Kurt, We Hardly Knew Ye

OpinionJournal.com ^ | November 20, 2002 | NANCY DEWOLF SMITH

[SamAdams76]

Well I think Nirvana lived up to the hype. They were hands down the best rock band of the 1990s and would have been in the top 3 any other decade too.

But as great as I thought they were, I'll be damned if I pay good money for the rantings of their lunatic lead singer nor am I going to shell for their "new" albums which essentially consist of their old songs in a different order. (That's what my CD burner is for).

[dfwgator]

The funny thing is I don't even think Kurt Cobain was the most talented member of Nirvana. I think the "Foo Fighters" stuff blows away anything Nirvana did.

[dfwgator]

REM is similar to Nirvana in that especially on their early albums you couldn't make out what Michael Stipe was singing. I guess rock critics think that if you can't understand the lyrics the guy must be a genius.

[kjam22]

50 years from now they will still be playing The Beatles, Stones, and the Who, and nobody will even remember any music that came out of the 90s.

An accurate statement about Rock.

[Dan from Michigan]

I have to agree with you on that. Foo Fighters aren't bad.

The only band of the 90's that I really think is good(Not counting older bands with new releases) is the Black Crowes.

[Pahuanui]

REM comes to mind, as does Oasis, and now Radiohead.

Oh, please. Radiohead is as original as anything in the last 30 years, and consistantly not only puts out challenging, worthwhile ablums, but is incredible live, similar to a jazz performance in that they never play the same song the same way twice.

Their legacy will stand the test of time.

[Nouge]

50 years from now they will still be playing The Beatles, Stones, and the Who, and nobody will even remember any music that came out of the 90s.

You are so far off... They are still played in heavy rotation on every modern rock station... They are played in heavy rotation on classic rock stations... and they haven't been around for 8 years... They are timeless, you don't have to like the music, but in 50 years they will be played just as often as all those artist... besides maybe the beatles... but then again, they only had 3 full albums. You're entitled to your opinions, I can't stand Elvis, but I'm not going to say that he didn't do anything for music, that would just be stupid. Maybe they were in the right place at the right time... but that's also true for any of the bands you mentioned.

[Damocles]

"I like to make incisions into the belly of infants then ---- the incisions until the child dies."

WTF?! Kurt, you were one tortured, sick freak! Can't say I miss ya...

[KC_Conspirator]

You have to understand what the music industry was like at the time. The music industry sucks in general. They usually push crappy music upon the youth and foist it on the public. That is until some new alternative music becomes cool and popular, whereas the industry mimics the music scene, ruins it, then foists some other crap upon the public.

So in the late 80's early 90's you probably had NKOTB and other boy bands shoved down your throat. You probably had Mc. Hammer and Vanilla Ice palyed incessantly. I believe bad hair bands like Warrant were still being shoved on the public when they were years behind.

However, the alternative music scene was SO much better than what was on the radio. Get this - "Nevermind" spent a whole 6 months at No. #1 in record sales even before they had one song played on mainstream radio. It got played at college stations and parties. Thats why it was so special and much like the punk music from the late 70's. So many other bands got play after this.

BTW - I think we just went through another phase where the industry is shoving more boy bands and pre-teen sexpots on us while clearly there is better music out there.

[trad_anglican]

The Punk Disses the Godfather.

LOL That is too good.

[FreeTally]

It's not about how many songs you can name... They did to music what very artists can do... they changed it. Weather you like their music or not, they did change the entire direction of mainstream music. The WHO just turned up the volume and broke stuff...

As much as I hate the music, I have to agree.

[southern rock]

Has there ever been a rock act that was more overrated than Nirvana?

Never. Nirvana blew. What angers me is that they were so popular amongst the critics and cultural trend setters, that they actually changed the entire pop culture scene, not just in music, but in T.V., movies, fasion etc... They made emasculation and weakness cool. If you think about it, pop-culturally, America in Dec. 1992 was a different place than America in Jan. 1992 - and not for the better. I blame Nirvana.

[FreeTally]

The only band of the 90's that I really think is good(Not counting older bands with new releases) is the Black Crowes.

HELL YEH!!

The Crowes put out three of the best albums ever, and the rest they did wasn't too terrible. Damn Kate Hudson for breaking them up. Damn her......

[WaveThatFlag]

I'm not rating one band over the other stylistically (although your experience with Nirvana appears a bit superficial). I'm saying that Nirvana was more important artictically. They had a more profound effect on rock music.

[dirtboy]

They did to music what very artists can do... they changed it.

And the Who did nothing to change music? BWAHAHA. Happy Jack, the first rock song to be more than a short ditty. Tommy, the first rock opera. Baba O'Reilly and Won't Get Fooled Again, which made the synthesizer a viable rock music instrument.

Both bands were influential. No point disparaging one to elevate the other.

[FreeTally]

BTW - I think we just went through another phase where the industry is shoving more boy bands and pre-teen sexpots on us while clearly there is better music out there.

Yep, I agree. It all goes in cycles.

I think starting about early 2001 we saw the "correction" starting. The boy and girl groups album sales are way down from what they were in 1998-2000. The big ones still sell a couple million, but the lesser known ones have faded quick. Its not too different than 1992-1993. Groups like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi still put out multi-platinum records due to hard core fans, but bands like Warrant and Firehouse had their sales drop off quickly as soon as Nirvana and Pearl Jam hit.

Of all that early 1990's "grunge" stuff, the only I still listen to is Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. I never considered Alice to be like the rest - just another hard rock band. I saw them open for Van Halen in 1992(yes, Van Halen).

[Nouge]

Both bands were influential. No point disparaging one to elevate the other.

Hey, I'm not dissing the WHO. I totally agree that they were both influential, but The WHO built on what was already there, Nirvana took it into another direction and altered the entire scene.

[MP5]

I think the "Foo Fighters" stuff blows away anything Nirvana did.
Me too! Plus I'll take Pearl Jam over Nirvana anyday.

[proust]

The sad thing is, people are taking these quotes and running with them, and we'll never know the context of them. It's possible that these quotes were lyrics he was working on. He did a lot of "cut and paste" lyrics like William Burroughs, to create new forms. Maybe he only created one usuable lyric out of every 20 pages of experiments with word salads.

[OneCardRoyal]

Smithereens BUMP.