Pursuingchange

...or grunge in general? I don't intend to sit here and dog Nirvana, I don't think they were a terrible band. At least I could sit through one of their songs. I just wanted to ask if there was anyone else out there who feels the same way I do about Nirvana's status as a "legendary" rock band. I just don't see it that way. I think they were ok, but it just kills me how people think they are the greatest thing to ever happen to music. And what's worse is that it seems like one is not allowed to dislike Nirvana. People always look at me like a deer in headlights, puzzled as can be when I tell them I don't like Nirvana. I don't get it. Sure, they were a good band, but why do they have to be everyone's favorite? I have some very strong opinions abouts this whole issue, but I will wait and get other people's opinions before I go into detail about them.

Burning Down

They are not my favourite either. I do like their hits but I can't listen to a whole album.

Nirvana is a huge phenomenon among teens today for some reason, with so many high school students saying they're the best band, etc. It was like that 9 years ago when I started high school and I don't think it's changed.

Urban Hat€monger ?

Grunge was an abomination of tedious bands of which Nirvana were about the only one that had any life in them.

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Ghost Jam

Wow I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about Nirvana in my entire life.

I would have said, "yes, you are the only person in the world that doesn't like Nirvana..." but for the responses.

I view Cobain as perhaps the best lyricist since Dylan and the one band you can ALWAYS site as playing music from the bottom of their testicles.

I tend to make various "music landmarks" in my head when thinking about the real game changers, and for years now the "Big Four" have been Beatles ->VU -> Joy Division -> Nirvana...

Of course there are an array of other landmarks and significant points on the map, but to me those are the biggest.

-Even in His Ghost Jam

Ghost Jam

Just so you know, it was like that 20 years ago when I started high school, as well.

I believe that says something, no?



-I Hate Myself and I Want to Ghost Jam

Oxidizer

It is not exactly about being good per se for a band to become legendary. It is about floating up in right time with right message, right image and right attitude. And yeah, I dislike Nirvana too. I've never been much into grunge anyway. I liked some songs of The Melvins but I gave them up quickly, just got bored. I see some potential in checking more of Pearl Jam. I also never really paid attention to Alice in Chains but most of stuff that I know from them is very good, so maybe here is my treasure. Anyway, they are sometimes referred to as 'a fake grunge' band with a crush on heavy metal.

EDIT: BTW. Shooting yourself in the head can also help in becoming a legend.

Ghost Jam

Nirvana being legendary has little to do with gunshot wounds to the head.

I never think of Nirvana as "grunge"...and I don't think I ever did. I was 15 when Nevermind was released, and the most I remember about "grunge" was that it was the word our parents and Letterman were using to try and understand the music we were listening to.

*shrug*

AiC made a very good record called Dirt. I would check it out. Most of their other music is pretty much junk...save both Sap and Jar of Flies...two very good EP's by the band.

-Black Sheep got blackmailed again, forgot to put on the Ghost Jam

Pursuingchange

I do sort of believe dying young, and under the circumstances that Cobain did would aid in your status as a "troubled genius" or "legend". So I kind of agree with that. Although, I DO hate to spit on the graves of people. He's not here to defend himself. But I think it might have boosted his popularity.

Burning Down

Well, yeah they were popular then so it would have been more relevant. They're still popular I guess but I don't get the appeal. Nirvana is overrated.

Ghost Jam

All right, persuingchange...I'll give this my best shot...

*clearing throat*

What makes Nirvana so special...and so good...is a combination of emotionally riveting and rather simple compositions with a songwriter's extraordinary ability to put a fine point on it, so to speak.

Nirvana was a band that stood in front of the commercial wasteland of the 1980's and stared down the abyss of a consumerist, plastic and artless future, and shoved us all into it waving both middle fingers all the way down.

Cobain's impeccable familiarity with fellow angsters of rock's past was put to its finest use, in that he was somehow able to take big heaping scoops of Black Francis' snarl, Ian Curtis' heartache, Greg Sage's shrugging shoulders and John Cale's nihilism, stir them all onto a plate set for disaffected youth, and angrily hurl the whole mess directly into the face of the world.

IT's no accident that teenagers 10 and 20 years later are still cutting their teeth on Nirvana's music. It is timeless cast away poetry, something those of us that have been through it know really does mean something to them. And the only thing more eerie than knowing that is knowing what Nirvana's music will end up meaning to many of them when they are older. The music grows up with you.

From those razor-sharp injections from Nevermind such as "got so high, scratched till I bled", "give an inch, take a smile" and "I'm so happy cuz today I shaved my head" to hopeless heart-sighing from In Utero like "look on the bright side is suicide/ lost eyesight I'm on your side/ angel left wing, right wing, broken wing/ lack of iron and or sleeping..." I'm hard pressed to think of another lyricist who so succinctly placed his balls on his sleeve.

And yes, there was the suicide. But I don't think that's what those of us that love Nirvana remember about them. I was devastated when I heard about it...but not because I felt sad for Kurt Cobain, so to speak...I was genuinely sorrowful that the music had that final, unmoving punctuation on it. There would be no more Nirvana records. We were left forever with three propers and whatever bone marrow of b-sides, outtakes and live cuts we could suck out of Nirvana's body of art.

But with or without the suicide, that music stands on its own, and would have regardless what Cobain ever had decided to do with himself, at least I think so.

So, that's my opinion. I am sure I could elaborate further, but I think you get the idea.

-She Eyes Me like a Pisces when I am Ghost Jam