Aging Myself

I've had this conversation with friends before and nobody has quite disagreed yet I would like to meet the people who will challenge the idea and mean it; I mean mean it so much they start throwing things. I would suppose the challenger would be about 10 years younger than I am or maybe only 5.
What the debate concerns is the fact that "Nevermind" by Nirvana isn't as good as Alice in Chains' magnum opus, "Dirt". Before you start to go all agape or feint like some old lady in a 1930's comedy I need this point to be clear: Nevermind is a more important album than Dirt; it's just not as good. While Nirvana's grunge classic changed the face of Rock n' Roll form pretty to pretty ugly, from glamorous to gutter and eventually gave birth to The Foo Fighters who are making adult oriented rock that even my 60 something year old mom enjoys, Dirt which was released just a year later is a comprehensive story from beginning to end as opposed to a collection of songs that are more self deprecating barbs than anything else.

Both Albums have a raw power and a desperation while keeping their pop melodies accessible for radio play which can be said about many great rock albums and is in many ways the great trick of hard rock. With Dirt I can listen to the whole album from beginning (Them Bones) to end (Would?) without wanting to skip any songs, granted the music and lyrics have sometimes left me in a depression for a bit but it is an album that keeps one interested. Nevermind on the other hand loses me after track 5, "Lithium"; it seems to get to heavy for it's own good. Don't get me wrong those first five (Smells Like teen Spirit, in Bloom, Come as You Are, Breed and Lithium are all solid but by the time "Polly" is done so am I and I want to move on to something else.
Alice in Chains also has some lovely/haunting harmonies going for it, especially in "Down In A hole" and "Hate to Feel" (these harmonies got better on their follow up EP, Jar of Flies but that's a side note because Nirvana's next release, Incesticide which was B-sides had some cool stuff too)

Listen, Dirt maintains throughout the whole album while Nevermind sags and loses focus and this isn't a battle between which singer did more heroine or who's death was more tragic or that I would like to listen to "Would?" more often than "Smells Like Teen Spirit" just about any day it is about the quality of the whole album not just iconic imagery and Mtv airplay.

Saw my reflection and cried oh well, whatever, never mind . . . Black Sabbath and the Pixies couldn't ask for better tributes.