Nirvana

Probably the most overrated band in the history of music.

Nirvana arrived on the music scene when popular music didn't know where to go next. Listeners were done with 80's hair metal and done with pretty moody synth.

A perfect concoction of a new sound plus an empty mainstream throne combined with the ability to sonically personify the feeling of a generation rose Nirvana to the top.

They aren't great musicians. They aren't great singers. They aren't even smart lyricists. But they are gut wrenchingly raw and cathartic.

Sprinkle in a who-dun-it murder/suicide and it's the stuff of legends.

But if we can see through the how's and why's of Nirvana's reign and look strictly at the what's, meaning the music, they are average. Followers did it better---refined and melodic-- and preceding underground bands like Pixies did it smarter.

Cobain had an endearing quality that I personally find unnerving and can be found in any high school--the "I don't even care if I'm cool, I'm just doing this because I can" schtick.

So many people do everything that they can to fit in and be accepted that seeing someone so un-interested in being so is magnetic to those types.

Still, it doesn't make for a legendary band. Nirvana cast a spell on people that still baffles me today.

From DeusExMackia TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/09/2018 19:34 | #207476

A group who possessed that rare talent to make loud music really, really mean something. I've never met any other fan of the band who didn't feel that they had some special connection with their music. I'd love to wax lyrical about all their live performances, the various covers they did, and how good Nevermind and In Utero are, but I think we'd be here all day.

It's not about 'comparing them to The Beatles' because they're 'one of the best bands ever' or talking about 'how influential they were' or whatever. What it's really about is how they manage to make a genre that should put so many off so damn appealing and listenable.

It's that appeal that makes me like them so much. I listen to them when I'm happy and when I'm sad, and they never ever let me down. And more than that, it makes Nirvana special.

From paladisiac TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/05/2013 21:18 | #64134

Nirvana was more than the sum of their parts, more than any singular aspect Kurt Cobain, or other members, brought to Nirvana. Nirvana was a movement, an anthem, a FEELING. He felt what a new generation was feeling at the time. His depression, his angst and his rage exploded outward through his music. Nirvana relied on music before it and created something brand new at the same time. And as the youth became caught up in the wave of emotion and inner turmoil seething through his music (on Nevermind), popular music shifted completely. To simply slag Nirvana as being "derivative" or not the best musicians missed the point and the value of the band completely.

While i believe that if Nirvana hadn't existed, some other band would've broken through big in a similar manner, Nirvana was the one to do it on the back of Kurt's musicianship and emotional authenticity. Pearl Jam's Ten actually came out first and was a mere one-week blip at the bottom of the billboard top 200 albums. It wasn't until Nirvana established "grunge" as a commerciably viable genre until the RIAA and MTV started investing more thoroughly. And THEN, with a tidal wave of youth backing this "new" sound, pearl jam experienced a new life through "jeremy" (and its video). It takes a great artist to shift the musical paradigm at the foundries of the RIAA and MTV. (Michael Jackson and Nirvana were the only two.) It's a tough call for me to decide if Nirvana was at the right place at the right time, or if the right time and place just happened to find Nirvana.

Kurt and Nirvana MADE history. Radio changed to fit music like Nirvana's in. Kurt didn't equate to great rock'n'roll, he exuded the genuine human condition through his brand of rock and roll. America, first with the youth, just happened to understand and feel what Kurt expressed. And that to me is the mark of a true music legend -- one that creates music that is greater than the actual music or words or image. Few have done this since rock, or popular music for that matter, came into existence. Fewer have done it and MEANT it.

From 9999 TOP 100 COMMENTER 08/11/2015 16:47 | #147511

I think people tend to either overrate or underrate Nirvana. Some think they're the best, some think they're trashy. Well, I disagree with both. What they were was the main face of a movement they didn't want anything to do with. They were certainly not as artistically groundbreaking as many people have been led to believe, but let's be honest, most grunge bands were hardly innovative. Their iconic status may be slightly undeserved, but their influence is undeniable. Their lyrics are often so-so, but the raw emotion of Kurt's voice and the band's passionate playing makes it irrelevant. Best band of all time? Fuck no. They're not even the best band of the 90s. Hell, they may not even be the best grunge band. But that doesn't mean they weren't good. They were actually a pretty solid act, in my opinion, and there will always be room for Nevermind in my top 100.

I don't think any other band has conflicted me as much as Nirvana have over the years. At one point, I thought Nirvana were the best band from the '90s and easily the best grunge band of all time. At another, much later point, I thought they were overrated beyond belief and "a poor man's Pixies."

Nowadays, I just consider them to be a solid band overall. I believe that Layne Staley-era Alice in Chains were the best grunge band but Nirvana are not that far behind. For as overplayed as Nevermind is, I still find some of the singles and the more "deep" cuts from it like "Polly" and "Something in the Way" to be highly enjoyable listens.

In Utero and the MTV Unplugged live album are their best work imo and those are the albums that I would recommend to someone on the fence about Nirvana's music. I always wondered what their music would've sounded like had Kurt Cobain still been around but it's just one of those what-ifs in life.

So, in short, a solid band that wrote some solid music. Nothing more, nothing less. (Edited)