Ultimately I think the reason this band was what they were was because they did the best job of relating to and expressing the feeling of disenfranchisement and anger of a generation that felt ignored. Whether or not the generation in question was justified in this anger is a separate issue, but the feeling was there and ripe to be exploited.
I think of Nirvana and Pearl Jam as “classic rock” in the sense of being rock classics, which now include “alternative rock”. I think the term they use now for modern rock music is “indie rock”.
Exactly - Great Sun Jester, I was equating the bands to books. If Nirvana/Nevermind was equivalent to Catcher in the Rye, what might GnR/Appetite equate to? My only point was that Cobain captured that shapeless teenage alienation - he didn’t even make sense but sounded spot on exclaiming about an albino, a mulatto, a mosquito, palomino (or thereabouts).
“Modern Rock” is now “Adult Alternative”
“Indie Rock” is something else entirely.
Ah. AFD would be Meursault from Camus’ The Stranger. He is him and he does what he wants despite what others expect. He is ultimately content when he realizes the world is indifferent to him as he is to it. Welcome to the Jungle.
Hey! Not bad 
Well, to me what is “indie rock” would have been called “alternative rock” (or simply “alternative” music, which spanned a bit more than just rock) in the 90s and “college rock” back in the 80s. I’ve found it interesting to see how the terms morphed in my lifetime.
Lol…palomino! It’s funny how that makes just as much or more sense as the correct *“my libido” *but it still sounds so silly. 
I knew it was some sort of word salad…
As if on cue, NPR’s All Songs Considered has an interview with Dave Grohl and Krist Novaselic for the 20th Anniversary of In Utero, and the release of a whole host of unreleased tracks, remasters and remixes from the album.
I finished reading Dave Grohl’s autobiography not too long ago and I’m not so sure they got along at all.
I second the call that he wasn’t the “heart and soul” of the band, but to say he was “just the drummer” is disingenuous at best. Nirvana without Kurt probably would not have existed even if he was still around.
“Indie Rock” can probably be more accurately described as “teen/twenty something film and tv show soundtrack”.
Not to hijack the thread, but I see the term “indie rock” being used now much in the same way "alternative rock was used in the 90s. Basically a catch-all term for “lifestyle” music that encompasses anything from garage rock (The Strokes, The Black Keys, The Every Other Band Starting with The), electronic rock (Phoenix, MGMT), indie pop (Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, The National), and all sorts of eclectic Pitchfork.com bands (whatever the hell a “Son Lux” is), not to mention shit I haven’t even heard of.
swampspruce - Now that I think about it, I recall an old interview where one of the band members describe Grohl as the “outgoing popular kid” and Cobain as the “morose artsy nerd” (or something like that) and that they got along about as well as you would expect two people like that to (that is to say, not at all).
This has always blown my mind about some bands. How do such different personalities end up in the same band in the first place? I can see how someone can end up in a Joe-job working with someone they can’t stand, but I always kind of assumed rock band membership was voluntary. Do these folks just think it seems like a good idea at first, and then some road time kind irritates folks to the point where someone’s got to go?
I couldn’t get past about page 20. That book was in as dire need of an editor as the John Taylor autobiography. He was in Duran Duran, and that book is unreadable.
Well, there are very different kinds of bands out there, I can only address rock bands playing original songs. It ends up more like a relationship than anything like a business. If the other members play competently, have a creative streak, and share your tastes; you’ll tend to overlook their foibles. After all, you only have to be around them during practice, recording and shows. If you end up not liking them, it wears, but it’s far from the end of the world. As long as the members have a common goal, and can at least work together, then you’re getting along well enough.
I saw them at The Reading Festival in 1992, which apparently was their last UK show (Kurt had an incident in the middle of a European tour that never got to the UK in 1994, he then killed himself whilst “recovering”). I was never a huge fan, being more into shoegazing and the Scottish scene (Teenage Fanclub etc) at the time, but their was an amazing buzz. Everyone was discussing if he was even going to turn up due to, shit, something. Half the people expected a no-show. In the end he got wheeled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown. I remember him leading a chorus of “We Love You Courtney” as well.
But yes, was never a huge fan but there was an amazing atmosphere and, well, I really bloody enjoyed it.
“Disingenuous at best”? In other words, you’re calling me a liar?
Grohl was a good drummer for Nirvana, and he was the final piece of their puzzle, as a good drummer often is for a band. But he was just the drummer in that band, the last of several drummers, all of whom who played Kurt’s songs.
As a singer, guitarist and songwriter, Grohl sucks. He’s a pretty decent shuffleboard player, however, and I had fun hanging with the band at The Brotherhood and other bars in Oly in the late-'80s/early-'90s.
I like In Utero better than Nevermind too.
OK, I’m not really a Foo Fighters fan, but come on. The guy’s got a fucking ear for pop hard(ish) rock with mass appeal. He doesn’t “suck” by any objective metric.
Triple bonus: they just released what may be their best album a couple of months ago (13).
I did. Nevermind was the sizzle. In Utero was the steak.
Also, coincidentally, today is the 20th anniversary of the release of In Utero. Guess what I’m listening to right now.