Just listening to an old bootleg of live Nirvana I’ve had for about 20 yrs. They’re still sounding decent to me even after all these years.

I missed out on seeing them in the day (I was 14 in 94) and think they are the one band I’d choose to see if possible, even over led Zeppelin or Hendrix!!

I remember when I was about 17 one of “the cool kids” at 6th form said to me what are you still listening to Nirvana for? I just thought “because they’re decent!?” At that point I’d probably been to more gigs/seen more bands than anyone else in my year so probably liked a wider range of stuff than them anyway!

Anyway, just wondered if anyone saw them in the day? Any good tales, were they good or overrated and bloody awful!!?

Watched them at Reading 92 and had tickets to see them in the UK but sadly he did not make it over.

I took my girlfriend to see them at Reading, remember being crushed at the front, with my feet off the ground desperately trying to hold onto her hand!

She hated every second!

I sold all my 12 inch records after he passed away, wish I had kept them now!

Bleach was my favourite album

I saw them Reading ’92 as well. They were ace despite the crap weather affecting the sound quality. The whole crowd were bouncing.

they are the one band I’d choose to see if possible, even over led Zeppelin or Hendrix

😯

Lyrically very good, nice sound but musically very much a garage band.

Would have liked to have heard how they sounded once they got past three chord tricks

ooh, didn’t know Dave Grohl was in a band before the Foos.

ooh, didn’t know Dave Grohl was in a band before the Foos.

Not quite sure if you’re being serious or not, but if you are you should watch some videos of Nirvana live – absolutely awesome drummer long before he became a decent frontman.

Had tickets to see them in 94 in Glasgow.

Kurt couldn’t make the gig though so they cancelled the tour.

Still listen to them now. Used to play “Unplugged in New York” to my daughter to help her settle down at night

Had a track turn up on my random play iPod the other day, funnily enough – the one that goes “DOLL STEAK!! TEST MEAT!!” (never was great at their song titles) sounded brilliant. I think their harsher tracks, like that one, and ‘Milk It’ (oh, that is Milk It! 😆 ) for example, have stood the test of time better than the more poppy stuff.
musically very much a garage band. – is nonsense.

And the Foo Fighters are shite dad-rock in comparison.

Had a track turn up on my random play iPod the other day, funnily enough – the one that goes “DOLL STEAK!! TEST MEAT!!” (never was great at their song titles) sounded brilliant. I think their harsher tracks, like that one, and ‘Milk It’ for example, have stood the test of time better than the more poppy stuff.

.

Err, that was Milk It……

They were kinda first of their genre, in a “what else sounds like Nirvana anyway?” sort of way, so you either liked them or you didn’t.

Saw them at Reading in 92.

Mrs Tyred saw them at the QM in Glasgow in 91 and claims to dislike anything post-Bleach. She’s always been cooler than me.

musically very much a garage band. – is nonsense.

For clarity I mean in terms of the level at which they could play rather than the quality.

Essentially they played at a level any garage band could execute their songs.

Err, that was Milk It….

Yeah, I edited. Just that one then 😉

I still love this as a pop song though.
[video]https://youtu.be/QECJ9pCyhns[/video]

the level at which they could play
As someone who grew up with punk, that’s a GOOD thing.

Never saw them, but hearing the news of his death was one of my “I’ll always remember where I was when <xxx> happened” moments.

A friend of mine who’s a big muso but not a Nirvana fan maintains that The Foo Fighters are the best thing Kurt ever did.

A friend of mine who’s a big muso but not a Nirvana fan maintains that The Foo Fighters are the best thing Kurt ever did.

It’s a mystery to me that Nirvana could spawn such bland, MOR pap.

Saw them alot in the earlier days, supporting mudhoney normally. Really good, so much emotion from Kurt. As they got popular he just seemed more whacked out on stage every time, I remember being in an Indie club in Wolverhampton when I learned he died, sad night. I love the Foo Fighters, Grohl can do no wrong in my eyes.

Saw them at Sheffield Uni Octagon in November ’91 I think it was.

They were good, but not quite as good as I expected. Got the feeling that Kurt’s heart wasn’t in it that night as they didn’t have the ‘fire’ in their live performance*

* but with hindsight, I think this was quite a common phenomenon in the days when record companies etc would insist on long grueling tours to promote an album. In the ’80s and ’90s I would frequently go and see bands multiple times on the same tour and whilst some nights a band could be absolutely amazing, on another night they could be below par; tired, hungover, homesick etc.

But anyway – glad that I did get to see Nirvana and yes – I did buy the T-Shirt! 😉 – in fact I got to see pretty much all of the Seattle/PNW early 90’s bands. Many singers who are sadly no longer with us.

My mate tells of a gig before they hit the big time when they played at his school in Hemsworth (West Yorks).

FWIW – I still think they’re ace.
They were the punks of their generation, just making the music they wanted.

Great band and listen to them today no bother. Although prob took about 20 year’s off from them just through hearing their stuff so much. KC’s voice was immense.

Saw them alot in the earlier days, supporting mudhoney normally

Mudhoney were a great live band. Saw Hole supporting them and met Courtney Love well before she became Kurt’s squeeze. She was actually really friendly and polite – she borrowed my phone to call her agent.

Saw them play the Duchess in Leeds, place was only half full and it was only a basic bar, this was with Bleach…

Then Nevermind hit the world and I saw them in Bradford Uni I think, might have been Leeds, that was chaos, as you’d expect, everyone waiting for Teen Spirit, vocals were crap but atmosphere was amazing 🙂

They were good, but only and American Therapy? good 😉

As someone who grew up with punk, that’s a GOOD thing.

Lets not pretend that being good musicians is not a good thing for musician

Nowt wrong with Punk or say Paranoid either which is dead simple but it is still simple and easy top play

Watched them twice at Reading 91 and 92. They were ok, much preferred Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr.

Saw them play the Duchess in Leeds

I used to love that venue … crap ‘lines of sight’ with the ‘L-Shaped’ room if it was busy, but there was something pretty special about that place!

I learnt to play guitar starting with Smells like teen spirit, as did lots of people I guess. There is a raw passion in the music that I don’t (seem to) hear so much these days.

I didn’t get to see them, I was a huge massive fan, but I was only a young teenager at their height and they were over before I was old enough to go to gigs and stuff.

They were a great band, like lots of other bands they weren’t about polished, over produced ‘quality’ music, it was very raw and gritty – the world’s best garage band perhaps?

Their legacy his huge, but really, if you take away all the stuff that came after Kurt’s death – they were a bit of a flash in the pan, their first Album didn’t do much, ironically as most people think Dave Grohl is the poor relation he was the final piece of the puzzle that made them click, at the height of their fame when they released Incesticide which okay was a collection of rare songs and b-sides, but very pre-Dave Grohl it didn’t sell much and their final studio album In Utero got good reviews but never came even close to being as popular until Kurt died, at the time, in the UK at least the papers were full of Kurt and Courtney Love’s personal problems but there was a bit of a back-lash against them musically. Even if Kurt’s demons didn’t kill him, I don’t think there would have been another Nirvana album.

As for Foo Fighters being the best thing Kurt ever did – I don’t think that’s fair, Grohl wrote all of their first album for potential Nirvana songs but was always too scared to show them to Kurt, partly because he admired him too much and partly because he was seriously unhinged by then – Kurt had no input into them at all, and musically there’s a cross-over on the Foo Fighter first album but little after that.

Despite being a huge Nirvana fan, when I first saw the Foo Fighters as a support act for the Prodigy, I had a sort of half idea they were in some way connected, but they were never marketed as being “From the Drummer of Nirvana”.

Junkyard – lazarus
musically very much a garage band. – is nonsense.

For clarity I mean in terms of the level at which they could play rather than the quality.
Essentially they played at a level any garage band could execute their songs.

tbh far as I’m concerned the melodic and rythmic qualities of music are far more important than complex chords. Plus chords aren’t just what a guitar is playing, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and voice is a large part of that sum.

Is obvious – check the number of “amazing musicians” on Youtube. Videos of them playing other people’s songs. Technical ability is nothing without artistic talent and originality.

Really like Nirvana.

Love all the albums can’t choose my favourite.

As above I don’t get the Foos. Just not much thing I guess, probably because I think DG makes better drummer than front man.

Was at their first UK gig at the Riverside in Newcastle in 1989. Great gig, but I vaguely remember preferring Tad. Good job I’m not an A+R man.

They were kinda first of their genre, in a “what else sounds like Nirvana anyway?”

Depends what you mean by “sounds like” – if it’s the “quiet-loud-quiet” thing then check out Pixies – Kurt was always very open about his influences..

If you mean the raw, “Seattle” punky-rock sound then they emerged from a thriving scene – Nirvana might have been the ones who blew open the doors to mainstream success with Nevermind, but they weren’t the ones locally tipped for success – there were greater expectations for Mudhoney and Soundgarden – Soundgarden made it huge doing their thing, Mudhoney less so but in either case, although they may have got wider attention after Nevermind when the whole world suddenly wanted loud buzzy guitars out of Seattle, neither were Nirvana copyists.

To be fair, Soundgarden and Nirvana were never that similar to each other, but you can hear a lot more similarity with Mudhoney imho.

None of the above is intended as a criticism of Nirvana btw.

I used to love that venue … crap ‘lines of sight’ with the ‘L-Shaped’ room if it was busy, but there was something pretty special about that place!

The number of bands I saw play that place, I lived 50 miles away but saw more bands than I can remember, something new every night ~ It was ace

Essentially [Nirvana] played at a level any garage band could execute their songs.

You don’t play, do you? Or at least, you don’t write.

Kurt was worried Nevermind sounded too much like the Pixies. I love Bleach and In Utero but seldom listen to them these days.

Another Reading 92 veteran here. What a gig that was.
I remember driving the hire car back up to Manchester, in spite of being covered from head to toe in mud. Awesome.

You don’t play, do you?

Have you considered explaining how complex their songs are rather than throw out insults?
FWIW I am happy to play anything from rock , blues to grade 8 if you want but I am mainly a classical guitarist. Simple stuff can sound beautiful – air on g string for example – but it is still simple stuff. See also Nirvana. Yes they sound good but it is not hard to play its really not.

I am not dissing them I listened at the time and still do but its not the most complex music know to man, rock, pop or grunge for that matter.

Going against the grain, but I’m really not fussed by Nirvana. For me AIC (in particular), Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were all loads better and bands that I listen to much more.

Like early Foo’s but the later stuff is just so dull; coffee table rock.

For me AIC (in particular), Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were all loads better

Couldn’t stand any of them. Especially AIC.

I even read music

That might explain it.

I worked in the music industry one way or another for a couple of decades. I’ve heard so many bands, kids to pros, ‘play’ Nirvana songs. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard them played well.

Three_Fish – Member
I even read music
That might explain it.

What’s that ment to mean? 😆

What do you reckon?