Kurt Cobain at 50

[Jake_Taylor]

Nirvana's stuff is so resonant of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band period, the fun thing is imagining a never-assassinated 55-year old Lennon collaborating with a still-alive Cobain in the mid-1990s.

Imagine the Beatles Anthology/ reunion project featuring guest appearances by people like Kurt.

Ooh, maybe we would have had a fun Lennon/Cobain-McCartney/Grohl rivalry.

 

[swingline]

A converted cover?
What do the songs have in common?

Complete and total brain fart. Disregard.

 

[swingline]

Scentless Apprentice

 

[Starman]

Ooh, maybe we would have had a fun Lennon/Cobain-McCartney/Grohl rivalry.

I can think of the Beatles and Nirvana jamming together at some mid-90s HOF ceremony or all-star concert, with Nirvana ripping through "Glass Onion" into the Beatles and Lennon on "All Apologies," with every guitarist in the joint plugging in for the feedback/distortion finale.

I'd guess if the Beatles were all hale and healthy in the Nineties and got back together, one of the things they would have done to break out of a mold of boredom or predictability would have been a "Sins Of Our Children" covers album of songs by artists clearly influenced by the Beatles themselves.

Just as the Beatles started out doing tribute cover versions of songs by their idols and influences in the Fifties, the late-period resurrected Beatles could return the favor by covering some of their own musical disciples.

 

[swingline]

Ohh, Glass Onion is a good choice. I can see Cobain ripping the **** out of that one. Helter Skelter, too, and it would beat the **** out of Aerosmith's version.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

 

[Chef2]

Love the story about "Rape Me" and the MTV Video Music Awards.

Nirvana had wanted to play "Rape Me" during its performance at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. While MTV initially told the band they could play any song they wanted, the network later insisted that the group play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" instead. Hours before the show, Nirvana refused to play. However, due to concerns that the network could boycott other artists on the group's label if the group refused to play the show, Nirvana ultimately settled on performing its then-latest single "Lithium". At the start of the performance, Cobain started playing and singing "Rape Me" instead; he said he did so "just to give [MTV] a little heart palpitation". Panicked, MTV was moments away from switching from the live performance to a commercial when the band stopped playing "Rape Me" and started playing "Lithium".[3

 

[Starman]

Ohh, Glass Onion is a good choice. I can see Cobain ripping the **** out of that one. Helter Skelter, too, and it would beat the **** out of Aerosmith's version.

"And here's another clue for you assholes: The Walrus is Dave Grohl."

As both Lennon and McCartney crack up on stage.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

That's one of my favorite Beatles songs and I love Dave Grohl... but my god, Jeff Lynne ruins anything he touches.

 

[Buck]

I guess I don't see that much direct lineage from Plastic Ono to Nirvana, other than being part of the same rock-based pop music stream.
I guess one could look at some of the noisier, discordant elements that Lennon tried with Plastic Ono, but that is more Lennon's trying tap into already existing elements of avant noise in pop rock as already attempted by people like John Cale and the Velvet Underground. That thread runs through music without owing much to the Plastic Ono Band as an influence.
I say that as a fan of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band phase, and I'm not saying a Lennon-Nirvana collaboration would not have interested me.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

That's one of my favorite Beatles songs and I love Dave Grohl... but my god, Jeff Lynne ruins anything he touches.

I posted it mainly for Grohl's intro, which I thought fit the discussion.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

I posted it mainly for Grohl's intro, which I thought fit the discussion.

It did, and I enjoyed it... right up until Lynne opened his mouth. And at some point he turned into Zach Galifinakis.

 

[Chef2]

Never been a huge fan of Lynne, but I will be watching when Tom Petty (supposedly) inducts ELO in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I do like some ELO songs, but Hey Bulldog certainly would have sounded better there without his vocals.

 

[Starman]

I guess I don't see that much direct lineage from Plastic Ono to Nirvana, other than being part of the same rock-based pop music stream.
I guess one could look at some of the noisier, discordant elements that Lennon tried with Plastic Ono, but that is more Lennon's trying tap into already existing elements of avant noise in pop rock as already attempted by people like John Cale and the Velvet Underground. That thread runs through music without owing much to the Plastic Ono Band as an influence.
I say that as a fan of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band phase, and I'm not saying a Lennon-Nirvana collaboration would not have interested me.

Lennon's POB phase was a continuation and outgrowth of the early stripped-down protozoic alt-rock songs he began on the White Album (themselves an evolution of earlier experiments on Revolver), mainly the aforementioned "Glass Onion" and "Happiness Is A Warm Gun."

Cale, the Velvets and Blonde on Blonde Dylan had trod that territory too but Lennon was doing it as the putative leader of the biggest rock group in the world.

A decade after Plastic Ono Band and a decade before Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen hit many of the same themes on "Nebraska" -- similarly stripped-down but a little more rockabilly influenced.

 

[cisforkoke]

I liked Come As You Are, but I think Michael Bolton could have done an awesome cover of it.

 

[Starman]

Then Cobain would have killed himself anyway.

 

[YankeeFan]

So he would have been 50 today.

What's your favorite Nirvana song?

Anyone here see them in concert?

What do you think Kurt -- or Nirvana -- would be like in 2017?



My favorite Nirvana song ... such a killer opening riff.

Interesting article on their legacy:

 

[Double Down]

Interesting article on their legacy:

I find the social teaser to this annoying, as if Hootie and the Blowfish was some sort of embarrassment for music.

Hootie was great for what they were. A bar band that played bluesy rock. Rucker has a great voice. I always appreciated the lack of pretension in Rucker's rock choices. He wrote about love and disappointment, but also race and alienation but he never did the U2 thing where he was like THIS IS A SONG ABOUT RACE, EVERYONE. It's also kind of cool that when they understood their cultural moment had passed, they were like 'Ok, cool. We're good. We'll play state fairs occasionally, and get together one time for Letterman as he's nearing the end of his run.' And Rucker was like "I kinda want to be Charlie Pride or Guy Clark, so I'm going to try that."

People get all upset that Rucker covered Wagon Wheel and are like "Ugh, that version sucks compared to Old Crow Medicine Show." Well of course it's not as good as OCMS. Buy you know who is a big, big fan? OCMS, who was thrilled he covered it, because they made a **** ton of money from people who never would know that song otherwise.

I feel the same way about Dave Mathews Band, a group I liked but never loved. People got more pissed off about the kind of fans the band had than they did the actual music or what it represented. It's douchey critical autofellatio.

 

[YankeeFan]

I find the social teaser to this annoying, as if Hootie and the Blowfish was some sort of embarrassment for music.

Hootie was great for what they were. A bar band that played bluesy rock. Rucker has a great voice. I always appreciated the lack of pretension in Rucker's rock choices. He wrote about love and disappointment, but also race and alienation but he never did the U2 thing where he was like THIS IS A SONG ABOUT RACE, EVERYONE. It's also kind of cool that when they understood their cultural moment had passed, they were like 'Ok, cool. We're good. We'll play state fairs occasionally, and get together one time for Letterman as he's nearing the end of his run.' And Rucker was like "I kinda want to be Charlie Pride or Guy Clark, so I'm going to try that."

People get all upset that Rucker covered Wagon Wheel and are like "Ugh, that version sucks compared to Old Crow Medicine Show." Well of course it's not as good as OCMS. Buy you know who is a big, big fan? OCMS, who was thrilled he covered it, because they made a **** ton of money from people who never would know that song otherwise.

I feel the same way about Dave Mathews Band, a group I liked but never loved. People got more pissed off about the kind of fans the band had than they did the actual music or what it represented. It's douchey critical autofellatio.

Totally agree on Hootie and the Blowfish.

I haven't listened to them in a while, but there debut album was great, and fit the time and place in my life perfectly. It was great pop, Rucker does have a great voice.