I’ve been watching old Nirvana videos all morning on foot of Jim Carroll’s lovely piece on the discovery of a recording from Nirvana’s show in Sir Henry’s in 1991. Needless to say it propelled me on a nostalgic trip and with the help of those videos I’ve been making like I was inside a pudding bowl haircut for the last few hours. Jim’s last line really had me thinking though, his point being that he hopes we see their like again. Of course he is correct, it is pointless (especially for those of us on a round the clock hunt for new music) to constantly look back on the old days when the new days should be a source of as much marvel. Locating a new Nirvana may be a tough one though, while it was their music that made up a lot of what they were it also helped that the individuals themselves were just a trio of fragile and genuinely nice people thrust into an environment that ate them whole. Not that they weren’t looking for it but when it actually happened they (at least one of them anyway) obviously weren’t equipped. So their story has become integral to how people percieve their music, casting a legend that burns as brightly if not brighter than when they broke out of Seattle all those years ago. So do contemporary acts have any chance of attaining that level of adulation (the Arcade Fire circa ‘Funeral’ looked likely but have disintegrated slowly ever since)? The answer is that they are probably out there already ““ we just have to find them. For the moment though here is ‘Memory Boy’ from Deerhunter, if you get my drift. KD
Deerhunter – Memory Boy
More Info: Official
Buy Songs: Deerhunter
Year: 2010
I think the music scene, and culture in general, is so fragmented that “a band that changed the world” is no longer possible.
Yep, you’re right, just a consequence of having too much choice.
[…] There’s been a lot of talk of Nirvana this week (On The Record, Swear I’m Not Paul, mp3hugger and more) and it set me thinking. I haven’t actually listened to Nevermind since reading the […]