The sound of Nirvana

Huh, I thought I’d read that Kurt insisted on the Hot Rods. But I think (and this is just pure conjecture on my part) that Kurt was heading to a similar place that Paul Westerberg had been; that is, the new stuff he was writing may not have been particularly suited to his drummer’s strengths/abilities.

If grohl wouldn’t have used those sticks ( or brushes or bongos or whatever) he would have sounded hilarious banging out everything at max volume

If grohl wouldn’t have used those sticks ( or brushes or bongos or whatever) he would have sounded hilarious banging out everything at max volume

LMAO

just wanna chime in and say ums otm, it is hard to watch Kris in old interviews.

all 3 of them, really, but especially him. it's kind of a bummer now that there are so many goofy interviews (often instigated by Kris) when it'd be nice to have more thoughtful answers from Kurt.

Grohl says Kurt had a bit of a gripe with him about the drums being too loud, in the doc that comes with the Unplugged BluRay. He was in a bad mood all told; there had been some altercation with a fan outside beforehand or something. Still in the actual gig he’s pretty upbeat; I love the grin when someone shouts out ‘Kumbaya’ and the good-natured “I was *waiting* for that..” when the obligatory shout goes up for ‘Freebird’, plus his light ribbing of Pat Smear for his love of Queen. Jolly good bants all round.

So.. book-wise neither Heavier Than Heaven nor Come As You Are is much good? I know the Everett True book generally gets the side-eye from fans.

all 3 of them, really, but especially him. it's kind of a bummer now that there are so many goofy interviews (often instigated by Kris) when it'd be nice to have more thoughtful answers from Kurt.

― alpine static, Friday, September 24, 2021 5:57 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah the group interviews always devolve into sarcastic nonsense, he was better by himself in interviews

I mean Krist was dumb enough to turn into a libertarian so

As far as the sound of Nirvana tho the overdriven bass sound on Breed is so phat

i rewatched the unplugged episode on youtube bc of this discussion and idk i feel like grohl is visibly playing with a light touch even with the hot rods, at least until "where did you sleep last night" where he is suddenly hitting the snare mega hard but i imagine he's responding to the immensity of the vibe in that room during that song

idk maybe he got it together last minute, i really enjoy all the "the rehearsals were disasters but the taping was perfect" stories about this moment

"where did you sleep last night" is doom metal btw

Kind of interesting - Butch Vig is answering questions on the Nirvana twitter account now.

If I listen to Nevermind at all, it's the second side. "On a Plain" is a world-historic jam. American singers don't often flirt with camp as well as Cobain does with his lyrics and vocal approach here: I love myself better than you/I know it's hard but when can I dooooo.

Of the three books I thought ET did by far the best one, but that’s probably just me.

krist is one of the ultimate right place right time guys

I know the Everett True book generally gets the side-eye from fans.

I really, really loved ET's book. Easily my favourite Nirvana book.

I really enjoyed True's book as well. The only other Cobain biog I (half) read was by Christopher Sandford, and that was awful.

Reading that New Yorker piece reminds me that I was at that Roseland show.

I was taking notes, the wall of the raised former stage and now VIP section (the first time I saw a show there was Sonic Youth and they played on that stage) was at my back, as I reviewed the show and suddenly I was getting wet. I looked up and there was Courtney Love spilling beer on me.

I asked why and she said "I hate writers."

Then while kneeling down to talk to me, she introduced me to "a writer I don't hate," Everett True for reasons I cannot fathom.

I actually met him a night or two before at another CMJ Convention show. It was at Brownie's, maybe. I was near the front and there was a table there that was very wobbly. For some reason I decided to put my bag of CMJ goodies on it. That act alone shifted the weight of the table so dramatically that it caused a beer someone placed on it to slide off and break against the wooden floor.

The owner of the beer was Everett True. And he was pissed (not British pissed, drunk; he evidently wanted to get British pissed and wasn't yet, so he was instead angry pissed) and demanded I purchase him a replacement. This would have been the correct protocol but I was a broke-ass metal "critic" and I literally had a Subway token to get me back to Brooklyn after the show. I literally showed him my empty wallet but he was unrelenting. Fortunately for me Steve Holtje, a friend and copy-editor at Creem who I wrote for at the time, took pity on my and bought the lush a beer for me.

So anyway, I shake his hand while Courtney Love smiles down on me.

"We've met."

hahahahah

Well, it’s a stark memory, if not a pleasant one.

speaking of their behavior in interviews, here's one i haven't seen before, from way back in January of 1990, when they still were excited to be interviewed / took interviews somewhat seriously / weren't tired of doing interviews, etc. both Kurt and Krist actually answer the questions, though you can see Future Interview Krist bubbling under the surface:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__8UDylv7WU

awesome video
it's amazing how much changed, so quickly. they seem excited to be asked

Omg

Interesting to hear Kurt unironically refer Nirvana as a "grunge rock band"

somehow I don't even remember where I saw this 12 hours ago, but wherever it was said it was the band's first-ever recorded interview. doubly cool, if so.

Interesting to hear Chad describe their sound (and future direction) as “heavy pop”

thread inspired to dig into the non-singles from in utero, what a good band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-AtW4wfnDE

*inspired me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0d2f_EqXNc

just heavy as fuck, its crazy that this is like the most popular rock band from the last 30 years

I love In Utero and the non-singles are crucial - they provide so much of the catharsis that made that album a singular achievement. (For the same reason, there's no way they'd ever become radio hits.)

I love those two songs so much. That was actually the Nirvana album that I really connected with. I liked Nevermind but not as much as Badmotorfinger and actually tired of it after a while at the time (to buy it again years later). In Utero fit right in with the noise-rock and post-hardcore stuff I was listening to by 94-95. Re popularity, iirc, it sold less than half of what Nevermind did? I didn't think Nirvana were as popular as Pearl Jam at the time - have they overtaken them retrospectively? (Green Day?) It certainly sold more than most other records with tracks like those, though, many times what the best-selling Sonic Youth album sold even.

Oh, it was released in 93. I didn't get it until 94.

Nirvana has 20.8M Spotify listeners compared to 11M for Pearl Jam and 19.8M for Green Day. OK.

I remember “Milk It” was actually the first song I heard from that album because it appeared on some DGC comp with a magazine issue — Option maybe? I really can’t remember — a couple of months or so even before “Heart-Shaped Box” came out. I remember playing it for board vet donut bitch at my place and we were pretty damn impressed.

Somehow I expected Foo Fighters to be in the same ballpark but no.

That said “Everlong” is one of the biggest songs they have after “smells like teen spirit” and “come as you are”

the foo fighters lost a lot of monthly listeners as dave grohl increasingly loses any traces of his coolness from the 90s

Just listened to the two songs linked above, and was reminded why "In Utero" is hands down my favorite Nirvana album. While the pop fan in me prefers the production on "Nevermind" due to the more clean, shiny sound, I think "In Utero" is where Nirvana truly assimilated their strengths, by managing to combine the noisy sludge of "Bleach" with the colorful sonic shading of "Nevermind", coming through with an album that feels more fully formed than "Bleach", and also rocks harder than "Nevermind".

Btw we went through this on another thread can’t remember which one but the actual most popular or at least most streamed rock band from the past 30 years in both spotify and youtube and also the most followers on their facebook fan page is Linkin Park.

Interesting. It does make a certain sense, given that Linkin Park had a diamond album, which definitely cements a legacy as far as music goes (see also: Green Day, Pearl Jam, a certain band that this thread revolves around, etc).

I wrote off Nirvana as populist fratboy music in '91 (because I'd never listened to them properly) but In Utero brushed that aside with its immense heaviness and core weirdness, one of the great albums of all time for me. I still can only listen to about half of Nevermind before the polish clogs in my ears.

Both slavishly overrated.

glad Alex in NYC is here to set the record straight

Haha Linkin Park has 22M monthly listeners!

In Utero, whatever you might think, is the most abrasive album to hit #1 to date.

Weirdly felt like Alex in 1993, at 11 years old. My thing was only buying the live albums cuz I felt like I heard the studio albums a million times from just being out around. I wasn't exactly boy about town.

the most abrasive album to hit #1 to date

Mmmmaybe. My vote would probably go to Pantera's Far Beyond Driven, but it's a close race.

At your service.

I don't really mind Krist's doofus persona in the early interviews -- he's funny! I can't find it, but there's one from 1991 that always cracks me up where he says the "Teen Spirit" video was directed by "Sam Bayer, TV's Jethro."

Is it the only Albini-produced album to hit #1?

Nope, Bush's Razorblade Suitcase also hit #1 in America.

And I would say, arguably, that Bush album is even more abrasive at moments than Nevermind.

I always forget Steve Albini produced that one.