This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s epic grunge masterpiece ‘Nevermind’. As a tribute, Spin Magazine is doing a few things: they have collected a bunch of opinions from artists and friends and managers and so on to share, including this one from Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam:
It was summertime in Seattle, and our record Ten was coming out in about a week. There were a few copies of Nevermind floating around on cassette before the record was out, and I remember hearing it on a Walkman, walking by myself on a rare nice day when the clouds broke for the first time in months. Just hearing that tape with the white label, it had an impact. It felt like a change. I remember in April, there were a bunch of people outside this place called the O.K. Hotel. I went up — I knew the guy who poured coffee there — and I was able to go in and see one of the first shows they played for the record. Later that summer, Fugazi were playing in the Mojave Desert. We drove in this little Toyota with Nevermind playing. You could just listen to that thing on repeat, it never dipped.
They have also put together a tribute recording featuring artists such as the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines, and are making it available for free by simply ‘liking’ their Facebook page:
SPIN’s August issue pays tribute to the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind, and as part of our package we tapped some of our favorite contemporary artists to cover the influential album’s 13 songs, in their original order. The download is called Newermind, and it’s our gift to you.
We were happy that two of Kurt Cobain’s personal faves — the Meat Puppets and the Vaselines, both of whom Nirvana famously covered during their MTV Unplugged taping — joined our effort. Below you’ll find the complete album tracklist, with reflections from each contributing artist.
GET THE FREE DOWNLOAD NOW:
SPIN Presents Newermind is available now through July 25 exclusively via SPIN’s Facebook page.Beginning on July 26, the album will be available for FREE download here on SPIN.com.
Of course, nothing can live up to the original recording – so if you don’t already own that head to iTunes or Amazon now – but this tribute is a great bunch of music to augment your collection!
Head to the Spin tribute info page, or straight to Facebook to ‘Like’ the page and grab the tribute for free!
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