"My Chemical Romance is this generation's Nirvana"

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I gotta say, though, I haven't studied it but I'm not actually totally sure that MCR has been ignored or hated by the press. They made the cover of Spin (with a quite positive profile) and AMG loves Three Cheers at the least.

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:29 (twenty years ago)

What I've been writing has nothing to do with how good they were; it has to do with how *important* they were.

Fine, but my post didn't address your comments alone (except the one part that addressed you in particular). Some people are using musical merits - or their personal oponion of the musical merits more accurately - and saying that the band isn't important because of this. And as much as I feel that you are wrong, I feel that argument is *doubly* wrong because it's wrong for the wrong reasons.

But sure, that's not your point of contention. Noted.

As for not needing fun "then", I wish you'd elaborate on why you think "then" was any different than any other time, because I sure don't see it myself.

All times are different from all other times. That sounds evasive but I can't put it any more succinctly.

As for why did that particular time "need" music that wasn't fun, I can theorize about it and have that theory get quite convoluted and then we can debate about causal relationships and how society and pop culture are necessarily intertwined until we are so far from the OP that even Untragrrl doesn't recognize it.

So I'll just say that it doesn't matter *why* that generation didn't want or need "fun." What matters is whether they did or not, and I feel they did and I feel the evidence that bolsters that view is what sold during that time.

(Yes, that might be a circular argument but what more evidence can we use to decide what teenagers wanted then to look at what teenagers consumed?)

Also the music of the '80s wasn't *just* fun. I still think Nirvana took away a lot more than they added.

I am just guessing here, but I think the crux is that Nirvana took away stuff that you liked and added a bunch of stuff that you didn't like. And you don't like that. I wouldn't either, for what it's worth.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:27 (twenty years ago)

Cripes, who fuckin' cares?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:36 (twenty years ago)

Cripes, who fuckin' cares?

Exactly.

― James Slone (Freon Trotsky), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:39 (twenty years ago)

Even my Mom knows who Nirvana were. My Mom will never hear -- much less care -- about My Chemical Romance.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:49 (twenty years ago)

You heard it here first, folks:

Are Dracula collars the new skinny ties?

― darin (darin), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:53 (twenty years ago)

And this wasn't *that* long ago - I graduated in the mid '80s.

I love when people who graduated before I was born pretend they're still young.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 10 March 2006 02:51 (twenty years ago)

Ah, the impertinence of youth.

Fuck off, kid.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Friday, 10 March 2006 02:57 (twenty years ago)

I don't know who the next Nirvana is, but I know DAMN WELL that their album will get higher than number 28 in the charts.

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 10 March 2006 04:16 (twenty years ago)

I think we're all good that the answer to the question in the thread's title is "no." We're discussing the finer points now.

― Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 10 March 2006 05:28 (twenty years ago)

Uh, such as they are.

― Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 10 March 2006 05:28 (twenty years ago)

Nobody can deny that generation gaps are real. I just went to this show with Safety Scissors, Bochum Welt, and Thomas Dolby and the freakish split based upon what the different sets of music meant to the people in the audience and how it affected them was so clearly stratified by age group. The kids in the crowd thought it was hilariously "80s" in a way with big scare quotes around it, while the 34 year olds such as myself were sincerely going "Whooo hoooo" for synthpop classics like "She Blinded Me With Science" and "Europa". Thing is, there were crappy middle of the road pseudo-"alternative" rock bands in the 80s and they don't matter to anybody now, and figuring out whether My Chemical Romance are on one side of the fence or the other nowadays isn't so easy. When it was a choice between Mister Mister and Husker Du circa the 80s the line seemed pretty clear to me at the time and it still seems so. When it's a choice now between, say, Fall Out Boy or Yellowcard on the one hand and, say, Pissed Jeans or Mika Miko on the other, it still seems clear too, but . . . . there does seem to be more wiggle room / vagueness about what stands on what dividing line between "popular but shitty" (Fall Out Boy) and "popular for a good reason" (My Chem, according to its defenders). But I'm drunk now . . .

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 10 March 2006 08:48 (twenty years ago)

>what sold during that time.<

Hot 100 number-one hits of 1991 (USA)
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Jump to: navigation, search
These are the Billboard magazine Hot 100 number one hits of 1991.

Issue Date Song Artist
January 5 Justify My Love Madonna
January 12 Justify My Love Madonna
January 19 Love Will Never Do (Without You) Janet Jackson
January 26 The First Time Surface
February 2 The First Time Surface
February 9 Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) C&C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams
February 16 Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) C&C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams
February 23 All the Man That I Need Whitney Houston
March 2 All the Man That I Need Whitney Houston
March 9 Someday Mariah Carey
March 16 Someday Mariah Carey
March 23 One More Try Timmy T
March 30 Coming Out of the Dark Gloria Estefan
April 6 Coming Out of the Dark Gloria Estefan
April 13 I've Been Thinking About You Londonbeat
April 20 You're in Love Wilson Phillips
April 27 Baby, Baby Amy Grant
May 4 Baby Baby Amy Grant
May 11 Joyride Roxette
May 18 I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) Hi-Five
May 25 I Don't Wanna Cry Mariah Carey
June 1 I Don't Wanna Cry Mariah Carey
June 8 More Than Words Extreme
June 15 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
June 22 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
June 29 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
July 6 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
July 13 Rush Rush Paula Abdul
July 20 Unbelievable EMF
July 27 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
August 3 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
August 10 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
August 17 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
August 24 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
August 31 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
September 7 (Everything I Do) I Do It for You Bryan Adams
September 14 The Promise of a New Day Paula Abdul
September 21 I Adore Mi Amor Color Me Badd
September 28 I Adore Mi Amor Color Me Badd
October 5 Good Vibrations Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch featuring Loleatta Holloway
October 12 Emotions Mariah Carey
October 19 Emotions Mariah Carey
October 26 Emotions Mariah Carey
November 2 Romantic Karyn White
November 9 Cream Prince and the New Power Generation
November 16 Cream Prince and the New Power Generation
November 23 When a Man Loves a Woman Michael Bolton
November 30 Set Adrift on Memory Bliss P.M. Dawn
December 7 Black or White Michael Jackson
December 14 Black or White Michael Jackson
December 21 Black or White Michael Jackson
December 28 Black or White Michael Jackson

Hot 100 number-one hits of 1992 (USA)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
These are the Billboard magazine Hot 100 number one hits of 1992.

Issue Date Song Artist
January 4 Black or White Michael Jackson
January 11 Black or White Michael Jackson
January 18 Black or White Michael Jackson
January 25 All 4 Love Color Me Badd
February 1 Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me George Michael and Elton John
February 8 I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred
February 15 I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred
February 22 I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred
February 29 To Be With You Mr. Big
March 7 To Be With You Mr. Big
March 14 To Be With You Mr. Big
March 21 Save the Best For Last Vanessa Williams
March 28 Save the Best For Last Vanessa Williams
April 4 Save the Best For Last Vanessa Williams
April 11 Save the Best For Last Vanessa Williams
April 18 Save the Best For Last Vanessa Williams
April 25 Jump Kris Kross
May 2 Jump Kris Kross
May 9 Jump Kris Kross
May 16 Jump Kris Kross
May 23 Jump Kris Kross
May 30 Jump Kris Kross
June 6 Jump Kris Kross
June 13 Jump Kris Kross
June 20 I'll Be There Mariah Carey
June 27 I'll Be There Mariah Carey
July 4 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
July 11 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
July 18 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
July 25 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
August 1 Baby Got Back Sir Mix-A-Lot
August 8 This Used to Be My Playground Madonna
August 15 End of the Road Boyz II Men
August 22 End of the Road Boyz II Men
August 29 End of the Road Boyz II Men
September 5 End of the Road Boyz II Men
September 12 End of the Road Boyz II Men
September 19 End of the Road Boyz II Men
September 26 End of the Road Boyz II Men
October 3 End of the Road Boyz II Men
October 10 End of the Road Boyz II Men
October 17 End of the Road Boyz II Men
October 24 End of the Road Boyz II Men
October 31 End of the Road Boyz II Men
November 7 End of the Road Boyz II Men
November 14 How Do You Talk to An Angel The Heights
November 21 How Do You Talk to An Angel The Heights
November 28 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston
December 5 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston
December 12 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston
December 19 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston
December 26 I Will Always Love You Whitney Houston

― xhuxk, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:05 (twenty years ago)

Ah, The Heights

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:07 (twenty years ago)

Frankly, in a weird way you're proving Ultragrrl's point, Chuck. Nirvana wasn't a big deal for you, but you were already too old and too laden with music history. Whether or not that's happening with MCR is up for debate.

― js (honestengine), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Further, Chuck, Nirvana would have been on the Modern Rock charts, not the Hot 100 (until, what, 2004? when they combined Pop and Hot charts), even though they only topped it three times.

― js (honestengine), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:24 (twenty years ago)

What do those 1991 and 1992 lists have to do with my tastes, or my age? Mostly, they show how silly Brian's "that generation didn't want or need 'fun'" claim is. Unless you think Kriss Kross, Right Said Fred, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and Roxette's "Joyride" were no fun. Which would be odd. (Those Timmy T and Amy Grant songs are great too, by the way.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:25 (twenty years ago)

And what they also probably demonstrate is that most people in that "generation" cared about other music MORE than Nirvana. But I don't really believe in "generation"s anyway -- Not then, not now.

― xhuxk, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:27 (twenty years ago)

Don't forget Jackyl! They were fun.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:31 (twenty years ago)

And I wasn't "too old" for them, either! Or Kris Kross! (Or Nirvana, even! Hey, I LIKED "Smells Like Teen Spirit"! Who said I didn't?)

― xhuxk, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:33 (twenty years ago)

One thing I don't often see discussed, and this is perhaps tangential and/or projecting from my own experience, so feel free to ignore, is how Nirvana's rise sort of paralleled the media-fueled "Generation X" thing. The whole "irony/slacker/boomer resentment/children of divorce" generation idea, which seemed to have roots in the Pacific Northwest (maybe b/c Douglas Coupland lived in Vancouver, plus the Gus Van Sant connection). Of course all that turned out to be very whiny and embarrassing, but it seemed connected to Nirvana at the time (at least to me, but I was the target age for it). I wonder if that's what Brian is getting at there, when he says that this generation didn't want or need fun.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:38 (twenty years ago)

Not too old to like it, but too old to feel its importance as a watershed.

xpost— Mark OTeponymous.

― js (honestengine), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:39 (twenty years ago)

You know I can't be wastin time
Cus gotta get my fun
I got to keep on movin
Cant stop til it's all done

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

why does that person think that all music writers are 35? anyway, that's a healthy blog she has! 130 responses to that one lil' post. wow.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:50 (twenty years ago)

then again, this thread is almost 350 posts long. she must have her finger on the pulse or something.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:51 (twenty years ago)

"Time flies
When you're having fun
I heard somebody say
But if all I've been is fun
Then baby let me go
Don't wanna be in your way."
-- Gloria Estefan

― xhuxk, Friday, 10 March 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

poor sass jordan. she never had a chance...

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

entire earache records catalog at my disposal, and i'm gonna listen to nirvana in 1991? yeah, right. when nirvana make an album as good as godflesh or bolt thrower did, lemme know.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:00 (twenty years ago)

The blog post that triggered this thread isn't vaguely original. It's just youthful hubris. I complained about EXACTLY the same thing when I was in my early 20s trying to get a rock critic job at a daily newspaper. I was frustrated that all the writers were old guys over 29 who were camped out in their positions. I saw my plight as a vicious cycle: All the critics were too ancient to understand music -- at that time, my passion was the Seattle scene -- yet I was too young to be considered seriously for those jobs. I remember trying to get the Denver Post rock critic gig and feeling frustrated that the features editor looked at me like a 12-year-old when we met, even though I had a journalism degree and solid clips.

Of course, what do I know? I'm now the 35-year-old, so I'm hopelessly out of touch, right? But when I look back at my writing at 22 or 23 -- even my Kurt Cobain interview for a NYC magazine called New Route -- I cringe at its hyperbole. Today's music journos most definitely should stay respectful and plugged into music for "the kids." But they shouldn't be panicking about pandering to 16-year-olds who worship My Chemical Romance at Myspace -- at least if they're interested in writing for people who actually READ. And MCR's situation is NOT up for debate as was argued a dozen posts up. Comparing My Chemical Romance's cultural impact to Nirvana's is utterly laughable.

― Mr _Deeds (Mr_Deeds), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:00 (twenty years ago)

entire earache records catalog at my disposal, and i'm gonna listen to nirvana in 1991? yeah, right. when nirvana make an album as good as godflesh or bolt thrower did, lemme know.

-- scott seward

Have you heard From the Muddy Banks of the Wiskah?

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:03 (twenty years ago)

I've never heard Godflesh but a 40something customer at work the other day heard me playing The Silver Apples and said it sounded like "Laurie Anderson meets Godflesh" (this was after saying he'd never rent Walk The Line because "country music is the fucking worst") so I suppose Godflesh sounds like the Silver Apples if you took out all the Laurie Anderson.

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:06 (twenty years ago)

*thinks* That sounds like something Chuck would say.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:08 (twenty years ago)

i still say, out of all the people around back then, that trent reznor has proven to be way more influential than just about anyone. musically anyway. and maybe even non-musically.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Chuck doesn't look like Don Cheadle with a beard, it wasn't him.

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Clarity. (It's a weird comparison but in terms of the grimy mud low end of the Silver Apples he's not entirely far off. Sorta, if you squint.)

trent reznor has proven to be way more influential than just about anyone

Oh heck yes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:10 (twenty years ago)

Chuck doesn't look like Don Cheadle with a beard, it wasn't him.

Maybe it was someone from the Roots.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:15 (twenty years ago)

(xp) Why yes, the influence of Kriss Kross and Right Said Fred is readily apparent today...

1991 didn't happen in a vaccuum.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:17 (twenty years ago)

I wonder if NIN is worth going back and listening to again. I think I ended up selling all of my NIN albums (probably in order to buy something like Supergrass or Melt Banana).

― js (honestengine), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:17 (twenty years ago)

the downward spiral still sounds cool to me. i was blown away by the production on that album from day one. and i first had it on tape! still sounded great.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:20 (twenty years ago)

Keep in mind that Ultragrrrl likes to think that she 'discovered' MCR (although they were widely known in NY/NJ long before she knew who they were, and on their way to a major-label contract), and it's pretty obvious to me that she sees herself as this generation's Malcolm McLaren or something. She probably thinks the Misshapes parties are the 00's version of Max's Kansas City or CBGB.

otmfm

(ps: destroy nyc)

― maura (maura), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:22 (twenty years ago)

Haha remember the "magic tunnel" thing on that ill-fated thread I started about Franz Ferdinand at the Grammys? I wonder if Nirvana were more of a magic tunnel for people in 1992 (i.e., the tunnel to BOHEMIA) than My Chemical Romance is for people today. I think maybe, at least in that sense, Strokes, Killers, Franz, etc. have been "this generation's Nirvana?"

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Considering her relationship with My Chemical Romance, this proclamation has about as much validity as me saying I have the greatest dad ever.

― Terrible Cold (Terrible Cold), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:26 (twenty years ago)

scott otm

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Equal parts intelligent and childish, sarcastic but mawkish primadonna prone to weirdness at award ceremonies, heavily debated vocal skills, critical and commercial smash, gives his buds a commercial boost, maybe Kanye is this generation's Nirvana.

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Outkast being REM

― Zwan (miccio), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Do the Killers have fans who like all their pretty songs and like to sing along and like to shoot their guns but don't know what the songs mean, though? That's the question.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:42 (twenty years ago)

i think miccio's on to something

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:48 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember much debate about Cobain's vocal skills.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:49 (twenty years ago)

there was a crossfire episode about them, IIRC

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 10 March 2006 17:52 (twenty years ago)

It was the McLaughlin Group. "Pattycake, Pattycake, are Cobain's vocals those of caterwauling cats?"

"Well..."

"Wrong! They are, and you're a fool to argue!"

(As a sidenote, right after Cobain killed himself, my gramma heard Heart Shaped Box and declared that his voice wasn't going to last to 30 if he kept singing like that... 'Least of his problems, gramma.')

― js (honestengine), Friday, 10 March 2006 18:01 (twenty years ago)

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