šŸŽµ How Good Are They Really šŸŽµ Nirvana #SSP

Big fan of the comprehensive nature of this!

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Hello, I’m digging up a year old thread because HGATR Joy Division has sort of devolved into a HGATR Nirvana revisited (largely my fault, sorry) and because I missed a lot of the early versions of these because… reasons

Anyway, I just wanted to chip in with how Nirvana are the most important band in my life even if they’re far from my favourite one. My parents (mother in particular) was a huge Nirvana and R.E.M fan at the time and so some of my earliest musical memories are those bands (along with things like Prince, B52s, KLF, Bowie, Bob Marley, Beatles and other things). I was only 5 when Kurt died but I remember my mum being absolutely devestated by it and they stuck with me ever since. When I started forming my own tastes in music (probably around the same time I got into wrestling in '99) Nirvana were probably my first ā€œfavourite bandā€ as they always stood way apart from everything else I had grown up with and experienced up until to that point.

As time went on I discovered more and more bands who were given their platform due to Nirvana’s success, such as The Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Offspring and the likes but I always came back to Nirvana.

By the time I hit my mid-to-late teens I had cooled on them a little bit, as I think is probably kind of natural, which meant I could reassess them in my 20s. As things stand I think Bleach and Nevermind are perfectly grand records, about half of which is classic stuff showing their potential. Then there’s In Utero which is one of the best punk/rock/pop records of all time and of the 90s and the absolutely breathtaking Unplugged album which prove just how good their really were. While I may think Nevermind is a fairly overrated album, it cannot be understated how important it is. It as an album, boiled down to a song, a moment (you know the one) completely changed music forever and generally speaking for the better (though I acknowledge also allowed a lot of absolute shite to get in).

One of the most important bands to ever grace us, an obvious 5/5 if this poll was still open.

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I wasn’t here for this but they’re a 5 for me.
Kurt was a very troubled man who wrote some of the best raw pop and rock songs of all time with very limited resources. He magpied from the Washington scene and particularly Bikini Kill, The Melvins, and even the Beatles but he refined the blend of all those tones in a genius way.
No doubt if they kept going they would’ve released some stinkers but the pure energy behind their records show something special which if they’d retained they had a lot more to give. Showed what you can do even if you’re starting from rock bottom. 5.

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Good to see some late 5/5s here. Definitely a shame how low they’ve landed in the list compared to how good a band they were.

I hope we are going to do Hole at some point. Another 5/5 from me…

Stumbled upon this video (yeah sure, it’s probably up in this thread but I’m not going through)

Like that at approximately 1m 7s Billy confirms that Bleach is an EP with his ā€˜first album’ line I reckon @JohnM

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randomly i watched that the other week also. It’s great. Those videos make me long for simpler times.

ā€œRape me has no meaning other than being loudā€ :smiley: I wonder how many times he had to explain it was anti rape?

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Enjoyed the presenter referring to Nirvana as ā€œthe ladsā€

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Thought it was going to be Billy Corgan

I have seen that before actually but had missed what Billy said

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I’ve said it before, and probably again upthread: it didn’t really have any gravitas for me at the time (I was young, without a full appreciation for life, there were other bands to discover, and, y’know, the clichĆ© of the 27 club) but as time passes, it hurts more and more that he’s not still with us.

There’s an artistic kernel that’s just so unique and offered scope for more interesting stuff than, I dunno, Josh Homme hooking up with the Arctic Monkeys et al or, um, 21st century Foo Fighters. (Which is not intended as singling out those guys for a ragging specifically.)

Not suggesting that Nirvana as a thing would’ve consistently broke new ground, or even still existed much beyond Unplugged. But that session cemented an aptitude for range that would have made even relatively predictable stuff such as seeing him do tracks with, like, PJ Harvey, Courtney Barnett, or whoever, would have been compelling.

(I think Anet Mook of Cay is the other main loss I mourn in a similar way but, admittedly, Cay aren’t in the same league as Nirvana.)

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:dollar: :dollar: :dollar:

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If it’s true that his parents didn’t sign a consent form, then I think he’ll win and deservedly so.

If they did sign a consent form, then there would be an interesting test case about what your parents can consent to on your behalf.

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I mean, he has the album’s title tattooed across his chest.

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I mean it’s not child pornography and is offensive to suggest it is but imagine the court agreed it was. That would make everyone who owns the album in possession of ā€˜child pornography’.

The rest of the case will just be about rights to use the photo. Did they pay the photographer for rights? Then that’s fine.

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People are allowed to change their minds

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yep, think there’s evidence to suggest it hasn’t caused ā€˜lifelong damage’ but would be interested to know how much weight is given to any reappraisal he’s had in recent years.

If his parents consented and he were to win damages somehow, could imagine this being used as a precedent, particularly with kids from the social media age. Happy to be corrected by people with more legal knowledge. There may be other similar cases I’m not aware of too.

:dollar: :dollar: :dollar:

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I don’t think it’s hard to imagine a scenario where you are thrust into a situation like this and you go along with it, and then your feelings shift over the years.

There are parallels with sexual assault and manipulation, and I personally think we should take the same step of at least trying to believe the victim, rather than immediately dismissing their claims.

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No, but I can’t imagine a scenario where you’d think the album cover is child pornography.

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How do you define child pornography?