Nirvana Appreciation Thread

[Matt]

Here's another live performance, this time of Breed from the Nevermind album. The video shows a delay in starting the song, with crew members making adjustments. Kurt Cobain fills the time by explaining "We're all patiently waiting for the dinosaurs to die out. They will die, and then we'll all move into their homes."

I've always been amazed that a trio could make as full a sound and have as much energy on stage. This song shows Cobain bounce away from the microphone, land on his back for a blood-curdling guitar solo, and while the camera is off him, he somehow manages back up on his feet at the microphone just in time to start singing the chorus again. I can only imagine drugs helped, because I can't think of any other way someone could pull this off.

If you watch Dave Grohl on drums, it looks like he's playing in the rain (he had just spit a mouthful of water in the air, and the lights show it still coming down seconds later, but also sweat is flying off of him everywhere) and this question is posed by commenters on this video:

Spookwagen:  Why does it rain when Dave plays the drums?

Ryan Trepanier:  Tears of joy from the god grunge?

 

Here's the song:  Breed

[Matt]

Polly is off of the Nevermind album, and also appears on their live Unplugged performance. Cobain wrote it through the eyes of a rapist, after reading the story of a 14 year old girl who escaped captivity after being raped and tortured. While some thought the song glorified rape, it was actually meant to do the opposite. It upset Cobain so much to hear people think that he was advocating rape that he later wrote and released Rape Me which he felt would be impossible to misinterpret. Still, it happened there too. Here's Polly.

Polly (Unplugged)

[Matt]

I woke up with this song in my head yesterday, and it's still rumbling around. Finally put it on, and decided to share.

Oh Me (Unplugged)

The Meat Puppets joined Nirvana on stage for this and a couple of other songs.

[Charlie]

You have to visit the EMP museum in Seattle if you are a Nirvana fan.  They have original Seattle area gig posters, their first contract, smashed guitars,etc... It a really nice exhibit.

Oh and if you've not seen this:

https://youtu.be/oeb5LdAyLC8

[Matt]

I had not seen that, and oh my god, that's my sense of humor right there. Stupid Sandleresque ... and I'm laughing my ass off. Thanks for that.

And to keep this on-topic "I wish I was like you [me]... easily amused".  I've always loved that line.

I'd love to get to Seattle sometime. One of these days I might do a cross-country tour of the US and get there.

[Xichado]

"And I swear I don't have a gun"

I always thought of it as "come as you are because I am defenceless and I won't put you down" or "just be yourself and I'll accept it without firing 1000 reasons at you for being the way you are and ask you to change".

Same thing with "you know you're right", I read it as "yeap, there are a bunch of things going around, some are right, some are wrong, some are strange, some are just part of life, you are right in pointing things out to me, I know the consequences of my actions... YET I have go down this path... BUT you are right, and I still have to go my own way". Which lead to the pain and confusion Kurt was feeling in the end, because he didn't have a gun, he didn't have a way (or knew of a way) to fight back.

[Jed Cooper]

Three of my favorite rock albums.  For a long time, I always alternated between Nevermind and another favorite, Ten by Pearl Jam. 

[Matt]

I always thought of it as "come as you are because I am defenceless and I won't put you down" or "just be yourself and I'll accept it without firing 1000 reasons at you for being the way you are and ask you to change".

Same thing with "you know you're right", I read it as "yeap, there are a bunch of things going around, some are right, some are wrong, some are strange, some are just part of life, you are right in pointing things out to me, I know the consequences of my actions... YET I have go down this path... BUT you are right, and I still have to go my own way". Which lead to the pain and confusion Kurt was feeling in the end, because he didn't have a gun, he didn't have a way (or knew of a way) to fight back.

Fantastic. I love your interpretation of these songs. 

[Matt]

Three of my favorite rock albums.  For a long time, I always alternated between Nevermind and another favorite, Ten by Pearl Jam.

Mine too. I also love Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Live. Ten is one of the best albums of all time. Not to veer off the subject of this thread, but sometime (if you haven't already) try YouTubing Eddie Vedder singing Jeremy "Vocals only".  There's a few other Pearl Jam songs that were mixed to remove the instruments.

As much as I love these other bands, it's always Nirvana I come back too. It's Cobain, 100%. He's so deep and the emotions and pain just break you when you listen. And when it's just loud and rocking, it's the greatest there is.

[Jed Cooper]

Unplugged is one of my favorite live albums.  I think Pearl Jam also performed on MTV Unplugged but it hasn't been released.

[Matt]

Since I was talking about Pearl Jam's isolated vocal tracks on YouTube, here's a great one of Cobain's vocals of their last recorded song:

You Know You're Right (Vocals Only)

One of the greatest rasps and rock screams ever. It's almost like he's using a fuzz box on his voice (but he's not).

I was watching a documentary a couple of weeks ago, and they were talking to some of the other bands from just before Nirvana got their record deal and released Nevermind. They all agreed that they thought someone would break out of the local scene, but never in a million years did they think it would be Nirvana. They all seemed to not think much of that band in comparison to the others in the area.

[Xichado]

I was watching a documentary a couple of weeks ago, and they were talking to some of the other bands from just before Nirvana got their record deal and released Nevermind. They all agreed that they thought someone would break out of the local scene, but never in a million years did they think it would be Nirvana. They all seemed to not think much of that band in comparison to the others in the area.

"In the someday what's that sound?" 

[Matt]

Never originally released, but often performed live, different versions of "Sappy" showed up as a bonus track on the 20th anniversary versions of In Utero, Nevermind and Bleach.

Here's all three versions:

Sappy (Live) (Bleach)

Sappy (Nevermind)

Sappy (In Utero)

I like the In Utero version best of these three. I also like the "Sad" version that's out there, but figured three versions was enough.

[Xichado]

I prefer the "sad" version mainly because that was the first version I ever heard... from the Outcesticide cd. I have good memories trying to find the Outcesticide in flea markets and dodgy music stores in Lisbon. A friend and I spent countless hours, and days, running around Lisbon trying to find it and when we finally found it, it was magical. I believe this version now appears in the "Kurt Cobain Montage of Heck" cd.

I prefer it because it is a low key demo, with a certain degree of intimacy, almost as a if a sad secret is being revealed. Sometimes, I also think of it as a prayer.

It was "somehow" released in 1993, as an hidden track in the "No Alternative" compilation (here) with the title "Verse Chorus Verse". I love this version as help.

And I love to see the evolution of the lyrics. Brett Morgen said there must have been, at least, fifteen different versions of "Sappy" but Kurt was never completely satisfied with any of them. And, to me, that's sappy: sad because we never got to see a "final version" and happy because we have so many "not final" versions to pick from.

[Matt]

I used to do the same thing running to flea markets and garage sales to find great music. I went back a few years before you... my quests were mainly for Beatles, Stones and Monkees. That really was magical when you found something. It's not the same when you can easily find something by searching eBay.

Here's another good one: Love Buzz

[Matt]

A Velvet Underground cover, Here She Comes Now was released as a split single with The Melvins covering the Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs". Only 1,000 copies were pressed, in different colored vinyl:



Here She Comes Now also appeared on some post-Nirvana boxed sets/collections.

It's such a pretty song, and the fan video that I linked above seems to fit it well.

[Matt]

Dumb is one of my favorite Nirvana songs -- I like its simple but sweet lyrics. There's a nice version of it on the Unplugged album, but I prefer the studio version slightly better. One funny note though from the Unplugged concert is that they had just finished the song On a Plain, and Cobain was about to start Dumb, and stopped because they weren't supposed to play them back to back -- they were basically the same song. Cobain quips, "What's it matter, it's going to be edited differently anyway, this is a TV show." 

Dumb (In Utero)

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Maybe just happy

Think I'm just happy [x3]

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We'll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we'll come down
And have a hangover ...
Have a hangover [x3]

Skin the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
The soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up

I'm not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I'm having fun
I think I'm dumb
Maybe just happy

Think I'm just happy [x4]
I think I'm dumb [x12]

[Christopher]

I referenced Rick Astley in the "Your Song" thread recently, and it reminded me of this mash-up between Smells Like Teen Spirit and Never Gonna Give You Up.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/NN75im_us4k" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/NN75im_us4k</a>

This works unusually well.

[Matt]

    Man, there's some crazy stuff on the internet. That actually works!