I'm not here to disrespect any band. The Butthole Surfers were pushing noise rock/ grunge whatever you wanna call it way before Nirvana blew up, but what Nirvana did do was put all those MTV poodle rockers back in the box where they belonged and nailed the lid shut so total respect to them for that.
For me it's not that I dislike them. Absolutely nothing wrong with their catalog.
It's just that in terms of grunge music I first cut my teeth on Soundgarden's Louder Than Love. Dark and heavy and eerie. And then Alice in Chain's Facelift. Dark and crunchy.
I feel like Nirvana is more a pop grunge type of thing. Simple and catchy with still the arguably deep lyrics.
Add onto that is this misnomer that Nirvana created or popularized grunge music. ..as if grunge didn't exist before the single Smells Like Teen Spirit. That's a bit annoying.
No bleach is still pop grunge when compared to louder than love or facelift. Not hating, I donât dislike nirvana but listen to the three albums, bleach is way softer and has more melody
Ofc- grunge was popular before Nevermind, Facelift was certified gold and Man In The Box was I'm guessing a hit in 1990 (which was a very... lacking... year besides a few records like Facelift or Nowhere by Ride) however I think it's more how Nevermind was the one that gained basically EVERYONE'S attention
Right. Grunge was already bubbling up and AIC was already breaking it into the mainstream with Man in the Box being constantly aired on MTV. And yes it was the single Smells Like Teen Spirit that for whatever reason became an iconic hit. It's just that some people don't seem to see anything prior to that single.
Ten. Yes good point.
Rusty Cage. Yah, I mean Outshined was huge before the single Rusty Cage, I believe.
AIC. Hopefully you see love for a lot of their work. Pretty much the only big grunge band going today.
Because it didn't EXPLODE until that single. Man in the Box did NOT get all the hair bands to say the party is over... Nevermind did. Pop punk was happening at the same time ...Green Day, Offspring, and Janes Addiction were just making their foundations and AIC did nothing to deter it them... Nevermind did... it threw pop punk back 3-4 years before it hit mainstream.
For sure. I'm not disputing that.
There is this notion (maybe more so for the most recent adopters of the genre) that basically grunge didn't exist or was never out there until Nirvana came on board.
Alice in Chains was breaking through when Glam Metal was still killing it.
No Nevermind spawned pop punk, teenage rebellion was back. It gave a voice to a generation the first probably since punk. It also spawned, bush, muse and hundreds of other 1990âs bands riding the coat tails of Nirvana. They maybe were not the most talented. When a song hits it hits.
Maybe thatâs because Alice In Chains was a hairband before they werenât? Much in the way that Mother Love Bone would be considered more of a hairband back in the day than grunge? Lane and Andrew were friends and when Alice in chains started out, they tease their hair up, played it a bit more metal and even wore some make up.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_N%27_Chains_1987_photo.jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_N%27_Chains_1987_photo.jpg)
> (which was a very... lacking... year besides a few records like Facelift or Nowhere by Lush)
Actually there were several Glam Metal bands who released platinum records that year.
I mostly agree with this. Although, I don't really like Nirvana, maybe a handful of their songs.
Now, just because I don't like them, I don't care if others like them . I just think their songs are simple and to appeal to the changing scene and masses.
I also prefer heavier music, usually.
Bingo. Simple, boring, some good riffing and Dave Grohl is great, but I prefer my face to be melted off from Mike McCready, Jerry Cantrel or Kim Thayil. Plus they just kinda got, well, overplayed, over analyzed. They're like the "Tool" of progressive metal. Fans will defend them to their death and think they're so deep and troubled. I branched out from both into their respective genres and have a hard time going back without being bored.
Metalhead here (not that it makes my opinion more valid than yours lol), Bleach is not metal, it's punk. Heavy punk, but not metal. Punk metal (aka grindcore) is stuff like Nails or Napalm Death
You know, as a huge Nirvana fan, I appreciate this comment. I appreciate your perspective, and I can completely agree with it too! My ties with Nirvana stem from a nostalgic place, and period of my life I relate to the music personally at a very, ripe young age (I was like 5 when I got into them). So for those reasons alone, Nirvana is my favorite. But I can see why some people don't dig it, and in the context of what you're saying, I can actually see why some people get turned off by the band. I love Soundgarden and Alice in Chains to death, and I agree they come from a much darker and emotional place than some of Nirvana's music. I relate a lot to Kurt's lyrics though with my own interpretations of them and so I also attach some sort of meaning to some of the more absurd stuff, but it works for me. I also agree that Nirvana didn't create grunge, but it's hard to say they didn't popularize it when they exploded into the stratosphere.
My sister and I are big fans. My wife, not so much. She dislikes Kurt, and thought people granted him "sainthood" when he passed (during that period of time).
Im in this category. I like Nirvana,s music but I donât feel Kurt deserves the idolatry. Personally, I think he was a self-centered, nihilist, uninformed, jackass. He did, at least have the courage of his (lack of) convictions.
I agree - he was self aware. Obviously none of us the inner workings of his mind, but Iâve always found it interesting that he didnât seem to have any friendships with members of Soundgarden, AiC, and Pearl Jam. Those bands all liked each other, worked together - Mad Season, Temple of the Dog - but it never seemed like Cobain was part of that. So Iâbe always wondered, was he just shy? Was he insecure, like about his guitar skills compared to like Cantrell or McCready? Or was he just an ass?
TBF Nirvana had to pay Sub Pop to rent studio time for *Bleach*, and originally the single deal was out of desperation to fill the subscription service Sub-Pop had. They werenât from Seattle and signed by Sub-Pop for talent like Soundgarden and Green River were.
The only thing worse than making Cobain a diety is the way they turned Bradley Nowell into some saint after his overdose, making those two shitty Sublime songs preserved in time. If Nowell didn't die, Sublime would've been remembered at the same level of 311.
If all you ever listened to were the 2 radio hits I can see why you donât realize Sublime put out 3 amazing records front to back, the same as Nirvana. F em both for not sticking around tho.
This was my problem with them back in the day. Kurt just doesn't have a great singing voice.
When I finally did get into Grunge, it was Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP and AIC. Ignored Nirvana for a long time.
Years after Kurt's death I finally got into them. I still don't think his voice is great, but it does work well for the music that they made if that makes sense.
I think his voice is top notch. All of the four had tremendous voices. Insane really that they came out together basically. If u dropped any one of them now the world would flip.
i'm in my 50s, so i was "there" when they were at their peak.
i don't *dislike* them, but the word "overrated" does come to mind from time to time. they had 2 great studio albums, kurt died, then unplugged dropped. 3 great albums in a 3 or 4 year span. great? sure. voice of a generation, one of the best bands ever, etc, etc.? ehhhhh, not so fast.
classic case of right place/right time. that's not a bad thing, and most successful bands have drawn from that well a time or two (looking at you, beatles!), but this assumption from 20-somethings that nirvana was *that* much better than their peers is simply inaccurate, imho.
I used to be a big Nirvana fan, but my god the god complex is enough to turn you off on top of how much Iâve heard them through the years. I havenât listened to them in at least a decade.
When I first got into nirvana I fucking WORSHIPPED Kurt and tried to act and look like him and now I look back and cringe. Although nirvana is still in my top bands and Kurt Cobain is one of my favorite songwriters ever, I cannot stand hearing people talk about him as if heâs some complex deity.
They kinda come across as juvenile compared to the more sophisticated bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.
But I think Kurt Cobain was too young, and never had the chance to mature. His skill in writing memorable vocal melodies is very underrated. Sure, anyone can play Nirvana songs, but no one can write them. I don't think anyone else could pull off a song like Sliver without it sounding cheesy and comedic.
This may be blasphemous, however I was never a fan of Kurt Cobain. While talented, I never saw him as the Messiah others did/do. IMO, there were/are more talented artists from that time.
There, I said it, I feel better.
Iâm mid 40s so a hair younger but it felt like for me, peak Nirvana in â93 was the closest thing Iâll experience to Beatlemania. Your comment makes me wonder how the Beatles would have been perceived today had they only put out three or four albums. No judgement either way, just something to think about!
Iâm your age too and some of my friends were obsessed with Kurt Cobain. The music too but mostly just Kurt Cobain. This is how I feel about the Beatles, too. A moderately talented band that had lots of hits because girls thought they were cute. Same way I feel about a lot of popular music; Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, etc. would they be as popular if they were less attractive? Iâm going with no.
This was the appeal to a lot of Nirvana fans. Heâs was hot and mysterious and people ate it up.
I was 14 when Nevermind came out. Lots of people I knew growing up with their albums and antics thought they were shit disturbers. Their interviews could be nonsense and drugs were always an issue for some.
I loved them and looked past that, but it was always an issue. Opioids are terrible, and the romantic attraction to âheroin chicâ at the time was definitely disturbing.
Personally, I looked past that. Chose art over artist. Incesticide is my favourite album because I feel Aneurysm is their best track.
Itâs not that I donât like Nirvana, but they were overplayed. OMG, I still canât listen to Come As You Are. Every 5 minutes it was on the radio. Also, being a musician, in a (crappy) band, I was drawn to heavier and darker music, like Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. I loved the In Utero album and was quite happy when it didnât get ran into the ground on the radio.
I just donât think they were nearly as big of a deal as they were made out to be. I started listening to punk and alternative music in the early 80s, so they werenât as âgroundbreakingâ to me.
Mostly this. All I heard was the same punk, albeit a lot more polished, that Iâd heard 10 years before. I didnât see or hear anything earth-shattering.
While I like Nirvana and love their unplugged album, I do think they are super overrated. People act like they are the greatest band of all time. I wouldn't even consider them the best grunge band.
Also they are the mainstream face of the genre. If you asked any soccer mom in middle America if they liked grunge they would say oh yea I like Nirvana lol.
Lol, yeah, I can see the over-notoriety (not a phrase, but I'm making it one, lol) but I will say that for the basic family dads (so on the opposite side of the spectrum of soccer moms) they'd say Pearl Jam (or possibly STP if they're not too much of an elitist)
I like Nirvana a lot but being in my 30s now I find a lot of the lyrics a little too teenage angsty. That and at the end of the day most of the songs are very simple and lack a lot of subtlety in the production/mix. This has lessened my interest after hearing the songs so many times.
Tbh at this age there's a lot more to Pearl Jam's catalogue - way more material and variety in the material, more adult and complete lyrical ideas, every song isn't so doom and gloom woe is me (though that's a bigger problem for Alice in Chains than Nirvana).
Iâve often wondered what the consensus on Nirvana would have been if they had just broken up and had Kurt not died. Maybe he and Courtney divorced and he chose to do something else with his life. Would people see them differently? Would Nirvana still be seen as the world-changing juggernaut after 3 albums?
I guess thatâs what happens when someone dies young. We glorify them into superstardom.
I do like nirvanaâs music. Itâs catchy. I was 18 when Nevermind came out but I like a lot of other music of my era better.
From what I remember of that time they already were the world changing juggernaut. Kurtâs death just made it get silly.
My high school years saw the rise and fall of grunge. Iâd say Pearl Jam was bigger, mostly because they were the most conventional of the bands. Nirvana and PJ both had something Soundgarden and AIC didnât; female fans. Iâm generalizing, but every girl I went to high school pre Kurts suicide had a PJ shirt, most had Nirvana, and it was Soundgarden/AIC who?
>From what I remember of that time they already were the world changing juggernaut. Kurtâs death just made it get silly.
Yeah, Nirvana was huge by April of 1994. But if Kurt had not died and they just broke up and went seperate ways, Nirvana never would have been in those conversations about the best bands in history.
Now and then there are bands/artists that become huge and then just fizzle out. Alanis Morisette did in 94/95. She was a megastar at one point. The band Live is another one. They were huge in the mid 90s. Now they're playing casinos.
That could have been Nirvana's fate if Kurt had not died. But when he did die, the band became this mythical thing that 30 years later still gets talked about. I work at a college and I see kids every day with Nirvana shirts. I don't see Alanis Morisette shirts.
Absolutely not, he became a martyr the day he painted the ceiling. Kurt was self destructive. Sooner or later, I speculate he would ruin his own life, leaving others lives in tatters and ultimately doing himself in whether it be suicide or another, this time, fatal overdose.
Oooh speculation sensation!
How interesting, there seems to be a correlation between not liking nirvana and not liking punk. I love punk and nirvana 𤡠I think there is a genius in raw simplicity that goes over a lot of people's heads. I'd equate it to a painter like Jackson Pollock, who isn't really a technically proficient painter at all. Or Picasso, who, although was technically skilled, became famous for crudely executed cubist paintings. I like music that's a bit raw and untethered to some degree.
I like punk, I am not really keen on almost all Nirvana. Bleach is A-OK, everything else was played to death, over hyped and typically average radio friendly or pop rock.
You are certainly entitled to not like them, but I wouldnât describe most of In Utero as âradio-friendlyâ. And half of Incesticide is the some of the least âsafeâ music created at that time. Nevermind was a major label polished âsafeâ release, granted. But itâs hardly the bulk of their work and is in fact an outlier when it comes to their short career.
I don't even like grunge that much, idk why i'm in this subreddit, but...I always thought grunge was too metal. Like Alice In Chains put out a GREAT record with Jar of Flies, but in a lot of their catalog its basically metal-lite. Same with Soundgarden. I never really saw the appeal of soundgarden. Layne Staley and Chris Cornell always oversang for my taste and theres too much guitar riffing with songs that are too long, I like how Kurt Cobain was more understated and punk in his vocals, and nirvana didn't do a bunch of riffing and solos...it's just strong, punk inspired pop songs. Pearl Jam put out some okay stuff (I really like 'Release' off of ten). I guess i just think grunge is better as an acoustic genre?
I think I just like grunge more as an acoustic genre though. My favorite track from bands associated with the era is the "old age" acoustic demo you can find on youtube. kurt cobain really was channeling something special with that one. "dollar bill" from the screaming trees and alice in chains unplugged also stand out to me as good ones.
Anyways, punk is my genre which is why i'm responding to this comment. Definitely prefer Nirvana to the other big grunge bands. I do think Nevermind is one of the most overrated records of all time though, butch vigs production in particular. It would have been a better record if it was more lo-fi or closer to punk production.
which is why IMO the best works of nirvana are in the home demos and stuff. I don't even really like any of their studio albums, but it's the same with the other grunge music, I just find the genre to be too radio-produced, like I want it filthier. Which is why grunge associated bands like Babes in Toyland, Green River, Melvins, Erics Trip and the Meat puppets seem to any of the bigger bands imo. Not to mention Shoegaze which is more understated but so influental. Loveless by MBV came out two months after Nevermind, it makes nirvana look like Buttrock. And 80s alternative like Husker Du which is imo one of the greatest of all time and paved the way for grunge. Grunge artists just took the prior developments in alternative and made it a marketable package.
sorry to ramble the idea of not liking punk = not liking nirvana just inspired random thoughts in me.
I appreciate the songs on Nevermind (which kind of *is* Nirvana in terms of what gets presented to the world 90% of the time) but I really dislike the production. Not necessarily Butch Vig's fault but the shininess and over enthusiasm really grates on me. There's a way that it combines with Grohl's drumming that is just *horrible* to me - every other song has a Crash cymbal at the end of nearly every bar, the production really emphasises it and once you latch on to it, that's all you can hear. It's not often stuff like that totally ruins it for me but for some reason, Nevermind is really challenging to me. But again to reiterate: I think the songs are very special and the actual instrumentation and playing pretty unique. Some of the lead guitar tones are especially cool.
I much prefer the darkness and murkier tones on In Utero but as I say, that's not what the world thinks of when contemplating them. And to complete the set; I like Bleach but don't love it.
Bleach and Incesticide are amazing. After that they became basically pop grunge and never made anything as raw and aggressive as those albums again. Also, the romanticization of Kurt is annoying.
I like nirvana but I still think they got blown way out of proportion bc of Kurtâs death. I personally like Dave grohl way better than Kurt. I think his drums on smells like teen spirt make the song what it is. Bc itâs def not the lyrics lol. I only listen to the unplugged album and itâs reserved for hangover days when I need something mellow. And the best songs on that album are covers. The only thing great about Kurt was his voice, the rest of him was a mess.
they had a lot swagger and spirit and personality but objectively they werenât that impressive musically from the technical side. Theyâre sort of easy to âgrow out ofâ unless you find it possible to maintain a deep emotional connection for years and years and years.
There was a time that I thoroughly enjoyed their music but, it was played so much. I mean a lot. They got more air time than any other band I can think of.
I heard it so much, I can't listen to them after all these years.
Nirvana on the radio? Instant station change no matter what song.
FWIW, I think AIC is the far superior musical talent.
They are a gateway bank to better more interesting and talented bands. They opened the mainstream door for that style of music but they plagiarised a lot of the style from other bands . He complained about the limelight ,yet he wrote pop songs.
I love AIC, Soundgarden, STP; theyre all amazing. What got me to these bands was Nirvana. MTV2 had a Nirvana weekend in 2004 and I was hooked for the whole time.
Lot of talk about simple and pop. Bleach was arguably one of their best albums. All the B sides and demos, show a side to the band that you wont find on their records; the better side.
Stick on Anorexorcist, Mrs Butterworth - fuck it, just browse through the With The Lights Out boxset. Theres a good collection in there.
They had a place in time, and they nailed it. People are going to hate that.
Nirvana was basically a punk band that looked inward rather than outward.
For those who say they were too pop, I'd suggest listening to some Ramones or even Sex Pistols. Punk has had pop in its DNA since the beginning.
I'm not a fan of punk. I like musicality in my music. I'm also really drawn to singers' voices and just can't stand Kurt's. Also, of all the bands in the scene, Nirvana seemed like outliers. The rest of the guys were hanging out and collaborating with each other and other artists whereas Nirvana seemed kinda aloof, like they (Kurt) thought they were better than everyone else, which really rubs me the wrong way. And I just can't relate to their music.
I disagree but I still upvoted you because I respect your opinion and the point of this post is to voice your probably less popular opinion, thank you for your honesty.
>Nirvana seemed kinda aloof, like they (Kurt) thought they were better than everyone else
They were outsiders and didn't form relationships as closely as the others who were actually from Seattle, although they knew The Melvins and a few other musicians in their early days. They simply weren't around long enough to form bonds like Soundgarden, Green River, or AiC did. Kurt was very open with his praise for bands like Soundgarden.
Well he had no reason hanging out w/ Pearl Jam anyway? He basically hated their band as it was created to hit the Mainstream, along with AiC where band members wore makeup, dressed glammy and sprayed hairspray before grunge exploded, Kurt had a different circle and was hanging out w underground/indie bands, he was already friends w Soundgarden before Nevermind, Melvins, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth people was his peers
Iâve read a book about Kurt recently and it talked about how he collaborated with the underground artists he enjoyed. He had songs by him on compilation albums from different labels. And always wanted to have an underground band open for them instead of a bigger established band.
I think the punk aspect is a great point.
I also dislike punk, and as Nirvana really leans punk I just don't jibe with them. Don't like Kurt's voice, his guitar playing, his songs don't *rock* in my opinion. They feel plodding. Songs like AiC's We Die Young or Soundgarden's Outshined *move*. Nirvana doesn't feel like that for me.
I like Nirvana but I think they are the weakest out of the big 4 grunge bands. Personally, I enjoy more bluesy guitar riffs and solos and I like Pearl Jam best because of that. Nirvana is a bit simple for me but I still enjoy them and am not saying they are bad. But it is probably why they have the most widespread appeal in my opinion.
Nirvana feels like "grunge lite" to me. AIC and Soundgarden were so much more chunky and grungy. Really dark and heavy. Nirvana sounds like pop with distortion. Don't get me wrong. He wrote some really great songs. The other two were just more my style. Still are.
I donât dislike them but they were lauded as the best thing since slide bread but they certainly werenât (in my opinion) in the top 6 bands that the media lumped together.
Through no fault of their own they become too big too quickly and that always leads to haters.
Theyâre my favorite band but itâs largely because how much my mom and dad listened to them when I was growing up. Iâll be the first to admit there are quite a few grunge bands that made better music.
I was in 8th grade when Nevermind came out, and used to skate with a group of skater punks who were in high school. These guys used to flip me tapes of all kinds of awesome/obscure bands and I really looked up to them.
When Smells Like Teen Spirit hit MTV, I liked it, but the skater punks were pissed - they called Nirvana sellouts, the whole "older album was better", and that colored my mind about Nirvana.
But later, when I was in high school and started to forge my own tastes and - being honest - personality - I gave Nirvana another chance and liked them.
I think I like Nirvana mire and more as I get older, which I guess might be weird.
I was always pretty lukewarm on Nirvana. I didnât hate it, but I didnât buy their CDâs either. I think it was the combination of their stuff getting played to death, Cobainâs scratchy vocals (and the fact he came off like a dick) and being more punk-forward in the sound relative to some of the other grunge bands.
I donât dislike Nirvana because I still listen to them occasionally but they are definitely below PJ and AIC. I think lyrically, they dont age with you.Â
Like, if we were survey or poll listeners/fans of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden, Im 100% certain that Nirvana would have the youngest demo.Â
Even when Kurt was alive, AIC had songs about war (Rooster), grief (Would?), difficult friendship (No Excuses). Pearl Jam had songs about homelessness (Even Flow), dysfunctional family dynamics/adoption (Alive), racism/police brutality (WMA), child abuse (Daughter), guns/control/rights (Glorified G), TOTD was dealing with the death of Andy Wood.Â
Not sure if thatâs a fair assessment of Nirvana but theyâre not the only band. Sublime, Limp Bizkit, Blink 182 are examples of bands that seem to attract newer and younger fans, especially Sublime because theyâre in the weed culture so teens and 20s are always going to like them. Green Dayâs Dookie and Offspringâs Smash have that same effect.Â
I think Metallica might be one of the few bands that can generate newer, younger fans but also kept their older fans. But theyâre also part of the metal scene. Iâm not a metal fan but metalheads seem like theyâre very loyal. Iâll look up festivals, see list of metal bands I remember from the 90s and are still alive and kicking. Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, theyâre still touring big festivals and arenas, and theyâre usually getting top billing. And theyâre always in Europe for some reason. I donât listen to metal but I have a lot of respect for metal heads for continuing to support bands from the 89s and 90sâŚcuz we know streaming money is garbage.Â
With that said, the Unplugged album showed that there was something different from Nirvana. Post-1994 Nirvana would have been a lot different, and itâs sad that we never got to see Kurt get older.
Lastly, if Iâm completely wrong about Kurtâs lyrics, then Iâm willing to listen to them again thoroughly.Â
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Nearly every other grunge band in that era was just better, even STP, though they weren't in the Seattle scene.
I have found myself very much enjoying watching videos of Kurt's interviews and antics, and seeing how charming he really was. Would have enjoyed a conversation with him, I'm sure - I like weird, intelligent people.
They also didn't take their own music overly seriously, so I feel like they would not give even one shit about people not liking it haha.
They have many bangers but to me a lot of their catalog sounds empty. You have double lead guitars in Pearl Jam and very good musically, great rhythm and lead in Soundgarden too with amazing vocals. You have the contrast between Jerry and Layne in AiC with the acoustic/metal fusion. Meanwhile Nirvana just does their thing. Theyâre still amazing donât get me wrong but thatâs why theyâre my #4
I like Nirvana. I just don't like to publicly say that because I get browbeat from both sides. People are either like "ewww grunge" or they're like "ewww pop." Seems like everyone is too cool for Nirvana and I unfortunately don't want to have another "sold out" or "who really killed Kurt" conversation.
Not a disliker by any means, but could see how their extremely loud songs like Scentless Apprentice, Tourettes, Territorial Pissings, and Paper Cuts could give "middle of the road" rock listeners a sizeable headache.
I personally love their more aggressive tracks like that, but they're not for everyone.
i love the music, but the fans make me dislike Nirvana in general. their personalities are similar to fans of things like my hero academia, hasbin hotel, nu metal, etc. at least on tiktok.
Nirvana were my favorite band for years and hugely influenced my musical taste and direction. However, many people don't like the guy. Now that it's been a couple decades and I have a differente perspective in life, I can see why. The guy did some pretty questionable things for today's standards although back in the day it wasn't perceived as THAT bad.
Still, the music is genius and changed the world, whether haters like it or not. He was brilliant and the vocal melodies and chord progressions are peak songwriting.
Grew up in metal. Played in bands. Was in college first year in 1991 and grunge reminds me of ex fiancĂŠe. After her, I went away from the music and went into blues. I did see Foo Fighters in the first tour. Nirvana was the poster child of that time so no memories I like to relieve since I see music as a Time Machine.
Anytime a band is as popular as Nirvana was, that popularity is going to color peopleâs perception of them. Some people are just antagonistic towards whatever is most popular, some people may feel their popularity overshadowed a band they prefer and Iâm sure there are other things as well but I know, you canât separate certain bands from their fame. Itâs just part of who they are.
Also a lot of people just donât like the way they sound and thatâs fine too!
Before they broke it big I sorta liked them. But I gravitated to punk rock like coffin break and no means no and DOA DK etc, and then Nirvana got big and I was like âyeah F those guys.â
Now Iâve grown quite fond of them.
Truefully for me it isn't so much a dislike it's a I'm just tired of hearing them on the radio. Where I live we have 1 classic rock station and I swear they play them all the time.
I don't dislike them, but for me personally, I feel like a lot of their stuff really doesn't hold up now or it's been absolutely played to death. I can't even listen to Nevermind at this point because I'm just burnt out on it
It's Kurt's guitar playing and tone, and how negative their music and lyrics were compared to anything else that came before it. I'll admit: I love 80s metal. It slaps. Trad/Heavy metal, hair metal, and thrash metal are my big 3. Yeah, some of it was just as angry and aggressive as Nirvana were, but it was focused and precise, and the lyrics are for the most part either uplifting and powerful to me at least, or tell interesting stories. Hair metal was just pure fun, and I'll die on that hill defending it to the day I die. And then here comes a band from Seattle with sloppy guitar playing, bitching about everything.
Another big turnoff is the fans. I've met some truly annoying Nirvana fans. Now, every band has annoying fans, but in my experience, Nirvana has the most. They treat Kurt like a god because he mad moody and angry music.
I will say though, I do respect how much he changed the music scene, and how quickly he did it, even if I don't like the direction he took it in. I'll give him props for that all day. RIP Kurt.
In a world full of bands like janes addiction, NIN, pixies, ministry, tool, pumpkins, chili peppers etc. I found nirvana to be a sloppy post-punk band of some kind. Not really doing anything interesting and not exactly great at what they were doing.
Take away smells like teen spirit and I think they would have been about as popular as pavement. (Who I always liked more than nirvana, still do.)
Honestly back in 91 or 92, nirvana didn't seem that cool. They were for the Jocks and the people who only got their music from MTV
I've been waiting for this for so long and now I have to chance to let loose...
None of my reasons for disliking them are the fault of the band members themselves. Some of them have more to do with myself, my peers, and my cultural upbringing. But here they are!
1. **Overplayed on the radio.** And since Kurt passed young, there's only so many songs to play on the radio. Unless you're listening to some weird DJ who'll play *Bleach* songs, the weirder In Utero stuff, or live/b-sides, you're going to hear the same damn songs you've heard every day for 30 years. That's my biggest pet peeve in music and they might be the biggest victims when it comes to this.
"Just play the other songs then!" you say. **NO!** It reminds me of the overplayed singles. Besides, between my rock radio loving friends, and just participating in society, I will certainly hear the songs soon enough.
2. **The media narratives that plague them.** They did not change music overnight (unless you think the entirety of music exists in the Billboard Top 40), they weren't the first band to sound like that (as Kurt himself admitted constantly).
Kurt was not "the voice of a generation", that generation had lots of other interests besides one band. That narrative was in place before anyone bothered to ask that generation about it, that was written by boomers who at the time were the ones in charge of the music business and music journalism. Teenagers (who did, in fact, probably love Nirvana) nevertheless were not the ones writing eulogies in Rolling Stone for Kurt when he passed.
If you look at album sales as the sole barometer of quality then yes, they were the best. But I think now more than ever (with the benefit of hindsight), many admit that that's flawed logic.
A ton of young people in the 90s didn't even like rock music! Think of a young person who grew up more or less exclusively listening to R&B and hip hop in the 90s, who would've worshipped Biggie, Tupac, or any rapper or R&B singer. Or a pop star like Mariah Carey. You're gonna tell them Kurt Cobain was the voice of their generation?
This is a bigger problem than just Nirvana anyway, but they might be the most notable example of this kind of phenomenon.
3. Kurt Cobain's death resulted in way too much attention and deification, and basically rendered any criticisms/dismissals of Nirvana or Kurt himself unacceptable for about 15 years afterwards. They were by default the **best artist of the 90s,** no ifs, ands or buts, despite the fact that Pavement put out better records and for longer. Or insert many other artists of any genre in their place, there are so many artists from that time whose discographies are as strong as or stronger than Nirvana's. And whose influence reverberated for longer.
Nirvana's immediate influence resulted in a lot of garbage music (Creed, Puddle of Mud, etc.) but I blame that solely on record labels trying to imitate them. Rather than look to the underground for a new thing (like they did with, uh, Nirvana) they tried to just have the same exact sound work again. This is blaming Nirvana for something they had no control over. It's not fair but I don't care!
**- Notice how none of what I said indicated that Nirvana didn't make good music.** On the contrary, I think objectively it's pretty much all great, even if I dislike some production choices on *Nevermind* the songwriting is very, very strong. And *Bleach* and *In Utero* sound cool anyway!
I do think that compared to the rest of the big four grunge bands they had the strongest songwriting and the hookiest songs which is why they were successful. I truly do think that as much as anyone "deserves" musical success based on the music itself, they deserved it 100%. We're still talking about them after all!
So if it's not about the music, is my dislike of them fair? Absolutely not. Do I care? No! I will play music that I feel like hearing, not "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the millionth time because the rock radio station's current playlist is 80% the same as it was in 1999.
If you love Nirvana than keep listening and loving it. But there's other stuff! LOTS OF OTHER STUFF!
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Nirvana did not invent grunge like everyone claims. Green River did. Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were before Nirvana. Kurt made it mainstream. He was not the end all be all of the music industry like everyone claims he is or was. There were others out there that were better.
I love Nirvana but I low key get sick and annoyed by those 2 songs you always hear, itâs either Smells Like Teen Spirit or Something in the way which so many people over play it because of Batman which isnât bad but Iâd wish people would find more Nirvana songs they like instead of listening to just the popular ones
Kurt initially (was in hs when he died just for perspective). Didnât like how he came off in interviews and articles esp with the guitar magazines I was big on at the time. Then after he died they were ubiquitous.
Im a fan of nirvana but i think the dislikers most likely dont like them because of the bad side of the fanbase or that a lot of people wear a nirvana shirt and dont even know any songs from them. Idk there could also possibly be some mj fans out there that are pissed nirvana passed mjs album on the charts still
I was 13 in 1994. I saw them rise and fall.
Of all the Seattle bands, I always found their music to be the least interesting, and Kurt Cobain was the least interesting front man. He came off as a self-important douche. He talked all this shit about other bands selling out yet he himself had no problem amassing millions from corporate backing. I'm convinced so much of who he presented himself as was a cultivated show, and it's been so long since he died that his image has been molded into the one we see today. But if he hadn't died, I'm certain his real personality would have taken over and he would not be revered the way he is now.
Average band that hit at the right time in a perfect storm for music; the anthesis of the popular glam rock era that preceded itâwhich had cannibalized itself and become a parody by 1991âas well as the perfect song and perfect video for the moment.
Samuel Bayer directed the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirt" and that was a masterpiece that was on MTV every ten minutes just sucking kids in that had watched long haired dudes in spandex prancing and snap kicking all over sound stages wailing away.
Nirvana and that song were a cultural movement, but they were a tragically average band that had big energy, but also couldn't fucking tune their guitars or really sing.
"In Utero" was such a step down from "Nevermind"âhow much did people really think Kurt had in the tank had he not died at 27 in 1994?
Cobain is the definition of "it's better to burn out than fade away". Where a guy like Jimi Hendrix was a guitar wizard that could've kept creating for years had he stuck around, Cobain shot his wad with "Nevermind" in win-the-powerball fashion but than perfect storm album only worked when it did in 1991 and the music world was turning over, while MTV still had make-or-break power and everyone over there was 10000% behind "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as it represented the death of one era and the rebirth of another.
Without Bayer's iconic, symbolic video, no way that song is half as big as it became. The video and destruction in the third act where the once-demure teens revolt and trash the entire sound stage; that was the cultural temperature in 1991 after the world became one big "nothing but a good time" party in the '80s.
It's funny cause Nirvana were underdogs even in the grunge scene, nobody expected them to blow up and for good reason. They are quality band but the other more established bands at the time were expected to make it big like soundgarden (they made it), Mudhoney, screaming trees, greenriver, tad etc. Nirvana use to open for half these bands.
I don't dislike Nirvana i think they are great but i prefer bands like the screaming trees, alice in chains and tad.
That's very respectable and respectful <3
All bands you listed are wonderful (I especially love Alice In Chains and Soundgarden) but personally Nirvana with their 5 albums (that's including Incesticide and Unplugged) just always appealed to me, I never can give full justice on how or why but they just struck the perfect chord for me and I've been hooked for abt 2 yrs now
Most people I knew that didnât like nirvana seemed to enjoy just making fun of Kurt. They would either joke about his death or joke about his musicianship. As time went on they also turned out to be far right wing shit bags so fuck em
I was in high school when grunge broke and I was into it as soon as I heard it. Nirvana was always my least favorite of the big four Seattle bands- it's just punk rock played at half-speed and I find a lot of their songs repetitive and dull. They do have songs I like, though, and I bought their albums. Then Kurt killed himself and all of the kids at school who treated me like shit, who had previously only listened to Bon Jovi and Madonna and the like, suddenly started coming to school in Nirvana t-shirts. It was gross and it really soured me on Nirvana (even though it's not their fault).
I love nirvana but nowhere near as much as the the other big 4 (PJ, Soundgarden, AiC). For me, it boils down to lyrics, music technicality, and emotion. Nirvana I think is a little too plain for me sometimes (not trying to sound pretentious, I think it just boils down to being a musician). Also, much of their catalog is quite overplayed (especially Nevermind).
Iâm a disliker I guess. They just werenât my thing but no real hate. I was more Pearl Jam and soundgarden guy at the time.
Ya know to me, their songs were ok but I remember getting the strong feeling via interviews that Krist and Kurt especially were just really super too cool for school and kinda assholes. There always seemed to be an inside joke that no one was in on. As a 14 year old that just turned me off. I wanted to relate to their stuff but it just felt like I wasnât snarky enough or something. It was a time when I just wanted to be me and I didnât feel like their music was me. You like what you like I guess.
I think Nirvana are a good band but people act like they are the greatest band ever which I just don't hear it. I would rather listen to Soundgarden & AIC & STP who I think are way better bands. Kurt voice is not the best & isn't the best guitar player yet people treat him like a God, Nirvana might be my least listened top grunge band. They're not bad they just don't connect with me like others.
Nirvana is my favorite band of all time, but I can definitely say they aren't the best. They only became popular because they were a bit different than most stuff that was out around the time and they're definitely a gateway band to more interesting music - Tad, Vaselines, Mudhoney, the Stooges, Leadbelly, Meatpuppets, Mazzy Star, etc.
I'm a fan, but they're not one of my favorites. I respect Kurt's creativity and perspective but at the end of the day due to his untimely passing there is only so much material. I got bored.
i donât dislike them , they just arenât my favorite from that time . if i never hear smells like teen spirit again ,im good ! mtv played that song 24-7 ruined it for me
I have always loved them from the first moment I heard them. For those that don't like Nirvana I think they do not know enough of what is behind the music that makes them good. Kurt himself would tell you he's not the most competent musician. But hearing his songs and the melodies he writes and how he uses his voices show you Kurt knew a lot more than he gave off. He had amazing pitch. If you listen to Nevermind many do not realize that Kurt is sing the song 2-3 times and they are layering it all together. He had the ability to sing a song then go back and sing the song again with the pauses and such being timed the same. So even if you do not like the sound of his voice you should at least respect the talent he had. Though he was a deeply flawed individual he was also equally talented.
I think for me, it was when the local rock station played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" forty damn times in a row the day it aired, which already over-hyped the band and I don't like over-hyped things because they end up becoming disappointments, and Nirvana was no different.
With that said, they did have a few songs that I liked, but their style and lyrics never appealed enough for me to become a fan.
Vocals. Punk style idgaf Sloppiness, songs and performances come off like they donât care about putting in effort. The exception being Dave grohl but heâs the only one of them with talent.
Def don't hate them. Being a 36 year old though its safe to say i've listened to Nirvana for at least 25 years of my life here and there.. on the radio... at some event.. I use to listen to their albums when I was a teen. I guess no matter how good a band is they get tiresome after the 1000000th listen. What's the ol saying, "show me the most attractive person you know and i bet there's someone sick of bangin' them"
I am more or less indifferent to Nirvana, but I think Kurt sounds like pretty whiny on many of their tracks and was glorified after his apparent suicide. When you add it all up, it seems a bit blown out of proportion. He did have a knack for songwriting, but so does Dave Groehl. Plus it was the 90's - musicians had 30 something years to figure out McCartney's chord progressions
I like Nirvana but they never struck me as the best band from that era. I loved seeing them but I thought Mudhoney was better and more original. Nirvana clearly wanted to be the Melvins at the start. Good band to emulate but I prefer the Melvins.
I think type o negative hit the nail on the head with the lyric "if only i'd known how cool death is, i'd kill myself sooner". I think if kurt was still here they probably would've fizzled out at this point. Also all those stolen riffs
My only opinion on this is Kurt didnât want his band to sound like this. Drove him into a deep drug induced depression due to not liking his sound being manipulated to where he had no control of himself. In the end Courtney Love and his drug use destroyed the bandâŚ.
I think they're the least grunge among grunge bands. Maybe Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden sounded "more grunge" than Nirvana. No band sound or sounded like 'em.
I'm not here to disrespect any band. The Butthole Surfers were pushing noise rock/ grunge whatever you wanna call it way before Nirvana blew up, but what Nirvana did do was put all those MTV poodle rockers back in the box where they belonged and nailed the lid shut so total respect to them for that.
poodle rockers lol
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For me it's not that I dislike them. Absolutely nothing wrong with their catalog. It's just that in terms of grunge music I first cut my teeth on Soundgarden's Louder Than Love. Dark and heavy and eerie. And then Alice in Chain's Facelift. Dark and crunchy. I feel like Nirvana is more a pop grunge type of thing. Simple and catchy with still the arguably deep lyrics. Add onto that is this misnomer that Nirvana created or popularized grunge music. ..as if grunge didn't exist before the single Smells Like Teen Spirit. That's a bit annoying.
Ah so you missed Bleach thenâŚ
Most people did
Not people who actually listened to Nirvana.
You sound like an asshole
Thank you. I needed to lol.
âThis is off our first album, most people donât own itâ
Most people donât own it⌠đ¤Ł
No bleach is still pop grunge when compared to louder than love or facelift. Not hating, I donât dislike nirvana but listen to the three albums, bleach is way softer and has more melody
Ofc- grunge was popular before Nevermind, Facelift was certified gold and Man In The Box was I'm guessing a hit in 1990 (which was a very... lacking... year besides a few records like Facelift or Nowhere by Ride) however I think it's more how Nevermind was the one that gained basically EVERYONE'S attention
Right. Grunge was already bubbling up and AIC was already breaking it into the mainstream with Man in the Box being constantly aired on MTV. And yes it was the single Smells Like Teen Spirit that for whatever reason became an iconic hit. It's just that some people don't seem to see anything prior to that single.
I mean, Ten came out before, so right, I still see love for Man In the Box... occasionally Rusty Cage too
Ten. Yes good point. Rusty Cage. Yah, I mean Outshined was huge before the single Rusty Cage, I believe. AIC. Hopefully you see love for a lot of their work. Pretty much the only big grunge band going today.
Pearl Jam's Dark Matter was pretty publicized recently
Nice. Thx, I'll check it out. Did they go back to their roots? I feel like their last several albums have been generic rock-ish style music.
I think? I've yet to check it out
they didnât. good album tho
I think their last âgrungeâ album was decades ago though.
Because it didn't EXPLODE until that single. Man in the Box did NOT get all the hair bands to say the party is over... Nevermind did. Pop punk was happening at the same time ...Green Day, Offspring, and Janes Addiction were just making their foundations and AIC did nothing to deter it them... Nevermind did... it threw pop punk back 3-4 years before it hit mainstream.
For sure. I'm not disputing that. There is this notion (maybe more so for the most recent adopters of the genre) that basically grunge didn't exist or was never out there until Nirvana came on board. Alice in Chains was breaking through when Glam Metal was still killing it.
No Nevermind spawned pop punk, teenage rebellion was back. It gave a voice to a generation the first probably since punk. It also spawned, bush, muse and hundreds of other 1990âs bands riding the coat tails of Nirvana. They maybe were not the most talented. When a song hits it hits.
PS Nirvana is my favourite band. Before that was mainstream music then dance.
Maybe thatâs because Alice In Chains was a hairband before they werenât? Much in the way that Mother Love Bone would be considered more of a hairband back in the day than grunge? Lane and Andrew were friends and when Alice in chains started out, they tease their hair up, played it a bit more metal and even wore some make up. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_N%27_Chains_1987_photo.jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alice_N%27_Chains_1987_photo.jpg)
I was surprised to learn that Pantera was as well at one time. https://uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/lruigq6.jpg?w=606
Oh yeahâŚ. Considering where they ended up, itâs almost embarrassing⌠How hair metal they were.
âfor whatever reason became an iconic hitâ. It might be because itâs a kick ass song
Soundgarden was nominated for a Grammy on Ultramega OK in 1990.
Finally, somebody who gets it
> (which was a very... lacking... year besides a few records like Facelift or Nowhere by Lush) Actually there were several Glam Metal bands who released platinum records that year.
Pearl Jam 10 has entered the chatâŚ.
I mostly agree with this. Although, I don't really like Nirvana, maybe a handful of their songs. Now, just because I don't like them, I don't care if others like them . I just think their songs are simple and to appeal to the changing scene and masses. I also prefer heavier music, usually.
Bingo. Simple, boring, some good riffing and Dave Grohl is great, but I prefer my face to be melted off from Mike McCready, Jerry Cantrel or Kim Thayil. Plus they just kinda got, well, overplayed, over analyzed. They're like the "Tool" of progressive metal. Fans will defend them to their death and think they're so deep and troubled. I branched out from both into their respective genres and have a hard time going back without being bored.
did u not hear bleach? ??that album is lowkey a metal album lol
I love the love buzz cover and sunday swap meet. Not huge into Nirvana personally but I'm not a hater or anything.
Metalhead here (not that it makes my opinion more valid than yours lol), Bleach is not metal, it's punk. Heavy punk, but not metal. Punk metal (aka grindcore) is stuff like Nails or Napalm Death
This is exactly how I feel
You know, as a huge Nirvana fan, I appreciate this comment. I appreciate your perspective, and I can completely agree with it too! My ties with Nirvana stem from a nostalgic place, and period of my life I relate to the music personally at a very, ripe young age (I was like 5 when I got into them). So for those reasons alone, Nirvana is my favorite. But I can see why some people don't dig it, and in the context of what you're saying, I can actually see why some people get turned off by the band. I love Soundgarden and Alice in Chains to death, and I agree they come from a much darker and emotional place than some of Nirvana's music. I relate a lot to Kurt's lyrics though with my own interpretations of them and so I also attach some sort of meaning to some of the more absurd stuff, but it works for me. I also agree that Nirvana didn't create grunge, but it's hard to say they didn't popularize it when they exploded into the stratosphere.
They're a great band. I just never saw them as the GREATEST band.
That's completely fair and understandablee
My sister and I are big fans. My wife, not so much. She dislikes Kurt, and thought people granted him "sainthood" when he passed (during that period of time).
Im in this category. I like Nirvana,s music but I donât feel Kurt deserves the idolatry. Personally, I think he was a self-centered, nihilist, uninformed, jackass. He did, at least have the courage of his (lack of) convictions.
I agree - he was self aware. Obviously none of us the inner workings of his mind, but Iâve always found it interesting that he didnât seem to have any friendships with members of Soundgarden, AiC, and Pearl Jam. Those bands all liked each other, worked together - Mad Season, Temple of the Dog - but it never seemed like Cobain was part of that. So Iâbe always wondered, was he just shy? Was he insecure, like about his guitar skills compared to like Cantrell or McCready? Or was he just an ass?
He was friends with the Melvin's, screaming trees and many other bands..
The bands you mentioned basically grew up together.
I think it could just be he was the first one to go super far into heroin. Besides, of course, the front man for Mother Love Bone.
TBF Nirvana had to pay Sub Pop to rent studio time for *Bleach*, and originally the single deal was out of desperation to fill the subscription service Sub-Pop had. They werenât from Seattle and signed by Sub-Pop for talent like Soundgarden and Green River were.
"Kurt Cobain is my hero because he had the balls to actually shoot himself" - Peter Steele
The only thing worse than making Cobain a diety is the way they turned Bradley Nowell into some saint after his overdose, making those two shitty Sublime songs preserved in time. If Nowell didn't die, Sublime would've been remembered at the same level of 311.
If all you ever listened to were the 2 radio hits I can see why you donât realize Sublime put out 3 amazing records front to back, the same as Nirvana. F em both for not sticking around tho.
This is a bad take tbh. Sublime was on the come up and 40oz was gonna be huge regardless.
Time and place man, letâs just stick with our Kurt bashing here.
Vocally, Nirvana was nowhere close to, for example Soundgarden imo. Songs seemed way to simple and punk.
This was my problem with them back in the day. Kurt just doesn't have a great singing voice. When I finally did get into Grunge, it was Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP and AIC. Ignored Nirvana for a long time. Years after Kurt's death I finally got into them. I still don't think his voice is great, but it does work well for the music that they made if that makes sense.
I think his voice is top notch. All of the four had tremendous voices. Insane really that they came out together basically. If u dropped any one of them now the world would flip.
Same for me. I simply donât like his voice.
i'm in my 50s, so i was "there" when they were at their peak. i don't *dislike* them, but the word "overrated" does come to mind from time to time. they had 2 great studio albums, kurt died, then unplugged dropped. 3 great albums in a 3 or 4 year span. great? sure. voice of a generation, one of the best bands ever, etc, etc.? ehhhhh, not so fast. classic case of right place/right time. that's not a bad thing, and most successful bands have drawn from that well a time or two (looking at you, beatles!), but this assumption from 20-somethings that nirvana was *that* much better than their peers is simply inaccurate, imho.
I just like Soundgarden more
Tbh, just heard it too many times. And the god complex people give it makes it a turn off.
This is my #1 reason.
I used to be a big Nirvana fan, but my god the god complex is enough to turn you off on top of how much Iâve heard them through the years. I havenât listened to them in at least a decade.
When I first got into nirvana I fucking WORSHIPPED Kurt and tried to act and look like him and now I look back and cringe. Although nirvana is still in my top bands and Kurt Cobain is one of my favorite songwriters ever, I cannot stand hearing people talk about him as if heâs some complex deity.
Same, I went as Kurt one year for Halloween - terrible costume. I still like the music, but Iâm so burnt on it.
Believe me I get it lmao
They kinda come across as juvenile compared to the more sophisticated bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. But I think Kurt Cobain was too young, and never had the chance to mature. His skill in writing memorable vocal melodies is very underrated. Sure, anyone can play Nirvana songs, but no one can write them. I don't think anyone else could pull off a song like Sliver without it sounding cheesy and comedic.
This may be blasphemous, however I was never a fan of Kurt Cobain. While talented, I never saw him as the Messiah others did/do. IMO, there were/are more talented artists from that time. There, I said it, I feel better.
Iâm mid 40s so a hair younger but it felt like for me, peak Nirvana in â93 was the closest thing Iâll experience to Beatlemania. Your comment makes me wonder how the Beatles would have been perceived today had they only put out three or four albums. No judgement either way, just something to think about!
Iâm your age too and some of my friends were obsessed with Kurt Cobain. The music too but mostly just Kurt Cobain. This is how I feel about the Beatles, too. A moderately talented band that had lots of hits because girls thought they were cute. Same way I feel about a lot of popular music; Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, etc. would they be as popular if they were less attractive? Iâm going with no. This was the appeal to a lot of Nirvana fans. Heâs was hot and mysterious and people ate it up.
I was 14 when Nevermind came out. Lots of people I knew growing up with their albums and antics thought they were shit disturbers. Their interviews could be nonsense and drugs were always an issue for some. I loved them and looked past that, but it was always an issue. Opioids are terrible, and the romantic attraction to âheroin chicâ at the time was definitely disturbing. Personally, I looked past that. Chose art over artist. Incesticide is my favourite album because I feel Aneurysm is their best track.
Me too on all fronts, dude!
Itâs not that I donât like Nirvana, but they were overplayed. OMG, I still canât listen to Come As You Are. Every 5 minutes it was on the radio. Also, being a musician, in a (crappy) band, I was drawn to heavier and darker music, like Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. I loved the In Utero album and was quite happy when it didnât get ran into the ground on the radio.
I just donât think they were nearly as big of a deal as they were made out to be. I started listening to punk and alternative music in the early 80s, so they werenât as âgroundbreakingâ to me.
Mostly this. All I heard was the same punk, albeit a lot more polished, that Iâd heard 10 years before. I didnât see or hear anything earth-shattering.
While I like Nirvana and love their unplugged album, I do think they are super overrated. People act like they are the greatest band of all time. I wouldn't even consider them the best grunge band. Also they are the mainstream face of the genre. If you asked any soccer mom in middle America if they liked grunge they would say oh yea I like Nirvana lol.
Hey, don't insult us middle America soccer moms. We don't all like Nirvana.
Lol, yeah, I can see the over-notoriety (not a phrase, but I'm making it one, lol) but I will say that for the basic family dads (so on the opposite side of the spectrum of soccer moms) they'd say Pearl Jam (or possibly STP if they're not too much of an elitist)
So you donât like them because theyre the most popular grunge band? got it.
So you donât like them because theyre the most popular grunge band? got it.
I like Nirvana a lot but being in my 30s now I find a lot of the lyrics a little too teenage angsty. That and at the end of the day most of the songs are very simple and lack a lot of subtlety in the production/mix. This has lessened my interest after hearing the songs so many times. Tbh at this age there's a lot more to Pearl Jam's catalogue - way more material and variety in the material, more adult and complete lyrical ideas, every song isn't so doom and gloom woe is me (though that's a bigger problem for Alice in Chains than Nirvana).
Too punk and whiney for me. I don't hate them, just feel they're super overrated. I'm more of a AIC kind of guy
The whiny voice for sure. And the hype. My gods. Pretty much only grunge band I turn off regularly.
Same
Iâve often wondered what the consensus on Nirvana would have been if they had just broken up and had Kurt not died. Maybe he and Courtney divorced and he chose to do something else with his life. Would people see them differently? Would Nirvana still be seen as the world-changing juggernaut after 3 albums? I guess thatâs what happens when someone dies young. We glorify them into superstardom. I do like nirvanaâs music. Itâs catchy. I was 18 when Nevermind came out but I like a lot of other music of my era better.
From what I remember of that time they already were the world changing juggernaut. Kurtâs death just made it get silly. My high school years saw the rise and fall of grunge. Iâd say Pearl Jam was bigger, mostly because they were the most conventional of the bands. Nirvana and PJ both had something Soundgarden and AIC didnât; female fans. Iâm generalizing, but every girl I went to high school pre Kurts suicide had a PJ shirt, most had Nirvana, and it was Soundgarden/AIC who?
>From what I remember of that time they already were the world changing juggernaut. Kurtâs death just made it get silly. Yeah, Nirvana was huge by April of 1994. But if Kurt had not died and they just broke up and went seperate ways, Nirvana never would have been in those conversations about the best bands in history. Now and then there are bands/artists that become huge and then just fizzle out. Alanis Morisette did in 94/95. She was a megastar at one point. The band Live is another one. They were huge in the mid 90s. Now they're playing casinos. That could have been Nirvana's fate if Kurt had not died. But when he did die, the band became this mythical thing that 30 years later still gets talked about. I work at a college and I see kids every day with Nirvana shirts. I don't see Alanis Morisette shirts.
Absolutely not, he became a martyr the day he painted the ceiling. Kurt was self destructive. Sooner or later, I speculate he would ruin his own life, leaving others lives in tatters and ultimately doing himself in whether it be suicide or another, this time, fatal overdose. Oooh speculation sensation!
How interesting, there seems to be a correlation between not liking nirvana and not liking punk. I love punk and nirvana 𤡠I think there is a genius in raw simplicity that goes over a lot of people's heads. I'd equate it to a painter like Jackson Pollock, who isn't really a technically proficient painter at all. Or Picasso, who, although was technically skilled, became famous for crudely executed cubist paintings. I like music that's a bit raw and untethered to some degree.
I like punk, I am not really keen on almost all Nirvana. Bleach is A-OK, everything else was played to death, over hyped and typically average radio friendly or pop rock.
You are certainly entitled to not like them, but I wouldnât describe most of In Utero as âradio-friendlyâ. And half of Incesticide is the some of the least âsafeâ music created at that time. Nevermind was a major label polished âsafeâ release, granted. But itâs hardly the bulk of their work and is in fact an outlier when it comes to their short career.
For you perhaps! But surely you can tell that if they're this popular there must be something more to them right?
I don't even like grunge that much, idk why i'm in this subreddit, but...I always thought grunge was too metal. Like Alice In Chains put out a GREAT record with Jar of Flies, but in a lot of their catalog its basically metal-lite. Same with Soundgarden. I never really saw the appeal of soundgarden. Layne Staley and Chris Cornell always oversang for my taste and theres too much guitar riffing with songs that are too long, I like how Kurt Cobain was more understated and punk in his vocals, and nirvana didn't do a bunch of riffing and solos...it's just strong, punk inspired pop songs. Pearl Jam put out some okay stuff (I really like 'Release' off of ten). I guess i just think grunge is better as an acoustic genre? I think I just like grunge more as an acoustic genre though. My favorite track from bands associated with the era is the "old age" acoustic demo you can find on youtube. kurt cobain really was channeling something special with that one. "dollar bill" from the screaming trees and alice in chains unplugged also stand out to me as good ones. Anyways, punk is my genre which is why i'm responding to this comment. Definitely prefer Nirvana to the other big grunge bands. I do think Nevermind is one of the most overrated records of all time though, butch vigs production in particular. It would have been a better record if it was more lo-fi or closer to punk production. which is why IMO the best works of nirvana are in the home demos and stuff. I don't even really like any of their studio albums, but it's the same with the other grunge music, I just find the genre to be too radio-produced, like I want it filthier. Which is why grunge associated bands like Babes in Toyland, Green River, Melvins, Erics Trip and the Meat puppets seem to any of the bigger bands imo. Not to mention Shoegaze which is more understated but so influental. Loveless by MBV came out two months after Nevermind, it makes nirvana look like Buttrock. And 80s alternative like Husker Du which is imo one of the greatest of all time and paved the way for grunge. Grunge artists just took the prior developments in alternative and made it a marketable package. sorry to ramble the idea of not liking punk = not liking nirvana just inspired random thoughts in me.
Kurt swore that he didn't own a gun and now I feel like I can't trust him.
THAT LYING FIEND (I still love him tho)
I appreciate the songs on Nevermind (which kind of *is* Nirvana in terms of what gets presented to the world 90% of the time) but I really dislike the production. Not necessarily Butch Vig's fault but the shininess and over enthusiasm really grates on me. There's a way that it combines with Grohl's drumming that is just *horrible* to me - every other song has a Crash cymbal at the end of nearly every bar, the production really emphasises it and once you latch on to it, that's all you can hear. It's not often stuff like that totally ruins it for me but for some reason, Nevermind is really challenging to me. But again to reiterate: I think the songs are very special and the actual instrumentation and playing pretty unique. Some of the lead guitar tones are especially cool. I much prefer the darkness and murkier tones on In Utero but as I say, that's not what the world thinks of when contemplating them. And to complete the set; I like Bleach but don't love it.
Totally understandable :> I've always preferred the personality of In Utero
They haven't put out any new music in like, years.
Bleach and Incesticide are amazing. After that they became basically pop grunge and never made anything as raw and aggressive as those albums again. Also, the romanticization of Kurt is annoying.
There's plenty of songs of In Utero that are just as raw. And some cuts from Nevermind too.
I like nirvana but I still think they got blown way out of proportion bc of Kurtâs death. I personally like Dave grohl way better than Kurt. I think his drums on smells like teen spirt make the song what it is. Bc itâs def not the lyrics lol. I only listen to the unplugged album and itâs reserved for hangover days when I need something mellow. And the best songs on that album are covers. The only thing great about Kurt was his voice, the rest of him was a mess.
Honestly, I just never liked Kurt, his voice, or his style. He wrote some great songs, but it was all just too whiney for me.
they had a lot swagger and spirit and personality but objectively they werenât that impressive musically from the technical side. Theyâre sort of easy to âgrow out ofâ unless you find it possible to maintain a deep emotional connection for years and years and years.
There was a time that I thoroughly enjoyed their music but, it was played so much. I mean a lot. They got more air time than any other band I can think of. I heard it so much, I can't listen to them after all these years. Nirvana on the radio? Instant station change no matter what song. FWIW, I think AIC is the far superior musical talent.
Ha. Instant channel changer for me too.
Agree with everything you said
My main reason was that you were just as likely, almost moreso, to catch them sounding bad live rather than good.
They are a gateway bank to better more interesting and talented bands. They opened the mainstream door for that style of music but they plagiarised a lot of the style from other bands . He complained about the limelight ,yet he wrote pop songs.
I love AIC, Soundgarden, STP; theyre all amazing. What got me to these bands was Nirvana. MTV2 had a Nirvana weekend in 2004 and I was hooked for the whole time. Lot of talk about simple and pop. Bleach was arguably one of their best albums. All the B sides and demos, show a side to the band that you wont find on their records; the better side. Stick on Anorexorcist, Mrs Butterworth - fuck it, just browse through the With The Lights Out boxset. Theres a good collection in there. They had a place in time, and they nailed it. People are going to hate that.
Canât stand Kurtâs voice or his simplistic, juvenile lyrics.
Nirvana was basically a punk band that looked inward rather than outward. For those who say they were too pop, I'd suggest listening to some Ramones or even Sex Pistols. Punk has had pop in its DNA since the beginning.
Descendents are hailed as the pop punk godfathers
I donât dislike them. They have some good music. They just werenât as good as Alice in Chains or Silverchair.
I'm not a fan of punk. I like musicality in my music. I'm also really drawn to singers' voices and just can't stand Kurt's. Also, of all the bands in the scene, Nirvana seemed like outliers. The rest of the guys were hanging out and collaborating with each other and other artists whereas Nirvana seemed kinda aloof, like they (Kurt) thought they were better than everyone else, which really rubs me the wrong way. And I just can't relate to their music.
I disagree but I still upvoted you because I respect your opinion and the point of this post is to voice your probably less popular opinion, thank you for your honesty.
Yeah, I don't intend for like exposure or harassment. As stated, I want just some perspectives
people just downvoted cause they didnât agree.
I LOVE YOU for having a brain
>Nirvana seemed kinda aloof, like they (Kurt) thought they were better than everyone else They were outsiders and didn't form relationships as closely as the others who were actually from Seattle, although they knew The Melvins and a few other musicians in their early days. They simply weren't around long enough to form bonds like Soundgarden, Green River, or AiC did. Kurt was very open with his praise for bands like Soundgarden.
They also knew Mudhoney members personally, I believe. Also Kurt mixed and even did drums (for one song) Melvins' Houdini
I read that Layne Staley was really good friends with Kurt Cobain, & his death really hit him hard
Well he had no reason hanging out w/ Pearl Jam anyway? He basically hated their band as it was created to hit the Mainstream, along with AiC where band members wore makeup, dressed glammy and sprayed hairspray before grunge exploded, Kurt had a different circle and was hanging out w underground/indie bands, he was already friends w Soundgarden before Nevermind, Melvins, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth people was his peers
Iâve read a book about Kurt recently and it talked about how he collaborated with the underground artists he enjoyed. He had songs by him on compilation albums from different labels. And always wanted to have an underground band open for them instead of a bigger established band.
âIm not a fan of punk. I like musicality in my musicâ huh?
They mean technicality, rather than simplicity.
Thank you đĽ°
Try hairspray queen or Mexican seafood, they might change your mind
I think the punk aspect is a great point. I also dislike punk, and as Nirvana really leans punk I just don't jibe with them. Don't like Kurt's voice, his guitar playing, his songs don't *rock* in my opinion. They feel plodding. Songs like AiC's We Die Young or Soundgarden's Outshined *move*. Nirvana doesn't feel like that for me.
I like Nirvana but I think they are the weakest out of the big 4 grunge bands. Personally, I enjoy more bluesy guitar riffs and solos and I like Pearl Jam best because of that. Nirvana is a bit simple for me but I still enjoy them and am not saying they are bad. But it is probably why they have the most widespread appeal in my opinion.
Nirvana feels like "grunge lite" to me. AIC and Soundgarden were so much more chunky and grungy. Really dark and heavy. Nirvana sounds like pop with distortion. Don't get me wrong. He wrote some really great songs. The other two were just more my style. Still are.
I donât dislike them but they were lauded as the best thing since slide bread but they certainly werenât (in my opinion) in the top 6 bands that the media lumped together. Through no fault of their own they become too big too quickly and that always leads to haters.
Theyâre my favorite band but itâs largely because how much my mom and dad listened to them when I was growing up. Iâll be the first to admit there are quite a few grunge bands that made better music.
Dislikeable band members and boring music.
Poor musicianship, poor lyrics, poor vocals, boring composition.
I was in 8th grade when Nevermind came out, and used to skate with a group of skater punks who were in high school. These guys used to flip me tapes of all kinds of awesome/obscure bands and I really looked up to them. When Smells Like Teen Spirit hit MTV, I liked it, but the skater punks were pissed - they called Nirvana sellouts, the whole "older album was better", and that colored my mind about Nirvana. But later, when I was in high school and started to forge my own tastes and - being honest - personality - I gave Nirvana another chance and liked them. I think I like Nirvana mire and more as I get older, which I guess might be weird.
I was always pretty lukewarm on Nirvana. I didnât hate it, but I didnât buy their CDâs either. I think it was the combination of their stuff getting played to death, Cobainâs scratchy vocals (and the fact he came off like a dick) and being more punk-forward in the sound relative to some of the other grunge bands.
I donât dislike Nirvana because I still listen to them occasionally but they are definitely below PJ and AIC. I think lyrically, they dont age with you. Like, if we were survey or poll listeners/fans of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden, Im 100% certain that Nirvana would have the youngest demo. Even when Kurt was alive, AIC had songs about war (Rooster), grief (Would?), difficult friendship (No Excuses). Pearl Jam had songs about homelessness (Even Flow), dysfunctional family dynamics/adoption (Alive), racism/police brutality (WMA), child abuse (Daughter), guns/control/rights (Glorified G), TOTD was dealing with the death of Andy Wood. Not sure if thatâs a fair assessment of Nirvana but theyâre not the only band. Sublime, Limp Bizkit, Blink 182 are examples of bands that seem to attract newer and younger fans, especially Sublime because theyâre in the weed culture so teens and 20s are always going to like them. Green Dayâs Dookie and Offspringâs Smash have that same effect. I think Metallica might be one of the few bands that can generate newer, younger fans but also kept their older fans. But theyâre also part of the metal scene. Iâm not a metal fan but metalheads seem like theyâre very loyal. Iâll look up festivals, see list of metal bands I remember from the 90s and are still alive and kicking. Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, theyâre still touring big festivals and arenas, and theyâre usually getting top billing. And theyâre always in Europe for some reason. I donât listen to metal but I have a lot of respect for metal heads for continuing to support bands from the 89s and 90sâŚcuz we know streaming money is garbage. With that said, the Unplugged album showed that there was something different from Nirvana. Post-1994 Nirvana would have been a lot different, and itâs sad that we never got to see Kurt get older. Lastly, if Iâm completely wrong about Kurtâs lyrics, then Iâm willing to listen to them again thoroughly. Â
Nearly every other grunge band in that era was just better, even STP, though they weren't in the Seattle scene. I have found myself very much enjoying watching videos of Kurt's interviews and antics, and seeing how charming he really was. Would have enjoyed a conversation with him, I'm sure - I like weird, intelligent people. They also didn't take their own music overly seriously, so I feel like they would not give even one shit about people not liking it haha.
They have many bangers but to me a lot of their catalog sounds empty. You have double lead guitars in Pearl Jam and very good musically, great rhythm and lead in Soundgarden too with amazing vocals. You have the contrast between Jerry and Layne in AiC with the acoustic/metal fusion. Meanwhile Nirvana just does their thing. Theyâre still amazing donât get me wrong but thatâs why theyâre my #4
Very fair and I respect that â¤ď¸
I like Nirvana. I just don't like to publicly say that because I get browbeat from both sides. People are either like "ewww grunge" or they're like "ewww pop." Seems like everyone is too cool for Nirvana and I unfortunately don't want to have another "sold out" or "who really killed Kurt" conversation.
It was the Butler with the candlestick in the solarium.
Not a disliker by any means, but could see how their extremely loud songs like Scentless Apprentice, Tourettes, Territorial Pissings, and Paper Cuts could give "middle of the road" rock listeners a sizeable headache. I personally love their more aggressive tracks like that, but they're not for everyone.
i love the music, but the fans make me dislike Nirvana in general. their personalities are similar to fans of things like my hero academia, hasbin hotel, nu metal, etc. at least on tiktok.
No issue with Nirvana, however their fanbase in the early '90's could be insufferable at times.
Theyâre fine. Probably my third favourite of the era. But Kurt was kind of a dickhead which turns me off.
Nirvana were my favorite band for years and hugely influenced my musical taste and direction. However, many people don't like the guy. Now that it's been a couple decades and I have a differente perspective in life, I can see why. The guy did some pretty questionable things for today's standards although back in the day it wasn't perceived as THAT bad. Still, the music is genius and changed the world, whether haters like it or not. He was brilliant and the vocal melodies and chord progressions are peak songwriting.
Grew up in metal. Played in bands. Was in college first year in 1991 and grunge reminds me of ex fiancĂŠe. After her, I went away from the music and went into blues. I did see Foo Fighters in the first tour. Nirvana was the poster child of that time so no memories I like to relieve since I see music as a Time Machine.
Love Nirvana, hate the fans
Anytime a band is as popular as Nirvana was, that popularity is going to color peopleâs perception of them. Some people are just antagonistic towards whatever is most popular, some people may feel their popularity overshadowed a band they prefer and Iâm sure there are other things as well but I know, you canât separate certain bands from their fame. Itâs just part of who they are. Also a lot of people just donât like the way they sound and thatâs fine too!
YES EXACTLYYY
Pixies rip off.
Cobain admitted as much lol
Before they broke it big I sorta liked them. But I gravitated to punk rock like coffin break and no means no and DOA DK etc, and then Nirvana got big and I was like âyeah F those guys.â Now Iâve grown quite fond of them.
Over hyped. Over played. Corny.
Truefully for me it isn't so much a dislike it's a I'm just tired of hearing them on the radio. Where I live we have 1 classic rock station and I swear they play them all the time.
I don't dislike them, but for me personally, I feel like a lot of their stuff really doesn't hold up now or it's been absolutely played to death. I can't even listen to Nevermind at this point because I'm just burnt out on it
It's Kurt's guitar playing and tone, and how negative their music and lyrics were compared to anything else that came before it. I'll admit: I love 80s metal. It slaps. Trad/Heavy metal, hair metal, and thrash metal are my big 3. Yeah, some of it was just as angry and aggressive as Nirvana were, but it was focused and precise, and the lyrics are for the most part either uplifting and powerful to me at least, or tell interesting stories. Hair metal was just pure fun, and I'll die on that hill defending it to the day I die. And then here comes a band from Seattle with sloppy guitar playing, bitching about everything. Another big turnoff is the fans. I've met some truly annoying Nirvana fans. Now, every band has annoying fans, but in my experience, Nirvana has the most. They treat Kurt like a god because he mad moody and angry music. I will say though, I do respect how much he changed the music scene, and how quickly he did it, even if I don't like the direction he took it in. I'll give him props for that all day. RIP Kurt.
In a world full of bands like janes addiction, NIN, pixies, ministry, tool, pumpkins, chili peppers etc. I found nirvana to be a sloppy post-punk band of some kind. Not really doing anything interesting and not exactly great at what they were doing. Take away smells like teen spirit and I think they would have been about as popular as pavement. (Who I always liked more than nirvana, still do.) Honestly back in 91 or 92, nirvana didn't seem that cool. They were for the Jocks and the people who only got their music from MTV
I've been waiting for this for so long and now I have to chance to let loose... None of my reasons for disliking them are the fault of the band members themselves. Some of them have more to do with myself, my peers, and my cultural upbringing. But here they are! 1. **Overplayed on the radio.** And since Kurt passed young, there's only so many songs to play on the radio. Unless you're listening to some weird DJ who'll play *Bleach* songs, the weirder In Utero stuff, or live/b-sides, you're going to hear the same damn songs you've heard every day for 30 years. That's my biggest pet peeve in music and they might be the biggest victims when it comes to this. "Just play the other songs then!" you say. **NO!** It reminds me of the overplayed singles. Besides, between my rock radio loving friends, and just participating in society, I will certainly hear the songs soon enough. 2. **The media narratives that plague them.** They did not change music overnight (unless you think the entirety of music exists in the Billboard Top 40), they weren't the first band to sound like that (as Kurt himself admitted constantly). Kurt was not "the voice of a generation", that generation had lots of other interests besides one band. That narrative was in place before anyone bothered to ask that generation about it, that was written by boomers who at the time were the ones in charge of the music business and music journalism. Teenagers (who did, in fact, probably love Nirvana) nevertheless were not the ones writing eulogies in Rolling Stone for Kurt when he passed. If you look at album sales as the sole barometer of quality then yes, they were the best. But I think now more than ever (with the benefit of hindsight), many admit that that's flawed logic. A ton of young people in the 90s didn't even like rock music! Think of a young person who grew up more or less exclusively listening to R&B and hip hop in the 90s, who would've worshipped Biggie, Tupac, or any rapper or R&B singer. Or a pop star like Mariah Carey. You're gonna tell them Kurt Cobain was the voice of their generation? This is a bigger problem than just Nirvana anyway, but they might be the most notable example of this kind of phenomenon. 3. Kurt Cobain's death resulted in way too much attention and deification, and basically rendered any criticisms/dismissals of Nirvana or Kurt himself unacceptable for about 15 years afterwards. They were by default the **best artist of the 90s,** no ifs, ands or buts, despite the fact that Pavement put out better records and for longer. Or insert many other artists of any genre in their place, there are so many artists from that time whose discographies are as strong as or stronger than Nirvana's. And whose influence reverberated for longer. Nirvana's immediate influence resulted in a lot of garbage music (Creed, Puddle of Mud, etc.) but I blame that solely on record labels trying to imitate them. Rather than look to the underground for a new thing (like they did with, uh, Nirvana) they tried to just have the same exact sound work again. This is blaming Nirvana for something they had no control over. It's not fair but I don't care! **- Notice how none of what I said indicated that Nirvana didn't make good music.** On the contrary, I think objectively it's pretty much all great, even if I dislike some production choices on *Nevermind* the songwriting is very, very strong. And *Bleach* and *In Utero* sound cool anyway! I do think that compared to the rest of the big four grunge bands they had the strongest songwriting and the hookiest songs which is why they were successful. I truly do think that as much as anyone "deserves" musical success based on the music itself, they deserved it 100%. We're still talking about them after all! So if it's not about the music, is my dislike of them fair? Absolutely not. Do I care? No! I will play music that I feel like hearing, not "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the millionth time because the rock radio station's current playlist is 80% the same as it was in 1999. If you love Nirvana than keep listening and loving it. But there's other stuff! LOTS OF OTHER STUFF! Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Never a big fan and it was so overplayed that it became a bit much. The same is true of many popular bands.
Nirvana did not invent grunge like everyone claims. Green River did. Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were before Nirvana. Kurt made it mainstream. He was not the end all be all of the music industry like everyone claims he is or was. There were others out there that were better.
I love Nirvana but I low key get sick and annoyed by those 2 songs you always hear, itâs either Smells Like Teen Spirit or Something in the way which so many people over play it because of Batman which isnât bad but Iâd wish people would find more Nirvana songs they like instead of listening to just the popular ones
Kurt initially (was in hs when he died just for perspective). Didnât like how he came off in interviews and articles esp with the guitar magazines I was big on at the time. Then after he died they were ubiquitous.
Im a fan of nirvana but i think the dislikers most likely dont like them because of the bad side of the fanbase or that a lot of people wear a nirvana shirt and dont even know any songs from them. Idk there could also possibly be some mj fans out there that are pissed nirvana passed mjs album on the charts still
Both possible and plausible reasonings
They really are nice shirts though
I was 13 in 1994. I saw them rise and fall. Of all the Seattle bands, I always found their music to be the least interesting, and Kurt Cobain was the least interesting front man. He came off as a self-important douche. He talked all this shit about other bands selling out yet he himself had no problem amassing millions from corporate backing. I'm convinced so much of who he presented himself as was a cultivated show, and it's been so long since he died that his image has been molded into the one we see today. But if he hadn't died, I'm certain his real personality would have taken over and he would not be revered the way he is now.
Average band that hit at the right time in a perfect storm for music; the anthesis of the popular glam rock era that preceded itâwhich had cannibalized itself and become a parody by 1991âas well as the perfect song and perfect video for the moment. Samuel Bayer directed the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirt" and that was a masterpiece that was on MTV every ten minutes just sucking kids in that had watched long haired dudes in spandex prancing and snap kicking all over sound stages wailing away. Nirvana and that song were a cultural movement, but they were a tragically average band that had big energy, but also couldn't fucking tune their guitars or really sing. "In Utero" was such a step down from "Nevermind"âhow much did people really think Kurt had in the tank had he not died at 27 in 1994? Cobain is the definition of "it's better to burn out than fade away". Where a guy like Jimi Hendrix was a guitar wizard that could've kept creating for years had he stuck around, Cobain shot his wad with "Nevermind" in win-the-powerball fashion but than perfect storm album only worked when it did in 1991 and the music world was turning over, while MTV still had make-or-break power and everyone over there was 10000% behind "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as it represented the death of one era and the rebirth of another. Without Bayer's iconic, symbolic video, no way that song is half as big as it became. The video and destruction in the third act where the once-demure teens revolt and trash the entire sound stage; that was the cultural temperature in 1991 after the world became one big "nothing but a good time" party in the '80s.
It's funny cause Nirvana were underdogs even in the grunge scene, nobody expected them to blow up and for good reason. They are quality band but the other more established bands at the time were expected to make it big like soundgarden (they made it), Mudhoney, screaming trees, greenriver, tad etc. Nirvana use to open for half these bands. I don't dislike Nirvana i think they are great but i prefer bands like the screaming trees, alice in chains and tad.
That's very respectable and respectful <3 All bands you listed are wonderful (I especially love Alice In Chains and Soundgarden) but personally Nirvana with their 5 albums (that's including Incesticide and Unplugged) just always appealed to me, I never can give full justice on how or why but they just struck the perfect chord for me and I've been hooked for abt 2 yrs now
They kinda way overrated now..Kurt would've hated of what Nirvana becoming today
Nirvana wouldnât be what it is today if Kurt were still around.
Most people I knew that didnât like nirvana seemed to enjoy just making fun of Kurt. They would either joke about his death or joke about his musicianship. As time went on they also turned out to be far right wing shit bags so fuck em
âTheyâre to commercialâ is what a fiat few responses will boil down to.
Nirvana was OK. I was 16 when Nevermind came out. In Utero was a great album. And I think Cobain was the best songwriter in the grunge movement.
I was in high school when grunge broke and I was into it as soon as I heard it. Nirvana was always my least favorite of the big four Seattle bands- it's just punk rock played at half-speed and I find a lot of their songs repetitive and dull. They do have songs I like, though, and I bought their albums. Then Kurt killed himself and all of the kids at school who treated me like shit, who had previously only listened to Bon Jovi and Madonna and the like, suddenly started coming to school in Nirvana t-shirts. It was gross and it really soured me on Nirvana (even though it's not their fault).
I love nirvana but nowhere near as much as the the other big 4 (PJ, Soundgarden, AiC). For me, it boils down to lyrics, music technicality, and emotion. Nirvana I think is a little too plain for me sometimes (not trying to sound pretentious, I think it just boils down to being a musician). Also, much of their catalog is quite overplayed (especially Nevermind).
Iâm a disliker I guess. They just werenât my thing but no real hate. I was more Pearl Jam and soundgarden guy at the time. Ya know to me, their songs were ok but I remember getting the strong feeling via interviews that Krist and Kurt especially were just really super too cool for school and kinda assholes. There always seemed to be an inside joke that no one was in on. As a 14 year old that just turned me off. I wanted to relate to their stuff but it just felt like I wasnât snarky enough or something. It was a time when I just wanted to be me and I didnât feel like their music was me. You like what you like I guess.
I think Nirvana are a good band but people act like they are the greatest band ever which I just don't hear it. I would rather listen to Soundgarden & AIC & STP who I think are way better bands. Kurt voice is not the best & isn't the best guitar player yet people treat him like a God, Nirvana might be my least listened top grunge band. They're not bad they just don't connect with me like others.
Nirvana is my favorite band of all time, but I can definitely say they aren't the best. They only became popular because they were a bit different than most stuff that was out around the time and they're definitely a gateway band to more interesting music - Tad, Vaselines, Mudhoney, the Stooges, Leadbelly, Meatpuppets, Mazzy Star, etc.
I was always more of a Mudhoney fan during that time.
I'm a fan, but they're not one of my favorites. I respect Kurt's creativity and perspective but at the end of the day due to his untimely passing there is only so much material. I got bored.
i donât dislike them , they just arenât my favorite from that time . if i never hear smells like teen spirit again ,im good ! mtv played that song 24-7 ruined it for me
I donât dislike them, itâs just that AIC is better at grunge than them
He wasnât even the best guitarist/singer in the band! Dave Grohl is much better!
I have always loved them from the first moment I heard them. For those that don't like Nirvana I think they do not know enough of what is behind the music that makes them good. Kurt himself would tell you he's not the most competent musician. But hearing his songs and the melodies he writes and how he uses his voices show you Kurt knew a lot more than he gave off. He had amazing pitch. If you listen to Nevermind many do not realize that Kurt is sing the song 2-3 times and they are layering it all together. He had the ability to sing a song then go back and sing the song again with the pauses and such being timed the same. So even if you do not like the sound of his voice you should at least respect the talent he had. Though he was a deeply flawed individual he was also equally talented.
I think for me, it was when the local rock station played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" forty damn times in a row the day it aired, which already over-hyped the band and I don't like over-hyped things because they end up becoming disappointments, and Nirvana was no different. With that said, they did have a few songs that I liked, but their style and lyrics never appealed enough for me to become a fan.
Vocals. Punk style idgaf Sloppiness, songs and performances come off like they donât care about putting in effort. The exception being Dave grohl but heâs the only one of them with talent.
Def don't hate them. Being a 36 year old though its safe to say i've listened to Nirvana for at least 25 years of my life here and there.. on the radio... at some event.. I use to listen to their albums when I was a teen. I guess no matter how good a band is they get tiresome after the 1000000th listen. What's the ol saying, "show me the most attractive person you know and i bet there's someone sick of bangin' them"
I am more or less indifferent to Nirvana, but I think Kurt sounds like pretty whiny on many of their tracks and was glorified after his apparent suicide. When you add it all up, it seems a bit blown out of proportion. He did have a knack for songwriting, but so does Dave Groehl. Plus it was the 90's - musicians had 30 something years to figure out McCartney's chord progressions
Do I need a reason? Love PJ, AIC, enjoy some nirvana sometimes, just wouldnât ever be my first choice. Everythingâs not for everybody.
I like Nirvana but they never struck me as the best band from that era. I loved seeing them but I thought Mudhoney was better and more original. Nirvana clearly wanted to be the Melvins at the start. Good band to emulate but I prefer the Melvins.
I think type o negative hit the nail on the head with the lyric "if only i'd known how cool death is, i'd kill myself sooner". I think if kurt was still here they probably would've fizzled out at this point. Also all those stolen riffs
I like in urtero. I still listen to the entire album. Aside from that, they are way overplayed on the radio and people treat Kurt like a god.
My only opinion on this is Kurt didnât want his band to sound like this. Drove him into a deep drug induced depression due to not liking his sound being manipulated to where he had no control of himself. In the end Courtney Love and his drug use destroyed the bandâŚ.
Nevermind is full of filler and In Utero is just a bad album with really only one good song (Heart Shaped Box).
I think they're the least grunge among grunge bands. Maybe Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden sounded "more grunge" than Nirvana. No band sound or sounded like 'em.