collin wrote:Ya know, I hate to pull the age card, but I'm gonna chalk it up to a generational thing.
Perhaps for some, Collin, but I was 26 when Nevermind was released. Not an "old fogey" by any stretch. Many of my friends (including my girlfriend who is now my wife) loved Nirvana. Many still do. I myself could just never warm up to their music.
As much as I love a healthy discussion, I've been around long enough to realize that it's an exercise in futility trying change someone else's opinion about the music they've grown to love, especially if the music or artist in question has had a significant impact on his or her life as Nirvana has had on yours. I respect the musical tastes of others. Imagine how boring the world of music would be if everyone liked the same thing.
At the same time, I don't get all the bashing of '80s rock around here. Granted, it started getting to be a bit much toward the end of the 80s and early 90s, but if you can get past the hairdos and pointy guitars and focus on the music alone, there was a lot of excellent stuff that came out of the "Hair Metal" (God how I hate that term) era. Yes, I openly admit to having been a part of this scene, but you need to remember that at the time it was what the kids wanted to see and hear...and it was not
all bad. Sure, my friends chuckle (as do I) when I show them the old promo pics of the band with my poofed up hair and makeup, but I'm not necessarily ashamed of it. It's what our promoter and our management demanded from us. But that was just superficial. Truth is, I was surrounded by an extremely talented group of musicians who could play rings around most of the popular groups today (and not just rock or metal...all but one of us in the group were classically trained musicians with diverse backgrounds in classical, jazz and blues as well).
In a way, I guess I should be grateful that Nirvana helped put an end to that poodle-head look (although Guns N Roses [before Axl got all weird] were already helping to move Rock away from the glam image) but I don't think it would have gone on much longer anyway, even without Nirvana's bursting onto the scene.
And yes, I gigged with a Rickenbacker bass back then, too. Playing time split 50/50 with an MM StingRay.