Monday, November 24, 2003
my friend procrastination
it took me two weeks to hand in this paper on grunge music and nirvana. i didn't reread it but i spoke to my professor and she told me to write from stream of consciousness and that is what i did. it's probably full of lies and crap that you guys will make fun of me about later. anyways, i will most likely regret this in a few days.
Bleached Blonde Savior: The Impact of Nirvana
I was sitting in my friend Meghan’s room when I first heard Nirvana. She was eleven and I was thirteen. She played Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Nirvana, and I sat on her bed and looked bored. It was rock music and I hadn’t gotten used to it yet. I knew it existed but there was something about fluffy nineties pop hits and lingering new wave artists that I was still interested in. I had little tolerance for angry guitar mope rock, and that was the end of that. I continued to ignore a growing trend while everyone else’s world collapsed around them. Five months later, Kurt Cobain was found dead and America’s youth lost an idol and a best friend. I lost nothing but the chance to get to really know him. He slipped through my fingers and all there was left were in-memoriam posters and LPs, and I remember staring at these things longing that it had affected me more.
Kurt Cobain stirred the late-1980's American music scene with his instrument-abusive Nirvana, and continued his influence into the 1990's when their album,Nevermind, hit the US charts at No. 1, and Grunge music brought Michael Jackson's music to a "Dangerous" halt. Cobain’s Nirvana introduced bored youths to a rough-edged music scene beloved and recognized by college radio. The angsty assault of Grunge, a combination of punk and the dying Heavy Metal bands, began in America’s Northwest. Although, Grunge saw its decline with the passing of Kurt Cobain in April of 1994, he got the wheels turning for a generation of music listeners who were being offered up nothing but dry pop hooks and clichéd lyrics.
It all began in the 1980's in Aberdeen, Washington. High schoolers Cobain and Krist Novoselic, alternative Aberdeenians, met in 1985 through a Hardcore band called The Melvins, with several name changes and Chad Channing's addition as drummer, Cobain moved from drumming to lead vocalist and guitarist. Nirvana was the end product. Their trademark was a confusing blend of sound that college students raved about and considered “their sound.” Nirvana started to gain notice and developed a fan base. They went to a Seattle Indie label called Sub Pop and released their first single in 1988. The song was a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz." Several songs, endorsements and tours eventually brought the band to Butch Vig (producer and future leader of the band, Garbage), and Dave Grohl from Scream, together. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" brought them to music television. The ensuing album, Nevermind (1991) became rock's new "rulebook." It propelled Grunge to mainstream music and Nevermind went triple platinum.
Grunge was to the nineties, what Folk was to the sixties. It was less about politics and more about expressing the everyday humdrum and the conflicts of one’s inner frustrations. It brought together the “Damn the Man” attitude of Punk and the thrashing guitars of Metal bands. The lyrics ranged from making serious statements to just plain dumb. Kurt Cobain said, “We sound like the Knack and the Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath” (Nirvana). With the success of Nirvana’s second album,Nevermind, Grunge was accepted into the mainstream for more than just a music scene but an attitude and even a fashion statement. This scene had been thriving and building in Washington since the mid-1980s till finally being recognized in 1991. Soon, other bands were gaining popularity, such as Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.
An “alternative” underground culture had been brewing for awhile all over the United States. However, it was being embraced and recognized only by a small group of individuals, who all held one thing in common, a love for music. Grunge began as a small music scene and spread into a much bigger subculture. Pat Blashill, contributing editor of Details Magazine said:
Alternative culture wasn’t invented by Nirvana in 1992. They just brought an anthem of disaffection and anger to the top of the charts, to the malls, to the army bases, and into the living rooms of a nation that had spent most of the eighties trying to convince itself that it was a kind and gentle place. (Blashill 16)
When Nirvana brought Grunge to the masses, it opened the door to all the bands in the Seattle area, which was a breeding ground to this new sound. However, many people were upset that something they held sacred, the “I found it first” mentality started to take over, even the bands themselves were having a hard time taking themselves seriously once they hit it big.
It took years for me to understand the hoopla that surrounded Nirvana and the other artists of the grunge era. Whenever I heard, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” I thought more about deodorant than a rock anthem. Sure, I had the lyrics memorized and I turned it up on the stereo whenever I heard it, but I didn’t understand it. Not really, not fully. Then something happened when I turned fifteen. Something that gave me the authority over all my younger friends, I was older and I was tackling the issues that every teenager has to tackle: boyfriends, best friends, malls, clothes and a raging libido. That’s when things started to sound different. When the constant yelling and screaming that was going on inside my head was being put out by the music I was listening to. It was like everything I couldn’t relate to others – parents, friends, myself – was right here in this music, written by these bands, hidden in this genre. It was three years after Kurt Cobain’s death, but I had finally gotten to the point that I had longed for so long ago.
Although, Kurt never became my hero, it was because of his music that other bands like his could attain fame and fortune. I found alternative music through a band called The Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan was to me what Kurt Cobain was to a whole generation of angsty American youths in 1992. In fact, Kurt became my rival just as he was to Billy. For years, I ignored everything about the band that defined grunge. I grimaced as I found myself falling in love with the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl’s band and one of the former drummers of Nirvana. Eventually, I let go of the feud and bought Nevermind. I had to admit that I liked it a lot more than I thought it would. It was so much more than just “Smells Like Teen Spirit” played ten different ways. It was dumb and it was genius. The songs were unforgettable and moving and raw. Cobain said, “I don’t want to use a computer, I want to keep my music pure.” It was refreshing to hear just guitar rock, something that was made with just hands and guitars. The energy behind the music sounded different. It wasn’t beautiful and melodic like a Smashing Pumpkins song, it was dirty and angry like pulling tiger teeth after dinner.
Grunge made rock music alive again at a time when everyone had given up hope on rock and roll. The punk movement affected “underground” kids, but was clearly too aggressive or too edgy to be played over the radio. Grunge took the best of punk and the cheesiness of heavy metal bands combining them into an angsty guitar swagger. They were the last big development in rock and roll. It took America by storm and wouldn’t let go till the hurricane had demolished the entire country. Although, Nirvana paved the way for more aggressive rock to be played on the radio, alternative music is clearly changing. There is no longer the same edginess there. It has broken up into several subgenres – new ones emerging and branching off each other all the time. The numerous movements are catalogued in small press magazines or zines for a subculture of hungry youths. The music is still being made but the impact is gone, even with the appearance of garage bands such as The White Stripes and The Strokes, their influence is not as momentous as the one Nirvana started and ended. The lines are blurred to when alternative music stopped being alternative and just started to be mainstream, some sources say it ended with the death of Cobain, but others say it continued to thrive till 1997. It clearly ended because the music is not the same. A band no longer needs to be angry and thrashing for us to listen. It just has to be there and sound good, but not glossy. It has to be raw and dirty in a way that is different than Nirvana. Other bands have tried to be like them, Bush and Silverchair, but failed. They were good at what they do, but not good at what Nirvana did. You can’t repeat the past and if you do, it’s never as good as the first time. It’s not new and exciting. It’s repetitive dribble that every single reviewer will site as the new Nirvana but with more this or less of that or this new twist. There was always room for improvement but that should be left for the artist himself to make changes and progress with age and familiarity and times. He can’t and the others can’t do it for him. I think along with Kurt rock music died. There is still passionate music being made, but not in the way that will ever be the same. Not in a way that will move the same number of people. Not in a way that became more than just music but a culture and an attitude. It’s this impact that makes Nirvana so unforgettable. Their music still living through the media.
The reason that Nirvana became so popular was their ability to embrace a pop-y sound that was radio friendly. They merged the sound of The Beatles with their Black Flag/Black Sabbath influences. It was this sound that made their singles race to the top of the charts and for their albums to go platinum. “WithNevermind, Cobain forced the pop world to accommodate the long-resisted punk aesthetic at both its harshest and smartest, and did so at a time when many pundits had declared that rock and roll was effectively finished as either mainstream cultural or commercial force.” It’s this sound that still makes them popular. Although, you can compare them to the bands that were all popular at the time – ironically, they were all from Washington. There was Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Mudhoney. Each one of them borrowing from punk and metal. Each one of them bored with what was around them.
Around the age of four, I remember spending Christmas vacation in a small cabin somewhere close to Seattle. All there was around me was a tiny beach, a foghorn and water that seemed to go on endlessly. Most days I would sit on the picnic table in the backyard and count seagulls through a misty fog. I remember collecting seashells and seeing hermit crabs crawl through the sand in the shallow parts. Whenever, I was brave enough to go close to the foghorn, I would cover my ears frightened it may go off at any second. Although, I remember this time fondly of outings to the curiosity shop that sold strange wooden carvings and shark teeth, and playing with the neighbor’s dog. I don’t remember there being a lot of potential there. I remember there being long ferry rides and the hot cocoa machine and sitting and staring out the window at the waves. I knew something was there, but I couldn’t place it. The mid-eighties brought a revolution of music and I guess Washington found its answer. It was right there in the kids. I’ve never been back since that last visit, but I would love to see the impact that the alternative culture has left on Washington. Has it changed a lot from what I remember? What would be different? What would be the same? It would be like reading your favorite book over again.
¶ 2:10 AM
|
it took me two weeks to hand in this paper on grunge music and nirvana. i didn't reread it but i spoke to my professor and she told me to write from stream of consciousness and that is what i did. it's probably full of lies and crap that you guys will make fun of me about later. anyways, i will most likely regret this in a few days.
Bleached Blonde Savior: The Impact of Nirvana
I was sitting in my friend Meghan’s room when I first heard Nirvana. She was eleven and I was thirteen. She played Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Nirvana, and I sat on her bed and looked bored. It was rock music and I hadn’t gotten used to it yet. I knew it existed but there was something about fluffy nineties pop hits and lingering new wave artists that I was still interested in. I had little tolerance for angry guitar mope rock, and that was the end of that. I continued to ignore a growing trend while everyone else’s world collapsed around them. Five months later, Kurt Cobain was found dead and America’s youth lost an idol and a best friend. I lost nothing but the chance to get to really know him. He slipped through my fingers and all there was left were in-memoriam posters and LPs, and I remember staring at these things longing that it had affected me more.
Kurt Cobain stirred the late-1980's American music scene with his instrument-abusive Nirvana, and continued his influence into the 1990's when their album,Nevermind, hit the US charts at No. 1, and Grunge music brought Michael Jackson's music to a "Dangerous" halt. Cobain’s Nirvana introduced bored youths to a rough-edged music scene beloved and recognized by college radio. The angsty assault of Grunge, a combination of punk and the dying Heavy Metal bands, began in America’s Northwest. Although, Grunge saw its decline with the passing of Kurt Cobain in April of 1994, he got the wheels turning for a generation of music listeners who were being offered up nothing but dry pop hooks and clichéd lyrics.
It all began in the 1980's in Aberdeen, Washington. High schoolers Cobain and Krist Novoselic, alternative Aberdeenians, met in 1985 through a Hardcore band called The Melvins, with several name changes and Chad Channing's addition as drummer, Cobain moved from drumming to lead vocalist and guitarist. Nirvana was the end product. Their trademark was a confusing blend of sound that college students raved about and considered “their sound.” Nirvana started to gain notice and developed a fan base. They went to a Seattle Indie label called Sub Pop and released their first single in 1988. The song was a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz." Several songs, endorsements and tours eventually brought the band to Butch Vig (producer and future leader of the band, Garbage), and Dave Grohl from Scream, together. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" brought them to music television. The ensuing album, Nevermind (1991) became rock's new "rulebook." It propelled Grunge to mainstream music and Nevermind went triple platinum.
Grunge was to the nineties, what Folk was to the sixties. It was less about politics and more about expressing the everyday humdrum and the conflicts of one’s inner frustrations. It brought together the “Damn the Man” attitude of Punk and the thrashing guitars of Metal bands. The lyrics ranged from making serious statements to just plain dumb. Kurt Cobain said, “We sound like the Knack and the Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath” (Nirvana). With the success of Nirvana’s second album,Nevermind, Grunge was accepted into the mainstream for more than just a music scene but an attitude and even a fashion statement. This scene had been thriving and building in Washington since the mid-1980s till finally being recognized in 1991. Soon, other bands were gaining popularity, such as Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.
An “alternative” underground culture had been brewing for awhile all over the United States. However, it was being embraced and recognized only by a small group of individuals, who all held one thing in common, a love for music. Grunge began as a small music scene and spread into a much bigger subculture. Pat Blashill, contributing editor of Details Magazine said:
Alternative culture wasn’t invented by Nirvana in 1992. They just brought an anthem of disaffection and anger to the top of the charts, to the malls, to the army bases, and into the living rooms of a nation that had spent most of the eighties trying to convince itself that it was a kind and gentle place. (Blashill 16)
When Nirvana brought Grunge to the masses, it opened the door to all the bands in the Seattle area, which was a breeding ground to this new sound. However, many people were upset that something they held sacred, the “I found it first” mentality started to take over, even the bands themselves were having a hard time taking themselves seriously once they hit it big.
It took years for me to understand the hoopla that surrounded Nirvana and the other artists of the grunge era. Whenever I heard, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” I thought more about deodorant than a rock anthem. Sure, I had the lyrics memorized and I turned it up on the stereo whenever I heard it, but I didn’t understand it. Not really, not fully. Then something happened when I turned fifteen. Something that gave me the authority over all my younger friends, I was older and I was tackling the issues that every teenager has to tackle: boyfriends, best friends, malls, clothes and a raging libido. That’s when things started to sound different. When the constant yelling and screaming that was going on inside my head was being put out by the music I was listening to. It was like everything I couldn’t relate to others – parents, friends, myself – was right here in this music, written by these bands, hidden in this genre. It was three years after Kurt Cobain’s death, but I had finally gotten to the point that I had longed for so long ago.
Although, Kurt never became my hero, it was because of his music that other bands like his could attain fame and fortune. I found alternative music through a band called The Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan was to me what Kurt Cobain was to a whole generation of angsty American youths in 1992. In fact, Kurt became my rival just as he was to Billy. For years, I ignored everything about the band that defined grunge. I grimaced as I found myself falling in love with the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl’s band and one of the former drummers of Nirvana. Eventually, I let go of the feud and bought Nevermind. I had to admit that I liked it a lot more than I thought it would. It was so much more than just “Smells Like Teen Spirit” played ten different ways. It was dumb and it was genius. The songs were unforgettable and moving and raw. Cobain said, “I don’t want to use a computer, I want to keep my music pure.” It was refreshing to hear just guitar rock, something that was made with just hands and guitars. The energy behind the music sounded different. It wasn’t beautiful and melodic like a Smashing Pumpkins song, it was dirty and angry like pulling tiger teeth after dinner.
Grunge made rock music alive again at a time when everyone had given up hope on rock and roll. The punk movement affected “underground” kids, but was clearly too aggressive or too edgy to be played over the radio. Grunge took the best of punk and the cheesiness of heavy metal bands combining them into an angsty guitar swagger. They were the last big development in rock and roll. It took America by storm and wouldn’t let go till the hurricane had demolished the entire country. Although, Nirvana paved the way for more aggressive rock to be played on the radio, alternative music is clearly changing. There is no longer the same edginess there. It has broken up into several subgenres – new ones emerging and branching off each other all the time. The numerous movements are catalogued in small press magazines or zines for a subculture of hungry youths. The music is still being made but the impact is gone, even with the appearance of garage bands such as The White Stripes and The Strokes, their influence is not as momentous as the one Nirvana started and ended. The lines are blurred to when alternative music stopped being alternative and just started to be mainstream, some sources say it ended with the death of Cobain, but others say it continued to thrive till 1997. It clearly ended because the music is not the same. A band no longer needs to be angry and thrashing for us to listen. It just has to be there and sound good, but not glossy. It has to be raw and dirty in a way that is different than Nirvana. Other bands have tried to be like them, Bush and Silverchair, but failed. They were good at what they do, but not good at what Nirvana did. You can’t repeat the past and if you do, it’s never as good as the first time. It’s not new and exciting. It’s repetitive dribble that every single reviewer will site as the new Nirvana but with more this or less of that or this new twist. There was always room for improvement but that should be left for the artist himself to make changes and progress with age and familiarity and times. He can’t and the others can’t do it for him. I think along with Kurt rock music died. There is still passionate music being made, but not in the way that will ever be the same. Not in a way that will move the same number of people. Not in a way that became more than just music but a culture and an attitude. It’s this impact that makes Nirvana so unforgettable. Their music still living through the media.
The reason that Nirvana became so popular was their ability to embrace a pop-y sound that was radio friendly. They merged the sound of The Beatles with their Black Flag/Black Sabbath influences. It was this sound that made their singles race to the top of the charts and for their albums to go platinum. “WithNevermind, Cobain forced the pop world to accommodate the long-resisted punk aesthetic at both its harshest and smartest, and did so at a time when many pundits had declared that rock and roll was effectively finished as either mainstream cultural or commercial force.” It’s this sound that still makes them popular. Although, you can compare them to the bands that were all popular at the time – ironically, they were all from Washington. There was Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Mudhoney. Each one of them borrowing from punk and metal. Each one of them bored with what was around them.
Around the age of four, I remember spending Christmas vacation in a small cabin somewhere close to Seattle. All there was around me was a tiny beach, a foghorn and water that seemed to go on endlessly. Most days I would sit on the picnic table in the backyard and count seagulls through a misty fog. I remember collecting seashells and seeing hermit crabs crawl through the sand in the shallow parts. Whenever, I was brave enough to go close to the foghorn, I would cover my ears frightened it may go off at any second. Although, I remember this time fondly of outings to the curiosity shop that sold strange wooden carvings and shark teeth, and playing with the neighbor’s dog. I don’t remember there being a lot of potential there. I remember there being long ferry rides and the hot cocoa machine and sitting and staring out the window at the waves. I knew something was there, but I couldn’t place it. The mid-eighties brought a revolution of music and I guess Washington found its answer. It was right there in the kids. I’ve never been back since that last visit, but I would love to see the impact that the alternative culture has left on Washington. Has it changed a lot from what I remember? What would be different? What would be the same? It would be like reading your favorite book over again.
¶ 2:10 AM
|
