Nirvana
 

I'm new here, and so far it looks like Nirvana is looked down upon, maybe I just ran into a few people who aren't fans, but I know this could be looked at as an ignorant question by many, but why do people here look down upon Nirvana fans? Is there a stereotype that goes along with them?

I'll do my best to answer your question before this thread gets set on fire with flaming.

A good portion of the reason why Nirvana is looked down on is because it's trendy to look down upon bands that receive critical acclaim. It "shows" how much of a rebel you are to dislike the thing that everyone else seems to love and therefore allows that person to distance themselves and stay an "individual" by not joining the legions of people who adore the band. However the irony in that is it seems that the Nirvana haters numbers are coming close to matching the Nirvana fans. Now this is just my observations from various music forums and actual discussions I've had with people and by no means does it speak for everyone.

The other people who dislike Nirvana for reasons other than the ones I stated above tend to lean to the musical aspect. There were a lot of artists doing similar sounding music to Nirvanan but never really broke it though and thus just remained cult favorites. I think this has led to a bit of anger and frustration among these people.

The biggest factor I think is that a good portion of Nirvana fans were not old enough to even really know about the music back in the early '90's. They know Nirvana more for the death of Kurt Cobain and the music becomes the secondary reason. There's a lot of people who believe bands should be known for the music they create and not the controversy or rumors that surround the members of the band.

Honestly that's all I can really think about, I've been doing a crap ton of writing and interviews today for an article so brain is a little tired and my syntax juice is just about up. Please feel free to pick apart my reasons piece by piece and explain to me the holes in my theories.

I like In Utero, but not much else from them.

Thanks man, I really appreciate that. This is my first music forum I've registered on.

Is Nirvana also looked at as a band a lot of posers seem to like or pose for? Or is it stereotypical that Nirvana fans are mostly ignorant and know nothing about the music and true meaning behind the lyrics? Kind of like the same way Pop-Punk fans are looked at?

I wouldn't say I look down on Nirvana but I think they got, and continue to get, more attention than they deserve. They weren't bad but there were a lot of bands back in the early 90s playing a similar style of music and the fact that Nirvana became the most successful seems like a lot of being in the right place at the right time to me rather than making music that was particularly innovative or exciting. Honestly, I think even Kurt Cobain would've agreed with me on this.

i do too, :)

I don't hate Nirvana's music, I really don't.
But sometimes I get irratated talking about them because I grew up around hardcore Nirvana fans, so it sounds like I don't like them.
How ANYBODY could idolize Kurt Cobain, I have no idea. He was an selfish drug addict who pulled the plug without any regard for his wife and child.

That basically summarizes my mums feelings towards him. She says he's a coward who took the easy and selfish way out and for that, she'll never think of him the same way that she did in the Nirvana's hay day.

Nirvana made good music, but Kurt Cocaine was an ass.

I used to love Nirvana I still really enjoy some stuff by them. I was born around the time they became really big so I didn't have to put up with all the annoying fans I suppose. But I think they get alot of shit because well they are overrated as is Kurt. I mean if he hadn't died do you really think people would be going about how he was the greatest songwriter of his generation? They were pretty much at the right place at the right time.

Thanks guys I understand now, I think differently about Kurt Cobain than some of you (with him being my idol, minus some of the things he did.) and feel I have good reasons to back it up, but I don't want this to turn into one of those jaded Nirvana arguments I've read/been in time and time again.

DING! DING! DING!

give the man a prize heheh innovative, not so much, exciting... well that's a matter of perspective.

then again we're from the same generation haha

yes people would still consider him to be one of the greatest songwriters of the 90s had he not blown his head off. regardless of the fact that their fame came about due to being in the right place at the right time, the man still wrote a huge pile of great tunes.



and am i the only one who considers it incredibly hypocritical to make an asinine comment by rewording Cobain's last name while sporting a foo fighters graphic?

well everybody knows the true songwriting genius of Nirvana was Dave Grohl.

that's only because novoselic was far too humble to take credit for being the studio monster that wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered, and hand pressed every single nirvana release ever.

With his ass!

With my ass, actually.

Nirvana still my favorite band but I definitaly agree they are overated, being called geniuses, being Kurt Cobain wrote most of his lyrics 10 minutes before recording, and not to make a generalization, I know they are probably some talented ones, but not many Grunge bands were that musically talented, yet I still call grunge my favorite genre.

see... this is one of the reasons younger nirvana fans get looked down upon. you're trying to hard.

why would someone call their favourite band overrated?

10 minutes or 10 years before recording what difference does it make? it's not like they didn't record demos and refine their original ideas.

the bulk of people who considered grunge music to be lacking in talent were the poofy mullet and molestache chumps who suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the cool fence to all the kids they used to pick on when they were the target demographic. again the self-depreciation isn't helping your cause here.

Well I didn't have a mullet anymore by then, but I did have a rat tail.

nice haha. i technically had a mullet going this spring, i just didn't get a hair cut all winter, had i trimmed the top i would have had some SERIOUS mullet action going on hahaha it's not quite the same when your bangs reach your chin haha

I can definitaly call my favorite band overated. So many people praise them to much for things in my opinion don't deserve as much credit as other things they did.

Most of my favourite bands are hated on this forum. I don't care; I like bands because their music appeals to me in some way. I don't base my love or hate for a band on its following, or annoying fans, or hipster cred. Oh and I really love Nirvana.

I've always found this interesting:

I love you for showing me this, I've never seen that interview before. I've always thought her version of Teen Spirit was beautiful. She's so rad. Haha.

There was this night a few months ago where I was just obsessing over Smells Like Teen Spirit for no apparent reason. I felt like I really needed "get it" more deeply than I did. I was pouring over the lyrics; listening to the song over and over again. I came across that interview and it was kinda' like a revelation for me.

As much as I don't like, well its not that I don't like it, I honestly don't know what to say, but like;
A lot of times when i talk to people about nirvana they'll be like "oh they did smells like teen spirit" or "Oh the Smells Like Teen Spirit ya i like that one" and they don't know what it means, don't know anything about Nirvana and it just angers me, i know they are just casual Nirvana fans but its just the one songs that everyone knows and in my opinion there are so much more nirvana than just nevermind and songs with even better messages. I am definitaly grateful for Smells Like Teen Spirit being written with Nirvana in my opinion rock n roll's last gasp of air, but just the fact it's so well known not for the message but for prety much breaking open alternative rock into the mainstream of music. I' not gonna lie, I was one of those people at oen time to, i heard Smells Like Teen Spirit on like the radio years ago and was like "oh my god nirvana so sweet i love nevermind" and then i really tarted looking into it and was like wow.

Back to what i was saying before I got all that out, I kind of got the same thing after really looking into Teen Spirit's meaning and what Kurt Cobain really wanted out of that song.

There's a lot of music that really needs to be appreciated within its historical context and Smells like Teen Spirit is definitely a song that forever changed our culture with its abrupt injection into the mainstream in the early 90's. The fact that it was so anthemic and served as a voice for a youth culture who's own voice was being stifled by the homogenization of our own culture made it so much more symbolic. It is usually the only thing that non-music fans associate with Nirvana, but it's one hell of a pop culture legacy for the band.

At times, I come across as somebody that hates Nirvana, but its not the band that I hate, its the other things that turn me off. There are the legions of Nirvana fans that worship cobain and preach his name every chance they get, there is the way songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit are almost ruined because of the constant aftertaste of MTV, terrible high school talent show covers, and of course the worship of the song itself, and then there was that one jock in my school that kicked me in the shins when I told him I didn't know who Kurt cobain was. I try to be strong and just listen to the music, but this kind of stuff brings you down and has delayed me getting past the bull and into the band itself for years now.

The band itself I recently started liking after giving In Utero an honest listen and my perception of the band was instantly changed. I agree with Satchmo that Nirvana is best listened to within its historical context. The band's and cobain's history and impact interest me more then music itself and make the listening experience much more interesting. I haven't really listened to anything else other then In Utero, I doubt whatever I hear will be better then In Utero, but I think its worth it to appreciate the impact of the music.

Really, its not the extreme cobain praise that bothers me as much anymore but more the ignorant hate. Although I'm not one to praise him as the guy that saved rock, I'll stand up for him because honestly, his heart seemed to be in the right place and I tend to view his suicide with more empathy then many others I've seen that have this "he was a selfish whiny jerk" attitude. I think people overall completely misunderstand Nirvana and Kurt cobain, fans and haters alike. Nirvana is always a nice reminder why its good that many of my favorite bands don't keep massive mainstream recognition because then I'm going to have to deal with people completely misinterpreting and misunderstanding the ideas of my favorite bands and the music itself.

Okay,, well as u could probably tell by my username.. :S i admire, adore, worship and praise nirvana to an extreme. I don't know why I love them so much...i honestly cannot say. Smells Like Teen Spirit never really appealed to me and I was never sure why but I just preferred his other songs. When I found out Kurt hated Smells Like Teen Spirit because he felt it was fake I was pretty happy we shared something in common.

In regards to his death..um well I don't know what to believe. There's a conspiracy he was murdered and there's even a couple of people who believe he's still alive ((as much as i REALLY REALLY REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!)) wished this was true,, i think that these people need t get over what happened. Murder or suicide, Kurt Cobain is definetely not still alive....

yeh i reckon Cobain was a very deep person...maybe with depression...

Yeah, I like Nirvana. I think Kurt has a voice that is appealing to alot of people, mainly to young-uns that liked his rebelious style and his pitchy unorthodox voice. I personally think Kurt was a lazy prick at times, that, once he got his fame, acted like an arrogant brat. I don't say this because he killed himself, I say this because I just loathed his personality. As far as music goes though, I really love his MTV Unplugged album, especially the song, Lake of Fire. I just can't watch the video, for seeing his personality in action.

As for Smells Like Teen Spirit, I think it just about as good as all of his other stuff. The only difference between this song and Nirvana's others is that this one got really popular. Its popular because it is a loud song full of energy and it was probably pretty awesome to all the kiddies when it first came out. But now it seems Nirvana fans do not believe it deserves all the praise it gets because they have made much better music than this. Well, I think its true that there are better songs than this, but this is usually the song that gets you interested and aware of Nirvana's style. I know this is the first song I heard when I was introduced to Nirvana. And because of this song, it got me looking into all their other stuff.

Nirvana is my favorite band, they just embody so many great bands of the late 80's and early 90's into one great package. One thing that gets me about this forum in particular is the lack of respect for the group, being overrated and being overexposed are two different things. If you are sick of hearing SLTP on the radio 15 years after the group disbanded than does that make them 'overrated?'

I've learned that things as critically acclaimed and commercially popular as Nirvana tend to take alot of heat. But step back and think about why it is so acclaimed.

This is seriously the lamest pun in the history of puns.

He did Herion, not Cocaine. Dumbasses.

I totally agree with you on that. I don't think nirvana are legendary, but they're a gateway to good music. I might not have ever gotten into punk rock if I hadn't listened to Nirvana.(I'm not saying nirvana's punk rock, for anyone who wants to start anything). In spite of all the hype they're a pretty solid band. I think if kurt cobain could see the music he influenced beyond the grave he'd be pretty choked.

"Kurt Herion"

better?

I don't know, I heard this one once:

What did the shotgun call Kurt Cobain?

Kurt Nobrain.

Anyway, Nirvana's one of my 10 favorite bands, but I rarely talk about them because there's so much hate and love they get that's for all the wrong reasons. On the internet, it's mostly the irrational hate; in my daily life, it's the kids who love them for stupid reasons.

Now, kids loving a band I like for stupid reasons doesn't bother me; they have that right and honestly, if that bothered me, I'd be petty and obsessive. It's just that I won't discuss a band that I know they know little about because I would get nothing out of it.

definitely *
overrated *
too much *

http://gkpmblog.files.wordpress.com/...ammar_time.jpg

this is quite possibly the absolute BEST post about nirvana i have ever read. :clap:

i reckon they are a little overrated...but i still love them. kinda freaky seeing as i was born after he died :'( and i still love them

it makes such a nice change from kanye west & rihanna & amy winehouse & any other lame-ass 'popular' singer you can think of..

ahhh nirvana ... the person i envy most in this world is frances cobain, and yet she's the last person i would ever want to be...

kurt cobain i think was more sensitive, thoughtful and deep then people gave him credit for

honestly they're pretty talented in their own right