march 24th extract-nirvana

Nirvana-Floyd the Barber-Community World Theater, Tacoma, Washington 19.3.88

I suppose that the longer that this writing carries on through the year I will end up with more and more connections between each piece. This, like the Mogwai references above, is a live recording and is I guess, of historical interest, as it was Nirvana’s first ever gig under that name. It’s a soundboard recording and also has three tracks recorded at the soundcheck. The gig itself was their second ever show with Dave Foster on drums. Admittance for the show cost a mere $5.00. There is a copy of the handbill for the gig on the internet, referring to Nirvana being also known as Bliss, Pen Cap Chew, Ted Ed Fred and Skid Row. So, as I say, of some interest- and especially if you like Nirvana. Which I particularly don’t. 

It’s not as if actively I dislike Nirvana-as a band they’re alright, I suppose. The only Nirvana album I’ve got is the Unplugged one-and that was one of the last recordings I bought as a tape rather than vinyl or CD, it was so long ago. I remember watching the Unplugged show on MTV and I think it was just before, or just after, Kurt Cobain killed himself.  I can’t recall if I watched it and thought that he was heading only in one direction or that it was a shame but it was only going to turn out one way. Whichever it was, again I thought it was ok but it didn’t wholly convince me. I just never bought all the whole Nirvana/Seattle thing that the music press ran with when they (Nirvana) were  hitting it big. I’d been more into Husker Du/Sonic  Youth/Pixies artiness side and thought (and still do) that Nirvana were just too much on the side of parochial U.S. heavy metalness. Some years later I read Charles Cross’ “Heavier Than Heaven” book about Cobain and if truth be told, enjoyed reading about Nirvana more than listening to them. The ironic side is that, having read the book, it is clear that Cobain liked a lot of  the same sort of music that I do (Young Marble Giants, Leadbelly) but maybe it didn’t quite translate into what they did. Maybe if he’d lived Cobain would have got into The Fall and Coldplay.

Whilst I never appreciated Nirvana when Cobain was alive-and still don’t of course, the thing that really gets me is the milking of it all afterwards. I thought that it was bad with Joy Division but it was ten times worse with Nirvana. As expected, the record company has issued and reissued every scrap possible. Legacy editions of “Nevermind” are a prime example-I’ll bet they’re keeping some unreleased fragments back for the 50^th anniversary. It’ll be just in time for the first generation (X) of Nirvana fans to pick up a copy (on heavyweight vinyl) whilst they’re on their way to the Post Office to cash their pension and pick up their winter fuel allowance. If you see yet another 14 year-old with a smiley face Nirvana t-shirt hanging around trying to look cool, pinch yourself and try to remember that Nirvana were a very successful group but only for a very short period of time. They didn’t reinvent anything musically and only really warrant a footnote in the history of popular music. Can’t wait for those “In Utero” t-towels though.