20 Years Kurt

quasi

mcgruff10 said:

Yup. People always forget pj was the much bigger band at the time. I mean look at the sales of vs compared to in utero (especially the first week)

Bigger band in terms of sales yes, but I thought In Utero was light years ahead of what Pearl Jam was doing at the time musically. This is just my personal opinion so don't try to prove me otherwise.I am obviously a huge Pearl Jam fan but I find "In Utero" musically much more interesting than "Vs." or "Vitalogy". That being said, I think PJ really didn't get rolling until 1995ish and are better than ever these days.

The 2013 Mix of "In Utero" on vinyl sounds awesome btw. Analog cut at 45rpm.

Amongst the Ani

MSnider44 said:

I know this sounds cliche, but this band truly changed my direction and outlook in and of music at 14, 15 years old. And I haven't looked back since.

Same here. I was already into Alice in Chains thanks to We Die Young but Nevermind was the defining point where a lot of the 80's music started sounding somewhat lame. Over the years I have gravitated back to some of it out of nostalgia but I was not the same so nor was it to me. Incesticide was and still is amazing. Better than Lost Dogs. I think Dave would have left shortly no matter what but I loved the direction the band was going with when they recorded In Utero. They were still figuring out how to mix their music desires with the industries desire. Sadly he wasn't able to handle all that happened between success and the drug addiction so we never will get to hear it. Death did help build his legacy but that doesnt take from what they did or how important they were to music.

GivenToSmile

I'm not sure if the Foo Fighters would have even got off the ground if Kurt was still around. I love Nirvana and what they did for rock music. But Foo Fighters are 10 times the band Nirvana ever was. Would die to hear Dave sing a Nirvana song one day.

rgambs

yeah they shook the world and that's great, but the quality of music just wasn't there. Creativity and originality, yes, but not quality. I doubt anyone here would try to equate the musical talents of kris with jeff, or of kurt with eddie or stone.

oysterjar

I don't know how long they would have held it together if Kurt hadn't died. Nirvana was amazing and different that will never change. They can't really be compared to PJ and all that they have done, and done for us. But their music at the time was the best thing that happened to rock for a while and for that I will always like their raw sound and shitty clothes.

quasi

rgambs said:

yeah they shook the world and that's great, but the quality of music just wasn't there. Creativity and originality, yes, but not quality. I doubt anyone here would try to equate the musical talents of kris with jeff, or of kurt with eddie or stone.

If you mean by technical playing, then maybe you are correct. But technical playing isn't everything. That is not a measure of total musicality. There should be a base competency but after that it's all subjective. So, I think there are plenty of people that would equate the talents of Krist with Jeff or Kurt with Eddie. Also, I'm sure Eddie would love it if you went up to him and told him that he was straight up a better musician than Kurt.

Pap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09FDdfC5R48

mcgruff10

quasi said:

mcgruff10 said:

Yup. People always forget pj was the much bigger band at the time. I mean look at the sales of vs compared to in utero (especially the first week)

Bigger band in terms of sales yes, but I thought In Utero was light years ahead of what Pearl Jam was doing at the time musically. This is just my personal opinion so don't try to prove me otherwise.I am obviously a huge Pearl Jam fan but I find "In Utero" musically much more interesting than "Vs." or "Vitalogy". That being said, I think PJ really didn't get rolling until 1995ish and are better than ever these days.

The 2013 Mix of "In Utero" on vinyl sounds awesome btw. Analog cut at 45rpm.

Totally agree that in utero was better than vs. I think in utero was nirvana s no code.

dmaradona10

Nirvana was a ground breaking band and they changed the landscape of rock music in the early 90s. This is my collection, it's probably not much, but the music has always meant something to me.

Amongst the Ani

The other day I accidentally stumbled upon the New Years Eve 93 Nirvana show I was at on youtube. I had never ever though to look there for it. But sure as shit there it was, the whole thing. Someone recorded it from a great view point with a video camera and put it out on youtube a couple of years ago. That had made my year. It was as great as I remembered it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsgvUxO_CQ

DriftingByTheStorm

Disagree that they were on the way out. In Utero was hugely popular st my school. MTV unplugged performance was generally recognized as the harrowing brilliance it was. I remember the entire tone of our school changing the day his death was announced. ALL my friends (the entire freak-nerd vortex of freethinkers) were in some degree of genuine distress. You could make a fair case that the musical landscape was in the throws of shifting back towards more rap-pop centric culture but it wasn't Nirvana that was on the way out. happy music and gangster rap were simply usurping mainstream media hyped "grunge" culture. Maybe not everyone in our "generation" felt it, but he definitely stood as and remains in the hearts of many a sort of sad generational spokesman who screamed the disaffection so many felt, giving voice to their silent angst.

On a side note, I think today I finally have come to terms with the fact that Kurt actually DID kill himself. I have long bought in to the Tom Grant theories (having received his weekly update emails WAY back in the day) surrounding Courtney and her motives, however going back and re reading his suicide note today, even ignoring the "forged" bottom lines, it seems pretty clear. It is the note of a sad man, acknowledging his own failure to love his fortune. acknowledging that he is a hypocritical whiner.

The kicker for me is the following lines, where any notion that he was about to divorce Courtney is laid to bed, and his disturbed fears for his daughter rather clearly paint the picture of a morbidly depressed little man:

I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy and a daughter who reminds me too much of what i used to be, full of love and joy, kissing every person she meets because everyone is good and will do her no harm. And that terrifies me to the point to where I can barely function. I can't stand the thought of Frances becoming the miserable, self-destructive, death rocker that I've become.

RIP, little Pisces Jesus man.

FrankY59

I read somewhere Neil Young regretting not being able to talk to Kurt in which he nearly had a chance very close to before he died. It was basically the same speech given to Eddie as depicted in PJ20. He still wonders if it would've saved him.

HesCalledDyer

EnterThanman said:

jp307677 said:

I like Nirvana, but the band is so overrated and so is Kurt. I think it's ridiculous that people look at guys like him as heroes. Him and his wife were clearly junkies whose lives were an absolute mess. I don't think that's iconic at all, and it's a shame that he gets more attention and credit than others who make better music and keep their lives together and don't make fools out of themselves.

Wow man, have some compassion. Drug abuse is a disease, not something to judge someone on. Get off your high horse. Judge him on his music, anything else is none of your business.

A self-inflicted disease. Everyone knows the dangers of doing heroin before they do it, so why would anyone in their right mind wanna do it? "Not iconic at all" is right.

jp307677

HesCalledDyer said:

EnterThanman said:

jp307677 said:

I like Nirvana, but the band is so overrated and so is Kurt. I think it's ridiculous that people look at guys like him as heroes. Him and his wife were clearly junkies whose lives were an absolute mess. I don't think that's iconic at all, and it's a shame that he gets more attention and credit than others who make better music and keep their lives together and don't make fools out of themselves.

Wow man, have some compassion. Drug abuse is a disease, not something to judge someone on. Get off your high horse. Judge him on his music, anything else is none of your business.

A self-inflicted disease. Everyone knows the dangers of doing heroin before they do it, so why would anyone in their right mind wanna do it? "Not iconic at all" is right.

Thanks. Disease? I'd call it laziness, stupidity, and no will power.

lanoisseforp

RIP Kurt and still a legend to this day… I will pull out one of your records now to listen. I have defended your band over the past 20+ years when people said Nirvana ruined the music business and to be quite honest… it was your band that saved the 90s music because many others were releasing shit at the time. Again RIP Kurt Cobain and you are missed and will never be forgotten.

oysterjar

Although I can't or won't justify what he did some people just never get out of a rut. Sometimes it goes beyond will power and some people just have a strangely skewed version of how life works. It sucks he died but it was his choice, and that doesn't make him an icon his music did. Same with Layne Staley. A lot of this darkness is what makes them great artists across all mediums.

FrankY59

I'm a doctor...addiction is a disease.

This was a monologue on the beginning track of a TOOL song 'Third Eye'

"See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do. And if you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor; go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CD’s and burn em’. 'Cause you don't want the musicians who’ve made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years?..
Rrrrrrrreal fuckin' high on drugs."

Sadly I agree this applies a lot of times in music.

Last-12-Exit

RS151862 said:

rival. said:

It would be interesting to think about how long Nirvana would have stuck around if it weren't for Kurt's death.

I cant imagine Dave would have spent many more years behind the drum kit playing Kurt's songs. Hes too talented, and even if Kurt lived that solo Foo release would have eventually happened. Maybe later than 1995, but not much.

I agree with this 100%. Dave was way to talented to stay with nirvana.

Nirvana was a great band. I don't think they were overrated. Kurt had an incredible voice. Had he not died, I don't think nirvana would have remained a band, but Kurt would have definitely made more great music that most if us would love.

timmay44212

I loved nirvana. I went through multiple copies of nevermind because i wore the tapes out. Kurt changed music. Unfortunately, because of his selfish act, we'll never know what may have been.

evsgjamm

FrankY59 - love the quote. Great album.

I had a 10 hour drive today on a nice Spring day; the nicest Spring day we've had up here in Alberta this year and before I walked out the door this morning, I took my visor-CD holder out of the truck, brought it into the house and grabbed my big 3 inch CD binder off my LP shelf. I flipped past my 7 or 8 pages of PJ albums to the one page of Nirvana albums and I grabbed all of them and put them into my CD sleeve for the truck. I tuned out the radio and plugged in the Bleach. Absolutely cranked it. Up to 11 for sure. (damn; that guy on here with that handle "11 is one more than 10" or whatever he says... fuck that's golden shit.) Anyways, I proceeded to entertain my ears and fill my brain with the 90's gold, including "I'M A NEGATIVE CREEP!!! I'M A NEGATIVE CREEP!! I'M A NEGATIVE CREEP AND I'M STONNNNED!" and

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Or maybe just happy

As the hours rushed by and the miles rolled over by the hundreds I came to end of my musical tribute of respect which inevitably ending in a good scream to :

MY GIRL!!!!
MY GIRL!!!!!
DON'T LIIIIIIE TO ME!!!
TELL ME WHERE!! DID YOU SLEEP!!!! LAST NIGHT?!?!
IN THE PINES!!!
THE PINES!!!
WHERE THE SUN!!!
D'SHINE!!
I SHIVVAAHHHHHHHHHh..........
oh wh'oah ohhh
*big sigh*
NIIIIIIIIIIGHT THROUUUUUUUUUUUUGH

It was a great day to remember.