Anniversary of a "Revolution"

Nirvana is the best band ever. I just wanted to make that perfectly clear before I start talking about the signifigance of Nevermind and the years that followed. A lot of different companies have been making a fuss about the tenth anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind. That got me thinking. What was the point? Was there a point? What would the world be like without Nirvana? What would things be like if Cobain had never killed himself? All sorts of questions, which I had proabablly asked myself a thousand times, occured to me. I guess the most important question that came to me then is this: If Nirvana and Nevermind were so important, and if all the critics still think it was so important, then why has everybody forgotten about their music and good rock music in general?
When you look out at the music scene today, you don't see many bands achieve the knd of succes that Nirvana did. Most of the bands who stick to their own sound develop cult followings that stay loyal, but the general populous doesn't seem interested in anything with substance. Probably the most succesfull of all bands in the past few years, Limp Bizkit, gets by with the angry jock crowd and and the support of the ladies. Yet, you probably won't ever hear another mainstream peep out of At-the-Drive-In. What seperates these two acts, who have (very broadly speaking) the same sort of rap metal sound. Its simple: ATDI is alternative and Limp Bizkit is not. I don't care what alternative rock has come to mean, but when I say it, I mean something which is in someway different from everything else out there. ATDI sure as hell fits into that category. So do bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and the Get Up Kids. It's not something you could play on the radio and not have pre- teens look at each other and go, "What is this, it's awful." Why then is Limp Bizkit a pop band and others aren't? Simple, most people like them. Pop is very hard to define; afterall, Tool had the number one album in the nation, but most people sure as hell don't like them. Being pop is.... being cool. You or I might think Maynard or Dave Grohl is cool, but most people just look at them as sideshows in their ever evolving music lifestyle. When you really like a band, you don't just like their newest single or download their songs for free. You walk or drive your ass down to a record store and you buy their album, and when you've played that through literally a dozen times everyday for a month, you buy all the albums they put out before then. Then you ask your friends who do the same sort of thing what other bands came out at the same time and who else has that sound, and you buy those albums and you like them, but not as much as that first album you bought. That, my freinds, is what being a fan of rock and roll is all about. And the vast majority of Nirvana listeners were never in that category.

Grohl Speaks....

 Most people can't name Nirvana's first album, and they sure as hell can't name every song on every release they ever put out. Most people don't even now what Insecticide is. Do you have to know all that stuff, to be a true Nirvana fan? Of course not, but I bet you a lot of people could name every song of off their favorite album. It's just that Nevermind isn't anyone's (hardly anyone's) favorite album. Even all the critics who call it revolutionary, don't consider it their favorite album. They, being critics, only like big albums by obscure bands. All of the punk "fans" hate it because it sold several million copies, they only like obscure albums by big bands. Stuff that's "underground" and "edgy" and all sorts of crap like that. Most people like that, that I've met are just asshole jocks who happen to suck at sports. They'd be listening to Limp Bizkit if their little sister wasn't.

Novosloveic (yes, that's mispelled) plays...
Underground music shouldn't be about being less known or sucking too bad for any major label too touch you. It should be about making good music that you want, regardless of what anyone (especially so-called fans) have to say. I think Nirvana pretty much embodies this philosophy. They made good music, and yes it was poppy, but that's what they wanted to make. They were'nt forced to do it by slick guys with pony tails and suits. That's what most of the emo rock kids are doing; most of that stuff is poppy as hell, but there is just sch a feeling of sincerity, that I doubt they'll ever catch on for more than a fleeting moment. Part of me thinks that's a good thing. That's the part that thinks it's fun to be into "underground music." But a larger part of me says that this music is so good that everyone should hear it. I wouldn't know who the hell Nirvana was if they weren't popular. No one outside of the North West would. But they were popular, and they opened up the way for a lot of bands that I like. That's what I'm going to talk about in the second part of my article....