Kurt
Twelve years ago today, Kurt Cobain‘s body was found. Hard to believe it has been that long.
Nevermind was the the first grunge album I purchased and I got it on January 19th 1992. Yeah, a little late to the party considering it was released September 24th 1991. I purchased 11 other CD’s in the time between and, with the exception of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, I can say the other 10 are crap compared to Nevermind. I won’t recount what those discs were now, and not out of embarassment either. I will fess up that the other disc I bought that day was the soundtrack to JFK. Little did I know both “front men” would die of gun shots to the head.
As I remember it, Nirvana was the band that really kicked off the whole grunge thing and forced it into the mainstream. Yeah, there were other bands before Nirvana — Soundgarden, Mudhoney, The Melvins, Mother Love Bone, Alice in Chains — but not with their commercial success. To be honest, all those bands probably benefited from Kurt “selling out,” except maybe Soundgarden who had released Badmotorfinger around the same time and were making their own way. Okay, and maybe Cameron Crowe’s soundtrack to Singles helped everyone too, well… except for the Melvins who happened to be a favorite of Kurt.
I thought of Nirvana two weeks ago after hearing the new Pearl Jam tune on the radio. I still link the two together as they both “broke” the same year. Anyway, I thought, what would Nirvana sound like today if Kurt had not died? I’m willing to bet it would be better than the crap that Pearl Jam has put out over most of that time, right?
Would Nirvana even still be together? Well, we probably wouldn’t have had the Foo Fighters, which would be a shame, but then again, Dave is a pretty hard working guy considering he found time to do Foo, drum on a Queens of the Stone Age album and put together his Probot project. We also wouldn’t have what Krist did… um, what has he done anyway? Not to be cruel, but his life may have ended when Kurt died.
Whether or not the weight of selling out, drugs or Courtney ultimately took Kurt’s life, we may never know, but we are all better for the time we had with him. Of the three full length LP’s — Bleach, Nevermind, In Utero — I only own the last two and yes, it is a shame I don’t own Bleach. I’ll have to rectify that some day, but I do have the four disc box set With the Lights On, so I will be busting that out.
Do yourself a favor and dust off a Nirvana disc and play it today.
Posts ::
This post has 9 comments (now closed):
Ed
Sat :: 08 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 01.31 pm
Good stuff. I really think your posts have become great reads. I don’t know which one was more sad – this or the Search for 360.
Sean
Sat :: 08 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 01.37 pm
Hey, it’s nice to know I have at least one fan.
Well, at least the 360 has a happy ending — well, we’ll see won’t we — but this one certainly didn’t.
Tim
Sun :: 09 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 06.13 pm
Nirvana had a 4th album. Incesticide. It came out before Nevermind. Check it out.
JFCC
Mon :: 10 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 11.34 am
Well, being a big Pearl Jam fan, I’ve got to disagree with the “crap” comment. Pearl Jam just won WBCN’s March Mania 2006, so they must be doing something right. I won’t deny that they’ve had their share of clunkers, but Yield and Binaural were great albums, and the rest had their share of classics. And when it comes to “selling out,” it’s good to remember Pearl Jam hasn’t made a real video–or been on MTV at all–since 1993.
And despite having all the albums–and basically still living in the early nineties in terms of music preferences–I don’t bust out the Nirvana very often. Bit too bleak for me these days.
On the other hand, I can’t think of anything better than not having had the Foo Fighters–the only band who make me immediately change the station (not counting anything on Kiss 108). Okay, that’s not entirely true–I also avoid the White Stripes.
Sean
Mon :: 10 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 09.32 pm
@Tim – I have that disc, but I didn’t include it because it wasn’t an original LP. Honestly, it’s my least favorite of all of them, but there’s some good stuff there nonetheless.
@JFCC – Funny you should say that because I was rethinking that statement yesterday, so I listened to everything thru Binaural. Riot Act and Lost Dogs are up tonight. Anyway, I plan on posting about this, so more to come.
As for Foo, I couldn’t disagree more, although their latest double album probably should have been trimmed down to a single disc. There is such a thing as too much. It’s quite possible One by One is one of my favorite albums ever (I’ve been thinking on this too). Have you based your opinion solely on radio play or have you listened to full discs?
The great thing about music is everyone has different taste, but I have to agree with you on White Stripes. Anyone who thinks they are remotely good are plain wrong. Hate, hate, hate them…
JFCC
Mon :: 10 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 11.34 pm
To be fair, I didn’t mind the Foo Fighters too much until that “Best of You” song came out. I liked the first few singles off their first album, particularly “Monkeywrench.” But for some reason “Best of You” drives me nuts.
I’ll withdraw some of my admittedly hyperbolic criticism of Foo in the interests of peace and say live and let live. After all, I’ve got Weezer in my Ipod next to Led Zeppelin and Sleater-Kinney.
However, I won’t forgive the White Stripes, particularly for “Hardest Button to Button” or whatever the hell that song is.
Sean
Tue :: 11 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 01.33 am
Well, “Monkey Wrench” is on their second album — The Color and the Shape and it is a great tune and so is “Everlong.” Those were the two big singles from that disc. Their first album was self titled and if I remember it correctly, they only had one good single off it. I consider it their weakest album.
Funny you mention Weezer because I almost busted on them with my last comment. I was going to lump them in with White Stripes as a band I will immediately change the station on. Not because I hate them — I own The Green Album — but because I hated the songs I’ve heard off their most recent disc. Also, some of their older stuff now grates on me too.
Don’t withdraw your criticism. You prolly owe me! 😉
Oh yeah, it’s iPod. Don’t anger the Jobs…
JFCC
Tue :: 11 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 11.35 am
IPod–right. Well, when it starts the sentence I’m going to capitalize it, but otherwise it’s iPod and eBay and [adult swim] and all that other pretentious stuff. Don’t forget, I’m Jason F.C. Clarke. I don’t want to be confused with that guy who wrote the anti-Michael Moore book. Not that I’m that big on Michael Moore, I’m just not a raving political hack.
As for Weezer, I agree the latest album isn’t the greatest. “Beverly Hills” is okay, and I don’t mind “Perfect Situation” too much, though that “Drugs” song, while having a catchy hook, has really lame lyrics. The blue album is still my favorite (I think “Say It Ain’t So” is one of the more poignant rock songs about alcoholism) though Pinkerton is probably their best.
I was actually pretty ambivalent about the new Pearl Jam album until a couple of weeks ago. Now I’m anticipating it as much as I did Yield. Riot Act was definitely a bit of a disappointment, but I have high hopes for Pearl Jam. Also, I’m seeing them at the Garden next month, which has boosted my anticipation. It also means I won’t break my record of having seen them every time they’ve come around since 1994.
Weird that they’re going to be on SNL next week, though. They haven’t been since that last one in ’94, when they blew the roof off the place with “Not For You” and “Rearviewmirror.” That was right after Cobain had died, and Eddie had scratched “Kurdt” into the head of his Telecaster.
:: Pearl Jam = Crap :: seanobrien.org // OB1og
Sun :: 23 :: Apr :: 2006 :: 02.40 am
[…] Just kidding, but I did sort of drop that idea in Kurt. You see, it had been a while since I really listened to any PJ discs and as far as my poor memory could recall, they had released a lot of crap since their first three discs. […]