You know you're an aging GenXer when........

[marmar]

Nirvana's 'Nevermind' Turns 20

By Tony Sclafani
TODAY.com contributor
updated 9/22/2011 3:18:38 PM ET


It was one of the most influential rock albums of all time and arguably the last rock album to drastically change the course of popular music. And come Sept. 24, the album in question, Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” will mark its 20th anniversary with as much fanfare as you’d expect from such a significant piece of pop culture history.

For starters, the album is getting re-released in two versions. There’s a two-CD “deluxe edition” which has the remastered album plus B-sides, live cuts and studio sessions. There’s also a four-CD “super deluxe edition” with all of the above, plus the first official release of the pre-“Nevermind” demos, an alternate mix of the album, a pair of previously unreleased BBC recordings, and a recording of a live 1991 show at Seattle’s Paramount Theater featured on both CD and DVD.

Out in medialand, SPIN magazine put together a free, downloadable tribute album of “Nevermind” cover versions and Alternative Press magazine had 20 bands share their thoughts about the album. Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart is hosting a Q&A session on SiriusXM with surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Sept. 24 and SiriusXM is launching a temporary all-Nirvana channel, Nevermind Radio, Sept. 23-28. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44524115/ns/today-entertainment/?ocid=ansmsnbc11#.Tn3XqexvC7s

[TBF]

1. 2014 will also be the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death -

it doesn't seem that long ago. I guess we are getting old ...

[alphafemale]

3. I remarked to someone not long ago that his daughter would probably be about 17 by now.

Courtney Love may have faults as an Ideal Mother but she successfully shielded that kid from the spotlight.

I have no idea what she even looks like.

[smokey nj]

12. She's 19 now. I read an article about her on Yahoo earlier this week.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/392258/frances-bean-cobain-takes-small-steps-into-the-spotlight/

[alphafemale]

18. WOW! What a beauty.

Her mother's face. Her father's eyes.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Dec.1980 almost the 31st anniversary of John Lennon's Murder ,oh and.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1521

[alphafemale]

20. During Moday Night Football.

He is probably the only music star ever to have their death be announced on a sports broadcast.

[alphafemale]

2. And I'm ever astounded to remember that the song "Sweet Child of Mine"

Is OLDER than my youngest. And he just turned 21 in May.

[CANDO]

76. Guns N Roses

In a thread about Nirvana and Curt Cobain. But I get it. You're just pointing out a song that's older than your offspring. Life happens!

[alphafemale]

97. It is a thread about music, memory and relentless plodding of time.

It's one of the few songs ever. that stopped me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it.

Funny enough. Said son loves the song. Without any real input from me. He came to me a couple years ago "Mom. Mom. MOM! You've gotta watch this old song. It's amazing!!!"

Sweet Child of Mine....indeed.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. I think the 2000-2010 decade is one

that I wish to forget...I rather enjoyed all the other decades before that time

I can't even think of a good song or group that came out of that decade ....

Well at least we still have the 'Foo Fighters'
I bought nevermind when it came out

[ixion]

6. Yeah, maybe Prince was right...

everything after 1999 has sucked enormously.

[alphafemale]

22. Then you'll like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdEE5Ph4p3A

I also hear that Prince is one of the few artists out there that will make you feel good about plopping down the huge bills you have to plunk down for a show now,

[ixion]

29. well, I'm not actually a fan of Prince

and wouldn't pay two-bits to see one of his shows. I was just speaking facetiously about the whole "party like it's 1999" thing. :hi:

[xmas74]

104. If you were in LA a few months' back

you wouldn't have had to spend much to see Prince in concert. He did a number of concerts there with a very cheap price tag-around $25 a ticket.

[orpupilofnature57]

8. Music was gobbled up by M$M , Don Mclean had a song about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pie_(song)

[pnwest]

11. i thought that was about Buddy Holly's death...

[EOTE]

17. It's actually about what Don McLean believed to be the death of dance music in general.

Which yes, included the deaths of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. The song is completely saturated with metaphor. I love the song, but I disagree with its overall premise. McLean seems to have a grudge against the Stones and the Beatles, suggesting that their music isn't danceable (dirges). I understand how he might lament the loss of the music of the '50s, but it's kind of hard to knock the Stones and the Beatles.

[Warren DeMontague]

94. MUSIC DIED IN 1969, MAN!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnu3TqDKXZY

[Hippo_Tron]

41. Don McLean was asked what American Pie means

And he responded "It means I never have to work again".

[Warren DeMontague]

93. The song about Vincent Van Gogh wasn't bad

but let's be real; the guy wasn't exactly prolific.

[TwilightGardener]

19. Yes, musically this past decade really sucked. My son is 15 and an avid guitarist, there is

almost nothing from this decade that he plays. Instead, he goes back to Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Rush, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, etc. for inspiration--music from my generation. That is sad, and very telling.

[Ichingcarpenter]

21. The Past Decade should be called the big zero, naught, naught

the politics sucked, the wars sucked, the media sucked, most of the movies sucked, my income and health started to suck, the music sucked thanks to the takeover of clear channel, MTV sucked,

Even the eighties didn't suck as bad.

I wonder what that decade will be called in the future as compared to the roaring 20s, the swinging 60s, the 'gay nineties etc.?

[TwilightGardener]

24. While my personal circumstances improved this past decade, I agree with you

on movies, music, media, politics, etc. Just a decade of mostly solid suckitude. (The 80's sucked in terms of politics and the direction of the country in general, but there was some good stuff musically, especially compared to the shit of today, and the movies were top notch.)

[ElboRuum]

60. The 80's were high art compared to the naughties.

[Odin2005]

25. Rock is dead as a truely popular artform. The new stuff is in hip-hop and soul based music.

Bruno Mars and Adele are good examples.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. Hip-hop makes so much use of autotune now that it's barely art

They sound like robots. Adele is indeed a talented singer.

Also, the United States hasn't really produced any decent rock acts in the last decade, but in the UK it's more popular. Have you heard of The Darkness?

[Dawson Leery]

58. I am not the only one who noticed this change.

It appears that after 9/11, things really went downhill.

[alcibiades_mystery]

66. Disagree completely

Many, many incredible bands emerged in the 2000-2010 period

Arcade Fire, The National, TV on the Radio, Okkervil River, just to name a few of the big ones. Hundreds of smaller indy acts are tremendously talented and produce strong, lasting records. I think the 2000-2010 era was just as good, if not better, than a lot of stuff from the 80's and 90's.

[freeplessinseattle]

7. At a Duran Duran concert tonight, weird to see all the parents

bringing their young kids along. I mean young, like 2 or 3. Quite a few, and some managed to sleep through it. Wouldn't a babysitter be cheaper than a $75 ticket?

But time seemed to have almost stood still for band, all looking and sounding amazing as ever at around age 50.

[Avalux]

9. I always get freaked out when I hear REM and the Cure as supermarket background music.

Speaking of REM - RIP. And VH1 aired Nirvana's 1991 concert last night; so strange to watch that and realize it was 20 years ago.

Are we really aging? I refuse. ;)

[TwilightGardener]

16. I know, that used to be alternative-- what us "cool kids" used to listen to!

:rofl:

[Odin2005]

27. I guess it must be the end of the world and you feel fine?

:evilgrin:

[Warren DeMontague]

95. I'd stack their catalog up against ANY band. Sure, they put out some weak stuff, but overall?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY




I mean, come on. There is a good 3 decades of serious American rock and roll in their discography. And every album has something to recommend it, even the duds.

In fact, I can only think of one other American band that I believe had such a long run of rich, prolific, varied, and meaningful output.

[itsallhappening]

10. Grunge. Blah.

[taterguy]

13. All-time greatest album named after a Replacements song

But that's just my opinion and I could be wrong

[hfojvt]

14. so this album from 1991 "changed the course of popular music"

That may explain why I think 90% of the music recorded after 1995 really sucks.

Here I thought I was just a grumpy old man, but apparently, no, the music really did change.

[Leopolds Ghost]

80. You mean after Grunge died? Because that happned in 1995 n/t

[TwilightGardener]

15. God, that song was like a refreshing rainfall to my ears after a loooong musical drought.

(Smells Like Teen Spirit, that is). And, best of all, they and Pearl Jam put an end to cheezy hair bands for good.

[Drahthaardogs]

65. I rather liked cheezy hairbands.

Some of them were a bit too much, but some of those hair bands made some great music. Grunge sucked as a genre.

[TwilightGardener]

69. Completely the opposite for me. I liked grunge, still listen to my old stuff.

(old Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, mostly.) I could not tolerate Guns n Roses, Warrant, Motley Crue, etc. I thought they were perfectly awful--almost comically bad. The progression of hard rock and metal from bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Black Sabbath to those cheesy-ass groups was a damn shame.

[Drahthaardogs]

99. The way I see it,

Over priveledged white kids, wearing sagging jeans, bad facial hair, and stocking caps in the middle of summer held little appeal. Grunge was full of sound and fury and signified nothing. The great teenaged angst of upper middle class white kids from Seattle and the ensuing skater movement = not my scene.

There were some great bands back then. Def Leperd, Aerosmith, Metallica, Kiss, even Poison (who were a little to glam rock for my tastes) put out some great music and stood the test of time. As for Guns N Roses, Appetite for Destruction was a great album, the rest = meh.

[Leopolds Ghost]

82. The only cheezy hairband I like is Blind Guardian

And that is because of their album Nightfall in Middle-Earth.

[Odin2005]

23. Note to Xers: Us Millennials are the young ones now, BWAHAHAHAHA!

:evilgrin: :hi:

[stubtoe]

26. +100!

It IS a bit satisfying, ain't it?

[Odin2005]

28. Yup.

Love giving my big sister, an Xer, a bad time. :)

[Phentex]

30. LOL!...

Ya little whippersnapper!

:D

[smokey nj]

31. Not for long.

[TwilightGardener]

32. Yup. Goes by fast, doesn't it?

[smokey nj]

34. Too fast.

[Odin2005]

35. !!!

:yoiks:

[krabigirl]

36. :) yes, but its ok. I prefer being older :)

[Odin2005]

37. I think you Xers were BORN old!

You guys will make good crotchety old "get of my lawn!!!" folks. :D

[smokey nj]

44. We were latch-key kids who didn't have helicopter parents.

[Odin2005]

45. Some of us Millennials were latch-key kids, too!

[smokey nj]

46. We didn't have helicopter parents hovering nearby.

[Odin2005]

47. Neither did I, I was born in 1986.

[smokey nj]

48. So you don't like sweeping generalizations about your own generation, but you're willing

to make them about mine?

[Odin2005]

51. Where was a I myself making sweeping generalizations?

I never said anything about all Xers being latch-key kids.

[smokey nj]

52. You did say something about us being born old, didn't you?

I know you think you were being humorous, but you were being ageist and insulting.

[Odin2005]

54. Uh, it was a JOKE and I was meaning no offense.

I know several Gen-Xers that tell ME that they were born old. :eyes:

[TheKentuckian]

83. I thought it was funny, Odin. Not without truth either.

I'm an Xer. We came up under cynicism rather than hope on the edges of upheaval and as the highwater mark wave receded.

[Leopolds Ghost]

78. That we will indeed!

[ElboRuum]

62. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Time gets behind you REAAAL quick.

[Jakes Progress]

72. Not for long.

[Warren DeMontague]

86. I loved that show.

Funny shit.

[Warren DeMontague]

91. And you're welcome to it.

Been there, done that. Happier now.

[Cid_B]

33. In other news.. Nirvana still sucks 20 years later...

That is all...

[Patriot 76]

40. Thanks for your shitty opinion.

Stay classy.

[Cid_B]

43. Wow...

Little bit of anger there?

Nirvana sucks, Cobain sucks, sucked then and sucks now...

Ohh.. look at my angst... ohh... I'm so deep... ohh... :eyes:

[Leopolds Ghost]

77. Okay, Whatever, Nevermind

[Xithras]

49. You don't have to like their music to appreciate what they did.

The music industry had been a huge corporate beast for decades, but by the late 80's it had truly become a well oiled machine. They created the artists, they created the music, and they created the hype. When Nirvana pulled grunge into the limelight (kicking and screaming, for the most part), it represented the first real mainstream musical innovation in decades. It was also the first time since the 1960's that a mainstream musical genre had developed completely outside the influence of the music industry. It was a genuinely new sound. It represented a simpler form of music, created, written, and performed by actual artists without the influence of marketing departments, corporate executives, and investors who based the "quality" of a group solely on their impact on the next quarters sales figures.

It didn't last long, of course. The M$M co-opted grunge, built their own watered down grunge-ish sound, and launched us into "post-grunge" by the late 90's (think Foo Fighters, Matchbox Twenty, Bush, etc.) Corporate music won, and the hopes for a more innovative music industry died with Cobain. There hasn't really been anything "new" in the music business in the nearly 20 years since. Just a slow evolution in corporate tastes.

[TwilightGardener]

53. Yep--the sound was so raw and underproduced (compared to the

overproduced schlock that rock music had largely become by that time), everyone had to sit up and take notice. I agree that the music industry smelled yet another winning formula and tried reproducing the appeal, thus wrecking it--but I disagree on the Foo Fighters, I think they're still pretty "organic" and not an engineered product.

[Xithras]

68. I was referring to Foo Fighters as an example of the genre.

I do tend to agree that they are a bit less engineered than other bands (I'd attribute that to Dave Grohl's influence), and they are very good, but they're certainly one of the founding bands of the "post-grunge" music movement. Even if FF specifically wasn't an M$M production, they were major contributors to the demise of grunge and the rise of the corporate-dominated modern rock styles that followed.

[Leopolds Ghost]

79. Unfortunately Grunge has killed itself (I refuse to use the final past tense) due to hipsterism

I.e. the belief that any band that copied the style of Cobain, Alice In Chains, etc. etc. was a sellout and each band should have their own genius sound.

Just look at the hate for Stone Temple Pilots.

[Missy Vixen]

59. I'll keep listening to them and enjoying the music, thanks

Your opinion seems to be in the minority.

I might also mention I'm a bit older than Nirvana's target audience, but I'm older than the audience for Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Garbage, Foo Fighters, etcetera.

:woohoo:

[Hoosier Daddy]

38. I was born in 1963

So, I'm too young to be a Boomer and too old to be an Xer. I'M LOST!!! :(

[Odin2005]

39. Xers are folks born from 1961 to 1981, so you are an Xer.

[ElboRuum]

61. Actually, not quite correct...

GenX 1965-1975. Generally identifies with the following:

Watched CTW (Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers) as small children, remember when Saturday morning cartoons were the only cartoon option available.
Were teenagers at some point during the 80's, remember Brat Pack movies, MTV, the rather overheated music scene, Miami Vice, etc.
Were twentysomethings during the 90's, saw the rise of a new indie rock scene in the form of grunge, RATM, Smashing Pumpkins etc., Fight Club, Matrix, CGI towards the end of the decade became common in most films.

[Odin2005]

63. I am going by the dates used by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book "The 4th Turning".

They go by sociological data and not pop-definitions used by marketers. Folks born in the late 70s are clearly Gen-X.

[ElboRuum]

67. I'm going by generational identification markers.

Technically a generation (from a more or less biological definition) is about 20 years. In other words, the time from birth to the average time of reproductive activity.

However, culture changes much more rapidly in our modern societies for a great number of reasons, one of which is technology. Since the beginning of this century, technology has changed the culture radically such that people have significantly differences in cultural identity in a difference as small as 10 years. Culturally speaking, since WWII, 5 culturally disparate generations have existed.

Baby Boomers: 1945-1955
Generation Jones: 1955-1965
Generation X: 1965-1975
Generation Y: 1975-1985
Millennials: 1985-1995

Since the Millennials the cultural overlap between generations seem to be getting larger, attributable to both the tend to delay procreation in later generations in the interest of career and also a general stagnation of cultural progress in the last 10 years.

Socialogical studies which try to set the boundaries of generations seem odd since the very concept of generation outside of the strictly biological is quite subjective.

[TwilightGardener]

70. LOL--yep, you have described my entire culture to a tee.

[dana_b]

101. me too

I watched Sesame Street the first year it was out and my older brother and sister were too old for it. I still sneak peeks at it from those years on youtube. :)

[MorningGlow]

81. One book I read about the various generations said there's a tiny segment

post-boomer, pre-Xer: the baby busters. It's actually the very first years of Gen X, but slightly different, marked by the decline in birthrate leading to the closing of a number of elementary and middle schools (boy, do I remember those days). We (I was born in '66) don't quite fit into the boomer generation or the Gen X generation, but we get lumped in with the Xers just for convenience.

Wish I could remember the name of that book...hm...

[iris27]

105. Yeah, those of us on the cusp do tend to feel kinda lost. I was born in 1982, so technically

I'm a Millenial (actually we were supposed to be the defining year of that generation, as the ones who graduated high school in 2000).

In actuality, in terms of generational identity, I feel stuck somewhere between X-ers and Millenials. I was too young in the 80's to remember most non-kid-oriented cultural stuff, but am too old compared to most Millenials to really ID with them either. I remember a time before cell phones and the internet. Heck, I didn't have an e-mail account until I was 16 and needed it to keep in touch with the long-distance boyfriend who would later become Mr. I27. And I had to go to the library to use it because we didn't own a computer.

[RagAss]

50. Never heard of them...were they a garage band???

[Odin2005]

55. *FACEPLAM*

[aikoaiko]

56. The first half of the 1990s were very good years for popular music.

The masses (re)discovered current college radio and some great indy bands.

I love Nirvana, but they also helped popularized the bands that influenced them like the meat puppets, pixies, sonic youth.

For me it was the women and women fronted bands who really emerged in great ways in the 1990s.
PJ Harvey
Liz Phair
Ani Difranco
L7
Charles Brown Superstarr
Huggy Bear
Bikini Kill
Sleater Kinney
The Gits
Throwing Muses and solo stuff by Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly
Babes in Toyland

[WilliamPitt]

57. ...when the commercials on the Cartoon Network confuse the shit out of you.

*raising hand*

[Leopolds Ghost]

75. *brohoof*

:evilgrin:

[alcibiades_mystery]

64. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) released 18 years ago this November

Talk about an annus mirabilis: Between November 1993 and September 1994, the following were released:

Wu-Tang Clan, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)"
Nas, "Illmatic"
Notorious B.I.G., "Ready to Die"

All now classics.

:wow:

[Leopolds Ghost]

98. AiC: "Dirt", Smashing Pumpkins: "Siamese Dream", REM, Public Enemy, Tom Petty

[Leopolds Ghost]

71. 2009-2010 was the Tenth Anniversary of the Anti-Globalization Movement

Which petered out after 9-11 and the passing of Generation X into the work force.



Artist: Mike Flugennock, http://sinkers.org/

[Fire Walk With Me]

73. But did it change music in a good direction? Not to me. Not at all.

Sorry nostalgiers.

[Leopolds Ghost]

74. Hmm, as opposed to what

Why do my fellow Gen-Xers have to be so contrary?

Don't forget that the enemy of grunge was electronica and Britpop, and with britpop came the death of politics in rock and the rise of extasy, Ritalin, materialism and boy bands.

[Fire Walk With Me]

84. I'm not a genx'er. Before Kurt came along, on the local Los Angeles radio station 106.7

you could hear in one day, Kraftwerk, Killing Joke, Front 242, Nine Inch Nails, and others. A glorious time.

Along came a spider...

[Warren DeMontague]

88. I can't really stand Courtney Love, but she did have the world's best line about Trent Reznor

"Nine inch nails? Pah, more like five"

[Posteritatis]

90. The homogenization of music radio's an altogether different problem, I think. (nt)

[aikoaiko]

85. 1991: The Year Punk Broke

For those, like me, who are nostalgic, I recommend this documentary of Nirvana (and other bands) right at the cusp of breaking through to the mainstream.

[Warren DeMontague]

87. Meh. R.E.M. Murmur had a much bigger influence on me, and was more groundbreaking IMHO.

While Nevermind was an interesting album, I really didn't get the big deal. So people decided Seattle and flannel were cool. I had skateboarder friends who had the classic "grunge" look in college in the 80s. And there WAS interesting stuff happening musically before then.. I don't know who the fuck spent the late 80s listening to "Sweet Child of Mine" but it sure as shit wasn't on my CD shuffle.

[Ishoutandscream2]

89. When you realize your music really, really sucked?

[Warren DeMontague]

92. *

[Capitalocracy]

96. When I was young, Nirvana was really popular

and I decided they sucked because they were so popular. Then I listened to them and realized I was dead wrong. There was a reason they were so goddamn popular.

[dana_b]

102. whatever... I still like all of the Seattle groups n/t

[thelordofhell]

100. Seattle Grunge Pie

A long, long time ago
I could still remember how that music
Used to sound so bad

And I knew if I had a band
that I could make those dopeheads slam
and maybe they'd get pissed off and real mad

But April made me puke and shiver
I felt like I just lost my liver
Bad news on MTV
I couldn't believe, what I'd seen

I can't remember if I cried
when I read about his junkie bride
but something touched me deep inside
the day.....Kurt Cobain.....died

So bye, bye Miss Seattle grunge pie
Kurt blew lead into his head
and then he fell down and died
and them good 'ol boys on coke and heroin and rye
singin' "this will be the day that I die"
"this will be the day that I die"

[dana_b]

103. lol - i saw "PJ 20" today at the Balboa theater in S.F.

it was fantastic! Of course Pearl Jam is still my favorite - along with Soundgarden. There was mention of Nirvana and Kurt in there too. I am DEFINITELY an aging genXer!