Nirvana C/D

And then I think that summer I started listening to a lot of Arabic music, but I still think Nirvana were pretty good, better than average, if nothing else. Also, since I was already in my mid-20's at the time, I already had a lot of familiarity with the general punk/indie background they were coming from.

On a thread about the Stooges' Funhouse I talked about how I rarely play the record because to truly experience it and enjoy it meant (for me) to connect with powerful primal emotions that I don't always want to access. Maybe something similar is at work with Nirvana. To get all there is to get out of those records means being willing to feel a certain degree of pain (although Cobain project more than that one emotion), as well as maybe feeling how it felt when those records came out; where you were, what you were going through, etc. Maybe I have enough to deal with in my own life, maybe I've been through enough shit recently, but as powerful and exciting as those records are, I guess I just don't wanna go there. I will at some point, though.

i guess they are given added gravitas because of what happened to kurt later. His words were never particularly interesting or cleverly written - but they become fascinating because of his suicide.

Post-Chad Channing: undeniably classic.

Yeah, I loved Bleach, was just discovering SST/Sub Pop type stuff and really getting into Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Nirvana. They just slotted in as another one of those great new guitar bands coming up with cool riffs and rhythms, as far as I was concerned. Saw them at a small club in Ann Arbor in 1989 with Tad. Good show.

I differ w/ BBT in that I was kind of disappointed by Nevermind. I liked it and all, but the production was too shiny for my tastes, Dave Grohl sounded too "pro". I liked Chad Channing! I thought "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was just cloying (that verse melody! ugh) and bad. I wanted more "Floyd the Barber"s and "Blew"s and "Dive"s and "Negative Creep"s.

In Utero however, was a stone classic. back to the abrasive sound I loved. Cobain writing the best lyrics of his life.

They were and remain classic, even if I rarely listen to the records.

Your Nirvana was my Led Zeppelin. Now I know how Zeppelin fans must have felt in 1988.

"Even in His Youth" is crap, but "Son of a Gun" and their cover of "Molly's Lips" are alright.

I remember quite liking "Breed" and "Territorial Pissings". It is a fine album.....it ain't the fuckn' Rosetta Stone, but it's a fine album.

And by that, I didn't mean to imply these hapless clowns....

http://www.rosetta-stone.org.uk/gallery/fullsize/stone1.jpg

haha I'm 15 and I didn't even know who they were until, like, three years ago

Another important thing that doesn't get talked about enough here it seems is the social aspect of it. A big part of what Nirvana means/t to me has to do with performing arrangements of some of their songs with friends in a music class project (laugh if you want to; even we thought it was kind of funny at the time) or in other gatherings and seeing other people playing their songs on guitars all the time in hallways or parties or on the street; hearing Unplugged repeatedly when people got together; hearing "Lithium" on the PA (they played a song every morning) and seeing people nod heads or hum along; this sense of identifying closely with the sound and emotion in somethng and sharing that with hordes of other people (which was probably really alienating for people who didn't get into their music).

What Justyn said is pretty OTM (Smells Like Teen Spirit totally changed my life too), though my problem with Nirvana isn't so much that they sound forlorn, but that if I start to think about their hype and myth the songs can sound very stick-in-the-mud. Granted, most of their Seattle peers and the modern day plodders sound stick-in-the-mud even without thinking about their aesthetic. And the songs that are coming to mind here at work I'm really enjoying.

It's funny how half of Nirvana's hype and actions was GREAT, EARNED and affected lots of people and how the other half is so reprehensible that it's thoroughly tempting to ignore the good stuff. Though Nirvana is easily more important and better, sometimes I think I prefer obvious imitators Local H, whose angst and energy is much more coherent and truly anthemic (since they don't talk in code, Local H doesn't depend on hype, nostalgia and zeitgeist to connect). The two singles the Vines put out remind of what first grabbed me about Nirvana too: Beatles getting electrocuted.

I hate so much about what they represent, but when I think about songs like "Negative Creep," "Aneurysm," "Sliver"...there's just no question they're classic.

In an alternate universe somewhere, Bob Mould actually took the production job for Nevermind and popular music history went an entirely different way...

OTM.

No, you go fuck YOURself, moppett!

Fuck Teh Hatas, anti-Nirvanaism is for wankers.

OTM = ON THE MONEY, ON THE MARK, etc.

xxp kid's mom OTM

FYI Tad was an influence on Nirvana, and the band was very highly regarded at the time

their records still hold up too, imo

#1 for weeks too

I mean I’m not knocking Tad, I just thought his credits would be a string of huge albums after Nevermind.

probably already mentioned by I remember reading that the band/kurt selected Andy Wallace cuz they/he liked what he did with slayer

I just need to say how much I absolutely love the production on Dirty, since it's been mentioned. A true favorite.

probably already mentioned by I remember reading that the band/kurt selected Andy Wallace cuz they/he liked what he did with slayer

Yes. After Kurt drove Butch crazy with his constantly-shifting mixing demands, the label gave the band a list of mixing engineers that the label would prefer and asked them to pick one. Each name had a selection of relevant credits next to them, and when they looked at Wallace, they immediately recognizing the Slayer records and went with him. Either Krist or Dave later explained why that appealed to them, commenting on the thickness of those Slayer mixes. (It was probably Krist since he was likely to benefit the most as the bass player.)

It's funny to think that Wallace also remixed Madonna's biggest '80s hits. If you have the The Immaculate Collection compilation from 1990, listen to "Into the Groove," he actually plays that keyboard break. (He added it when he made the You Can Dance remix.)

Also, before I read Wallace's interview on mixing Nevermind, my understanding of mixing was limited to what I had read about records in the pre-digital era. Needless to say, it's a pretty gigantic leap to what you could do with computers at your disposal. Too many details to remember, but the one that stuck out was how he got Grohl's snare to sound especially good - by taking a pre-made sample and mixing it in with every single snare hit on the multi-track. So every time you heard that drum hit, it was really two different sounds fused together.

*immediately recognized

He did the same thing on Dirty too (as per Browne's Goodbye 20th Century).

Tangential but my favourite story about those sessions from that book is Vig making Moore and Ranaldo figure out exactly how detuned their strings were with strobe tuners.

when my buddy Greg bought it on a late November morning record store trip (I bought Robyn Hitchcock's Perspex Island) and put the tape in the car, it boomed like Def Leppard.

Although I already loved Teen Spirit it was hearing On A Plain on Simon Barnett's GLR radio show that made Nevermind a must-purchase for me, as the blend of harmonies and heavy guitars was absolutely intoxicating, and definitely tapped into what I'd liked about Def Leppard as a kid.

Watching “Live at the Paramount” on AXS TV… this is a pretty ripping concert film, never seen it before.

Yes. I don't know jack about filming a concert (or filming anything for that matter) but I've always thought that one looks incredible. Really feels like you're there, practically on stage at times.

been listening to this band nonstop

They are a good one.

they're so good! i'm getting to know bleach for the first time

On my radio show this week I paid tribute to Kurt Cobain by playing two hours of Nirvana covers from the 90s:

The King - Come as You Are
Dead Sex Kitten - On a Plain
Ash - Blew
Cibo Matto - About a Girl
Kurt Cobain - Dumb (solo acoustic KAOS FM)
Tankcsapda - Egyszerü dal
Wasted Youth - Floyd the Barber
Sonic Youth - Moist Vagina
Whistler - All Apologies
T.U.L.P. - Make You Unhappy
Skanic - Breed
Kristin Hersh - Pennyroyal Tea
Nirvana GB - Lithium
Dr. Know - Aneurysm
Dover - Territorial Pissings
The Lounge Brigade - Heart Shaped Box
Zircus - Drain You
Les Bidochons - Crêperie
Kurt Cobain - Do Re Mi

Smells Like Teen Spirit Megamix: (starts at 1:10:00)
- Tinman - Eighteen Strings
- Calcutta Anazamama - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Neophyte and the Stunned Guys - Army of Hardcore
- Credit to the Nation - Call It What You Want
- Tori Amos - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- The Flying Pickets - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Nonex - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Lords of the Underground - Haters
- Sara DeBell - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Wheetstone Bridge - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Mary Lou Lord - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Xorcist - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Melvins - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Abigail - Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Balloon - Monstersound

Tura Satana - Negative Creep
Jonny Polonsky - In Bloom
Laura Love - Come as You Are
Digital Factor - Rape Me
UK Subs - Stay Away
Flipper - Scentless Apprentice
Paw - School
Baptism - Something in the Way
Nirvana - You Know You're Right

Kristin! I feel like I've heard her talk about Kurt before

When the With The Lights Out box was released I had a weekly slot on the 6Music breakfast show reviewing that week's new releases. I chose Do Re Mi as the track to be played on air, and after playing it the producer took me aside and had a frank and rather scathing chat with me over what constituted music you might feasibly play on a national breakfast show.

Love that song but yes maybe he was right, hope not too many listeners choked on their corn flakes that morning