It's funny how certain people seem to project everything on Nirvana. When really they just were the last in a very long line of miserable young men. Only that the raincoat had been swapped for flanell. Somehow they ended up being the band that pushed whatever had been brewing in the US college rock underground during the 80's into the stadiums. It's not as if they had been zoomed in from Mars. They had roots. Roots Cobain always and openly championed. See his support of Meat Puppets or Young Marble Giants.
True. Maybe because Nirvana made more of an impact than the others.. at least initially with Smells Like Teen Spirit. I think also because AIC, Soundgarden..people now like to say they had traditionally "better" musicianship, so they don't target them as much? I loved those bands too.. but they were way more depressing listens for me. At the time, I looked at Nirvana as being the more sarcastic, darkly satirical, dare I say fun band of the Big 4 Seattle bands overall.(Aside from maybe certain songs and much of the In Utero album) Tons of energy invoked in the audience at their shows(I saw them twice). What's depressing when listening now is getting past the ultimate demise of its leader. It effected me then and still resonates in the albums for me now. Those "Grunge" bands and Alternative bands like Faith No More- Janes Addiction etc opened up my mind to explore other types of music....BUT I also still followed many of the same bands from before they came. I saw Skid row and Soundgarden together and seeing two killer vocalists on stage together made me come back for night two! The transition to less glossy Glam Hard Rock/Heavy Metal was more gradual for me. I loved Faster Pussycats Wake me.. album, Sea Hags, Love/Hate, all had darker almost grunge elements well before Nirvana hit.
I guess someone had to be that band. And appatently Nirvana had everything it took at the perfect moment and suddenly the stars aligned. Screaming Trees, Alice In Chains or Soundgarden were far too dark. Especially around 90/91. Even though all three of them were fantastic bands. The demise of Cobain, Staley and Cornell taints my listening to their bands to this day. Especially Soundgarden. Because unlike the other two Chris seemed like someone who managed to survive. That was hard...
Nevermind's one of those rare "perfect timing" releases. Had it been released in the late 1980s instead of Bleach, then the history books might look a whole lot different. When I was a kid Nirvana sounded so different than anything else I'd heard until that point. Hair metal was not something that was interesting to the vast majority of kids, teens, and young adults around that time. I remember tuning out when bands like Poison would play on MTV. Even GNR's "November Rain" video used to annoy me because it took up so much airtime. However, I appreciated them more as time went on and did come around to liking a lot of those bands.
Is it fair to say that of squarely-in-the-genre hair metal bands that began their success in the 80's and eventually became known to the general public, Mr. Big and Winger were the most talented with their instruments?
Mr Big & Winger are both chock full of great musicians for sure so you might have a point that they were the most technically proficient but, though I quite like both bands, I don't think they made the most interesting music within the genre, necessarily.
Mr Big is interesting on some early songs, but the ones I've heard that were meant to be genre hits embarrassingly are on a generic, Trixter level. The technical proficiency is muted on them.
Maybe, but "To Be With You" isn't hair metal, it's acoustic. "Just Take My Heart" is the type of Mr Big song I'm dismissing.
Are Mother Love Bone considered hair metal? I've seen them listed as such, but I've also seen them listed as grunge, and musically it could be either way really. I wonder what would have happened to them if Andrew Wood hadnt overdosed and died (Pearl Jam wouldnt be around, at least not in its most well-known form, so thats one butterfly effect).
Guys, I have no horse in this race because I don’t care for metal at all , but I get fascinated by aspects of the music business. So, I came across a YouTube channel (which name escapes me at the moment) where I watched interviews with maybe 2o metal band members from its golden era. I was surprised how literate and not “hey dude” they all were. Actually, it shouldn’t be surprising because to be successful in any business requires some smarts . Anyway, rightly or wrongly, they almost all referenced Nirvana as the turning point where one day they were working and almost overnight they were toast. Also interestingly again, they held no grudges and most of them talked about music going in cycles and music moved 0n. I’m busy now,but if anyone is interested, I’ll try to come up with the YouTube channel later. All the interviews were interesting. Edit: here’s the YouTube channel:: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtDHvKYprwccUtRdCvB17Wg/videos
Hair Metal Soapbox Time Not offering any new perspective here but it's always been interesting to me, the notion that grunge, or Nirvana are deemed responsible for the sudden demise of hair metal. I think people automatically say that because it's such a direct and simple explanation, and on the surface it may seem like that's what happened. Of course, the real answer is that hair metal/glam had run it's course. It was a good run though, probably less than 10 yrs. but well over 5. The fans were ready to move on and the scene was so over-saturated with similar looking and sounding bands. It finally reached an apex and it couldn't go on any further. How long can you keep those themes and that ethic alive? The 24hr. round the clock party, getting laid, objectification, unrealistic imagery, long-haired bad boys, big blonde hair everywhere, etc... and for the most part I love glam/hair metal which is difficult to defend and so easy to ridicule. At the end of the day the songwriting is what makes it endure. There was undeniable talent behind much of those artists and the music they created. Today we are left with tons of excellent and well crafted songs that millions of people enjoyed then and still enjoy now. That fact alone, that it connected/connects with so many people says something. It certainly doesn't say everything, but it says something. My favorite glam metal songs are the ones that avoid the most over the top obvious clichés, ie: partying and getting laid . OK, that's enough outta me. Here's a few interesting quotes from Tom Beaujour & Richard Bienstock's excellent book, Nöthin' But A Good Time... Jerry Cantrell (from Alice In Chains): "I don't think anything really killed anything else and it doesn't make me feel good to be used as an example for killing something or stopping somebody's career, because I don't think we did that. You're only shiny and new once, and then it's on to the next thing. It happened to us too and that's totally okay. That's the way it's supposed to be." Kip Winger on Seventeen: "I just happened to have a really big hit with that song. And then the one line I didn't write, that Beau Hill [the producer] wrote was, Daddy says she's too young/ but she's old enough for me. That was probably the line that did me in."
Came across this song and marveled at not just the level of musicianship, but the vocal harmonies and overall pocket/tightness of the band. Plus a melody that is just superb! Great stuff!!
Any fans of Crashdiet? They're playing in my neck of the woods later in the year. Tempted to go and see them.
Cherry Pie came out right as I was getting into rock music and MTV when I was around 14. I can't look at that album cover without a huge feeling of nostalgia.
Same here - I was 15 I believe. First album I ever got stopped from buying because of the Parental Advisory sticker. My mom was with me and I handed it to her and she bought it as I looked at the clerk with a smile.
