I think now that we're a decade and a half removed from Nirvana's high point, I can say that this band was just incredible. Seven, eight years ago, I didn't ever want to hear "Teen Spirit" or "Lithium" again because it was in constant radio rotation, but now I can go back to all their biggest hits and hear brilliance in them. Yeah, you could see the "soft verse/loud chorus" formula in a lot of their songs, and (as Mattbro pointed out) there wasn't a lot of technique involved anywhere, not even with Grohl (sorry, Barbara- it's true. Grohl's no Tony Williams) but the sum was sooooo much better than the individual parts. They spawned a whole genre of great music, unlike the hair bands, who can play, but it's what they play and sing that makes them uninteresting.
The thing that really bothered me about Nirvana was that until it was declared that they were "grunge" everyone kept calling them "punk". As an enthusiast of actual punk at that very time, it made me really resentful and bitter toward Nirvana, which I still hold on to a little. I can see now that they weren't a bad band... good songwriting ability, etc.
I remember it as Kurt considering his band punk, the grunge label was just that; another label produced by the industry/media to describe/sell a sound. Just like "punk" was at one point in time. Whether you agree or not as to what the Nirvana sound most resembled, the band did not run around calling itself grunge. Kurt described their music as punk for more reasons that what punk supposedly should sound like. It was because the bands attitude, and viewpoint on life as much as its sound that made it punk. If the band considered itself punk, and you disagree because they dont sound like "insert favorite "punk" band here" then I cant help ya. besides, its a dumb as shit thing to even debate. And for me, I could care less that anyone dislikes the band or that they dont regard them as highly as I might. I grew up with them, they defined my teen years like no other influence. They are my beatles, they are my led zeppelin. I remember and always will where I was and what I was doing when I got the news Cobain was gone. And then again, its just music. Thats all it really ever is.
someone mentioned Nirvana not picking up fans after the peak years which is weird because Nirvana completely took off again about 4-6 years ago. the "Greatest Hits" album came out, and Nirvana got big with my generation that was too young to know about anything when Nirvana was in its peak years of popularity. another case against that wrong opinion is the fact that last year Kurt Cobain past Elvis as the deceased person making the most money. something's telling me that Nirvana is still a huge deal. EDIT: wow, i didn't realize this thread was 5 years old.
Also, Nirvana came out of the Seattle punk scene. By the late 80s, underground punk scenes all over the country were developing their own sounds. The classic 70s sound of punk was pretty much dead. When Nirvana broke out and became mainstream, that rather distinctive Seattle punk sound and style became known as "grunge."
I recall Nirvana as a Subpop band before they hit it big. IMO Husker Du did it better. But what do I know.
Didn't Kurt Cobain himself call Nirvana a pop band in several interviews? Funny thing is, there's a bunch of kids today who listen to Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, ... despite having been in diapers or not even born yet when most of those band's greatest albums were released.
And that ability to attract listeners long after a band's demise is one of the signs of greatness. Some of those kids are listening to Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Doors, Pink Floyd, and a few other rock bands that came along a few years or decades ago. I don't know anything about the Pixies or Sonic Youth, but Nirvana's place in exposing listeners to a new sound (I'm sure there's someone out there who did it first -there always is, isn't there?- but I'm talking about exposure, not necessarily being the absolute original in the subgenre) is secure. Case in point: There was a time when everyone and his goldfish owned a copy of Thriller. Plenty of people who were not alive when the J5 were huge love the classic Jackson 5 hits (as well as Michael's early solo albums, to a lesser degree) but do they listen to Thriller? Not nearly as often, if at all. The old J5 hits have stood the test of time, while Thriller has not. And the J5 were an unapologetically bubblegum pop band- but they did bubblegum pop right.
If it wasn't for Sonic Youth, most of us would have never heard of Nirvana. I still listen to some of the tracks of Thriller frequently. Billie Jean is easily one of the best ten singles of the decade for my money.
I have very fond memories of jamming to Nirvana on my Sony Discman with the tape adapter in my sweet, new 1993 Fire-Engine Red Chevy S-10 during my Senior year of high school. If I was given a shot to go back in time and do it all again, I would in a heartbeat. THAT's how much I loved Nirvana. They rescued a whole generation from that suckass bi-hair rock which looks oh so corny by comparison.
they dont were so good but at this time ther was only glam and hard rock and a little punk rock but nothin like that and it was something new again this depresive sound and nobody understands anything. Think it was one of the first emo bands.
This is pretty much right, except that Nirvana were considered grunge from their very start, well before they broke out. Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tad, Mudhoney, Green River, Blood Circus, Coffin Break, Cat Butt . . . all those bands were or started out playing grunge. It was called "grunge" because it sounded grungy. I could go on about this for pages and pages, but I'll stop. No, wait, this is what I'll do instead: below is a link by which you can download a zip file that contains the following songs (in mp3 and m4a format, so you'll need iTunes to listen to all of them). (Of course, Demosthenes alread knows all this, but some don't, and what the hell--it's fun anyway.) Bojendyk's Sample of Real Grunge Screaming Trees "Change Has Come" Blood Circus "Two Way Street" Melvins "Grinding Process" Green River "Unwind" Bundle of Hiss "Rabies" Tad "Jack Pepsi" (here called "Jack") Cat Butt "Big Cigar" Dickless "Saddle Tramp" Truly "Heart and Lungs" Hole "Garbadge [sic] Man" Soundgarden "Nothing to Say" Love Battery "Cool School (Trane of Thought)" Skin Yard "Drunk on Kerosene" Nirvana "Big Cheese" Mudhoney "Dead Love" The file can be found here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/6mbzhs. The link you need to download the file is in the middle of the page. Enjoy!
I was a sophomore in high school when Nevermind came out. Just the other day, a friend of mine's 15 year old little brother was tripping out over the fact that I saw Nirvana live in concert. They acted like it was the greatest thing ever....kind of like how we used to do with my friend's dad that saw Hendrix.
Yeah, well, I had a cassette of Nevermind a month before it came out. Me so cool. I was into Metallica and goofy stuff like the RHCP and Fishbone when I first heard all the Sub Pop stuff in 89. Never ever occurred to me that it was in any sense punk or sold to me as such. It was always "grunge" - a pre-mass-media label. Husker-Du would wet their pants trying to write something as cool as Negative Creep.
Heh heh, my freshman roommate subjected me to Fishbone all of the time. I hope somebody downloads that comp I just posted, because it rules.
A colleague of my wife who is in her late 30s went to one of the very few concerts Nirvana played in Belgium. Kurt trashed one of his guitars at the end of the concert, and being close to the front row, she was able to snatch a shard of the body of the broken guitar from the stage. She recently gave that shard and her concert ticket from that night to her 14 year old son, who apparently treats them like relics.
That's funny. I remember my first winter break from college, it would have been December 1993. I was home for the holiday, and a high school friend of mine kept calling and leaving me messages, but I didn't feel like calling her back. Eventually, after a couple of weeks, I called her back. Turns out she had an extra ticket to see Nirvana live, and realizing that I was a huge fan of the band, she had wanted to offer me the ticket. Of course the show had been a week ago and she'd given the ticket to someone else -- since I never called her back. Kurt died a few months later. I still kick myself for being such a bitch and missing my only opportunity to see a Nirvana show.
I downloaded it, looks good to me. I was actually living in Germany during the Nirvana craze so I didn't even hear Nevermind until after Kurt was already dead.