TOTAL NIRVANA

[[Syl]]

Well, grunge wasn't exactly the most fun-focused genre, though I'll take just about any of the grunge bands over %95 of what is on the radio today (all of which owes it suckcess to grunge, Nirvana in particular).

I've never heard anyone call Nirvana pop before. Popular, in the general sense, sure... like, "Nirvana became much more popular since Cobain died," but that's it. I'm a little bit mortified at the comparison, and I'm sure Kurt's rolling in his grave.

[Lord Mhoram]

Precisely. He hated being mainstream, which is why he said he liked In Utero better than Nevermind.

Let me just say--I love grunge. Especially Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, STP, etc. etc. They were awesome bands. Like Syl said, better than the mostly lame bands of today.

[Worm of Despite]

Yep! I've got In Utero (my personal favorite), Soundgarden's Superunknown, and then Nevermind. Need to add to that collection . . . Pearl Jam any good? Don't hear much of them these days.

Yep, most bands have a list of priorities in which song-craft is a distant 3rd. As I've said before, we live in an age of more entertainment and less coherent thought.

[[Syl]]

STPs got a greatest hits CD coming out, I believe. They have one new track on it that's on the radio now. Sounds a lot like AiC. Never too big into Pearl Jam, except Ten.

[Lord Mhoram]

Yeah, can't wait to get STP's greatest hits. I really like them.

I have Pearl Jam live in Mansfield, MA...it kicks ass. Plus, Vitalogy and Ten are great.

[ProRider514]

nirvana has got 2 be one of the best bands ever! im addicted to playing that awesum bass line in Come As You Are.



~*Kyrstie*~

[The Dreaming]

Hmm, sorry, but I fall in with the group that thinks Nirvana is overrated. I mean, they were a decent rock band, but they were nowhere near as good as everyone remembers them as being.

It seems like every time a lead band member has a mystique about them, (*cough* Morrison) people tend to think they did earth shattering things to music. Nirvana did nothing Pearl Jam didn't do first and better IMHO.

Not saying Nirvana sucked, I just think they belong with the Blue Oyster Cults of rock history, not the Led Zepplins.

[Worm of Despite]

I agree that they were overrated, but their cultural impact alone, more so than their music, will have them rubbing shoulders with Zeppelin and The Beatles for years to come. And I still enjoy their music, by the way.

[Lord Mhoram]

Hmm, sorry, but I fall in with the group that thinks Nirvana is overrated. I mean, they were a decent rock band, but they were nowhere near as good as everyone remembers them as being.

It seems like every time a lead band member has a mystique about them, (*cough* Morrison) people tend to think they did earth shattering things to music. Nirvana did nothing Pearl Jam didn't do first and better IMHO.

Not saying Nirvana sucked, I just think they belong with the Blue Oyster Cults of rock history, not the Led Zepplins.

Ok ok first of all: Pearl Jam has developed into a different band than Nirvana or what PJ had been before. Nirvana is still the better band, IMO. Cobain's meld of pop and punk was not entirely original since even in 1992, at the beginning of Nirvana's success, grunge was by no means a new movement. Still, he and Nirvana took it to the next level and managed to make it mainstream. There's a reason that they were the first to hit it big--HUGE even. And they weren't always hard rock: "Unplugged" shows true artistry, IMO.
And btw: I also think Jim Morrison and the Doors aren't overrated. But that's a different argument.

[Queeaqueg Darkmoon]

Nirvana are the greatest band ever!!

[matrixman]

To avoid this topic turning into a potentially nasty and endless Pearl Jam vs. Nirvana debate, maybe a separate Pearl Jam thread is in order. Lord Mhoram meant to celebrate Nirvana with this thread, so that is the spirit in which I post here.

To me, the fact that many people (not just us) are still talking about Nirvana and still listening to the band's recorded legacy 11 years after their demise clearly shows that Nirvana has more influence and staying power than the Blue Oyster Cults of rock.

Nirvana has been a constant presence in various polls in magazines and on music stations that I've come across over the years: they have remained powerfully in the public consciousness while other bands, grunge or otherwise, have come and gone. So I don't question Nirvana's cultural impact. In fact, just a month ago, the folks at the MuchMusic channel did (for fun, but also with sincere intent) a countdown of what they considered to be the best 40 albums of the past 25 years, with them offering reasons for their choices.

Well, the album that they considered to be the best over the last two decades was Nirvana's Nevermind. (If it appeases Pearl Jam fans any, their album Ten was in the Top 10.) It was an interesting choice, because I personally thought In Utero was Nirvana's "best" album. I think it would have been more appropriate if they had called Nevermind the "most influential" album of the past 25 years. I would not argue that. Maybe you might argue that greatness was thrust onto Nirvana instead of them being inherently great, but it remains that this band ended up occupying a place in rock history reserved for them and no one else. Grunge had found its poster boys.

I didn't really appreciate how good Nirvana was at first, though I had heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and was bemused by the accompanying music video like everyone else. When I listened to the rest of Nevermind, though, the songs didn't really affect me. Then in '93, along came In Utero. I realized then that Nirvana was a band to be reckoned with. Each song on In Utero was a shard of uncompromising pain, raw and bloody. This was one of the most powerful rock albums I had ever had the luck to listen to. Which made Cobain's death that much sadder in my eyes, because I felt Nirvana was just getting started with In Utero. Martyrdom makes for compelling biographies, but I'd rather have an alive Kurt Cobain writing songs and "delivering the truth" with his cohorts.

[Lord Mhoram]

Thanks, MM. Feel free to make a Pearl Jam thread. Don't get me wrong, Pearl Jam is an excellent band. I myself own one of their concert sets, Lost Dogs, Ten, and Vitalogy.
I think Nirvana is 2nd only to the Smashing Pumpkins in the 90s rock scene. And I agree, Matrix, that In Utero is probably their best album.

[[Syl]]

The first half of In Utero was great. The second half... I think they did that on purpose, though.

[theDespiser]

one of my favorite songs by them is the plateau...off nevermind, i think

[ProRider514]

my favorite songs r come as you are, in bloom, and smells like teen spirit



~*Kyrstie*~

[The Dreaming]

Thanks, MM. Feel free to make a Pearl Jam thread. Don't get me wrong, Pearl Jam is an excellent band. I myself own one of their concert sets, Lost Dogs, Ten, and Vitalogy.
I think Nirvana is 2nd only to the Smashing Pumpkins in the 90s rock scene. And I agree, Matrix, that In Utero is probably their best album.

Radiohead?

[Lord Mhoram]

Nope, I'm not a fan of them.

[Worm of Despite]

Radiohead's my favorite 90s band, but Nirvana's #2. Only two 90s bands I really have, I think!

[matrixman]

Maybe nothing better symbolized the rise of grunge, and the fall of 80's metal, than what happened in September 1991:

At the MTV Video Awards, glam metal band Poison was slated to perform. But the members of Poison began arguing onstage about what song to perform! When the band finally got going, it was horribly out of tune, with each member doing his own thing. Thus Poison delivered what some consider one of the worst performances by any rock band on national television. After the show, Poison's members hated each other so much that they broke up; ironic, because the band had agreed to appear at the Awards in order to quash rumours that it was breaking up! Big hair 80's metal crashed and burned with the fall of Poison.

Later the same month, Nirvana's nuclear bomb called "Smells Like Teen Spirit" detonated on MTV (here's yer weapon of mass destruction), and heralded a new era in music, while sweeping away the 80's.

So in this sense, September '91 was one of the most meaningful months in the history of rock.

(Lord Foul, you're probably reading my trashing of the 80's with glee...well, when it comes to big hair metal, I hate it as much as anyone else around here. It's 10% music, and 90% hair mousse & posturing. I know you think even that's being too generous.)

[Worm of Despite]

Later the same month, Nirvana's nuclear bomb called "Smells Like Teen Spirit" detonated on MTV (here's yer weapon of mass destruction), and heralded a new era in music, while sweeping away the 80's.

Ah yes; I equate the devastating change made by "Smells Like Teen Spirit" equivalent to the immediate effect Hendrix's first single, "Hey Joe", had on the British music scene. Not that I think Smells Like is as good as Joe.

(Lord Foul, you're probably reading my trashing of the 80's with glee...well, when it comes to big hair metal, I hate it as much as anyone else around here. It's 10% music, and 90% hair mousse & posturing. I know you think even that's being too generous.)

Actually, hair metal doesn't bother me so much, because it's so overtly crappy; it wore its absurdity on its sleeve. Or maybe hair metal was pretending. I dunno. I was too young to remember, which is a damn good thing!