pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

(I recognize a lot of ppl care about Nirvana, but I’m not sure why that angle needs to be pushed so hard.)

Maybe, but as a 35 year-old Nirvana stan who worshipped Cobain in his tweens, it jives with, and expands on my limited understanding of what was going on musically in 1990.

I recoil from the NIRVANA CHANGED ROCK, MAN cliche, but I don't see the problem in this example.

The two paragraphs about Cobain the middle are fine; I don’t think it needed to circle back at the end. (Even if it were talking about influence on my favorite all-time artist, I’d probably feel the same way.)

(But I acknowledge the essay takes “influence” as a central concern, so I guess it makes sense from that perspective.)

I found that part a bit difficult to swallow because it seems to be saying "you thought the first couple Pixies albums were a huge influence on Nirvana, but Pod is an even bigger influence, and just happens to feature Kim Deal, also of tbe Pixies."

I read it more as 'you thought the first couple of Black Francis-helmed Pixies albums were a huge influence on Nirvana, but Kim Deal's songwriting and Pod in particular are even bigger influences'.

^^^ this

Apart from forcing me to re-listen to what is for me the Breeders' weakest album, the review adds historical context.

6 of one half...

Like sussing out how much Black Francis vs Kim Deal is in "Lithium" is kind of a self-defeating exercise.

lol I remember the Pixies influence on Nirvana being a thing mentioned often at the time--as if the Pixies were some obscure '60s group and not a going concern back then

They were obscure compared to Nirvana.

When I first heard Nevermind, my immediate thought was oh here's a band that is blantantly ripping off Pixies. There's obviously a lot more there too, but that was my first impression.

Pitchfork gave a lot of love to this Lomelda album recently and I think i agree with them. Haven't heard much on here about it but it's been really hitting the spot lately.

and here's some more about Enya!

https://i.imgflip.com/4f5vw4.jpg

the Goats Head Soup review is terrific

It sure is. Can’t wait to listen to that reissue (and I wasn’t interested until reading that).

Yeah, that's a very good review. Their transformation into Mojo is progressing smoothly...

Joke's on you, Enya has already happened.

xps

joke's on you you heard an (enya) bitin' ass crew

When I first heard Nevermind, my immediate thought was oh here's a band that is blantantly ripping off Pixies. There's obviously a lot more there too, but that was my first impression.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Sunday, September 13, 2020 9:23 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

more Boston than the Pixies but the quiet/loud/quiet thing was def there.

it's funny when you first hear things that end up being iconic, saw the Strokes open for Doves in a small club and thought they were doing a Smiths ripoff

all up enya

"Enya is everywhere" is what we used to say while watching my sister's Moonshadows tape

extremely Mojo Nixon voice

for the record i just wrote then deleted a martha-related mojo enya joke

lol I remember the Pixies influence on Nirvana being a thing mentioned often at the time--as if the Pixies were some obscure '60s group and not a going concern back then

There was a little cognitive dissonance when I first realized the first Pixies album came out a year before the first Nirvana album and they were contemporaries at the time of Nevermind. Not saying the influence was absent but it was more like the influence of MBV on Smashing Pumpkins than the influence of Black Sabbath on Soundgarden.

I'm from Ireland, and have thus been exposed to considerably more of Enya's music over the years than I might ideally have wanted. The sight of Pitchfork trying to turn her into some sort of Delia Derbyshire figure is absolutely hilarious.

yeah Trompe Le Monde in rotation with Nevermind for sure

maybe it's common knowledge, but is the line from "Trompe le Monde": "We went to the store and bought something great
Which samples this song from Washington state" a Nirvana diss? Or does that not even line up chronologically?

P4k are years late to the Enya party!

https://thequietus.com/articles/14120-enya-watermark-review
https://thequietus.com/articles/19296-enya-interview-roma-nicky-ryan

maybe it's common knowledge, but is the line from "Trompe le Monde": "We went to the store and bought something great
Which samples this song from Washington state" a Nirvana diss? Or does that not even line up chronologically?

― tylerw, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 12:22 PM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

wiki says TLM and nevermind were released on the same day!?

i can't imagine pixies worry a whole lot about bleach era nirvana

i think the pixies thing is overstated. they were just as much influenced by wipers, melvins, husker du. Pixies didn't have a copyright on creating the quiet LOUD quiet LOUD thing. Nirvana just polished up a combination of underground sounds with some particularly catchy melodies and a very pretty dude at the front?

Circling back to the Stones review —

“Criss Cross” is the sort of cowbell-clanging boogie that Royal Trux spent half of their existence chasing

– this is a good jam, but I don't particularly hear a lot of Trux in it... or even any cowbell (unless I'm going deaf).

yeah idk about that but I did read somewhere in the past that goats head soup is Neil and/or Jennifer’s favorite stones album

i think the pixies thing is overstated. they were just as much influenced by wipers, melvins, husker du. Pixies didn't have a copyright on creating the quiet LOUD quiet LOUD thing. Nirvana just polished up a combination of underground sounds with some particularly catchy melodies and a very pretty dude at the front?

― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Wednesday, September 16, 2020 1:11 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've read the band was more concerned that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was pretty much exactly the riff from "More Than a Feeling" by Boston

The rhythm and first two chords are similar. The third and fourth chords are totally different, though.

you know who also did the quiet/LOUD thing before Nirvanna?

Beethoven

*leans way back in chair*

so did my man JEHOVAH tbrr

I’m just so glad that review highlights the brilliance of “Lime House”-maybe the best song Kim Deal has ever written

Agreed re: Limehouse, god I love that track, even its problematic lyrics.

Beethoven was my fav grunge act aside from Mudhoney

“Criss Cross” is the sort of cowbell-clanging boogie that Royal Trux spent half of their existence chasing

I wonder if Stuart Berman actually meant to reference "All the Rage" (the preceding track)? That one sounds more Trux-ian, and has audible cowbell.

xpost
https://www.seattlesymphony.org/~/media/2021-event-images/banner/2021-1017-ad-880x399.jpg

haha jesus christ

I mean the Pixies thing stems in large part from Kurt specifically saying he was trying to rip them off when he wrote SLTS, but maybe he was trying to throw people off the scent

He also said

“It was such a cliched riff,” he said. “It was so close to a Boston riff or ‘Louie Louie.’

Kurt was pretty generous about pointing out his influences

Hey, what if there were multiple things that influenced him? Like has anyone here said that song absolutely was in no way influenced by Boston?

This whole teasing out of just what exact % does each possible influence contribute to this or that song is ridiculous.

xp

Success has a thousand fathers, but TAD is an orphan.

This whole teasing out of just what exact % does each possible influence contribute to this or that song is ridiculous.

Hm? I wasn't doing that. I was making the same point as you, that multiple things influenced him, and also the video in the link is hilarious.