12 posts tagged “music”
Some Twitter friends and I had an interesting discussion today about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, and I wanted to offer a bit meatier of an explanation of my stance on the band here on my personal blog, as Twitter's 140-character limit is a bit too minimal for a discussion like this. As a side note: I apologize to any annoyed followers of my Twitter feed, but the law had to be laid down, and it appeared that I had to be the one to do it.
The crux of my immense distaste for Nirvana hinges on Kurt Cobain, the inarguable driving force of the what made the band such a sensation. Some tried to argue that Nirvana was great because without them, we might not have had Foo Fighters. While I agree that Foo Fighters are by and large a far better band, one band does not make another great. I certainly am grateful that Nirvana got big and gave Dave Grohl his shot, but this gift doesn't change my stance.
Others argue that I need to look at Nirvana for their *music*, but to that I say: a band is about more than the mere melodies they produce. A lot more. Bands worth half their weight have beliefs, philosophies and sometimes even very public stances they take on one issue or another. The grunge period during which Nirvana flourished was certainly a time of taking stances, and this fact brings me to the primary reason why I believe Kurt and Nirvana did more harm to music than good.
I believe Kurt didn't stand for much more than useless self-loathing. While the songs he wrote were decent from a pure musical standpoint, perhaps even good, the lyrics that he wrote and the interviews that he gave betrayed not much more than a sense of "oh whoa is me, the world is so cruel, I'm gonna write a song and cry about it." That, to me, isn't much to base a band or music on.
Some of the discussion participants on Twitter argued that plenty of other great bands and musicians, such as Nine Inch Nails and John Lennon, had a similar whiny stance. Not so. While Trent Reznor's lyrics contain a lot of anger and, at times, sadness, the man has more musical knowledge and talent in one finger than Kurt had in his body. Trent explores music, technology and social issues all at far greater depths than Nirvana ever did, and John Lennon used his musical powers for good, singing about change and trying to get human beings to act like human beings again.
From this perspective, Kurt is the kid crying in the corner because he scraped his knee or isn't as good at kickball as the other boys, while similar so-called 'whiners' like Trent and Lennon are busting their asses out on the field, playing and working harder to do their best.
John: have you ever read the lyrics to Year Zero?
deep shit
Me: Trent could make Jessica Simpson's head explode
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero album... not available until 2038?, originally uploaded by David Chartier.
I received an email from the iTunes Store stating that the NIN Year Zero album I pre-ordered was available for download. So I download it. I then try to check out the album in the store to see what else I could see, but apparently I won't be able to see anything until 2038.
Now *that's* a pre-order.In February, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs stirred up controversy when he called for an end to DRM in an open letter to the industry published on Apple's Web site. At the time, Microsoft responded harshly to Jobs' statement -- a Zune spokesman called it naive and irresponsible -- but now the company seems to have literally changed its tune.
I hope I don't get sued into oblivion or whatever, and I just hope this doesn't suck. One warning: it's supposed to be a little over the top in places (especially at the end). I'm on vocals and guitar, and Mike is doing backup guitar and all the recording/engineering ninja stuff that he's such a god at.
Man I can't wait to start making more music again. And not just the (hopefully) funny stuff either.
Enjoy, I hope.
I'm bumming around Flatirons Crosing Mall after picking up a warranty replacement battery for the MacBook, and I can't help but notice how cool the music is today. It's all acoustic or otherwise alt versions of semi-pop and alternative music, or decent classics. Man that's refreshing. I always figured I would grow up to be that guy who hated the succeeding generation's music, but I never counted on it turning so horrible so quickly; I mean, I'm only 26 - I'm just barely outside non-MTV's target demographic!
Either way, it's been refreshing to hear halfway decent music while I lull over the purchase of an AirPort Extreme station. Decisions, decisions.
Agreed - amazing. What a beautiful world we could live in if the powers that be would recognize, respect and encourage awesomeness like this.
[via Sample the Web]
I think I'm catching insomnia or something; is there an epidemic going around again? Regardless, I just went bonkers and added a bazillion books and albums in my media sections (check the sidebar); Vox just makes this too darn easy. They need to add some sort of 'Gadgets' category so I can surf Amazon and whatnot to add stuff like my MacBook, BlackJack and iPod to the list.
