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comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  4008 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Nirvana's Tense, Brilliant Unplugged in New York, 20 Years Later

I can't tell you how many times I listened to this as a kid. I was pretty crushed by his suicide, it was a dark time for all of us kids that identified with their music. It may seem silly to hear that now, but when you are seventeen years old, playing in bands covering Nirvana tunes because you feel like the lyrics speak to you, and suddenly your favorite songwriter of your "era" kills himself. Damn... it was intense.

I didn't realize that the Unplugged show was only 4 months prior to his suicide. It didn't seem so close at the time, but then months are like years when you're seventeen.

I liked this bit:

    Writers like to speculate about the mediocre music he would have inevitably gone on to produce as a middle-aged grunger, but to describe Cobain as a grunge musician is like calling John Lennon an icon of Merseybeat, and whatever would have transpired it wouldn’t have changed one single note of this performance.
True enough.




b_b  ·  4008 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I didn't realize that the Unplugged show was only 4 months prior to his suicide. It didn't seem so close at the time, but then months are like years when you're seventeen.

No, it's because the record was released like two years later. The instant release of material didn't exist at the time. It's a classic album, and I still listen to it on occasion. I especially love listening to Leadbelly and Kurt back to back doing renditions of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". Also, as much as I love Bowie, I think that Nirvana stole "The Man Who Sold the World," and that they own it now.

thenewgreen  ·  4008 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    No, it's because the record was released like two years later.
Yeah, but was the video of it aired two years later? Because I watched the shit out of that too.

    Also, as much as I love Bowie, I think that Nirvana stole "The Man Who Sold the World," and that they own it now.
-I'm a much bigger fan of Bowie than I am Nirvana, but I have to agree with you.
b_b  ·  4008 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I take back everything I said. I looked at Wikipedia, and it turns out my memory is terrible. The album was released in November 1994, a year after it was recorded and only 7 months after Cobain died. So much for trusting a 20 year old memory.