Nirvana

[GoGo Yubari]

"ain't it a shame".

Fuck yes. That was an AWESOME cover.

As for Nirvana vs. Foo Fighters, ah. Well. "Everlong" is a better song than anything Nirvana ever did, probably, but the declining quality of the Foo Fighters' work pretty much keeps them from being better in my eyes, even though it's an admittedly unfair comparison because the latter's been around for ten years as opposed to the former only existing for five.

[Ash J. Williams]

I personally think Nirvana is the most overrated band in the history of music, but I'm not saying they're bad.

Breed, About A Girl, anything else off of Bleach, You Know You're Right, All Apologies, Marigold, and Heart-Shaped Box is their best work if you ask me.

I, too, have always prefered Alice in Chains as opposed to Nirvana.

And as for Foo Fighters vs. Nirvana, I like the Foo Fighters more. As stated before, "Everlong" > Anything Nirvana wrote.

[GoGo Yubari]

I personally think Nirvana is the most overrated band in the history of music

God, no they're not. Maybe ten years ago, but now pretty much everyone considers them overrated.

[Nerf]

To start I'll agree with Skummy as to his thoughts on the Unplugged album. As good as it was, it just screams of commercialisation. That performance was brilliant, but it wasn't Nirvana. If you were a fan of their work up until that point; you'd understand what I mean. In terms of casual Nirvana 'fans,' however, it was flawless. From the album, my favourite track is "Where Do You Sleep Last Night?" It was the perfect way to end the album; with that breath-taking final howl from Kurt. Looking back from what we know now, that one moment will be how I will remember Kurt after his death, and it creates such beautiful empathy and pathos in my mind. Incredible.

Bleach was an album I could never get into. Negative Creep and Floyd The Barber deserve mentions as good songs, but there's nothing that stands out particularly as exceptional. I'd say the best track on the album is About A Girl; the first pop song Kurt ever wrote. To me, the fact that a grunge band could release a song like this on their debut record makes the song all the better. It was a risky move, but even then I much prefer the Unplugged rendition.

Nevermind. What an album. Fuck what anybody else says about it - be it overrated, be it musically inept - no, it's a fantastic piece of music from start to finish. Nevermind, to me, is the perfect album. Aggressive yet melodic, catchy yet different, almost inaudible yet intense. Nevermind is certainly in my top five albums of all time, if not number one. In terms of personal choice; my favourite tracks are "Territorial Pissings," "Breed," and "Something In The Way." Every track on that album is a near-perfect piece of music, but it's just a little something about that closing track that makes it extra special. Following the raw, brash, bitter feel to the album, the final track promotes feelings of desperation to me, something that can easily be compared to Kurt's life in itself. Brilliant album. Brilliant music. Brilliant emotions.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that In Utero was suffering from the sophomore effect. In a way, that's exactly what happened, as Nevermind was the album that sparked the introduction to the mainstream for Nirvana, but Bleach came first and so the only excuse I can make for In Utero is just that the song-writing was sloppy. Songs that I will list as exceptions are "Heart-Shaped Box," "All Apologies," "Dumb," "Pennyroyal Tea," and "Rape Me." Other than that, there's not much else I can say on the matter.

Kurt Cobain has been an idol of mine for some time, and Nirvana were always one of my favourite bands, but unlike most I can seperate the good from the bad in terms of what one of my favourite bands could produce, and believe me - with Nirvana, the bad was very much present. But the good - good doesn't cover it. Maybe Kurt got lucky, or maybe he was legitimately genius. I'd like to think the latter was true, and that unfortunately he was just another troubled artist. The heroin abuse, the self loathing, and the apathy became three sick ingredients to creating a recipe that caused not only self-destruction, but also inspiration. Kurt touched many people with his music, and although it proved to be sacrificial, it's also very possible that he saved many people from following the same path he did. Maybe I've gone into a little bit too much detail, but I started writing and then I stopped. I didn't even pay attention to how long I'd been writing for. Oh well, that should give you an indication of where to start with Nirvana at least.

[gunnar hendershow]

I always found Bleach to be the embodiment of Kurt Cobain the artist. Everything after to me feels so much more along the lines of what other people wanted Nirvana to be, as opposed to what Kurt Cobain set out for them to be. Not that it's bad mind you, it's great music -- nowadays almost underrated given the trendy dislike towards them based largely on their popularity -- but it just feels so much easier to listen to as opposed to what alternative was supposed to be in the first place. I think in the end though, a lot of Nirvana suffers from the fact that they were pushed forward as the entire face of the movement by others and never, in their 5 years, allowed to really experiment much with their own abilities and minds.

Also. "Everlong" > Anything Nirvana ever did. And I would say Foo Fighters are better solely because they have been allowed to experiment alot more within themselves, largely due to Dave Grohl pretty much starting the group as an extension for what he couldn't do with the limitations the entire world had set for Nirvana. More important to music history are Nirvana though, who will always be remembered as one of the band who opened the floodgates of an entire generation of music. And they surely didn't get to do that through being hacks.

Edited December 16, 2007 by damshow

[New Damage]

I see the AIC love, but wheres the Soundgarden love?

Nirvana were credited with creating the genre, when they didn't really, just they had a song and frontman that was marketable, where as guys like Mudhoney were doing it before them, even though Mudhoney's sound is more punkier. For anyone in the know, is 'The Money Will Roll Right In' just a Nirvana song that Mudhoney covered, or a song that both bans covered? I know I've seen a video of Mudhoney performing the song, when Cobain shows up and sings on it too.

And although not really a huge Foo's fan, they're ok and have 5/6 of their songs, including Everlong, I'd have to say that Learning To Fly is better. Though for some reason it's been revived lately. Flicking through the music channels (which I do rarely), I saw the video about 3 times.

EDIT: Should this thread be renamed 'The Grunge Thread' now, seeing as we're slowly branching away from just Nirvana ?

Edited December 16, 2007 by TheModernWay

[Skummy]

I don't think anyone credits Nirvana with creating anything....it's pretty much common knowledge to all but the most casual Nirvana "fans" that the likes of Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Mother Love Bone et al where doing "grunge" before Nirvana got anywhere with it.

Personally, I think Nirvana's sound falls somewhere in-between The Melvins and The Pixies, with a little Sonic Youth influence as far as distortion and effects goes, but the advantage that they had was that Kurt's influences were deeply rooted in the likes of The Vaselines, The Pastels, and the "Olympia sound", which gave them a lot more of a radio-friendly structure and approach to their music. Obviously, I doubt it was ever as pre-ordained as how I just made it sound, but that's pretty much how I see them.

Also, I believe "The Money Will Roll Right In" was originally by Fang, but I may be wrong.

Personally, I don't think the Foo Fighters have ever been that good. The fact that you can only really name one or two "great" Foos songs as opposed to any number of Nirvana ones surely states that Nirvana are better...but then obviously you've got the problem of the Foos having more material, of Nirvana having a cult-like following grow up around them post-Kurt's death, and as I said earlier, it's difficult to just look at the songs from an entirely objective position outside of that. I don't especially like the Foo Fighters, but I'll always be interested in them, because they certainly aren't BAD, and because Dave Grohl seems like such a lovely bloke you can't NOT like them.

[YI]

I'd like the point out, Foo Fighters are the most overrated pile of fucking shit in the music industry ever. Bland rock music...fucking bland, uninspired, generic rock music. Without the 'epic' melodies, or the excitement to save it. Outside of "My Hero" I can't think of anything that doesn't make me want to jump off a bridge.

Edited December 16, 2007 by YI

[British_Boy]

Drain You

[MalaCloudy Black]

Probot is roughly one hundred times better than Foo Fighters have ever been.

[Draevyn]

I'd like the point out, Foo Fighters are the most overrated pile of fucking shit in the music industry ever. Bland rock music...fucking bland, uninspired, generic rock music. Without the 'epic' melodies, or the excitement to save it. Outside of "My Hero" I can't think of anything that doesn't make me want to jump off a bridge.

For the first time, I think I actually agree with YI on music. Of course most of my dislike comes from my disdain of Grohl as a whole, but I've never been impressed with them musically at all.

[YI]

I'd like the point out, Foo Fighters are the most overrated pile of fucking shit in the music industry ever. Bland rock music...fucking bland, uninspired, generic rock music. Without the 'epic' melodies, or the excitement to save it. Outside of "My Hero" I can't think of anything that doesn't make me want to jump off a bridge.

For the first time, I think I actually agree with YI on music. Of course most of my dislike comes from my disdain of Grohl as a whole, but I've never been impressed with them musically at all.

[Draevyn]

Well, there was the New Amsterdam love...only we differed on our favorite albums.

[YI]

Well, there was the New Amsterdam love...only we differed on our favorite albums.

[Draevyn]

Nope, I'll have to see if I can find it. They're a band I love to sit and listen to but I can't seem to listen to them at work. I can never get any work done because I'm busy listening to them....and we've gotten off topic....so to put this somewhat on topic Nirvana>Foo Fighters