The Nirvana story remains an inescapably sad one for an obvious reason. It also idealizes a band that, upon finer scrutiny, holds more limitations than many acknowledge. Yet the lust to canonize this key event has caused many to glaze over deep psychological aspects of the Nirvana story that continue to disturb and depress. Besides its role as an electrifying and deep piece of art, 'Nevermind' served two pivotal purposes - to catapult the spirit of every suppressed alterna-rock record of the '80s into the mainstream and to usher in a fresh era of impassioned and principled rock 'n' roll from scores of talented new bands. It's hardly just the handy two-oh figure that brought on the gush.

And, for this pivotal week of its original release, the estate itself sanctioned a multi-disk set, minting the original recordings, while pairing them with outtakes, rethinks and video corollaries of material that barely had a chance to leave our CD players and iPods all these years down the line. Scores of radio shows and magazine articles chronicling the history and significance of the work have crowded the airwaves and newsstands. So it's no surprise that the past two weeks have seen a torrent of awe-struck odes to the 20th birthday of a true game changer in rock history: Nirvana's 'Nevermind.' Several tribute albums, peopled by stars re-inhabiting the disk's original songs, have been released.

Elliott smith either or torret