Teens react to Nirvana (the band).

first time listener wrote:

They sound a bit whiny. Don't know why you old guys like them so much

Much of what we call teenage male "angst" is pretty much indistinguishable from "whiny".

For what is worth, pearl jam came before nirvana. So did sound garden and temple of dog ( which lead to founding of pearl jam). Alice in chains was also before nirvana. Pretty much everyone in my school in colorado knew those bands before they heard of nirvana.

For my $ I'd rather listen to cornell than cobin.

I don't like nirvana

I'm with t rex on this one - nirvana might have been the last great rock band - sort of closed the era when cobain died.

I think foo fighters are completely bland and boring - no interesting songwriting or sounds going on.

Nirvana was all about songwriting - often surprising and innovative and just great hooks. Plus the production was amazing.

a female POV wrote:

3 studio albums:

bleach

nevermind

in utero

Yes.

But they made it sound like they just made 3 albums.

Icesticide didn't have any songs from those 3 studio albums.

It was mostly singles and others songs they did put together.

It's a distinct album.

I'm just saying their work was a little bigger than how the guy made it sound.

and while pink floyd is indeed overrated, I believe it has been mathematically proven that no band could possibly be more overrated than Radiohead.

agip out

Sgh wrote:

For my $ I'd rather listen to cornell than cobin.

Yeah and Cornell is a much better singer than Paul McCartney or John Lennon.

Doesn't make his songs better than the Beatles.

Except the Pixies. They even had Nirvana's coattails and couldn't get one song worth playing anywhere. Which of course makes them "cool" to the retro-intelligentsia.

agip wrote:

and while pink floyd is indeed overrated, I believe it has been mathematically proven that no band could possibly be more overrated than Radiohead.

agip out

Dude, you are so wrong about Dave Grohl.

Celebs from Paul McCartney to John Paul Jones talking about how great he is. I'll go with that and my own assessment too.

For some reason you are stuck on the FORM of rock not being able to identify genius. Feelin' Alright isn't even a three -chord song...it's just TWO and it's genius. If you're gonna be down on three chords, then man there's a ton of great stuff out there you just dismiss.

There are three popular musicians since about 1970 that I can say for sure are musical geniuses though I could be persuaded to include more, but three immediately come to mind (in no particular order):

Prince

Elton John

Dave Grohl

I don't pretend that I can convince you that Dave Grohl is indeed one, and I understand that music appreciation has a subjective component, but dude, you're way off here. You are allowed to be though, so I won't go on and on trying to convince you.

I am astonished that you didn't list yourself amongst those musical geniuses.

mind blown wrote:

I am astonished that you didn't list yourself amongst those musical geniuses.

Well then, you don't know me very well; I deal with reality, not fantasy. I am a talented musician, but I am not a musical genius. Hell, if I don't put Billy Joel or Steve Winwood (though maybe I should put Winwood there) on the list of musical geniuses, then I sure can't be there.

I listened to that video

I think there are two arguments here - how good a drummer/performer is he...vs how many great songs he has written.

I have no problem if people want to call him a truly great drum player, or guitarist, or lead singer, or great person. fine. I can't really judge great drummers.

But only two people in that video call him a great songwriter, and neither of them is noteworthy. One is Joey Jordinson of, ahem, Slipknot, murder dolls and rob zombie. Not exactly a legend there.

The other guy who said grohl writes great songs is...the drummer in foo fighters. Hardly a serious source.

I have to disagree with the guys saying Grohl is some sort of musical icon or God.

The guy is an AMAZING drummer. Seriously good. He has chops from hell but his intensity when playing is second to none and he adds to any track that he's behind the kit on.

He is also a very average guitar player and songwriter. I remember going to see the Foo's at a festival a good few years ago. I'd never really heard much of their stuff but the people I was with were raving about how good they were. I was pumped and excited but not a single song they played grabbed me by the balls and said 'listen to me!' like other bands. Yes, their songs are fine. Some are better than fine in fact. But that's about it. They're a decent band in an era of mainly dross which perhaps propels their stance to false heights. That's not their fault.

To even compare Grohl and Cobain's songwriting ability is somewhat folly. I'm not hating on Grohl. I like the guy and think he's bloody fantastic at what he does and the Foo Fighters are a decent band. A Godlike Genius, he most definitely is not.

agip wrote:

I listened to that video

I think there are two arguments here - how good a drummer/performer is he...vs how many great songs he has written.

I have no problem if people want to call him a truly great drum player, or guitarist, or lead singer, or great person. fine. I can't really judge great drummers.

But only two people in that video call him a great songwriter, and neither of them is noteworthy. One is Joey Jordinson of, ahem, Slipknot, murder dolls and rob zombie. Not exactly a legend there.

The other guy who said grohl writes great songs is...the drummer in foo fighters. Hardly a serious source.

That video was just the first thing I found. You could find stuff all day from others praising Dave Grohl. I'm hardly alone here.

My term "genius" applies to the whole of what he does. I didn't say he was a "genius songwriter"...just that taken as a whole he is a genius. Geniuses still have things they can do better. The totality of Dave Grohl though puts him in genius category for sure. And other than Smells Like Teen Spirit, I like Foo Fighter stuff better than Nirvana. Nirvana gets big props for blazing a trail though.

It was the punk of the early 90s, a rebellion against the blandness of the music at the time.

The top 10 hits of 1993 were

1. "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston

2 "Whoomp! (There It Is)" Tag Team

3 "Can't Help Falling in Love" UB40

4 "That's the Way Love Goes" Janet Jackson

5 "Freak Me" Silk

6 "Weak" SWV

7 "If I Ever Fall in Love" Shai

8 "Dreamlover" Mariah Carey

9 "Rump Shaker" Wreckx-n-Effect

10 "Informer" Snow

Rockette wrote:

It was the punk of the early 90s, a rebellion against the blandness of the music at the time.

The top 10 hits of 1993 were

1. "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston

2 "Whoomp! (There It Is)" Tag Team

3 "Can't Help Falling in Love" UB40

4 "That's the Way Love Goes" Janet Jackson

5 "Freak Me" Silk

6 "Weak" SWV

7 "If I Ever Fall in Love" Shai

8 "Dreamlover" Mariah Carey

9 "Rump Shaker" Wreckx-n-Effect

10 "Informer" Snow

That's why grunge took off. Too much crap in the late 80s, early 90s, too many synthesizers and not enough driving guitars that people longed for.

FYI - I in NO WAY intoned that I regard three chord songs as mundane. Here are my exact words, copied from above: "three chord power pop with stilted phrasing and unmemorable melodies is genius." Please learn how to comprehend what others write, and just maybe you'll be able to argue a point with some efficacy.

I'm through 'arguing' with you about this, but just to have a little fun, here are some interesting google results:

dave grohl genius - 296,000 results

foo fighters boring - 377,000 results

dave grohl meh - 2,480,000 results

foo fighters awesome - 4,580,000 results

foo fighters awful - 16,900,000 results

Top Noticer wrote:

I'm through 'arguing' with you about this, but just to have a little fun, here are some interesting google results:

dave grohl genius - 296,000 results

foo fighters boring - 377,000 results

dave grohl meh - 2,480,000 results

foo fighters awesome - 4,580,000 results

foo fighters awful - 16,900,000 results

Those results mean nothing. I only need ONE example from one of the results for "foo fighters awful":

"Awful Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Foo Fighters"

You remain wrong about Dave Grohl and three-chord songs.

Flagpole wrote:

Top Noticer wrote:

I'm through 'arguing' with you about this, but just to have a little fun, here are some interesting google results:

dave grohl genius - 296,000 results

foo fighters boring - 377,000 results

dave grohl meh - 2,480,000 results

foo fighters awesome - 4,580,000 results

foo fighters awful - 16,900,000 results

Those results mean nothing. I only need ONE example from one of the results for "foo fighters awful":

"Awful Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Foo Fighters"

You remain wrong about Dave Grohl and three-chord songs.

Thank you for proving my point. Now go run in the road.