nevermind topped the poll by a large majority, and
Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote in his companion piece to the poll,
"As a modest pop surprise they might have scored a modest victory, like De La
Soul in 1990. Instead their multiplatinum takeover constituted the first
full-scale public validation of the Amerindie values--the noise, the toons, the
'tude--the radder half of the [Pazz & Jop poll] electorate came up on."
Nevermind has continued to garner critical praise since its release. The album
was listed at number seventeen on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All
Time. Time placed Nevermind, which writer Josh Tyrangiel called "the finest
album of the 90s," on its 2006 list of "The All-TIME 100 Albums." In 2004, the
Library of Congress chose Nevermind as one of fifty albums to be added to the
National Recording Registry that year.
Pressings and re-releases
In 1996, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab released Nevermind on vinyl as part of its
ANADISQ 200 series, and as a 24-carat gold CD. The CD pressings included
"Endless, Nameless". The LP version sold out quickly of its limited pressing,
but the CD edition stayed in print. In 1999 the Nevermind album was re-released
in a collectors box set with the 1993 album In Utero.
Music
Audio samples of Nevermind
*
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Play sound
Sample of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the first track on the album. The sample
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.
"Come as You Are"
Play sound
Sample of "Come as You Are", the second single from Nevermind. Guitarist Kurt
Cobain uses a chorus pedal when playing his guitar, creating a "watery" effect.
* Problems playing the files? See media help.
Cobain, Nirvana's main songwriter, fashioned chord sequences that were based
mainly around power chords and wrote songs that combined pop hooks with
dissonant guitar rhythms. His aim for Nevermind's material was to sound like the
"Bay City Rollers getting molested by Black Flag". Many of the songs on
Nevermind feature shifts in dynamics, where the band changes from quiet verses
to loud choruses. Dave Grohl said this approach originated during a four-month
period prior to the recording of the album, where the band would experiment with
extreme dynamics during regular jam sessions.
Guitar World wrote, "Kurt Cobain's guitar sound on Nirvana's Nevermind set the
tone for Nineties rock music." On Nevermind, Cobain played a 1960s Fender
Mustang, a Fender Jaguar with DiMarzio pickups, and a few Fender Stratocasters
with humbucker bridge pickups. The guitarist used distortion and chorus pedals
as his main effects, the latter used to generate a "watery" sound on "Come as
You Are" and the prechoruses of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Krist Novoselic tuned
down his bass guitar one and a half steps to D flat "to get this fat-ass sound".
Lyrics
Grohl said that Cobain told him, "Music comes first, lyrics come second," and
Grohl believes that above all Cobain focused on the melodies of his songs.
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 wasn't paramount. Vig
said, "Even though you couldn't quite tell what he was singing about, you knew
it was intense as hell." Cobain would later complain 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 Freudian
evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them
incorrectly?"
Charles R. Cross asserted in his 2001 biography of Kurt Cobain, Heavier than
Heaven, that many of the songs written for Nevermind were about Cobain's
dysfunctional relationship with Tobi Vail. After the relationship ended, Cobain
began writing and painting violent scenes, many of which revealed hatred for
himself and others. Songs written during this period were less violent, but
still reflected an anger absent from Cobain's earlier songs. Cross wrote that
"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 Kurt 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
previous to Cobain knowing Vail, the lyrics of the song were changed to
reference her. Cobain also said in an interview with 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
feelingvery lonely, sick."
Packaging
The album's tentative title Sheep was something Cobain created as an inside joke
towards the people he expected to buy the record. He wrote a fake ad for Sheep
in his journal that read "Because you want to not; because everyone else is."
Novoselic said the title was inspired by the band's cynicism about the public's
reaction to Operation Desert Storm. Cobain grew tired of the title as recording
sessions for the album were completed, and suggested to Novoselic that the new
album be named Nevermind. Cobain liked the title because it was a metaphor for
his attitude on life and was grammatically incorrect.
The Nevermind album cover shows a baby swimming toward a US dollar bill on a
fishhook. According to Cobain, he conceived the idea while watching a television
program on water births with Grohl. Cobain mentioned it to Geffen's art director
Robert Fisher. Fisher found some stock footage of underwater births but they
were too graphic for the record company. Also, the stock house that controlled
the photo of a swimming baby that they subsequently settled on wanted $7,500 a
year for its use, so instead Fisher sent a photographer to a pool for babies to
take pictures. Five shots were yielded and the band settled on the image of a
three-month-old infant named Spencer Elden, the son of the photographer's friend
Rick Elden. However, there was some concern because baby Elden's penis was
visible in the image. Geffen prepared an alternate cover without the penis, as
they were afraid that it would offend people, but relented when Cobain made it
clear that the only compromise he would accept was a sticker covering the penis
that would say "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."
The back cover of the album features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of
a collage created by Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a
supermarket advert, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased
vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. Cobain noted, "If you look
real close, there is a picture of Kiss in the back standing on a slab of beef."
The album's liner notes contain no complete song lyrics; instead, the liner
contains random song lyrics and unused lyrical fragements that Cobain arranged
into a poem.
Legacy
Nevermind not only popularized the Seattle grunge movement, but brought
alternative rock as a whole into the mainstream, establishing its commercial and
cultural viability. Nevermind's success surprised Nirvana's contemporaries, who
felt dwarfed by its impact. Fugazi's Guy Picciotto later commented: "It was like
our record could have been a hobo pissing in the forest for the amount of impact
it had. [...] It felt like we were playing ukuleles all of a sudden because of
the disparity of the impact of what they did". In 1992, Jon Pareles of The New
York Times described that in the aftermath of the album's breakthrough,
"Suddenly, all bets are off. No one has the inside track on which of dozens,
perhaps hundreds, of ornery, obstreperous, unkempt bands might next appeal to
the mall-walking millions". Record company executives offered large advances and
record deals to bands, and previous strategies of building audiences for
alternative rock bands had been replaced by the opportunity to achieve
mainstream popularity quickly.
Michael Azerrad argued in his Nirvana biography Come as You Are: The Story of
Nirvana (1993) that Nevermind marked the emergence of a generation of music fans
in their twenties in a climate dominated by the musical tastes of the baby
boomer generation that preceded them. Azerrad wrote, "Nevermind came along at
exactly the right time. This was music by, for, and about a whole new group of
young people who had been overlooked, ignored, or condescended to." Rolling
Stone wrote in its entry for Nevermind on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest
albums of all time, "No album in recent history had such an overpowering impact
on a generation -- a nation of teens suddenly turned punk -- and such a
catastrophic effect on its main creator."
Track listing
All songs were written by Kurt Cobain, except where noted.
1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl) 5:01
2. "In Bloom" 4:14
3. "Come as You Are" 3:39
4. "Breed" 3:03
5. "Lithium" 4:17
6. "Polly" 2:57
7. "Territorial Pissings" 2:22
8. "Drain You" 3:43
9. "Lounge Act" 2:36
10. "Stay Away" 3:32
11. "On a Plain" 3:16
12. "Something in the Way" 3:55
* "Endless, Nameless" (6:44) is a hidden track on some copies of the record.
"Never mind" was a frequent exclamation of Emily Litella, a character played by
Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. For instance, see Memorable Quotes from
"Saturday Night Live" (1975).
Miss Litella meant the third of the following Wiktionary definitions of "never
mind":
1. don't worry
2. it doesn't matter
3. I was wrong; I withdraw the statement; pretend I didn't say it.
In saying "Never mind", Litella acknowledges her error in misapprehending some
expression and speaking out about the perceived issue on national television.
However, her cheery two-word apology, which she apparently considers sufficient
to set things right, comically shows her lack of understanding of the havoc she
has caused. Having learned nothing from the experience, she is back with a
similar mistake (and another "Never mind!") in succeeding episodes.
Ironically, as someone whose hearing is obviously impaired, the Litella
character is likely to have encountered the words "Never mind" in the second
usage above, meaning that the speaker did not consider his or her words worth
repeating in such a way that Litella could understand them. People who work with
the deaf and hearing impaired are often advised not to say "Never mind" to them,
since it can be interpreted as meaning that the person is not considered worth
the effort required to re-convey the speaker's previous words.
"Never mind" was a running gag and a catch phrase during the character's 26
appearances in the Weekend Update portion of the comedy series. In quoting
Litella, a person acknowledges a mistake, or that a previously-expressed concern
is no longer to be considered valid. However, by imitating her distinctive way
of saying those words, the person ironically conveys a more light-hearted,
self-aware tone to the expression than does the character herself.
Beyond the Fringe
The same phrase was used in the sketch Aftermyth of War from the 1960 satirical
show Beyond the Fringe. The character recalls World War II and a succession of
occasions when his wife informs him of some disastrous development, to which he
responds "Never mind, my dear, oi said to 'er. You put on the kettle, we'll have
a nice cup of tea."
Nevermind is a computer game published by Psyclapse (a subsidiary of Psygnosis)
released in 1989. It has been ported to various platforms, including the Amiga
and the Atari.
The game is played in a 3D isometric environment. Each isometric square
represents a tile. At the beginning of each level, a picture made up of sixteen
tiles will be displayed to the player. The computer will then rearrange the
tiles which make up the picture, and distribute some in other areas of the
level. The player's task is to restore the picture to the way it looked at the
beginning of the level. This is achieved by walking around the isometric world,
picking up tiles, and placing them in the correct place. Throughout a level,
warps may be (and must be) found which allow the player to change from walking
on the floor, to walking on the walls. Each level has a time limit. If the time
runs out, the player loses. When the picture is complete, the player progresses
to the next level.
From level two onwards, chess pieces patrol the level. The chess pieces may move
correctly placed tiles to somewhere else on the level, or block the player's
path. In addition, later levels contain several pictures, and several screens.
Never You Mind is an album by The New Amsterdams recorded in March/April 2000
and released September 19, 2000.
Track listing
1. "Every Double Life"
2. "Lonely Hearts"
3. "Proceed With Caution"
4. "Slow Down"
5. "McShame"
6. "Goodbye"
7. "Idaho"
8. "Drama Queen"
9. "Make Me Change My Mind"
10. "When We Two Parted" (Afghan Whigs cover)
11. "Never Treat Others"
12. "I Won't Run Away
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the first and only album
recorded by the Sex Pistols, a highly influential and controversial English punk
band. Fans and critics alike generally regard the album as an extremely
important record in the history of rock music, citing the lasting influence it
has had on subsequent punk musicians.
The album was released on October 28, 1977 on the Virgin Records label, amid
controversy arising from the use of the obscenity (in British English)
"bollocks" in its title.
Older versions of most of the album's songs also appeared on a bootleg album
called Spunk, which consists of demo recordings the band had made during 1976
and January 1977, and which was released shortly before Never Mind the Bollocks.
Overview
Never Mind the Bollocks is the only official album released by the Sex Pistols
while vocalist Johnny Rotten was a member of the group, although the same songs
have subsequently appeared on many compilation albums (the group had effectively
disbanded less than three months after the album's release). Many of the songs
were featured in different versions in the film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll
Swindle, a "mockumentary" loosely based on the Sex Pistols, but more about their
manager (and the film's "mastermind"), Malcolm McLaren.
Never Mind the Bollocks was met by a hail of controversy in the UK upon its
release. The first documented legal problems involved the allegedly 'obscene'
name of the album, and the prosecution (under Section 28 of the Town Police
Clauses Act 1847, since replaced by the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981) of
the manager of the Nottingham Virgin record shop (and label owner Richard
Branson) for having displayed it in a window. However, at Nottingham
Magistrates' Court on 24 November 1977, defending Queen's Counsel John Mortimer
produced expert witnesses who were able to demonstrate that the word "bollocks"
was actually a legitimate Old English term originally used to refer to a priest,
and which, in the context of the title, meant "nonsense". The chairman of the
hearing was forced to conclude:
Much as my colleagues and I wholeheartedly deplore the vulgar exploitation of
the worst instincts of human nature for the purchases of commercial profits by
both you and your company, we must reluctantly find you not guilty of each of
the four charges.
Far more intense outrage was sparked by the lyrics of the songs "God Save the
Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K.", as well as Jamie Reid's cover art for the
single of "God Save the Queen". Both were perceived as musical assaults on the
monarchy and civil society. In particular, "God Save the Queen" was viewed as a
direct personal attack on Queen Elizabeth II. Guitarist Steve Jones, and singer
Johnny Rotten, have both insisted that it was not the Queen that the band
directed their animus towards, but other members of the royal house and the
British government in general. In either case, the notoriety did little to harm
the record's sales in the UK.
Another standard from the album, "Pretty Vacant" also earned the ire of the
British music industry. In his delivery of the song's title in the chorus,
Johnny Rotten heavily accents the second syllable of the word "vacant", and
clips it very short in stark contrast to his drawn out delivery of the first
syllable. Critics and fans alike have noted that it actually sounds like "cunt".
Some allege it was deliberate; others counter that it's actually Rotten's accent
leading people to the misinterpretation.
Rotten's bitten, over-articulated, angry vocals and his intentional avoidance of
"good" singing were startlingly original in style, at that time, and his use of
profanity and deliberately inflammatory language seemed downright shocking. He
alternately screams and whines about corporate control, intellectual vacuity,
and political hypocrisy, while guitarist Jones' multi-layered guitar tracks
create a "wall of noise" to counter him.
Producer Chris Thomas took a different approach to recording Never Mind the
Bollocks than was to become the norm on most later punk rock albums. Instead of
capturing a "raw" or "live" sound, Thomas achieved a very clear, broad, and
layered sonic palette via multiple guitar overdubs, and extremely tight
musicianship. He said: "Anarchy has something like a dozen guitars on it; I sort
of orchestrated it, double-tracking some bits and separating the parts and
adding them, et cetera
It was quite labored. The vocals were labored, as
well." However, some, purists in particular, have argued that the album is
over-produced, and that the impact of the songs is diminished by the refined
sound quality. Some critics further contend that the Sex Pistols had lost their
initial spark of energy and exuberance by the time Never Mind the Bollocks was
recorded, and that any anger present in the songs sounds contrived. Nonetheless,
the album's anger and energy are considered to have been trailblazing precedents
for the then-nascent punk rock movement.
Charting and influence
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols reached #1 on the Official UK
Albums Chart, but in the USA peaked at #106 upon initial release on the
Billboard albums chart. Although the album's sales were initially slim outside
Europe, it would ultimately gain a substantial reputation worldwide, achieving
Gold status with the RIAA in 1987 (denoting 500,000 sales) and Platinum status
(1,000,000 sales) just four years later.
Likewise, influential critics consider Never Mind the Bollocks to have been a
central formative influence on punk rock and subsequent forms of popular music.
In 1985, NME writers voted Never Mind the Bollocks the 13th greatest album of
all time. In 1993, NME writers voted the album the 3rd greatest of all time.
In 1987, Rolling Stone magazine named it the second-most important album of the
previous 20 years, behind only The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band. The same magazine named it the 41st greatest album of all time on their
list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. In an interview during
2002, Rolling Stone journalist Charles M. Young stated:
Never Mind the Bollocks changed everything. There had never been anything like
it before and really there's never been anything quite like it since. The
closest was probably Nirvana, a band very heavily influenced by the Sex Pistols.
In his 1995 book, The Alternative Music Almanac, Alan Cross placed the album in
the #6 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'.
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Never Mind the Bollocks the 30th greatest
album of all time, and in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 10 in its
list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
The VH1 network named Never Mind the Bollocks as the 17th greatest album of all
time in 2001. The album also placed number one in a "Fifty Greatest Punk Albums
Ever" readers' poll in Kerrang! magazine.
In 2006, it was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all
time , and in the same year NME voted the album the 4th greatest British album
of all time.
Track listing
The original UK album (Virgin V2086) contained only eleven tracks, before the
group changed their mind and decided to include "Submission".
However, Virgin had already pre-emptively produced stampers for the eleven-track
version, and by early October 1977 had already pressed 1,000 copies. Rather than
scrap these, Virgin released them anyway, initially as promos, then
commercially, as an attempt to counteract a sudden flood of imports from France,
where a twelve-track version of the album (including "Submission") had been
released in mid-October by Barclay Records.
In response to this, Virgin also brought forward the album's intended UK release
date by a week, and instead of waiting for the twelve-track album to be
mastered, issued further copies of the eleven-track album (reportedly 50,000
copies, although some collectors now dispute these official figures as on the
high side). Most of these copies included a poster and "Submission" as a freebie
single.
Some of the initial 11 track copies saw a private import to Sweden and were sold
for a few weeks at a record shop in Stockholm. The poster and "Submission" were
not included at this stage. An article in a local paper warned people not to buy
this "faulty" issue and advised them to wait for the 12 track issue that was
about to be pressed. The article also had a quote from Virgin in London where
they say all production and sale have been stopped, but some copies
unfortunately leaked out through their export company. This issue had blank back
cover and matrix numbers A-1 and B-1.
The twelve-track UK version began appearing in early November 1977.
As a result of the track listing confusion, several variants of the UK back
sleeve exist: completely blank; omitting "Submission"; including "Submission";
and a misprint including "Belsen Was a Gas" and omitting several other tracks,
based on artwork for an earlier rejected track listing.
All songs written by Steve Jones/Glen Matlock/Paul Cook/Johnny Rotten, except *
by Jones/Cook/Rotten/Sid Vicious. All lyrics by Rotten (original "Seventeen"
lyrics by Jones, original "Pretty Vacant" lyrics by Matlock).
Eleven track version
Side one
1. "Holidays in the Sun" 3:22 *
2. "Liar" 2:41
3. "No Feelings" 2:51
4. "God Save the Queen" 3:20
5. "Problems" 4:11
Side two
1. "Seventeen" 2:02
2. "Anarchy in the U.K." 3:32
3. "Bodies" 3:03 *
4. "Pretty Vacant" 3:18
5. "New York" 3:07
6. "E.M.I." 3:10
* "Submission" was included with most copies as a one-sided seven-inch single
(VDJ 24).
Twelve track version
Side one
1. "Holidays in the Sun" 3:22 *
2. "Bodies" 3:03 *
3. "No Feelings" 2:51
4. "Liar" 2:41
5. "God Save the Queen" 3:20
6. "Problems" 4:11
Side two
1. "Seventeen" 2:02
2. "Anarchy in the U.K." 3:32
3. "Submission" 4:12
4. "Pretty Vacant" 3:18
5. "New York" 3:05
6. "E.M.I." 3:10
* USA (Warner Bros. BSK3147) and Canada (Warner Bros. KBS3147) artwork is green
on pink, track listing reverses "God Save the Queen" and "Problems".
* Original French track listing (Barclay Records 941 001) as UK eleven-track
version with "Submission" at the end of side one.
Personnel
* Johnny Rotten - lead vocals
* Steve Jones - guitar, bass, backing vocals
* Paul Cook - drums
* Glen Matlock - bass guitar and backing vocals ("Anarchy in the U.K.")
* Sid Vicious - bass guitar ("Bodies")
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