In retrospect, it's surreal that a depressed high school drop out from rural coastal Washington became the biggest rock musician of his era (and this is before you could just post your tracks on Youtube or make some Tik-Toks). Seriously, it's still one of the most grey, depressing places I've ever visited.

Dude wrote catchy songs, his voice sounds rad, he had a decent bassist and FINALLY landed on an amazing drummer at just the right moment.

Hearing "SLTS" when I was 9 completely changed my life. Discovered a million bands because they talked them up in interviews.

NC.

Def N.C, but they only got it right on Nevermind, there's a pure, magical formula at work there. I think the rest of their discography is very patchy. They were always better as a fly in the commercial ointment than as an underground rock band.

losthighway wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:57 am

enframed wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:14 pm
Looking back, maybe the American equivalent of Radiohead, but not quite as good.

This seems a misunderstanding of what makes these respective bands tick.

Ah, I see the misunderstanding.

I was *only* referring to that they make the occasional great song but most of them are just OK, IMO. The bands differ in every other way, yes.

BBC made a new documentary recently (probably to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Nevermind) which was ok.

Nevermind has a fatiguing quality to it. Something about the recording. I like In Utero best, then Bleach. Incesticide isn’t really an album, but a b-side comp, no? That was my introduction to the good Devo songs, and also fostered a lifelong distaste for the Vaselines.

Nirvana, not crap

enframed wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 11:25 am

losthighway wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:57 am

enframed wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 10:14 pm
Looking back, maybe the American equivalent of Radiohead, but not quite as good.

This seems a misunderstanding of what makes these respective bands tick.

Ah, I see the misunderstanding.

I was *only* referring to that they make the occasional great song but most of them are just OK, IMO. The bands differ in every other way, yes.

Oh yeah, I get you.

Also I learned to play guitar from them so that's a debt. NC

They were so ubiquitous after Nevermind broke that I don't think I've ever put on Nirvana since the mid 90s. One thing I didn't fully understand as a teenager was how good Grohl's drumming was.

An obvious NC but not a band I ever put on or need to hear. Got my fill back in the day from just breathing.

I’m sure some of the older members here watched the saga firsthand or even shared a stage with them at one point.

My opinion, as things unfolded, would evolve…

While Sub Pop was serving up gems like Superfuzz Bigmuff and God’s Balls, they were also offering us Cat Butt and Swallow. So Bleach did stand out at least because of Kurt’s voice and songs like “School” and “About a Girl”. I remember the tour they did with Tad in March of 1990, not being overwhelmed and feeling embarrassed for them when they wrecked their gear at the end of the set.

They came back in August with Dale Crover on drums and were almost a different band altogether, playing songs that would end up on Nevermind. It was at a larger capacity venue opening for Sonic Youth. Lots of talk for days after the show and it wasn’t about SY.

In June of 1991 I was visiting some friends in San Francisco and got to see Nirvana one last time, opening for Dinosaur Jr. at the Warfield. Grohl on drums. The new songs were great, they played a great show, but for some reason not as memorable as the one opening for Sonic Youth. A few months later my bandmate (who worked at a record store) played me an advanced copy of Nevermind and we both had the same reaction: it sounds slick but not too slick, the songs are simple but super catchy, and the drumming is killer. This will sell 100,000 copies. Of course, we were stunned when that was way off.

I don’t think the album sounds dated. I have listened to it as many times as Bleach but find it a much more rewarding listen. Although Incesticide has my favourite track of all: “Aneurysm”.

In Utero come closest to my memory of seeing the band live. I don’t love all of the songs but they have the spirit of the first album, with the advantage of sounding very good.

All that being said, they were an important band within our community and however you want to deal with their success and collapse, their role as a gateway to the underground for the new fan cannot be sold short. A Germ on 2nd guitar. Meat Puppets on Unplugged. The Breeders as opening band. On and on.

Not crap.

tallchris wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 11:14 am In retrospect, it's surreal that a depressed high school drop out from rural coastal Washington became the biggest rock musician of his era (and this is before you could just post your tracks on Youtube or make some Tik-Toks). Seriously, it's still one of the most grey, depressing places I've ever visited.

I’ve visited Olympic NP at least once and sometimes twice a year over the past five years plus at least 3 other times between 2009 and 2015. It’s pretty bleak, even in August. Eureka, CA and Escanaba, MI have similar vibes but aren’t quite the level of depressing that Aberdeen/Hoquiam achieves.

Which is interesting to me, as only 50 miles away is one of the most heavenly landscapes on earth. Had young Kurt been able to don a pack and visit Enchanted Valley, the upper Hoh River, High-Divide and Burroughs Range, or even the North Coast of the park, I wonder what influence those experiences might have had on his adult life. Perhaps an illustration of how important a program like Outdoor School can be to kids from similar backgrounds growing up in the Northwest.

NC.

17-19 year old me got a lot of enjoyment and mileage from those first few albums.