What is Digg?133 Comments
- algaeturd, on 10/27/2008, -13/+48This is typically gratuitous rambling from someone who is old and out of touch with reality. Honestly. Nirvana struck a chord with music buyers at the time...they had been around long enough to stir up an underground swell WELL before Nevermind was released, even in the most backwards 'markets' and regions.
What worked was Nirvana being themselves and the fact that 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was such a good song. The work on Nevermind was simply an evolution of the band getting better at writing and playing together over time.
But again, what made the album break out so hard and what was so notable was the fact that Nirvana UNSEATED most of the popular heavy metal acts of the day. Bands that had been around and who were blowing it musically. Kids wanted a new sound and they decided this was it.
It had NOTHING to do with marketing or image or target markets or opportunity...the ***** teachings from community college marketing departments. Marketing people are fools. They're still trying to figure out viral marketing, meanwhile the rest of the real world moved beyond it 3 years ago.
You CANNOT market a movement. And Nirvana happened to get swept up in that movement because they had the talent and struck the chord and released the anthem.
Nothing more, nothing less. Trying to dissect it and categorize it and explain it is useless. It'll happen again and again because youth bring their own revelations to every generation. You can't predict it because Marketing execs aren't the ones creating it; they're just the ones who try to jump on it, ride the wave, exploit it and make all the money.
Useless. - skabyss, on 10/28/2008, -8/+40IRONY: Killing yourself so you don't see your music become a corporate tool, and then your music becoming a corporate tool because you killed yourself.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -23/+47nirvana is one of the greatest bands of all time.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -9/+31How much heroin do I need to use?
- NJPinstripes, on 10/27/2008, -7/+27Nice column, though considering Smells Like Teen Spirit as one of the greatest rock songs ever is a bit far fetched (unless this is meant in a purely commercial sense). There are at least three songs better than it on Nevermind.
- Rimher, on 10/28/2008, -0/+19Kurt would've hated this...
- MixMastaKooz, on 10/28/2008, -2/+21I think those of use who were 18-28 at that time really got it: in 1992, after the Gulf War, we entered into a pretty sharp recession. I remember graduating from high school in 92 and being told that I'd be lucky to find work out of college. And, don't even think about earning more than your parents did. We were pissed off, and those damn hair bands didn't speak to us anymore. Nirvana comes along with some well versed angst, follow that with Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, and you had a convergence with the current culture and music. Why do you think emo had been so popular the last couple years? The last 8 years sucked! Unfortunately, it wasn't as pervasive as grunge in the '90's. If this recession deepens, the only good thing, culturally, to come out of it will probably be some new musical movement. If you want to see what it was like in Seattle in the early 90's rent Singles, of any non-documentary movie, it came closest to catching the spirit at the time.
- DIGGANGEL, on 10/28/2008, -1/+17So is it really better to burn out than to fade away?
- meuse, on 10/27/2008, -2/+1812 if your version of Nevermind has Endless, Nameless.
- skipthefrog, on 10/28/2008, -4/+20Passion leads to success
- Nicksname1, on 10/28/2008, -1/+14Just enough to make you unsatisfied no matter how great things are going in life.
- drifter, on 10/28/2008, -3/+15I doubt he really killed himself due to that. Drug addicts dont think straight to being with.
- MoeWasHere, on 10/28/2008, -11/+23I'll just say it for us all:
DUGG for NIRVANA. - slugicide, on 10/28/2008, -3/+14"Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts." - Paul Simon
- BoneheadFarker, on 10/28/2008, -1/+11It was better then the cocaine and sexual ambiguity that were popular in the 80's. I mean *****...in order to get laid by hot women, you needed to dress as gay as possible. How else can you explain makeup on straight guys? And the hair...holy *****, hair spray was never as popular as it was in the 80's. You needed a wall of hair going straight out in all directions before you even thought about talking to women. Seriously...
http://www.80srewind.net/80s/images/poison_80sbigh ...
...THAT was considered the height of manliness in the 80's. I'll take heroin and self-loathing over that any day... - sindex, on 10/28/2008, -0/+10Because this is the internet, and he's completely safe from retaliation.
- mitliebejen, on 10/28/2008, -1/+10I've read the book "Journals", a collection of writings and drawings by Kurt Cobain that was published post mortem. It's actually rather insightful. Despite his troubles and issues, Cobain really did have a keen sense of entrepreneurship.
- PFrocker, on 10/28/2008, -1/+9Dugg for "4. Be careful who you marry."
- skabyss, on 10/28/2008, -2/+10Heroin and self-loathing were popular in the 90s
- MeatMountain, on 10/28/2008, -0/+8That depends, how much have you already done?
- drifter, on 10/28/2008, -1/+9Your point about Emo is ludicrous. First off the last 8 years haven't been great but up until now and even now all these Emo kids had no reason to be sad.
Here's the facts, Nirvana was a good band and came in at the right moment. Luck goes with success. - Misinformant, on 10/28/2008, -7/+14Frontman dies before you can release a bad album = success?
- winstonsmith303, on 10/28/2008, -2/+9This article reads like someone given a last minute deadline to write an article about business and decided to shoe-horn in their own personal interest in the band. Burried for being a crap article.
And sorry guys, Courtney didn't kill Kurt. When you sing every song about wanting to die and killing yourself it's not a big shock when you finally bite the bullet. The last line of the article is as offensive as it is stupid. - thcobbs, on 10/28/2008, -0/+7So, basically the difference between being EMO and Kobain is heroin?
- aenima987, on 10/28/2008, -1/+8I would have dugg you had you not have started a stupid war between Nirvana fans and Alice in Chains fans (which probably overlap a lot).
I do LOVE them both though.
RIP Layne - Tyorant, on 10/28/2008, -3/+9You might be right, but why do you have to be such a dick about it?
- BigLifeGuy, on 10/28/2008, -2/+8Another nail in the coffin of the "overnight success" myth -- it goes to show that hard work, intention, and opportunity combined with talent can create some remarkable results.
- ATLien74, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6Nirvana was a pre-1996 Telecommunications Act band. When that was signed into law, Clear Channel went on a Radio Station shopping spree, and now all the Major Labels are Clear Channels bitch. This is why it's much harder to tell one band from the other nowadays. Clear Channel knows NOTHING about music, yet they control Radio. The labels have to give them what they want, and what they want is safe, proven, marketability. DJ's have no say in what they play, they are handed a playlist, and if they want to keep their job, they have to play it. There once was a time when DJ's could break a new band, but that time is gone!
The Internet is music's last hope. - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6"You can't predict it because Marketing execs aren't the ones creating it; they're just the ones who try to jump on it, ride the wave, exploit it and make all the money."
I agree. The music business is full of Monday morning quarterbacks like this marketing dude who make their living pretending like they've got the youth culture thing all figured out. They are nothing but parasites. - Testiculese, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6You can market a movement. You can also manufacture a movement. Don't underestimate the scum of marketing.
- winstonsmith303, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6Not in the least. Two completely different riffs.
- smakusdod, on 10/28/2008, -2/+7Seriously, this article is crap. This guy is extracting a LOT from nothing. If you actually watch the documentary he takes the quotes from, Cobain comes off as nothing but a whining little bastard, unsatisfied with anything in life. But yeah, i guess you can take those quotes and drive a lot of traffic to your blog interpreting them anyway you want.
- Ndiggnation, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Alice in Chains was also apparently a hair band before going grunge..or so I read once.
- wonkavsn, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5I think Smells Like Teen Spirit is highly regarded because of how transforming it was in the move from metal to "alternative" or whatever.
- boardthis, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5similar riff but not as close as u think and the pixies were well known by practically anyone who was into the '90s seattle explosion.
- brsteve88, on 10/28/2008, -2/+7Nirvana is NOT punk. I love Nirvana, but please, they are not punk.
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Manufactured movements are easy to spot because they consist primarily of hopeless dolts and young kids who haven't yet started thinking for themselves. Real movements catch most of the marketing people completely off guard.
- Scrappy1850, on 10/28/2008, -4/+8courtney did it
- jakegs81, on 10/28/2008, -1/+5Releasing a good album = success. Dumbass
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4Music exec?
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -5/+9three? i'd say more like 11.
- boardthis, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4it was a combination of right place at the right time and cobain's keen awareness of what he wanted for himself and the band. he didn't necessarily draw out a plan to profit, he did have detailed plans from the album covers to the music videos. if you would like to dig deeper into what he envisioned, i would recommend the book "journals".
- spikewilbury, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4Cobain admitted many times that they owe their success to ripping off the quiet loud quiet dynamic of the Pixies.
- wonkavsn, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4Releasing several great albums = great success.
- kraftj, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Like it or not, marketing has a huge impact on our daily lives, and to say "You CANNOT market a movement" is just sticking your head in the sand.
I'm not saying a single company can start a movement with a simple step-by-step formula, but one company can be the one to hit the tipping-point in any "movement" and with clever marketing make it spread like wildfire, as with Nirvana. - ATLien74, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3...and sometimes V.D.
- MixMastaKooz, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Well, Nirvana's musicians have been successful. You probably wouldn't have the Foo Fighters if it wasn't for Nirvana.
- EricSchC1, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Its closer to More Than A Feeling by Boston. In many a Cobain interview, he's stated as much.
- Makaras, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Nirvana was great if only because they pushed all the ***** hair bands to the way-side. I think you make a serrious lapse in foresight if you immediately dismiss their contribution made to rock in the early 90's. I can't help but think had Grunge never happened, rock would have dissolved into the generic sounding pop bands of the late 1990's a lot quicker, and at least in my case, would have turned me away from the genre entirely.
- alpha19, on 10/28/2008, -2/+5was killed by Courtney Love*
There... fixed it for ya. -
Show 51 - 100 of 135 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 