Tired of Nirvana? Listen to these bands instead.

[Markness]

Are you tired of Nirvana being the center of music discussions, especially when it comes to the 90s? Do you think there are better musicians than Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl? Well, here’s a thread that goes against the grain. These are bands you need to hear.

 

[tkcartoonist]

What gets me is, when Nirvana or Dave Grohl gets mentioned, no one ever talks about their influences. Killing Joke was already mentioned in this thread (Grohl even played drums on their 2003 self-titled), so I'll throw in some more.

 

[Crabcore]

I've only got modern recommendations and nobody else on here seems to like newer grunge, but I love this thread already and I will be lurking in the shadows, probably listening to everything posted!

 

[Magna]

Pretty much anything on the following music labels for starters in my opinion:

SST
Touch and Go
Sub Pop
4AD
Beserkley
Alternative Tentacles

For some bands that had to have influenced Nirvana:

 

[Raggamuffin]

Heard of Husker Du but not their music. Only song I know here is Bad Religion - Modern Man.

Might have to look some of this up and buy discographies. Add it to my backlog of 21k unheard/unrated songs in my library.

Ed

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I never thought much of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, etc. They're good bands, but exceptional? Not in the least.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The only band that impresses me is Led Zepplin has been the case since high school.

 

[Magna]

I didn't embrace Nirvana at all when they came out and less so, Pearl Jam. The reason me me not liking both is that I'd been listening to and loving many of the bands that influenced Nirvana for a good number of years before Nirvana became famous. At the time then I considered Nirvana and Peal Jam to be "Lite" (misspelling intentional) versions of my favorite kind of music.

I did gain more respect for Nirvana for inviting the Kirkwood brothers of the Meat Puppets on stage for the Nirvana Unplugged sessions since the Meat Puppets were a long favorite band of mine.

 

[Lysholm]

Nirvana has lost its fleek? And here?? Kurt was so OTS (on the spectrum), no doubt.

But Kurt knew nothing about music. Which is probably why he made memorable melodies, since he wasn't bound by any rules or theory. If a riff sounded good to him, it was good enough to accompany disgruntled screaming.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the self-deletion reports on TV, but not old enough to have bonded with Nirvana's music. In high school I vividly remember some of the older kids being very angry and blaming Love for his death. Years later, if you mention Kurt, they will repeat their conspiracy theories with fresh anger. Of course, it's silly to blame Courtney for Kurt's death. It was the record company that murdered him because he cost them tens of millions of dollars and was worth more dead than alive. Duh.

--

But, if you want existential Grungy recommendations, I'm fond of the Gin Blossoms. Of course, here's another story of a musical genius destroyed by the industry and self-deleted.

Green Day has some weird old stuff if you know what you're looking for. Billy Corgan aged like a gallon of milk, which is made worse by his current neo-Beatnik look. Hrmm. I was more self aware late in the nineties, so I recall the rock resurgence of like Rob Zombie, Powerman 5000, Saliva, and Ra.

 

[Forest Cat]

I'm old enough to remember seeing the self-deletion reports on TV, but not old enough to have bonded with Nirvana's music. In high school I vividly remember some of the older kids being very angry and blaming Love for his death. Years later, if you mention Kurt, they will repeat their conspiracy theories with fresh anger. Of course, it's silly to blame Courtney for Kurt's death. It was the record company that murdered him because he cost them tens of millions of dollars and was worth more dead than alive. Duh.

I think it was just the drugs, I watched that documentary about him and I just felt bad for him. He was so messed up because of drugs, 50 pounds underweight and mentally exhausted. Physically and mentally exhausted. They both were, he and Courtney. Had his mind been a little clearer I think he would still be around now. But he was very depressed and malnourished and stressed and confused. And he was a very sensitive guy.