Nirvana's effect
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
Despite the Antinirvana hatred on this board, no one can deny that Smells like Teen Spirit was THE SONG of the ninties, and that Nirvana was at the very least the most important band of that decade.
Kurt and his lyrics and Nirvana in general touched many people, myself included.
But 15 plus years after Neverminds release, what effect has the most important band of the ninties had on popular music?
They changed everything when they came out, changing the face of popular music and pop culture. But now nearly 20 years later, in my mind, rock music in general is as stale, boring, repetative and bland as anything that was going on pre Nirvana.
What is Nirvana's lasting impact? And why is such an important band, known for revolutionizing rock music, now almost forgotten?
Kurt and his lyrics and Nirvana in general touched many people, myself included.
But 15 plus years after Neverminds release, what effect has the most important band of the ninties had on popular music?
They changed everything when they came out, changing the face of popular music and pop culture. But now nearly 20 years later, in my mind, rock music in general is as stale, boring, repetative and bland as anything that was going on pre Nirvana.
What is Nirvana's lasting impact? And why is such an important band, known for revolutionizing rock music, now almost forgotten?
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I thought that "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller...." by Skee-lo was the song of the nineties.
but yeah Nirvana is awesome
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
"Name my kids ghetto names, Lil Mookie, Big Al, Lorraine"
Summerfest 2006
"Why would they come to our concert just to boo us?" -Lisa Simpson
It's not easy being open-minded. Everyone likes to think they are, but most are not. As I get older, I notice fewer and fewer truly open-minded people my age...most will just listen to the same 30 cd's they bought in their teens and talk about how great it was back then...it's sad, stale, boring, repetitive, and bland.
i agree. and that is all i am gonna say on the matter.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
WTF? Most overrated band ever maybe, but they are about the last band to come to mind as forgotten.
thats odd. I thought it was reguarded as fact not only by fans and critics but by members of the grunge scene (ie Kurt, Chris, Layne, Jerry etc...) that grunge was a needed kick in the pants of rock music and music in general. It turned millions of kids onto alt rock. It was different. Rock wasnt the top of the charts in the 80's. It was michael jackson and Madonna. It was spandex and big hair and power ballads. It was music about scoring chicks and groupies and partying.
You need to open you eyes. I was young in 1991, but I knew fully well what the hell was going on. You obviously havent got a goddamn clue.
Ed, Kurt, and all the others I mentioned were obviously influenced by earlier bands, but they universally hated the hair metal trash of the 80's. Music inthe 80's sucked. So instead of bashing me, why not bash Ed and everyone else because thats what they said, I am merely concurring with their statements.
Jon Bon Jovi, Kiss, Motley Crue, Poison, are a hell of a lot different than Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Soundgarden and Alice. And if you cant see that, you might want to get your head out of the sand.
I was alive and concious in 1991-1994. And I remember turning on MTV and them actually playing Alice, or STP or Pearl Jam. I remember turning on the alt rock station which lets not forget came about BECAUSE of Nirvana, and you could hear great music.
Now, what do we have Three days grace, Nickelback, Hinder, 3 doors down, puddle of mudd its hair metal hair rock designed for the meat headed rocker who doesnt like a sidedish of substance with their RAWK!
You want to honestly tell me that rock music on the radio and mainstream rock is worthwhile? You want to honestly say that Nirvana didnt change and rearrange rock when Nevermind hit? You want to honestly argue that many bands that I just bashed, have nirvana as their influence
I mean HONESTLY?
He clearly means today's mainstream music, which is most definitely stale, boring, repetitive, and bland when compared to the mainstream rock music of the early-mid 90's. Why are you so quick to judge him and label him as closed-minded?
Judging by your post, I can see that's very true.
I was just responding to you saying rock music today is stale, boring, etc. It's never been stale...it's only been unpopular from time to time.
Music in the 80's, 90's, whenever has never sucked...there's always crummy acts out there, and there's always great ones out there existing at the same time.
My point is that we should separate good music from popular music....they rarely have anything in common.
disagree radically on the last point.
Grunge was one time when the good music and pop music collided and were one
the british invasion with the beatles and the stones was another
the whole hippie rock scene in the 60's with jimi, and the doors and janis and the jefferson airplane, dylan and simon and garfunkel
the whole singer songwriter movement in the 70's Dylan continued, uncle neil, joni mitchell, james taylor, jackson browne
the whole working class music of the 80's-uncle bruce and john mellencamp
the punk scene in 77-clash, damned, ramones, sex pistols
the indie rock scene of the 2000's-artic monkeys, arcade fire, broken social scene, bloc party, bright eyes, interpol, damien rice etc...
riot grrl scene of the 90's-bikini kill, bratmobile, heavens to betsy, sleater kinney
So I completely disagree with you.
There are times when the mainstream rock scene sucks, and when the mainstream rock scene well....rocks.
Back in 1991-kids were by the millions all hyped up on Nirvana PJ, Soundgarden and Alice. They were popular bands. That was the mainstream rock scene
Now what mainstream rock acts are popular? Linkin Park, Nickelback, Three Days Grace, Hinder etc... big difference in my view
Was rock different in 1980 vs 1991? As I said, is Poison, Ratt, Styx, Jon Bon Jovi, different from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice? In style? sonically? Lyrically? as people and rock stars?
your assertion that music in the 80's never sucked, is something kurt personally said he disagreed with. Its a quotable from him. Look it up.
Those bands you listed aren't my cup of tea either. But don't listen to ROCK 103 FM or whatever to tell you which bands to listen to. There's good music out there, you just have to want to find it. Again, with your calls for people to stop being lazy and rise up, you should appreciate what he's saying there.
who cares what kurt said? make up your own mind. i remember the 80s and yes there was music that sucked. in fact i know i was listening to some of it.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
it is such a simple concept, right? i don't know why some people just don't get it.
i don't think we need to go so far as to separate (i don't get why everything needs to be categorized and compartmentalized), just let people like what they like and go with it, but i totally understand what you are trying to say. when it all comes down to it, an individual's definition of "good" and "popular" are vastly different - what is "good" to me, you might think suck and vice versa.
As for the original question , well the Seattle scene did kill off the hair metal bands , those that survived had to adapt their ways .
I was never a big fan of Nirvana , I liked some of their songs but always prefered Soundgarden , PJ and AIC .
My problem with Nirvana /Cobain were the lyrics . I never found them to be that profound , in fact much of Teen Spirit is random words used because they rhyme . Then , when they do make sense , I find the idea of a 24 year old man singing about teenage angst , slightly disturbing . In 1991 Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder were singing "Hungerstrike" ; Cobain was singing about the fact that his mummy and daddy weren't kind to him . For fucks sake , grow up .
Finally on a personal note , which has nothing to do with the music , I find Cobain's neglect of his parental duties repugnant .
9/9/06
Everton 3 RS 0
Fact remains...Nirvana suck. Nothing but junkie fodder.
Nirvana opened doors. They were iconic in a way that no other grunge band was, which had its good and bad moments.
Admittedly I rarely listen to nevermind these days, though I still churn out Bleach and In utero on occasion, but at the time, it was the record that changed my perception of what was out there musically.
Ten changed my perception full stop, but I dont know if I would have heard it if Nirvana's nevermind didn't get the ball rolling.
Grunge blew away bad 80s hair metal, something has to come from somewhere to blow away the crappy bands of today. the trouble is, most mainstream stuff imitates, not initiates. you have to go outside the obvious to find decent music, but not many people can be bothered to do so.
A lot of people say they miss "the good old days" but the "good old days" had a lot of shit too, and yeah that does include the grunge 'momvemet.' It's also annoying to read some stuffy old music critics who believed that every last shred of musical talent died out in the 60s/70s.
I think there's a pretty good U2 lyric (no wait, don't run away) that sums it all up. I may have completely missed the point of it but still.
"Don't believe in the 60's
The golden age of pop
You glorify the past
When the future dries up"
Anyway, Nirvana. Great band but I'm in the "Wouldn't-Be-As-Famous-If-Kurt-Didn't-Die" camp. I think they're a bit overrated and to say that they changed the face of music and pop culture is taking it a little bit far, I think. But they were still an amazingly talented band.
To the person who said Kurt Cobain should have grown up...well, I think it could be argued that a lot of the grunge music was about angst. I know angst has a lot of bad connotations, especially with this 'emo scene' we've got. There's a lot of lyrics about rebelling against authority and painful childhood memories. I think it was just a common theme, and Pearl Jam certinally had their fair share of music like that. That's why I personally don't see this "Pearl Jam has always being a political band" argument but let's not go there.
Oh, and I wouldn't say Nirvana is forgotten. I'd say they'll be regarded as one of the "immortal" bands sooner or later, if not already.
Right, that's really what I'm getting at.
Right, I also try not to categorize things and what not. I was just saying we should separate "rock music" from "popular rock music" when having discussions like this because otherwise we end up making blanket statements that aren't true like "rock music today is bland, etc.".
And I agree that "good" is not always different from "popular". Sometimes they are the same.
9/17/95-New Orleans,LA 8/14/00-New Orleans,LA 4/8/03-New Orleans,LA 4/13/03-Tampa,FL 10/8/04-Kissimmee,FL 8/5/07-Chicago,IL 6/16/08-Columbia,SC 6/23/09-(EV Solo)Atlanta,GA 5/1/10-New Orleans,LA 9/21/12-Pensacola,FL 11/1/13-New Orleans,LA 4/11/16-Tampa,FL 4/23/16-New Orleans,LA
And above all that...who cares if mainstream music is artistically alive and growing? Typically, by the time something pure and good gets popular, it's on its way down anyway. There's always something good that's alive and well, and you just have to find it. Nowadays that's so easy with myspace and the internet in general...I literally have a backlog of bands I want to check out now.
that's for sure..!
EV intro to Chloe Dancer / Crown of Thorns
10/25/13 Hartford
Totally blew me away...
Nirvana did that too, as did a lot of bands.
they would have been as famous without Kurt's death, though the fame would have dwindled as time went on. Like the pj boys...
I think if Kurt were alive now he would be a reclusive singer songwriter, very grassroots sort of stuff, bit like John Frusciante is doing. Lots of interesting collaborations. I know he was meant to record with Micheal Stipe b4 he died, but just think of how many more there would have been...
I hate how people always act like those people who die young are overrated.
Jimi, Jim, Janis, Stevie, Keith moon, james dean, tupac etc... all died young, but its hard to deny their talent and ability and power
Again, I think this is all a Nirvana vs pearl Jam thing. For years this board has had an underlying hatred of Nirvana. The only reasoning I can come up with is that Kurt and Nirvana are continually refered to as one of the most important bands ever. yet very few critics or top 10 lists would list Pearl Jam or Ed as one of the most important bands ever or one of the most important frontmen ever.
Which, for the most part, are all influenced sonicaly by the big 4 from Seattle. There are some bright spots in mainstream rock, though: Queens of the Stone Age, The White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, etc.
I agree, Nirvana could've been Kurt Cobain and any 2 other people...it wouldn't have mattered. Not to say the others weren't good, because they were...but the whole creative direction for Nirvana depended on Cobain. Pearl Jam is much more democratic.
Their music have never meant anything to me and I have always perceived them as a trailer trash outcast band embraced by the same millions of people embracing pop culture today. Pop culture = motherfucking joke. Nirvana have never been anything more than pop – don’t kid yourself in thinking they were a revolutionary rock group.
I repeat, their music means nothing to me. Zero.
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world." Herman Melville : Moby Dick
typical Nirvana cocksucker we have here. typical. boo
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world." Herman Melville : Moby Dick