Smells Like Nirvana!

[BlakeTyner]

What better way to christen the new Music forum than with a Nirvana thread?

Discuss everything from the Fecal Matter Demos to With the Lights Out (the box set) here.

~BT

[Jason's Storm]

Really, I thought this forum smelled like you Blake (old s/n CorbainNirvana);). It also smells minty fresh.

~JS

[Toejam]

The title of this thread makes my think of Weird Al.

[WestinHillsDays]

A question I have always asked myself is if the music scene today would be better if Kurt was still alive.

For me, Nirvana and Hole will always remain as the two greatest rock bands of the 90's. I got into Hole at age 15. That was during the period in which Malibu would be played on the radio almost on a daily basis. I purchased Celebrity Skin in 1999 and then after a while realised that Malibu wasn't as good as the other songs from the album, such as Reasons to be beautiful and Northern Star.
When I turned 16, I met this high school friend of mine who introduced me to Hole's earlier albums - Pretty on the Inside and Live Through This. These two albums were completly different from what I had heard previously. It took some time for me to fully understand their concept: the angry guitar sounds, Courtney shouting nervously; at some point I asked myself: is this music? My friend then stipulated that in order to appreciate these albums, I should first get myself acquainted with the grunge scene from the early-90's. That was how I discovered Nirvana, along with bands like Alice in Chains, Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, etc. Unfortunately, I discovered those bands when most of them had already faded into obscurity. I am glad that Kurt still has some followers; I would be sad if Nirvana faded into obscurity, as well.

[sCabbOy]

I wasn't and still ain't a huge fan but I love Bleach and In Utero a lot.

[Violent VictiM]

I love me some Nirvana. Awesome tunes, great to jam out to forever.

However, I totally disrespect suicide in every form, therefore I hate Kurt Cobain. I hate when people put him up on this godlike pedestal and worship him. Dude was a loser. "I killed myself cause my music was getting popular and I don't like that." Kurt is the original emo. Anyone who cops out on life, for any reason, stupid or not, when they have a kid just deserves to burn with Hitler.

[sCabbOy]

I think he killed himself for other reasons, one major reason was the stomach disease he had that put him in chronic pain, which in turn helped him become a heroin addict... I'm sure it was a lot more than just hating success.


Hank Williams is the original emo artist ;)

[The New Blood]

I love me some Nirvana. Awesome tunes, great to jam out to forever.

However, I totally disrespect suicide in every form, therefore I hate Kurt Cobain. I hate when people put him up on this godlike pedestal and worship him. Dude was a loser. "I killed myself cause my music was getting popular and I don't like that." .

I'm sure his suicide had to do with way more things than his music getting popular. He was extremely depressed from before he even got famous and was a hardcore drug addict. I'm sure it goes way beyond anything we ever knew about him.

[BlakeTyner]

I'm sure his suicide had to do with way more things than his music getting popular. He was extremely depressed from before he even got famous and was a hardcore drug addict. I'm sure it goes way beyond anything we ever knew about him.

So true.

Incidentally, sCabbOy, is your user title referring to the Hank Williams, Jr. song, or is that just a coincidence?

~BT

[sCabbOy]

So true.

Incidentally, sCabbOy, is your user title referring to the Hank Williams, Jr. song, or is that just a coincidence?

~BT

Yeah,

I like the line in the Hank Jr song "cornbread & ice tea has taken the place of pills and 90 proof"

[BlakeTyner]

Yeah,

I like the line in the Hank Jr song "cornbread & ice tea has taken the place of pills and 90 proof"

It's a great line. When I merged your usernames earlier I thought to myself "I wonder if he's talking about "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down." My dad was a big Bocephus fan, so I grew up on that stuff. I still like Hank Jr. and George Strait, even though I mostly listen to alternative these days.

~BT

[Kat]

I love me some Nirvana. Awesome tunes, great to jam out to forever.

However, I totally disrespect suicide in every form, therefore I hate Kurt Cobain. I hate when people put him up on this godlike pedestal and worship him. Dude was a loser. "I killed myself cause my music was getting popular and I don't like that." Kurt is the original emo. Anyone who cops out on life, for any reason, stupid or not, when they have a kid just deserves to burn with Hitler.

As a person that once attempted to killthemselves, I totally resent that comment. While I hate suicide myself, I don't feel anyone has a right to judge anyone or make that sort of comment....



Anyways,


Nirvana has been my favorite band since '92 with Pearl Jam coming in a close second. My favorite albums are Bleach and In Utereo. While I think they are a tad overrated (mainly Nevermind) I still think they are/were an awesome band.

[BlakeTyner]

As a person that once attempted to killthemselves, I totally resent that comment. While I hate suicide myself, I don't feel anyone has a right to judge anyone or make that sort of comment....


I'm with you, Banana. I've never attempted it myself, but I'm not sure that the average person really understands what it's like to be in the depths of clinical depression - everybody feels a little blue sometimes, but a certain percentage of people feel about a billion times worse. When you feel like that, your brain tells you that you shouldn't be alive, that nobody would care if you died, etc. It's false thinking, but it seems real at the time. As for me, I'm of the opinion that only the Lord is allowed to judge.

Vis a vis Nirvana, you really think Nevermind is overrated? It kind of has a bad rep because it was so popular (and the production values are much slicker than their other work) but I really feel like it is their strongest album. There's not a song on it that I habitually skip, whereas every other one has at least one song that I'm not all that crazy about. I always thought that In Utero was the overrated album, though I like it a lot (and it has some of Kurt's finest work - HSB and Pennyroyal Tea.) The one I really love, though, is Unplugged. The melodies are just haunting. I actually prefer the Unplugged version of "About a Girl" to the one on Bleach.

~BT

[Kat]

Yeah, I had an incredible amount of family members and friends pass away within 3 months, lost our house (we sold it but losing a house you spent most of your life in, still bites) and I attempted to jump out a 11th floor window. I think it takes alot of guts to kill yourself but even more to stick around....

Anyways, Unplugged is amazing. Nevermind is awesome but I like the raw feel/sound of the other albums. I also really like Incesticide.

[A. Remin' D.]

Incesticide is probably my favorite Nirvana album. However, I also love Bleach, Nevermind, In Utero, and almost all of the other rarities.

Incesticide is just a great collection of rarities. Sometimes the non-popular songs are the best.

Kurt Cobain shouldn't be disrespected because he killed himself, which he didn't. I don't believe that, there's too much evidence pointing that someone killed him. But he was a depressed dude. Ever since he was little boy, his father wasn't proud of him. Songs like "Been A Son", "Even In His Youth", and "Stain" tell stories about this. And after his parents divorced, he was terribly upset about that, and it really affected his life.

Off topic, but...

Suicide shouldn't be criticized either. My dad lived a miserable life. No matter how many chores he did, how short his hair was, his father would never be proud of him. His father would still treat him like shit, and beat him. My father's mother also nagged him about every little thing. He could never be good enough for his parents. Then when he was 18, the Vietnam war was going on. He inlisted in the Air Force to be a jet mechanic, but got stuck being a paramedic. My dad was a soft-hearted guy, keep in mind. He had to see many of his friends die, and have to scoop up countless dead/almost-dead bodies. That would also affect my father greatly. After he got out, he became an alcoholic. He could never kick the habit. Too many bad memories leading to depression. He still managed to be a carpenter for twenty years, though. He went to rehab three-four times, and went to AA for years. For two years, he was clean, and became a truck driver. But his past got the best of him, and he started drinking again. His parents were actually proud of him for once, because he had quit drinking and had a steady job... but they didn't know what was about to happen. My father couldn't take the downfall once more, he couldn't try to stop drinking again, he knew it would never let him go. He hung himself.

[Violent VictiM]

It's not a personal attack at anyone. I'm simply stating that I have no respect for suicide. I get depressed, I don't try to kill myself. If you have clinical depression, go to a clinic and get some clinic help. I don't respect people who kill themselves. That doesn't make me a dick, that is just my opinion.

Luckily you were unsuccessful, and you're still with us here today to post. :)

[sCabbOy]

I don't have any respect for suicide either, but I also loathe drugs and boozing yet all of my favorite musicians are on them, drink or have died from them.

Layne Staley, Hank Williams, shannon Hoon, Kurt, Rhoades, etc.

[Myers, Michael]

It's not a personal attack at anyone. I'm simply stating that I have no respect for suicide. I get depressed, I don't try to kill myself. If you have clinical depression, go to a clinic and get some clinic help. I don't respect people who kill themselves. That doesn't make me a dick, that is just my opinion.

Luckily you were unsuccessful, and you're still with us here today to post. :)

I have to agree here. I suffer from mild depression, even though it's nothing clinical. I'm not going to say it's cowardly to commit suicide, because I damn sure could never do it. I will say that it's selfish if you have people in your life that care about you.

But anyway, back on topic. While somewhat overrated, I love a lot of Nirvana's music. The unplugged 'All Apologies' is probably my favorite song by them. Many great ones though.

[BlakeTyner]

Alright, I think we've cleared up the suicide angle, so on with the Nirvana discussion.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Dave Grohl yet. I really think Nirvana's music took on a new dimension of power when he joined - enough that I only consider Nirvana to *be* Nirvana with Grohl at the drum kit. I think he's got more vocal/musical talent than Kurt, though I'd say Kurt has him on songwriting. I suppose one of these days I'll have to start a Foo Fighters thread to continue licking his balls...

The Unplugged version of All Apologies is quite good. Hell, the Unplugged version of everything is quite good. I prefer Kurt's Meat Puppets covers to the actual Meat Puppets recordings, particularly "Lake of Fire."

~BT

[sCabbOy]

Never cared for grohl's voice or songwriting. Kurt was an excellent song writer and grohl is an excellent musician.

[FallOutGirl]

A question I have always asked myself is if the music scene today would be better if Kurt was still alive.


To be honest, I don't think Kurt would still be making music anymore. I think, if he was still alive, that he'd have stopped a long long time ago.

I enjoy Nirvana a lot. I also enjoy Hole.

My favourite Nirvana performance is probably Reading.

I'm aware this hasn't happened here but I can't stand it when Nirvana threads turn into I hate Courtney Love threads. Honestly..it's almost as though people forget about the music and completely focus on personal lives.
It's been pretty much confirmed that Courtney was NOT the person who introduced Kurt to heroin, but the other way around. She was afraid of needles and he has admitted that at times he had to inject HER with it himself.

I've been reading a lot of books lately..I've tried to find Come As You Are but so far no luck. Waterstones is out and Play is too expensive.

I have Kurts journals and Never Fade Away. Other stuff is borrowed from the library (Such as Heavier Than Heaven-which, whilst it was a nice enough read bugged me. Why did C.Cross write as though he was a fly on the wall when Kurt killed himself. How on EARTH was he to know that Kurt was thinking certain things when he went to the fridge..or if he even went to the fridge before he went to the greenhouse.)

Anyway, my 2 cents in short is...I like Nirvana and I like Hole. Haha :).

[sCabbOy]

I think if Kurt was still making music he would be doing watered down, boring music. "Know Your Right" was indication of what direction they were going- it's over-produced, over-polished and boring (IMO, of course). Either that or he'd be retired, making music solo or with friends and releasing gimmick CDs every few years.

[Kat]

Anyone think that we'll ever get anything else from Nirvana? Maybe re-releases, another live album or other boxset type material?

[zombie extra 3]

I own Nevermind and In Utero. I really want to get bleach.

[Kat]

Bleach and Incesticide are awesome. If you like acoustic music, I'd check out unplugged as well.

[sCabbOy]

Bleach is possible one of the best punk albums of that era. I also loved Hormoning/Incesticide (same songs on Incesticide as Hormoning) as well.

[nottidelterrore]

I was huge into these guys during my teenage years then I didn't really listen to them much for awhile. Lately, I've been listening to lots of Nirvana. Bleach & In Utero are my two favorite albums. Even though I love Kurt & Krist, I think Dave is the most talented member of the band. I dig Foo Fighters' first two albums.

NN75im_us4k

Haha I think that meshes up quite well!

[The Dream Master]

I actually listened to a bit of Incesticide last night. That album kicks a fair amount of ass, particularly that run of Peel Session tracks.

[Just Jeans]

I've only got With the Lights Out and their Best Of disc anymore. With The Lights Out is an awesome collection of rare stuff, but it doesn't have a lot of re-listen value, the stuff is so rough.

There are some good demos that are in decent shape, as well as the radio appearance version of D-7 and the B-side release of Sappy, which I can keep in a play list. Love the solo acoustic version of Where Did You Sleep Last Night. It sounds like an old recording, you can almost heat Lead Belly. Wish there was a better recording of Do Re Mi. And of course the solo acoustic of You Know You're Right.

Man, I wish they'd re-master and re-release Nirvana's catalog. I'd like to re-purchase them.

[The Dream Master]

Jeansie, it's in the pipe-line actually, at least as far as the studio albums go. I read something about Sub Pop remastering and re-releasing Bleach.

And here it is: (http://pitchfork.com/news/36229-sub-pop-to-reissue-nirvanas-ibleachi/)

Nirvana's 1989 debut Bleach is a whole lot more than Nevermind's wily, unformed precursor. It's a monster of an album in its own right, a gnarled blast of fuzzed-out frustration that still finds room for some seriously sneaky melodies. The canonized R.E.M. move "About a Girl" is a clear highlight, but so is the snakey Zep-esque stomper "Love Buzz". Really, the whole thing absolutely destroys, and some days it's my favorite Nirvana album.

Bleach turns 20 this year (feel old yet?), and Sub Pop is planning a deluxe reissue on CD and 180 gram white vinyl. (The first run of Bleach was also on white vinyl, appropriately enough.) The 20th anniversary edition is due November 3. Jack Endino, the album's original producer, oversaw the remastering, which was done from the original tapes.

This edition will also include a complete recording of a never-before-released 1990 live show at Portland's Pine Street Theatre, remixed by Endino from original tapes. And there's a booklet: 48 pages on CD and 16 on LP, featuring previously unseen photos.

Check below for the tracklist.

Bleach: Deluxe Edition:

01 Blew
02 Floyd the Barber
03 About a Girl
04 School
05 Love Buzz
06 Paper Cuts
07 Negative Creep
08 Scoff
09 Swap Meet
10 Mr. Moustache
11 Sifting
12 Big Cheese
13 Downer

Live at Pine Street Theatre:

01 Intro
02 School
03 Floyd the Barber
04 Dive
05 Love Buzz
06 Spank Thru
07 Molly's Lips
08 Sappy
09 Scoff
10 About a Girl
11 Been a Son
12 Blew

[Just Jeans]

Holy shit.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, mang. I'd have never been the wiser. :D

Now who'd like to volunteer to pony up $15.00 so I can order them shits on Amazon? :X

[Sean [The Wildcard]]

I haven't listened to these guys in quite some time, but due to this thread I might listen to Incesticide later today. :D

[FallOutGirl]

I got Cobain Unseen recently..it was reduced in HMV from £35 to £7..kinda had to.

It's SO good. I wish more bands/singers had books like this..it felt amazing holding those Smells Like..lyrics.

I want With The Lights Out..but I've heard it's not so good?

[The Dream Master]

I think a lot of hardcore fans were disappointed in With the Lights Out because a lot of the material had been circulating on the bootleg circuit for years. If you're not already familiar with it though, it's quite a set. I like it a lot myself because it captures the band in a very raw state, which was when they were at their best.

[nottidelterrore]

TQYlLQWvEr0

[nottidelterrore]

I've been listening to Bleach and In Utero like a motherfucker as of late. Want both on vinyl badly.