Nirvana: In Bloom

Nirvana's "Nevermind" was so impecable and groundbreaking with everything that even the music videos also became important and iconic memories of a generation and rock n'roll as well. Every single that had a video made delivered something memorable, unique, expressive, wild and great to watch. It was all about showing the power of rock n'roll through energy, rebelness, as something truly alive. But don't be fooled with the apparent quietness of the earliest moments of "In Bloom" video. It takes some time to get to the mindless bits.

Guess only Nirvana and director Kevin Kerslake could pull a somewhat simple idea into something big. The concept revolves on a sort of 1950-1960's TV show resembling Ed Sullivan program and the music group invited to perform is the one led by Kurt Cobain. It's all done in a typical old fashioned style, black-and-white photography, non-stop screaming girls reacting to the performance (probably Beatlemania archive footage) and Nirvana is shown at first in a very quiet and well-behaved manner with Kurt wearing glasses almost as if becoming a rock star like Buddy Holly. It all suits the song as "In Bloom" has a light quality to it as Krist Novoselic's bass carries everything in a great style until the chorus kicks in and it's all up to Kurt raises chaos with his voice and guitar.

And that's when after a second portion of the chorus being presented that the video takes a wild turn with Cobain, Novoselic and Dave Grohl shift their act, change their clothing and destroy the whole set created for their performance. The girls keep on screaming, no one interrupts them, and even a little accident is captured as Kurt hits his balls after stepping down the towering Novoselic as he was previously carrying the singer during a polysterene planet battle with Dave. Yet the man continues his performance while grabbing the mic.

Anyway, there's the previous good boys act shown as a reality and the chaotic second act feels like an inner vision of them showing their wild side, breaking and smashing everything. It goes on a few different levels and here's some thoughts: boring reality versus fun dream; or a critique on performers on popular shows and the idea that some artists didn't want to be there so they acted cool but deep down all they'd want to break everything; and it can also be viewed as an evolution of rock, its presentation and public perception that goes from "acceptable" images and artists back when the genre was becoming popular but also seen as a menace to society, and then moving to the explosion, the darkness and the rebellion of rock, of bringing some chaos to the scene yet on both instances one thing never changed: the screaming fans that followed any new trend that came along.

Whatever the interpretation one has about this visual concept it's impossible to not feel anything great about it, and the song ressonance too. It truly takes you in the experience. 10/10.