Nirvana's NEVERMIND's reputation is one of many things that proves how dumb people are. The record throughout just proves that A) Kurt Cobain had a lust for life and had no reason to kill himself and B) that regardless of its influence and how common it sounds today, it's still a cut above the rest; Kurt Cobain didn't just whine about his problems. He 'wined' about much bigger topics. The record doesn't have much in the way of profound lyrics, but the passion with which he sings is explosive. Also, it wasn't as popular as it was in its day b/c of some misplaced idea that Nirvana invented grunge or anything like that. Nirvana wasn't the most 'original' sounding grunge band, nor did they invent grunge. However, they had a much broader appeal than most grunge bands. NEVERMIND's indie predecessor BLEACH still doesn't get the sales it deserves, but that's only b/c the common folk doesn't have enough time and will to dig through piles of records to find something they like. They're fine with what the radio has to offer. If BLEACH were advertised properly, it might have been the NEVERMIND before there was NEVERMIND. Of course, it does have a little of that murkiness that indie records are plauged with, which wasn't an issue with NEVERMIND, which the band decried as being "too polished" or whatever (rolls eyes). I think the band's complaints about NEVERMIND sounding too polished or whatever is rather ironic, considering IN UTERO was just as polished as NEVERMIND. Sure, it's more noisy and chaotic, but that doesn't make it a better record or any less polished. The production techniques of Geffen's mad scientists were in full effect all throughout Nirvana's major label stint. Even BLEACH had amazing sheen considering the amount of money spent on it (less than $1,000). I mean, it doesn't make sense that Nirvana wrote pop songs but didn't want the pop production. If he had kept making murky sounding records, the public would never have caught on and thus college rock/alternative/modern rock would have stayed obscure like it was in the 1980s and Kurt Cobain would still be talking about how much better his music was than Michael Jackson's and nobody would care except maybe some Kurt Cobain stalker, i.e.: someone who was "lucky" enough to live or travel close enough to Kurt Cobain's places of existence to hear what he was saying and couldn't help but be intoxicated by his words and want to feel them from inside...
Not that radio is any better than it was. Less than five years after Kurt Cobain's band disbanded N'Sync won a Grammy for Best New Band. Of course, marketing to spoiled children kind of back fired on the major labels in general - The Get Up Kids, Saves The Day, Dashboard Confessional, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday........none of those bands sell tons and tons of records, but their overall sales have replaced a big chunk of the major leagues' MVPs' sales. In other words, radio may still suck, but people aren't just accepting it. The internet probably keeps that going, but if it weren't for Nirvana, would anyone know something was fundamentally wrong? I mean, Milie Vanilli (sp?) was fraud, OK, but does that mean EVERY pop band is rotten to the core? And no, I'm not saying pop is evil; Mariah Carey and Celine Dion do tend to sing w/o conviction, but at least they can pretend to have passion. Backstreet Boys & N'Sync were so obviously in it for the money and nothing more. But the real proof that pop music isn't inherently evil is the phenominal talent of Michael Jackson. Quincy Jones first said this, or at least he was the first person I heard say this (in the bonus materials on the special edition of BAD from 2001), and I find it to be true: no matter what he sang, it always came out sounding personal to him. And then of course, the fact that Nirvana was basically a pop band with guitars instead of drum machines and synthesisers...but anyway, what I was trying to say with my "pop bashing" or whatever supplemental phrase you would have used, is that pop music USUALLY sucks, or, at least, it isn't as honest and pure as rock music in the majority of cases.
So yeah; Nirvana, I think, made people aware that you can listen to pop without sacrificing integrity and honesty. The internet simply provides a myriad of ways of helping people find pop music containing the often-times elusive honesty & integrity.
In the end, it does sound trite, it gets boring quick, very quick, heck, I feel stupid saying this, but it's true: NEVERMIND, now almost 20 years old, has yet to be equaled in its influence on popular culture. If I hadn't bought the album five+ times already and sold it just as many times just get a quick $1-$4, I'd go out and buy it right now...even albums that I have a personal connection to (I was 7 at the time of NEVERMIND's release and wasn't listening to the radio or watching MTV or VH1) tend to slip my hands too easily, after all, you can go back and re-buy them...if I wasn't two feet away from being dirt poor, it wouldn't be an issue prolly, but...anyway...
No comments:
Post a Comment