Nirvana’s Nevermind : does it still matters?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Atomic Punk, Jun 9, 2020.

  1. ToddH

    ToddH Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mansfield, Texas
    My point was just hat Nirvana, an indie/new wave/alternative band nobody knew except the lucky few college radio listeners came out of nowhere with this incredible album and absolutely amazing video and overtook the number 1 spot on the billboard chart, knocking off michael jackson.

    and someone sure liked Michael Jackson when he released the dangerous album. It was huge, the videos were huge, the guests on the album were huge and he played the superbowl halftime in January of 93 essentially inventing the super bowl halftime show.

    saying no one you knew liked him only means exactly that. The world couldn't get enough. Dangerous was huge globally.
     
    pez likes this.
  2. ToddH

    ToddH Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mansfield, Texas
    technically all the seattle knock offs, pearl jam refusing to make videos sort of knocked off the seattle bands from MTV. Soundgarden and Alice In Chains did really well on mtv, especially sound garden with Superunkown.

    Nirvana did sort of kill the rock star image thing but plenty of bands were big after them. Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis...then all the odd post punk ish bands like blink 182 in the last moments of the 90's. I was never a fan of the blink 182 bands in 97, 98 and 99 ish but they became huge and MTV made them that way.
     
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  3. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Oasis were the Nirvana of the UK, i.e. the final guitar band to blow up into a national phenomenon.

    I just watched the “Plush” video five minutes ago, and it’s striking how much of a total Eddie Vedder rip-off the vocal is. While there was a parade of Eddie Vedder clones that just got worse and worse until climaxing in Creed, and there were other awful off-shoots of grunge and “nu-metal” - Korn, Puddle of Mudd, other bands that I probably successfully managed to avoid, it’s been nothing but diminishing returns for guitar rock since that first grunge explosion, really. That was the last moment that guitar rock was a meaningful force in the larger culture.
     
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  4. moople72

    moople72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC
    It was great then and nice to see it succeed but it doesn't hold up for me. I can't put my finger on why. Overexposure? That doesn't really ring true because there are plenty of bands I've played seemingly ad nauseum that I still enjoy. Maybe the Kurt persona is just too overwrought. Or maybe I just like the bands that influenced them (but weren't as successful) much better (such as the PIXIES). And I loathe the bands they influenced.
    Either way I could get by with never hearing it again. If I had to pick an album of theirs I'd probably give Unplugged a listen again.
     
  5. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    What utter nonsense. I don't know any Nirvana fans or apologists who deny the relationship between Grunge and Metal - On the contrary, bands like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains were labeled "Alternative Metal" at the time. You seem to have a weird axe to grind with Nirvana and Nirvana fans... :rolleyes:
     
  6. Pushpaw

    Pushpaw Forum Resident

    I didn’t mean no “alternative” bands. I meant a section at the record store called “alternative rock”. I personally was too young to know those other bands at the time, but I do recall the genres in mainstream music stores being rock/pop, country, hip hop/r&b, blues, jazz and classical. After Nirvana (and a lot of other bands, yes, but they seemed to be the catalyst) alternative rock became a new genre in record stores.
     
    Funky54 likes this.
  7. No music is relevant to the world anymore.
    It was not just a hype, though the album was greatly hyped.
    It was okay, it has aged however you feel according to your own personal preference.
    I like some songs from it once in a blue moon at most.
     
  8. Mackaveli

    Mackaveli Forum Resident

    Location:
    Antarctica
    First time I've heard that. It's an abrasive mess with some really viceral lyrics. I think it's an amazing record but can see why it puts off a lot of people
     
  9. Funky54

    Funky54 Coat Hangers do not sound good

    I don’t really like the album... but yes. It was the epitome, the pivotal musical moment that everything changed. In my area (central Ohio) when that song hit the radio it was like overnight all big hair music died. It was like one week later everyone was into Seattle grunge. I wasn’t a big hair fan really either. I saw most of the grunge movement as angry abused whiny wimpy guys crying about not having a relationship with their mother. Every song was about how some dude is all butt hurt cause some girl walked all over him. So instead of being a man and moving on, let’s put on flannel and say its everyone else’s fault. Let’s whine and pout.. and while we’re at it let’s call ourselves lead guitar players because we pound rhythm slightly de-tuned through industrial distortion... cause we didn’t have the patience to learn guitar..

    Where was the party? Where was “fun”.. gone.
     
  10. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Hmmm! And I thought they supported the feminist side of the story.
     
  11. Funky54

    Funky54 Coat Hangers do not sound good

    While my contemporaries all took in the flannel and learned to whine, I went backwards and dug into Zep, AC/DC and Van Halen.

    funny how I was always in a great mood with happy, tough music while my buddies all needed to find Ridellan and Prozac to deal with all their whining.
     
  12. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    But you're whining now. :shrug:
     
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  13. Funky54

    Funky54 Coat Hangers do not sound good

    I ate Spicy chili so I’m butt hurt... probably some kinda connection to the Seattle “movement”
     
  14. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Better go listen to some happy Zep, like I'm Gonna Quit You, and say to your girl Since I've Been Lovin' You, there's been a Communication Breakdown that When The Levee Breaks is gonna leave me Dazed & Confused. That's if she doesn't get dragged off to Mordor first.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
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  15. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    Not sure about 1991, but I can confirm that Monster was very popular at my school in 1994/1995.
     
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  16. JayDeeEss

    JayDeeEss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chattanooga, TN
    I think Grunge was, in retrospect, a press-sustained phenomena. The real story of the early 90s was the commercial and cultural ascension of Rap and Country, and Grunge gave increasingly cloistered urban mass-media thinkpiece types an excuse to not talk about it. Its leading lights were brighter than the more self-consciously emotive descendants, but not by much.
     
  17. hEARt PhoniX

    hEARt PhoniX living musical polyamory

    The answer to the question if Nevermind still matters in 4 minutes, 7 seconds:



    The answer in a rambling forum post that fails to really stay on topic:

    Does Nevermind matter? It's a classic, a milestone, a breakethrough album that shook the industry and the seismic shocks can still be felt sometimes. There'd be no Kurt Cobain Tshirts without Nevermind, that's for sure. And my impression is that the name is still known, so ...
    And today it's tshirts and stuff that I'd rate more indicative for cultural relevance than actual album sales. You don't need to buy an album in order to hear it.
    As for me it's been a long time since I really listened to Nirvana, still I count them as one of my most important influences. I do admire the songwriting, the playing, the singing, that lyrical and visual imagery.
    But I have changed. Those years were one depressive mental health blur of changing intensity. I am lucky to say that meeting my beloved has changed so much. But like everything, it does come with a cost. To me it's that many albums I deeply loved in the 90s no longer speak to me the same way. And Nevermind is one of those albums. Alice In Chains' Dirt is another. Interestingly Fly and Sap have survived.
    But to me In Utero was instantly the album I preferred over Nevermind, and that was not only because it was new, it was the production, the sound. Just that drum sound, wow. It helped me to discover that I love to hear room sound within recordings. Actually, hearing some talks recorded at Abbey Road Studios I noticed how that room sound is also baked into The Beatles' sonic body of work in different ways, and how much I therefore love the sound of that room.
    And I am still comparing rock drummers to Grohl. When I first heard Nandy Bushel my first thought was : yes, she does hit really hard, loud and with passion, she's just great. I mean, she is a phenomenon. She will be so awesome, she is awesome. And it's funny that she seems to be developing a friendship with Grohl since their drum battles. This would not have been without Nevermind.
    Foo Fighters never hit me in any way, but his friendliness and encouraging warmth ... I would not have expected that back then. What a warm, great and encouraging, empowering person.
    I myself have developed away from Rock, I am much more in love now with sonic exploration through sound art, electronic sound creation, virtual sounds, synths. Drones, ambient, minimalism, radio art, field recordings, ...
    But Nevermind sure was a major milestone without which I would not be who I am today. Just recently I was thankful for Nirvana's openness and natural support for queerness. And when I understood Polly I could hardly listen to it, that has not changed.
    And one of those songs that I most identified with during the 90s was from Nevermind, Something In The Way. So much hurting, simplicity, beauty.

    Though Nirvana did not make it to album of the decade for me. That still is Hedningarna: Trä. That too does hold up well even though I do not listen to it that often today. I almost know it by heart, just like I can almost play Nevermind and In Utero within my mind.
     
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  18. roger87

    roger87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Please explain this analogy for me as I didn't have anything regarding a Christian upbringing
     
  19. ARK

    ARK Forum Miscreant

    Location:
    Charlton, MA, USA
    the irony of this post coming from a Roger Waters fan is rich
     
  20. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    Yes, it is a good rock album regardless of what its “significance” is. None of that matters outside of music geeks debating on a music forum.

    What matters is:

    Is it enjoyable to listen to?

    A big YES for me.

    Is it more important than being “just another good hard rock album”? Yes, but it’s “importance” means nothing if it’s not enjoyable to listen to.
     
  21. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    In this business, everyone steals riffs. Nobody is pure in this regard. I guarantee that if you listen to enough ‘60s pop songs you’ll find a band playing the riff to “Here Comes Your Man”. There are only so many notes and patterns to play them in.
     
    roger87 likes this.
  22. Kevin j

    Kevin j The 5th 99

    Location:
    Seattle Area


    I think they ripped off Uncle Tupelo. (Tongue firmly in cheek)
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
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  23. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    And it sounds like Uncle Tupelo ripped off the riffs as heard on Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away”. Page is the king of riff rippage. It all goes around in a giant circle of borrowing/stealing - whatever you wanna call it. Everyone does it.
     
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  24. Nomadicarchivist

    Nomadicarchivist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington D.C.
    Always thought it was the most OVER rated album of the last 3 decades and still feel that way
     
  25. roger87

    roger87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    You will have to explain this irony because I sure-as-**** can't see it.
     
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