"there are immaturities, but there are immensities" - Bright Star (dir. Jane Campion)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"the fear of being wrong can keep you from being anything at all" - Nayland Blake >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "It may be foolish to be foolish, but, somehow, even more so, to not be" - Airport Through The Trees
Friday, December 20, 2024
Beat Happening - The Old White Horse, Brixton - Melody Maker - July 16 1988
Tangentially, Chuck Klosterman said in his book on the nineties that grunge was the most lethal of all genres, the one which had the highest number of casualties among the major players. Just wondering what the main contenders would be. Britpop never had any fallen comrades. Shaun Ryder is still alive!
And has grunge aged that well? I love Nirvana, and appreciate certain offshoots of grunge (e.g., Beat Happening), but who listens to Alice in Chains nowadays? A mate of mine sent me a clip of Billy "worst musician conceivable" Corgan claiming to be the inspiration for the sound of Nevermind. That tells you all about grunge, doesn't it?
I actually think Alice in Chains were the best of that whole bunch - great tunes, singing, sound. The videos were epically gloomy - lots of mud. That singer was a tragically tortured guy, though - story of his last days is very grim.
I think grunge or at least Nirvana is an offshoot of Beat Happening if anything - Kurt was a huge K Records fan, carved the K logo into his arm with a pin. Someone identified only as "Kurdt" was in Calvin Johnson's other group The Go Team. I think K represented some kind of ideal of uncorruptible integrity for Kurt.
I agree with you re Corgan / Pumpkins EXCEPT for "1979" which redeems their existence and is very un-Pumpkins like in sound.
Death rate? Well "Sixties rock" if it could be counted as a genre had a lot of fatalities, people who "flew too close to the sun".
Probably also punk if you think about Sid Vicious (and Nancy), Darby Crash of the Germs, Malcolm Owen of the Ruts... I am sure they are others I'm not thinking of.
2 comments:
Tangentially, Chuck Klosterman said in his book on the nineties that grunge was the most lethal of all genres, the one which had the highest number of casualties among the major players. Just wondering what the main contenders would be. Britpop never had any fallen comrades. Shaun Ryder is still alive!
And has grunge aged that well? I love Nirvana, and appreciate certain offshoots of grunge (e.g., Beat Happening), but who listens to Alice in Chains nowadays? A mate of mine sent me a clip of Billy "worst musician conceivable" Corgan claiming to be the inspiration for the sound of Nevermind. That tells you all about grunge, doesn't it?
I actually think Alice in Chains were the best of that whole bunch - great tunes, singing, sound. The videos were epically gloomy - lots of mud. That singer was a tragically tortured guy, though - story of his last days is very grim.
I think grunge or at least Nirvana is an offshoot of Beat Happening if anything - Kurt was a huge K Records fan, carved the K logo into his arm with a pin. Someone identified only as "Kurdt" was in Calvin Johnson's other group The Go Team. I think K represented some kind of ideal of uncorruptible integrity for Kurt.
I agree with you re Corgan / Pumpkins EXCEPT for "1979" which redeems their existence and is very un-Pumpkins like in sound.
Death rate? Well "Sixties rock" if it could be counted as a genre had a lot of fatalities, people who "flew too close to the sun".
Probably also punk if you think about Sid Vicious (and Nancy), Darby Crash of the Germs, Malcolm Owen of the Ruts... I am sure they are others I'm not thinking of.
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