Nirvana

[Luzifer]

I'm decided I'd like to hear some opinions about this band which brought Alternative music out of being...well... alternative music (though they were not the first such band they were the first to be wildly popular). Many, MANY bands that followed have tried to imitate the sound with varying degrees of success however none have matched the Original.

Before I begin outlying who Nirvana was for all those who lived under a rock from 1992-1994 or who, like myself, weren't old enough to really comprehend music, i would like to say the band was composed of singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain (Rest in Peace), bassist Krist (latter changed to Chris) Novoselic, and had two drummers (Chad Channing early on and then later David Grohl with whom they became famous).

First, the Album I should start off with is Nevermind as this was the break through album that brought them mainstream success. Specifically the song Smells Like Teen Spirit (Named after a comment made about a certain anti perpraint) which was made famous by its Music video. However, before this Kurt Cobain had started the band with Novoselic and Channing and released Bleach. This Album is less well known then the latter to and is very "grunge" sounding, in that it is almost the antithesis of Nevermind. Bleach is Rough where Nevermind has a glossy surface, cheap and simple where the other is studio-supported and reverbed. Before Nevermind came out David Grohl replaced Channing.

After the Neverminds popularity Cobain became increasingly aloof and dependent on drugs. The next album the group put out was an audience alienation piece, In Utero. It never achieved Nevermind's success. This was intentional. Nirvana put out one more album before Cobain's death and that was the live album, Unplugged. After a UK during which he overdosed on sleeping pills and was put into drug rehab, Cobain was found shot in his Seattle home having commited suicide at the age of 27.

Personally, I love this band. Particularly my favorite album is Unplugged. It is rather haunting and shows that, even without the huge throb of electric guitars, Nirvana was still a great band. It reveal the depth of Cobain songwriting and how sad it could be. It also makes one think of what they might have later become after the fire of youth had settled down. It makes you wonder and think perhaps the group could have gotten better, that it was taken before its time. Or perhaps it left at the right time. So its memory was untarnished. However you see it, Unplugged resonates with some hidden sadness that is buried away in the bands other albums.

your comments?

[Ryth]

I have Nevermind and With The Lights Out and In Utero is on my list of albums to pick up, Cobain was a musical genius and he will be missed. From the sounds of things, I'm definitely going to pick up Unplugged as well.

[Demonstaff]

I think they were great, I think they were definately a real icon for their style, but I feel they're given more credit for the world of alternative and grudge than they deserve.

[Abstract Me]

It's Nirvana. What can you say? Big musical influence, great music. I love the guitars.

I need to say something though. The other day I stepped into Hot Topic, and there was a...Kurt Cobain action figure on the shelf, along with some Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance ones. Isn't that an insult to what Kurt Cobain stood for? Just a shame...

[Luzifer]

It's Nirvana. What can you say? Big musical influence, great music. I love the guitars.

I need to say something though. The other day I stepped into Hot Topic, and there was a...Kurt Cobain action figure on the shelf, along with some Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance ones. Isn't that an insult to what Kurt Cobain stood for? Just a shame...

Yes... yes it is. Kurt was very anti-music busniess (Nevermind was about selling out and In Utero about how horrible the record business is - generalizations i know but they are key themes among others). I couldn't say i remember any quotes about merchandising in particular but i think its safe to say he wouldn't like the idea of being an action figure

I have Nevermind and With The Lights Out and In Utero is on my list of albums to pick up, Cobain was a musical genius and he will be missed. From the sounds of things, I'm definitely going to pick up Unplugged as well.

Good call. The best song, and the last, is quite possibly the rendition of "Where did you sleep last night?". Though the last song, lyrically speaking, should be All Apologies, there is a reason its not. His singing- no, anguished screaming- at the end of the song is too powerful to follow up.

I think they were great, I think they were definately a real icon for their style, but I feel they're given more credit for the world of alternative and grudge than they deserve.

Well, I don't think anyone could give them credit for either inventing or even influencing grunge or alternative. That wasn't the reason for their signifigance. Heck, the band even called "Smells like Teen Spirit" a "pixies rip-off". What they did was make that group popular. It was pop music with grunge overtones that made it fresh for the time. So they don't deserve for the genre of grunge pop they deserve credit in taking some of its concepts and sounds mainstream

[ChildOfTheMoon]

I love the band Nirvana, its probably the first band that really got me into grunge rock. The cd I own now is Sliver The Best of The Box, because the cd is basically, what they orignally sounded like on tape before everything was cleaned, rewritten and added in the studios. I plan to hopeully when I get cash to get Nevermind. Kurt Cobain is my favorite second male vocalist, and he was an amzing songwriter. I feel that it is pathetically sad that people will say that Nirvana is so overated and dumb, just because (according to their thinking)its the typical rocker heavly on drugs. Who eventually shoots himself at a young age, and I know its wrong that he was addicted to drugs and then shot himself, but he had a reason why he was on drugs. But the great thing about that Nirvana is that they just wanted to make music.

[Abstract Me]

and I know its wrong that he was addicted to drugs and then shot himself

Some of the best music ever recorded in the history of music was done so by the influence of drugs. I'm not condoning illegal activities...but you know...I'm not complaining when inspiring talent manifests itself out of something like that.

But maybe that's another topic altogether.

[Luzifer]

Some of the best music ever recorded in the history of music was done so by the influence of drugs. I'm not condoning illegal activities...but you know...I'm not complaining when inspiring talent manifests itself out of something like that.

But maybe that's another topic altogether.

Personally I think talent exists independent of drugs. Drugs don't give someone talent nor do they take it away. In Cobain's case they allowed him to escape the world of his horrible childhood however, they were also surely a contributing factor into his suicide (I will not speak for the murder theorists). So take it as it is. Cobain was a brilliant man who disturbed by childhood events took drugs. Thats the simple way of lookiing at it.