[louder]

Nirvana's acoustic Unplugged set, which was released posthumously as an album in 1994, may have provided a hint of Cobain's future musical direction. The record has drawn comparisons to R.E.M.'s 1992 release, Automatic for the People, and in 1993, Cobain himself predicted that the next Nirvana album would be "pretty ethereal, acoustic, like R.E.M.'s last album".

"Yeah, he talked a lot about what direction he was heading in", Cobain's friend, R.E.M.'s lead singer Michael Stipe, told Newsweek in 1994. "I mean, I know what the next Nirvana recording was going to sound like. It was going to be very quiet and acoustic, with lots of stringed instruments. It was going to be an amazing fucking record, and I'm a little bit angry at him for killing himself. He and I were going to record a trial run of the album, a demo tape. It was all set up. He had a plane ticket. He had a car picking him up. And at the last minute he called and said, 'I can't come'".

Ugh. I would pay ridiculous amounts of money and do almost anything to get this fucking album. Such a shame.

[noisereductions]

reading that is soul-crushing.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

reading that is soul-crushing.

I've read it or something like it many times before. Not sure where louder's quote came from, but there are passages that touch on the same things in Heavier Than Heaven, and the issue has been heavily talked about by internet Nirvana fan groups for decades now.

Yes, it's sad as all hell. But as a kid from the Pacific Northwest who was raised on Nirvana and Mudhoney and the like, I spent tons of time wishing I could change things, wishing Nirvana had lasted. But honestly, at this point, between the studio albums, the non-studio albums (Unplugged, Incesticide, Wishkah) the box sets and reissues and the live albums, I feel like we have a great story of a band going from ambitious punks to ... whatever the fuck you'd call the absolute noise pop perfection of In Utero (a NUMBER 1, 7x PLATINUM noise pop record!!!) with the rest acting as handy little epilogues and footnotes, hinting at what could have been without even running the risk of actually BEING what could have been and not being that great. Which would have sucked.

Y'know?

Cobain's death will always sadden me, and will always be a totally fucked up, cult avoidable tragedy, but Nirvana's legacy is pretty much untarnished. Had they followed the pattern of most of their peers they would have released good albums until around '95 — '97 at the latest — and then faded into nothingness like a really pungent fart. They may have burned out, but they burned like the goddamn sun.

[pepper_green]

whatever. glad to hear Sev, that yr so in touch with yrself and so sure of many things in life.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by pepper_green

whatever. glad to hear Sev, that yr so in touch with yrself and so sure of many things in life.

Don't be a shit sport. You can't be endlessly insulting and expect no insults in return. Stop sulking.

[noisereductions]

I see both sides. They left a brilliant discography. But cant help but wonder what could have been.

[noisereductions]

And remember sy was a peer in a way and they kept making brilliant albums long after 97.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

And remember sy was a peer in a way and they kept making brilliant albums long after 97.

Yeah, true. But they preceded and thrived before the alt. nation thing, and continues to do so after because they always did things on their own terms, separate from trends and the like. But you're right. And maybe Nirvana would have done it too. I guess I've just found some peace with it all. But I'd still do some crazy shit to hear the would-be In Utero follow-up.

[noisereductions]

 

[The Soup Nazi]

 

[noisereductions]

^nice. My wife is a huge fan since way back. We saw him this past Summer and it was a really good show. He played for like 2 hrs.

[noisereductions]

 

[noisereductions]

 

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

^nice. My wife is a huge fan since way back. We saw him this past Summer and it was a really good show. He played for like 2 hrs.

Sounds bitchen! I've never had the opportunity to see him live.

[The Soup Nazi]

 

[Severian]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

 

^^ this has become something of a modern classic for me. Even though it's ... yikes... almost 15 years old. Still, great album. Really hits the spot whenever I play it. "High Time" is a great, Replacements-worthy opening track.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Severian

^^ this has become something of a modern classic for me. Even though it's ... yikes... almost 15 years old. Still, great album. Really hits the spot whenever I play it. "High Time" is a great, Replacements-worthy opening track.

I put it on this morning (OK, it was about 1PM... That's morning for me!) and I couldn't fuckin' believe I'd nearly forgotten how incredibly bitchen "Eyes Like Sparks" is. And it's only one verse "on repeat"!

Stay where you are
Baby, stay away from me
With your eyes like sparks
My heart like gasoline

The whole album R.O.C.K.S. like a motherfucker — in a way it's the solo record Keith Richards should have made but never did nor will. Only BETTER. And Christ on a stick, the HOOKS, the WORDS, the SOLOS, the EXPLOSIVENESS. All done by one cat alone in his basement, yet without the clichés associated with lo-fi shit and one-man bands. Better than Stevie Wonder this thing goddammit.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

I put it on this morning (OK, it was about 1PM... That's morning for me!) and I couldn't fuckin' believe I'd nearly forgotten how incredibly bitchen "Eyes Like Sparks" is. And it's only one verse "on repeat"!

Stay where you are
Baby, stay away from me
With your eyes like sparks
My heart like gasoline

The whole album R.O.C.K.S. like a motherfucker — in a way it's the solo record Keith Richards should have made but never did nor will. Only BETTER. And Christ on a stick, the HOOKS, the WORDS, the SOLOS, the EXPLOSIVENESS. All done by one cat alone in his basement, yet without the clichés associated with lo-fi shit and one-man bands. Better than Stevie Wonder this thing goddammit.

Oh yeah I love "Eyes Like Sparks" ... "Silent Film Star" (really Rolling Stonesy, that one) OH! And "2 Days Till Tomorrow!"

Stereo had its moments too. I bought them together. But Mono was the triumph.

[Blood_Promise]

 

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Severian

Stereo had its moments too. I bought them together.

Yah well how could you not? There was a limited advance release of Mono on its own but as far as I know there's no version of Stereo alone. It was kind of a fuckup, really — Paul said you were supposed to see the Stereo front cover, flip the package and meet Mono by his malevolent alter ego Grandpaboy. So it was meant to be Stereo/Mono, but if you were, say, checking the thing at a record store, you got Stereo's front and back covers without a hint of the other album inside. Shit backfired, then; assclown reviewers called it "Paul Westerberg's new album, Stereo, yet another collection of mostly acoustic mid-tempo songs. A bonus disc of throwaway rockers is included". Motherfuckers.

Originally Posted by Severian

But Mono was the triumph.

Stereo is its equal, gorgeous, fucked up (three songs end abruptly as the tape runs out [or PW deliberately cut 'em off — believe what you will]; the tracklist goes to hell when the unlisted "Strike Down The Band" sneaks in; after the "last" track there's another hidden tune, a fiery Flesh For Lulu cover (!) driven by chaotic Gasoline Alley-ish drums) and lyrically brutal. The whole two-disc set is the best fucking album of 2002 when you consider that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is actually a 2001 LP whose release got delayed by moronic corporate boners. But no, The Flaming Mooks were all the goddamn rage. "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots? My fourth graders could have come up with a better album title." —Robert Pollard.