Nirvana Haters
Why has Nirvana got so many haters? When you Google Nirvana there are more "Why Nirvana Sucks" articles than there are fan articles. Same goes for YouTube.
So we decided to have a look at these Nirvana haters articles and see what they have to say.
What we found out was that they repeat the same things over and over again:
“Nothing bothers me more than when groups like Pearl Jam and Nirvana whine and moan and complain about life and being famous. Let me tell you, being famous is great!"
OK, so the first thing I have to point out, the people who say "being famous is great" have obviously never been famous and if they were, they weren't huge stars. Unfortunately for Kurt and co., they were huge. I can't imagine trying to do my job and keep on getting stopped by people or being chased by the paparazzi. You can never go out without your picture taken and sometimes horrible things being written about you because it wasn't your best day when the photo was taken.
"To me they just seemed more like homeless drug addicts who had stolen some musical instruments"
Are you telling me you've never worn a plaid shirt over a T Shirt? An over sized cosy cardigan? A pair of converse?
This is what normal people look like, I'm sure the majority of us don't go out looking like Beyoncé every day. They break the stereotype of "you have to look perfect, everywhere, 24/7" and basically say "wear what you want".
All of Nirvana managed to look great in whatever they were wearing because they were comfortable with their "look"... they weren't spending hours picking out an outfit or wearing hobbling around in uncomfortable shoes because "it looked cool".
"Nirvana were no different to anybody else"
Nirvana helped get a whole new genre of music out into the mainstream, grunge, which was completely different to the glam metal popular at the time. They made it popular. So you can't then say that Nirvana were no different to anybody else because if they were the same as everybody else, why would people listen to them? Wouldn't Nirvana seem boring?
Furthermore, all bands are different in their own way... so to even propose that idea is completely naïve.
"Kurt Cobain also stole riffs. Their most famous songs Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come You are are stolen!! The main riff of Smells Like Teen Spirit is stolen from More Than a Felling (Felling?) by Boston, and Come as You Are is copied from the song Eighties by Killing Jokes"
All I can say to this is how many chords are there that you can play on a guitar that actually sound good? And how many songs have been released? Does this person really think that there isn't the slightest possibility that when writing a song you choose the same couple of chords as another song? This is all you need for a song to sound similar to another.
Moreover, Nirvana realised that their song sounded like "More Than a Feeling" because they famously recreated the beginning of it at Reading Festival in 1992 (to see the video, check out our earlier post about Nirvana at Reading Festival in 1992 here). Why would they do this if they had purposefully copied the song?
Also, the person who wrote this couldn't even be bothered to check for typos, which just shows you.
"They had the quiet then loud dynamic sound down pat. Anyone with a distortion pedal can work that out, they stole that off the Pixies anyway"
Music must progress and this is done by building a new sound on the works of people that came before you. If music didn't work like this we wouldn't have any bands or musicians because they would have to create something completely new and never done before (which is virtually impossible).
This is all completely subjective, what might seem a masterpiece to one person is an average song to another or just complete rubbish. Not many people could have thought that the songs that Nirvana recorded were just "average" or they wouldn't have become so popular.
"I feel sad when some1 (?) plays the intro of "Smells Like Teen Spirt" (Spirt?) on guitar, and then sing the lyrics like they are 'meaningful.'"
Again, somebody who couldn't be bothered to check what they had written or even type "someone" properly. Furthermore, whoever wrote this obviously didn't know anything about Kurt Cobain and was very narrow-minded. Kurt Cobain wasn't the sort of person who would write meaningless lyrics... they all have a meaning (even though they can sometimes be a bit cryptic).
"He was a bad guitarrist (guitarrist?) and a bad singer"
OK... so if he was such a bad guitarist and singer how did he manage to please the critics?
So we decided to have a look at these Nirvana haters articles and see what they have to say.
What we found out was that they repeat the same things over and over again:
- Being famous is great! Nirvana only complained about it.
- They look dirty.
- Nirvana was no different to other bands.
- Nirvana stole other people's songs.
- They stole their "quiet then loud" staple from the Pixies.
- Nirvana only recorded average songs
- The lyrics have no meaning
- Kurt was a bad musician
“Nothing bothers me more than when groups like Pearl Jam and Nirvana whine and moan and complain about life and being famous. Let me tell you, being famous is great!"
OK, so the first thing I have to point out, the people who say "being famous is great" have obviously never been famous and if they were, they weren't huge stars. Unfortunately for Kurt and co., they were huge. I can't imagine trying to do my job and keep on getting stopped by people or being chased by the paparazzi. You can never go out without your picture taken and sometimes horrible things being written about you because it wasn't your best day when the photo was taken.
"To me they just seemed more like homeless drug addicts who had stolen some musical instruments"
Are you telling me you've never worn a plaid shirt over a T Shirt? An over sized cosy cardigan? A pair of converse?
This is what normal people look like, I'm sure the majority of us don't go out looking like Beyoncé every day. They break the stereotype of "you have to look perfect, everywhere, 24/7" and basically say "wear what you want".
All of Nirvana managed to look great in whatever they were wearing because they were comfortable with their "look"... they weren't spending hours picking out an outfit or wearing hobbling around in uncomfortable shoes because "it looked cool".
"Nirvana were no different to anybody else"
Nirvana helped get a whole new genre of music out into the mainstream, grunge, which was completely different to the glam metal popular at the time. They made it popular. So you can't then say that Nirvana were no different to anybody else because if they were the same as everybody else, why would people listen to them? Wouldn't Nirvana seem boring?
Furthermore, all bands are different in their own way... so to even propose that idea is completely naïve.
"Kurt Cobain also stole riffs. Their most famous songs Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come You are are stolen!! The main riff of Smells Like Teen Spirit is stolen from More Than a Felling (Felling?) by Boston, and Come as You Are is copied from the song Eighties by Killing Jokes"
All I can say to this is how many chords are there that you can play on a guitar that actually sound good? And how many songs have been released? Does this person really think that there isn't the slightest possibility that when writing a song you choose the same couple of chords as another song? This is all you need for a song to sound similar to another.
Moreover, Nirvana realised that their song sounded like "More Than a Feeling" because they famously recreated the beginning of it at Reading Festival in 1992 (to see the video, check out our earlier post about Nirvana at Reading Festival in 1992 here). Why would they do this if they had purposefully copied the song?
Also, the person who wrote this couldn't even be bothered to check for typos, which just shows you.
"They had the quiet then loud dynamic sound down pat. Anyone with a distortion pedal can work that out, they stole that off the Pixies anyway"
Music must progress and this is done by building a new sound on the works of people that came before you. If music didn't work like this we wouldn't have any bands or musicians because they would have to create something completely new and never done before (which is virtually impossible).
This is all completely subjective, what might seem a masterpiece to one person is an average song to another or just complete rubbish. Not many people could have thought that the songs that Nirvana recorded were just "average" or they wouldn't have become so popular.
"I feel sad when some1 (?) plays the intro of "Smells Like Teen Spirt" (Spirt?) on guitar, and then sing the lyrics like they are 'meaningful.'"
Again, somebody who couldn't be bothered to check what they had written or even type "someone" properly. Furthermore, whoever wrote this obviously didn't know anything about Kurt Cobain and was very narrow-minded. Kurt Cobain wasn't the sort of person who would write meaningless lyrics... they all have a meaning (even though they can sometimes be a bit cryptic).
"He was a bad guitarrist (guitarrist?) and a bad singer"
OK... so if he was such a bad guitarist and singer how did he manage to please the critics?
Then they run out of arguments and just criticise based on looks
"Krist the bassist looks like an ogre, Dave has huge lips"
This just made me laugh. Firstly, who judges people by their looks? We shouldn't insult anybody based on looks however much we hate them, seeing as this has nothing to do with anything whatsoever. And secondly, I didn't know that people look like ogres, I just though that that was Shrek's job. Anyway, who could call this cutie an ogre?!
"Krist the bassist looks like an ogre, Dave has huge lips"
This just made me laugh. Firstly, who judges people by their looks? We shouldn't insult anybody based on looks however much we hate them, seeing as this has nothing to do with anything whatsoever. And secondly, I didn't know that people look like ogres, I just though that that was Shrek's job. Anyway, who could call this cutie an ogre?!
List of Nirvana haters from where we got our arguments:
I Just Don't Get....Nirvana >> Sabotage Times
Nirvana wasn't 'that good' nor were they very 'influential.'
Nirvana are a disgrace to music. THEY SUCK !!
Nirvana Sucks
I Just Don't Get....Nirvana >> Sabotage Times
Nirvana wasn't 'that good' nor were they very 'influential.'
Nirvana are a disgrace to music. THEY SUCK !!
Nirvana Sucks
Why We Think Nirvana Is the Best Band Ever
- They were original and different
- Their music meant something to them and to their listeners
- They were comfortable being themselves
- They were nice, down to earth people
- They didn't want to be treated specially just because they were famous
- They followed their dreams and actually managed to get somewhere
- They didn't want to modify their music with computers, they wanted it to be "pure" and actually sound like them, not auto-tuned nonsense
- Kurt's voice was different, raw
- They actually appreciated their fans, instead of spitting on them like Justin Bieber, for example
...And, we will always wonder how Dave managed to play the drums whilst headbanging (especially with his long and luscious locks) . In one word, AMAZING!!!