Nirvana/Steve Albini pranked Eddie Vedder

Spiritual_Chaos
Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,471
in The Porch
https://youtu.be/HeEEm-r2hXE

I remember Albini saying they tricked Gene Simmons into believing that he was speaking to Kurt, when he was in fact speaking with Albini. But this was a new tidbit to me.
"Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
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Comments

  • RiotZact
    RiotZact Posts: 6,292
    I really can’t for the life of me understand where this notion that Pearl Jam was “corporate” in comparison to Nirvana comes from. It’s either blind ignorance of the bands history or pure jealousy. Isn’t Snells Like Teen Spirit on SNL considered the moment Nirvana was launched into the mainstream? National television. NBC for fucks sake, does it get more corporate than NBC?
  • dcp3y
    dcp3y Louisville KY Posts: 848
    “Industry creation”?  Whatever, nevermind!
  • Long Red
    Long Red NY Posts: 185
    The "corporate band" label infuriates me. Elitist nonsense from dudes who think they're too cool and oh so underground. 
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,471
    I saw a Nirvana t-shirt at H&M today.
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,572
    Guys, the indie vs corporate things is so 30 years ago. Indie is mainstream now, we can let the bitterness go. 
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,572
    edited May 2020
    To be fair to the parties, PJ was set up with a major label deal from the onset. Nirvana at least recorded one album and some singles for an indie label and sorta put out never mind via sub pop as well. 

    But the indie cred thing was dumb then (but understandable then coming out of the 80s) and being bothered by it now is dumb.
    Post edited by Tim Simmons on
  • Nick Namenone
    Nick Namenone Posts: 72
    While Pearl Jam was refusing to make videos and not doing press Nirvana was having their third album remixed by Scott Litt (REM) to make the album a little slicker for radio and spending a million dollars on their video.
    Their is nothing wrong with that but you don't get accuse anyone of selling out or being corporate if you do that.
  • Nick Namenone
    Nick Namenone Posts: 72
    and to Tim's pont about Nirvana releasing and album and singles independently I think the Pearl Jam deal was an extension of the Mother Love Bone deal.  I could be wrong but I think that was the case.  Jeff and Stone had already put out indie albums on Sub Pop as Green River.  They had paid their indie dues.  
    Also I don't think Nirvana had any say in Never Mind being released in conjunction with Sub Pop.  It was part of the deal.  Sub Pop let them go to a major label because it would inject a ton of cash into their company.
  • Nick Namenone
    Nick Namenone Posts: 72
    point not pont.
  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,635
    Kurt was definitely jealous of Pearl Jam's success 
    I miss igotid88
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,572
    Agreed. Could you imagine if Nirvana was successful and not PJ? 
  • Zod
    Zod Posts: 10,901
    igotid88 said:
    Kurt was definitely jealous of Pearl Jam's success 
    I thought he struggled with having too much fame himself.  Why would be jealous of other peoples fame, if he couldn't handle the amount he had?
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,471
    Zod said:
    igotid88 said:
    Kurt was definitely jealous of Pearl Jam's success 
    I thought he struggled with having too much fame himself.  Why would be jealous of other peoples fame, if he couldn't handle the amount he had?
    The bands manager said in an interview that Kurt had MTV on and called him up and complaining about how more frequently they played Pearl Jam videos VS Nirvana videos. 

    He was very competitive. 
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • Long Red
    Long Red NY Posts: 185
    edited May 2020
    Zod said:
    igotid88 said:
    Kurt was definitely jealous of Pearl Jam's success 
    I thought he struggled with having too much fame himself.  Why would be jealous of other peoples fame, if he couldn't handle the amount he had?
    His true struggle was with drugs. It was veiled by a struggle with fame that, ironically, was highly marketable by the likes of MTV.
  • Gravey1975
    Gravey1975 Posts: 342
    Courtney has also gone on record to say that Kurt was FURIOUS that Ed was on the cover of Time magazine instead of him. Meanwhile,  Ed was furious that he was on the cover at all. Kurt was a bag of contradictions.
  • Spiritual_Chaos
    Spiritual_Chaos Posts: 31,471
    Gravey1975 said:
    Courtney has also gone on record to say that Kurt was FURIOUS that Ed was on the cover of Time magazine instead of him. Meanwhile,  Ed was furious that he was on the cover at all. Kurt was a bag of contradictions.
    Recipets for the "instead of him" part?

    Hadn't the two camps agreed to not have anything to do with the Time piece? I mean that was what Eddie was furious about. That he was put on there anyways even with both PJ and Nirvana agreeing on not having antthing to do with it?
    "Mostly I think that people react sensitively because they know you’ve got a point"
  • Matts3221
    Matts3221 Posts: 658

    I would start by saying things were a lot different 30 years ago with indie vs major along with the term "sellout" , even punk bands say now how silly it was to label  a band like Green Day in 1994 as sellouts whom had no punk credit , 30 years later they admit it was so dumb to think that way but being a teenager in the early 90's this was for sure a thing.

    As mentioned before Nirvana had toured for years  before becoming successful , PJ rose to fame pretty quick even they admit that and wish they had paid their dues so to say.

    Mother Love Bone really has nothing to do with it.

    Sort of like saying Janes Addiction only got popular due to Psy Com ( Perry F old band )

    That said I don't give a shit as I loved both bands in the 90's but again if you were not a teen or older  you may not remember the way it was.

    My 18 year old niece finds it fascinating that bands used to get shit for being on TV commercials.

  • igotid88
    igotid88 Posts: 28,635
    Matts3221 said:

    I would start by saying things were a lot different 30 years ago with indie vs major along with the term "sellout" , even punk bands say now how silly it was to label  a band like Green Day in 1994 as sellouts whom had no punk credit , 30 years later they admit it was so dumb to think that way but being a teenager in the early 90's this was for sure a thing.

    As mentioned before Nirvana had toured for years  before becoming successful , PJ rose to fame pretty quick even they admit that and wish they had paid their dues so to say.

    Mother Love Bone really has nothing to do with it.

    Sort of like saying Janes Addiction only got popular due to Psy Com ( Perry F old band )

    That said I don't give a shit as I loved both bands in the 90's but again if you were not a teen or older  you may not remember the way it was.

    My 18 year old niece finds it fascinating that bands used to get shit for being on TV commercials.

    Yes Pearl Jam the band rose quickly. But the guys in the band except for Dave Krusen who was probably 21, were in their mid 20s. And close to having to find "real jobs" and maybe having to play small clubs the rest of their lives. 
    I miss igotid88
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,572
    Its not that PJ didn't bust their ass before blowing up. Its that they formed and basically had a record deal and didn't have to bust ass AS PJ/MB to "earn" it. So I get where the skepecism came from from the indie community. But again, that was a different era. 

    If anything Nirvana's success blew that paradigm up, making it OK for Indie to be mainstream. Thus making this behavior from Kurt and Albini so cringey now.


     
  • Tim Simmons
    Tim Simmons Posts: 9,572
    Also remember that this is Albini schtick. Always has been.


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