May 27
Random mus(ical)ings from a Timonium parking lot in response to this Twitter exchange between @startabuzz and I:
Me: Apropos of nothing.... Starting to agree with @startabuzz. Foo Fighters will go down in history as a better rock band than Nirvana.
Me: But Nirvana was still the better pop band. Buzz: Nirvana's place in history is set because they were the first* grunge band, and because of Kurt Cobain's sad end.
Buzz: startabuzz: @DerekMassey And I say FIRST because they were the first *commercially successful* grunge band. Had KC lived, their luster would've faded.
Agree in part, dissent in part. (But generally agree with the court's ruling.)
I give Nirvana more credit than being the first commercially successful grunge band. Like Green Day, they took bubblegum-pop-super-catchy melodies and stripped them down. We remember hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Longview" for the first time, because we really liked the riffs but they were uncharacteristically raw. I see both as pop bands, not necessarily rock or punk bands. The more I see and listen to Foo Fighters, I'm just blown away by Dave Grohl's passion. Giving your time or money to this band means to not get cheated. They don't mail anything in. Compare and contrast to some the Nirvana Unplugged sessions. As brilliant as they were, I got the feeling Kurt Cobain had other places he wanted to be. Foo is not easy listening - you're challenged a bit. But that's a good thing. I'll never forget where I was when I first heard "Teen Spirit," but I'm pretty sure I won't need to rely on memory for Foo Fighters magic. They'll be around - and getting better - for a while...
