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| Author |
Message |
krj
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Nirvana: Smells Like Cash
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Jan 14 06:17 UTC 1992 |
Monday's New York Times business section includes a feature story on
the marketing of Nirvana's album "Nevermind", which as most of you
probably know placed at #1 on the Billboard album chart.
I'll have to wait until I have a bit of time to enter a synopsis of the
story, but I wanted to mention it so that any Nirvana fans here could
track it down.
Are there any Nirvana fans here? How does the existence of a marketing
campaign affect your attitude towards the band? Is alternative rock
dead? (Is alternative rock really much of an alternative any more?)
And, what the heck is that song about, anyway? I've read the lyrics on
Usenet and it *still* doesn't make much sense. I guess I'm just old.
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| 50 responses total. |
mcnally
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response 1 of 50:
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Jan 14 06:49 UTC 1992 |
What, exactly, is "alternative" rock supposed to mean? An alternative
to what? When does a band stop being alternative? Is U2 still alternative?
Was it ever? Why? Why not? Are you now or have you ever been a member
of the Communist Party? I've fallen and I can't get up... <heeeeellllpp!>
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goose
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response 2 of 50:
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Jan 14 08:05 UTC 1992 |
Ken, it's probably too late for me to get a Mon. NYT, so do you think it's
possible for me to get a Xerox of that article from you?
I'm sure I'll have some better comments after I read the article.
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craig
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response 3 of 50:
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Jan 14 08:33 UTC 1992 |
Sub-Pop bands are basically "grunge music", like Nirvana, Mudhoney, etc etc..
The marketing strategy was fairly obvious wasn't it?
When a band says (lyrically) their message is lethargy, that's the way it
is, life is boring, etc etc... you gotta wake up... it would seem that
the "real" alternative bands have something more interesting to say.
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mcnally
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response 4 of 50:
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Jan 14 12:37 UTC 1992 |
Sub Pop bands tend to be grunge presumably because that's the
sort of "alternative" music that predominates in Seattle, where
most of the Sub Pop bands are from.. There are a few other
bands from Seattle on Sub Pop that aren't grunge (for instance,
the Walkabouts) and a few bands that aren't Seattle acts or
grunge bands that are presumably on Sub Pop just because the
execs liked them. I think that the predominance of grunge acts
on Sub Pop has more to do with the regional music scene than
with any label policy or preference for them..
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krj
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response 5 of 50:
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Jan 14 15:54 UTC 1992 |
The Walkabouts were sort of an accident for SubPop; SubPop picked them up
after their first label, PopLlama, suspended operations for the usual cash
flow problems. The Walkabouts expressed deep dissatisfaction with their
label when I chatted with them after their recent Ann Arbor experience, and
they said that now that their contract is expired they will definitely
find another label.
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mcnally
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response 6 of 50:
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Jan 15 02:26 UTC 1992 |
That may be, but they weren't the only non-grunge act on Sub Pop..
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krj
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response 7 of 50:
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Jan 15 05:45 UTC 1992 |
Who are the others? Where does Beat Happening fit into the picture?
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mcnally
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response 8 of 50:
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Jan 15 10:59 UTC 1992 |
I'll see if I can remember.. For some completely inexplicable reason
I get some bands that are on 4AD messed up with bands that are on Sub Pop..
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banzai
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response 9 of 50:
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Jan 15 23:06 UTC 1992 |
Do you think you could post the lyrics? I'm interested to see it...
Could someone explain 'grunge'?
Yes I have noticed that MTV and quite a few radio stations are playing
the main hit *too much*, almost every 1/2 hour it seems. But other
than that, what are they doing?
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goose
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response 10 of 50:
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Jan 16 03:49 UTC 1992 |
If you have access to USENET Eric, the lyrics are posted
almost daily. You might check there in alt.rock-n-roll.
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goose
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response 11 of 50:
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Jan 16 03:51 UTC 1992 |
If not, I'll get you the file.
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bad
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response 12 of 50:
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Jan 17 00:55 UTC 1992 |
Nirvana "used to be good, until they sold out, the fuckers".
To which the members of Nirvana respond: "Sold out? Fuck you. Anybody
who says we sold out is full of shit. That shit about us getting a whole
shitload of money is shit. We just signed with a bigger label. So maybe
our records could actually be in stores."
When asked, "where do you get your lyrics from, what do they mean?"
one member refused to answer, then when pushed said "We're mostly drunk and
stoned all the time".
(My thanks to "U" and various sources. All quotes are paraphrases)
Word has it that the only good song on the latest album comes 5 minutes
after the album is supposedly over...
This from a friend of mind in a band in Seattle.
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goose
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response 13 of 50:
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Jan 17 07:05 UTC 1992 |
Ho-Hum, I liked them prior to their so called "sell out", I'm not about to
abandon a band because they got popular. But listen to "Bleach", it's
different that "Nevermind" , but in my opinion, better.
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mythago
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response 14 of 50:
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Jan 17 07:55 UTC 1992 |
Sold out? Zillions of people buy their albums, then complain because
they made money?
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mcnally
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response 15 of 50:
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Jan 17 08:09 UTC 1992 |
Besides, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is hardly the sort of song you'd
be likely to come up with if you set out to write a Billboard chart hit.
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frf
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response 16 of 50:
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Jan 17 09:57 UTC 1992 |
Re#12 - This is true, The last song on the CD says 20+ minutes long.
The first part fades to black in 5 min and another song comes
in at 12 min. Never seen this technique before. Must be the CD version
of backward masking. :)
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bad
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response 17 of 50:
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Jan 17 22:03 UTC 1992 |
Supposed to be hidden...that's the problem with cd's...I don't think
they were expecting it to get to CD :)
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craig
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response 18 of 50:
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Jan 18 01:45 UTC 1992 |
Hmm, the tape isnt like that...
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mcnally
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response 19 of 50:
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Jan 22 06:44 UTC 1992 |
Neither are the first 40,000 or so CDs that were pressed.. Apparently
some engineer listened to it and figured someone had made a mistake by
leaving all that silence at the end of the disc (he never made it to the
hidden track) so he cut it all off..
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banzai
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response 20 of 50:
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Jan 23 03:12 UTC 1992 |
Hmm, Front 242 did the same thing on their latest CD, conicindence?
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mcnally
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response 21 of 50:
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Jan 29 09:55 UTC 1992 |
What quality (or lack) is it that makes music "alternative"? Is
there a Hip Music Czar who decides what's alternative and what's not?
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krj
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response 22 of 50:
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Jan 29 16:34 UTC 1992 |
It's the magic property of "marketing". "Alternative" is an attempt to
give the college-age market the feeling that they have their own music,
while masking the fact that there has not been a fundamental stylistic
shift in rock. (Rap is another matter entirely.)
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bad
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response 23 of 50:
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Jan 30 04:01 UTC 1992 |
Disclaimer: All opinions entered re Nirvana selling out are the product
of members of the "Seattle Band Scene" from which Nirvana comes, not
from the general record-buying public.
Peers, if you will.
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mcnally
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response 24 of 50:
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Jan 30 04:48 UTC 1992 |
Ahh.. So instead of being the pretentious proclamations of would-be
hipsters, they're the bitter ravings of jealous wannabes..
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