Alternative Weekend: Focus on ‘Nirvana'

I have been posting most weekends using @detlev’s #metalweekend tag, but my main love of music is progressive and alternative music. Some of my posts have included these songs, but I feel they are not keeping with the spirit of metal.

I will continue to post article’s using #metalweekend occasionally but feel I have more to offer regarding these other genres that I am more familiar with.

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Introducing #alternativeweekend. Post an article that highlights THREE great songs that are either progressive or alternative and use the tag #alternativeweekend or use the ‘Focus on’ series if you like. There are no rules, just make your own!

If you have a short story or something to offer regarding an opinion on your songs, then share it with us!

My alternative writings have often been about bands that are obscure and unheard of. That is not to say I dislike the more popular but still alternative ones.

Take Nirvana, the prodigy band of the grunge era. I was a big fan and in 1992 had not heard of the Pixies, the supposed legacy they were born from.

Nevermind, like most people was my introduction to the band and ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ the song.

I had my own home at the time and MTV was a permanent channel I watched in the background while doing other things.

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Even teenage girls were getting drawn to Nirvana and their wild antics. My girlfriend at the time was a woman 13 years my senior with a daughter of 13 years.

She asked me if her daughter could borrow my ‘Never Mind’ CD, and was shocked that she wanted too.

I have since gone down the back catalogue of this band and will dig out some of the weirder alternative stuff that I prefer to the overplayed ‘Smells like Teen Spirit'.

Nirvana – Paper Cuts (Bleach – 1989)

Nirvana was a truly alternative band if you ignore Never Mind. Listen to Paper Cuts and tell me otherwise.

It’s obvious they were miming in this video clip but at least it’s something to watch!

I always think of the game Diablo when I listen to the first thirty seconds of this song. Its got that same Gothic resonance that the game’s music contained.

Nirvana – Come as You Are (Never Mind – 1991)

I had to include something from this album, and though I can't say I dislike it I have simply overplayed it. I remember April 5th, 1994 and hearing about Kurt Cobain's apparent suicide on the news.

I was driving around Tempe, AZ at the time looking for work, and the next thing I did was start chain listening to In Utero in my borrowed truck. Some things you never forget.

Come as You Are was played to death on MTV Europe. That baseline of theirs always sticks with me; brooding, miserable and depressing but very listenable.

Nirvana – Serve the Servants (In Utero – 1993)

After the huge success of Never Mind, the next offering sent Nirvana back to their ‘weird stuff' again, but not completely. The analogy I use was something I remember reading years ago and it was by their own admission.

Serve the Servants I feel could have happily lived on Nevermind, and was a track they often played at gigs. It is also the first track on In Utero and is one of the more accessible songs.

Nirvana – Milk It (In Utero – 1993)

This is one of my personal favourites and is a great example of the Cobain ‘scream’. He had a great one and some songs really brought it to life.

They used the tried and tested, loud-quiet-loud-quiet recipe to good effect in this wild song. If anyone hadn’t guessed by now, In Utero is my favourite Nirvana album.

The Legacy

It’s been said so many times but I was genuinely upset when I listened to the radio that day in my truck on hearing the news.

Their roots had been taken from The Pixies but they had their own style and it was something to behold. I miss this band and would wish them and Kurt back.

Other articles in the ‘Focus on’ series:
Focus on ‘Anathema'
Focus on ‘Genesis’ - The Collins Years Part One // Focus on ‘Genesis’ - The Collins Years Part Two
Focus on ‘Genesis’ - The Gabriel Years // Focus on ‘The Pixies’
Focus on ‘Sonic Youth’ // Focus on ‘Talking Heads’
Focus on ‘Blackfield’ // Focus on ‘Karnivool’
Focus on 'Tears for Fears' // Focus on 'The Cranberries'
Focus on 'Kate Bush' // Focus on 'The Smiths'
Focus on 'Radiohead' // Focus on 'Rush'