Kurt Cobain can be labeled as the Godfather of grunge, lead singer of Nirvana, and a millionaire at 27, who wrote and sang his own music much to the adulation of millions of fans, whose album Nevermind spun to the No.1 spot on the charts, pushing off Michael Jackson from the top spot.

The DVD recaps Nirvana and their making of one of grunge rock’s biggest albums to date ‘Nevermind’. The programme traverses through the break up with Sub Pop records to the magnimous effort the band made when they went over to LA to make a new life. Band members recall humourously how they traveled in an old car for their studio recordings, the vehicle breaking down every twenty minutes. There are a range of insights of the band playing at various concerts in America, certain shots that have never been shown to their fans. It also has a rare recording of their first public performance in April 17, 1991 with the song Smells like teen spirit. Known to be a very violent lot of band members at times, their concerts ended on the verge of destruction and by that we could say the members literally broke their gear on stage in the middle of performances, smashing guitars, jumping into the drum set, throwing guitars in the air and crashing them down.

One of the interesting facts taken up here is the Nevermind album cover sleeve. It was said that Cobain and other band members were thinking up an album sleeve when they chanced upon a show that spoke of underwater child birth. Their curiosity taking the better of them, they met up with the producer of the show, watched the show again and liked what they saw. They informed their photographer to get pictures of this event, but he came up with just one stock picture. It was then decided that the photographer approach a school and short list little children for a photo shoot. Finally after a lot of spade work, they finally came up with Spencer Elden, the baby on the Nevermind sleeve. In an interview he recalls. “The photographer called my mom up and that’s how it all happened. I didn’t know a thing that I would be so famous years later”. The band spent considerable amount of time deciding what else should go on the inlay with the fish hook. They ended it all up with a dollar bill. But the inlay got them into trouble. A 4 x 4 poster in a record store got the band in trouble. The naked body with a penis was considered indecent. A policeman who saw it made the store fix a sticker on the penis. But fans loved it. They found it unique. Whatever the case maybe, the album sleeve and also the album is one of the best classic albums, very powerful, anthemic and big revenue earner to date and the best by Nirvana. It was the ‘birth’ of things to come.

In a chapter wise selection on the DVD you can watch how each of the songs from Lithium, Drain You, In Bloom to the anthemic Come as you are’, Polly, Territorial Pissings, Something in the Way, Smells like Teen Spirit and Breed were created. The production that went into it and how it sounded. With the sound engineer at the helm of affairs, you can listen to the audio part of the track, totally stripped down to the basics. It is interesting to see how each part sounded, like just vocals, drums, guitars, etc.

Some songs like Something in the Way speak about Cobain’s mind set and delves on the problems of teenagers and what they feel. It also speaks of Cobain’s life in a nutshell and his life under the bridge. Polly a balladic piece has good guitar basslines and is an amazing song.

The DVD scores high on interviews with bands members drummer Dave Grohl, bassist Krist Novoselic and producer Butch Vig who worked with Cobain.

Despite all this, there was no Nirvana for Kurt Cobain, only cocaine – filled despair. To quote the names of one of his albums: I hate myself and Wanna Die, this line came true when on April 4, 1984 he shot himself in his home. Perhaps it ran in the family – three of his uncles had killed themselves before him.

Thus also ended the road for Nirvana, a band that made history. 14 years down the line, rockers still remember the lanky singer and guitarist who not only paved a way for a totally new sound in his band, but also created a new image for rock music.

-- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira