The METAL-HEADS thread - Page 3

I'm man enough to admit I'm over Nirvana. Unplugged gets yearly revisits but none of their others do except for In Utero. I was heavy into "grunge" back in the day but never liked how the industry divided it all up. We would stand at a bonfire and go from Megadeth to The Doors and not bat an eyelash until damn Rush came on.

I miss record stores, a lot. That discovery process was very dear to me. Digging through youtube or forums really has no soul to it. At least no soul like getting some side boob from an Omni magazine reading hippie girl does. That CD she suggested was Lenny Kravitz Let Love Rule. The closest analog we have today is kids on the playground showing off iTunes purchases and that's about it at its most organic today.

I hope my daughter (currently 1.5) gets busted for Dead Poets Society style barbaric yawps, out back of the school for some dusty old CD she dug up in my closet. Never mind the genre, mostly.

Nirvana was a simple 3 man band with songs that were basically one verse and one chorus that they repeated over and over for 3-4 minutes and called it a song.

Today looking back without knowing much else about them it would be easy to feel like the statement I wrote above. Living through that time period and being 18 - 25 yrs old gives me a completely different view of what they accomplished. The 70's was Rock and Roll music at it finest. Bands wrote ballads instead of songs and they came with guitar solos that were beautiful to the ears. Rock was new and fresh. Then came the 80's with the hair bands and Rock changed. Bands were all about making money so even the good bands had 2 or 3 good songs on an album and the rest were basic throw aways. It was a confusing time to say the least. If you were not mainsteam you did not get any air play. No air play ment the majority of the people didn't hear your music. Just think of the bands that were popular and look at how few good songs they had. Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Tesla, Great White, Whitesnake,Cinderella, Ratt, and Poison were shoved down are throat and not knowing anything different we ate it with a smile. It was also the time for the start of the so called "underground bands". Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeath all were putting in the work and writing songs that were original and inspiring. The problem was it was hard to gain access to thier music b/c they didn't play it on the radio and very little on Mtv. By the late 80's music was starting to change and bands like GNR came out and started getting some play. Mtv started Head Bangers BAll and for me there was no going back to the old Hair bands. While the underground was trying to break through and the hair bands were still trying to hold on in comes something completely different later to be called Grunge. Nirvana was the face of grunge music. It became a nationwide movement and young and confused teenagers and adults not only listened to the music they lived the life and united based on that lifestyle. The Seattle Sound is what it became known as. Within 2 years Brett Micheals went from selling out arenas to noone even wanting his autograph. It seemed like overnight everyone realized that the hair band 80's was pure Cheese. Nirvana was the nail in Poison's coffin. Grunge killed Cheesey Hairband style Rock and Roll. All of a sudden bands had to start trying harder. Whatever they recorded they had to be able to sound the same live. In the 80's when you went to a concert it rarely sounded like the recordings and some bands even lip synced.B/c of grunge music lip syncing was no longer acceptable. Real Rock and Roll almost died. Thanks to the former underground bands like Pantera, Janes Addiction, AIC, Sound Garden, Rage Against the Machine, and yes Nirvana Rock was transformed into what it is today. You go see a concert today the band sounds the same live as it does recorded. Half assed bands just don't make it anymore.
My point is Nirvana is the one band credited for this even though it was almost everyone else who did the work. Kurt Cobain showed evryone that it was Ok To fail as long as it was real. We were able to watch the beginnings of something special only at the time we did not know it. So Nirvana to me represents a movement a lifestyle and an attitude that still rings strong today. Without them music today would be different.
I will quit rambling now b/c I am running out time
Watch the movie "Rock Star" with Marky Mark and it covers what I was just saying
thanks
Chris

Son Rec = Stranglehold Ted Nuggent (remember he came before the tag metal)
Edited by countryWV - 1/11/13 at 7:45am

I saw Jane's Addiction last May. Farming phenomenal.

Good to hear. I saw Pantera open up for Jane's Addiction back in 92' . It is still a highlight in my concert experience.
Perry Ferrall is the creator of LallaPalooza. In its day Lallapalooza was as big of a show as it gets.
Chris

^^ nice read thanks for your post ( oops #62 that is)

Regardless of the genre, when I listen to music, any kind of music, I need to be emotionally touched, moved, somehow. Whether it's with joy, sadness, anger, you name it. The problem with Nirvana is that I feel absolutely nothing, or maybe total indifference. Even when they came out. Apologies to the fans out there, to each his own, but that's really how I feel about that band. I understand their cultural impact, but to me they wrote poor music and don't deserve all the praise. You might be right when you say the music today would be different had they not existed, but I'm not sure about that. There are a lot of bands that still want to make music and not just sell albums, and I don't think we needed Nirvana to tell us the 80s were cheesy. We came to that conclusion also because time always gives perspective, and always gives the poosibility to compare with "today". How are we going to look at the 2010s 20 years from now? But again, I'm just thinking out loud here...

Saw Lolla in 94 with Pumpkins headlining. Amazing show before they went Mellon Collie.

^ This.

Metal song of the day: Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Swan Saivo off the yet to be released album "Saivon Lapsi." Here's the music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leXpn9_pi8A

That perspective is what eventually led to Cobain's suicide. The commercial side of the industry saw a way to capitalize and pushed them to the front for the money. They were literally overnight sensations before they even had time to learn how to play thier instruments or write thought provoking lyrics. They were handed fame when they really just wanted to exist, get high, and play music. The pressure to live up to the expectations became overwhelming. Combine that with herion, Courtney Love, and a shotgun and Bam suicide. The songs were simple b/c they had less than 3 yrs together as a band once they got David Grohl as the drummer. With that out of the ashes that was Nirvana came The Foo Fighters.
The Foo Fighters is and always will be a living part of Nirvana. Nirvana is now as dead as the 90's and will never be again so I see no reason to defend them. To me Nirvana represents my life from 91-95 so they are so much more than a band.
There is a certain band out there I cannot stand but the world loves them so I do respect what they did. Who are they? The Beatles. I know I may be the only one in the world since they could be considered the most influentual band of all time. Without them No Nirvana. Just b/c music is not liked does not mean I do not appreciate it.
The true musicians aspire for so much more than money and success. They want to be remembered forever. Nirvana accomplished that.
Enough Nirvana talk
Chris

Fates Warning is cool. That Parallels record is dope.

Listen to some of their other stuff. They're as good as Insomnium.

Celestial Entrance and Enigmatic Calling are their masterpieces, with Infinity Devine not far behind. All stellar albums! Their singer has done work for other bands such as Eidolon.

Good stuff man!

If you like your hard rock sludgy (and slightly prog-ish) in a heavy like the 70s way, I highly recommend Sweden's Graveyard. Most recent album, Lights Out, came out late last year. Seeing them in Feb in SF. Check 'em out!

Heavy metal song of the day: My Demise by Shadows Fall off their album "Retribution." Time to headbang!

Don't bother with "Fallout From The War," but the rest are awesome. I actually like "The War Within" and "Retribution" the best.

Are you a teacher or just much younger than me (I'm 32)?

My brother (33) is an elementary school teacher, he also plays music in the class room. Occasionally he'll play it with the kids in the room. He had the kids asking him "why is he a Powerslave?" one time

Just one lead vocalist. While I do like Lights Out a lot, I still think their 2nd album Hisingen Blues is their best to date. They reportedly made quite an impression of some folks, including Rolling Stone's David Fricke, at the 2008 SXSW festival, which was their 1st US gig.

LOL, that's awesome!

That's a little cooler than my first grade teacher who played a record with "If I had a Hammer". But, she's still my favorite teacher to this day.