Buying time and thwarting bootleggers,
Nirvana and
DGC released the rarities compilation
Incesticide toward the end of 1992. Like any odds'n'sods collection, this is uneven, but that's its charm since it captures
Nirvana's character better than any official album. After all, this was a band that was born equally from '70s sludge metal, bubblegum pop, post-punk artiness, and indie rock inclusiveness, each of which are apparent on this collection. There are some non-entities here, particularly on the second side, but the plodding sub-metallic grind was part of their identity, one part of their multi-faceted character.
Nirvana meant everything to everyone, from the jangle pop veterans to the garage rock ravers that worshipped
the Stooges to stoner metal fetishes and indie rock bed-sits that adopted
Sebadoh just as they outgrew
Morrissey -- everybody loved
Nirvana, and there's something for every kind fan here, thanks to murky sludge,
Devo and
Vaseline covers,
BBC sessions, instrumentals, and limited-edition singles, plus sub-
Melvins goop, everything visceral where
Bleach was tame.
Nevermind doesn't capture this freewheeling indie spirit but
Incesticide does, piling on some essentials in the meantime -- the pummeling
"Dive," the childhood snapshot
"Sliver," the terrific forgotten indie pop tune
"Been a Son," and
"Aneurysm," perhaps the greatest single song the group ever recorded. Yeah, there's some filler here, but this is the sound of what
Nirvana was actually like. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
