Music Banter - View Single Post - Am I the only one who doesn't like Nirvana...
View Single Post
Old 01-04-2013, 02:49 PM   #10 (permalink)
Ghost Jam
Music Addict
 
Ghost Jam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 107
Default

All right, persuingchange...I'll give this my best shot...

*clearing throat*

What makes Nirvana so special...and so good...is a combination of emotionally riveting and rather simple compositions with a songwriter's extraordinary ability to put a fine point on it, so to speak.

Nirvana was a band that stood in front of the commercial wasteland of the 1980's and stared down the abyss of a consumerist, plastic and artless future, and shoved us all into it waving both middle fingers all the way down.

Cobain's impeccable familiarity with fellow angsters of rock's past was put to its finest use, in that he was somehow able to take big heaping scoops of Black Francis' snarl, Ian Curtis' heartache, Greg Sage's shrugging shoulders and John Cale's nihilism, stir them all onto a plate set for disaffected youth, and angrily hurl the whole mess directly into the face of the world.

IT's no accident that teenagers 10 and 20 years later are still cutting their teeth on Nirvana's music. It is timeless cast away poetry, something those of us that have been through it know really does mean something to them. And the only thing more eerie than knowing that is knowing what Nirvana's music will end up meaning to many of them when they are older. The music grows up with you.

From those razor-sharp injections from Nevermind such as "got so high, scratched till I bled", "give an inch, take a smile" and "I'm so happy cuz today I shaved my head" to hopeless heart-sighing from In Utero like "look on the bright side is suicide/ lost eyesight I'm on your side/ angel left wing, right wing, broken wing/ lack of iron and or sleeping..." I'm hard pressed to think of another lyricist who so succinctly placed his balls on his sleeve.

And yes, there was the suicide. But I don't think that's what those of us that love Nirvana remember about them. I was devastated when I heard about it...but not because I felt sad for Kurt Cobain, so to speak...I was genuinely sorrowful that the music had that final, unmoving punctuation on it. There would be no more Nirvana records. We were left forever with three propers and whatever bone marrow of b-sides, outtakes and live cuts we could suck out of Nirvana's body of art.

But with or without the suicide, that music stands on its own, and would have regardless what Cobain ever had decided to do with himself, at least I think so.

So, that's my opinion. I am sure I could elaborate further, but I think you get the idea.

-She Eyes Me like a Pisces when I am Ghost Jam
Ghost Jam is offline   Reply With Quote