I was a drunk poster. That is all. I have a deap affinity for both bands. I find it weird that I keep listening to Nirvana after all this time. :thumbsup:to Alice in Chains and Placebo though.
I was a drunk poster. That is all. I have a deap affinity for both bands. I find it weird that I keep listening to Nirvana after all this time. :thumbsup:to Alice in Chains and Placebo though.
I think if you could name one band that defined the 90s, it'd be pearl jam.
but between the two...
REM maybe didn't define the 90s as much, but I think their influence on 90s culture would be greater than Nirvana's. Grunge would have taken off on it's own, just another band (soundgarden, AIC, maybe pearl jam, even though they're more straight rock than what you typically call grunge) would have been pointed to as the forerunners.
REM:
Document (released in late 87 but still huge in the early 90s) for those of you without a clue this is the album with Its the end of the world on it.
out of time (losing my religion)
Automatic for the people (everybody hurts, man on the moon, sidewinder...)
Monster (what's the frequency, crush with eyeliner)
New adventures in Hi-fi (e-Bow, so fast so numb)
up (walk unafraid, daysleeper)
Pretty amazing string of pretty amazing albums that were influential all through the 90s. Anybody who played any form of rock & roll back then was shaped in some way by REM.
but between the two...
REM maybe didn't define the 90s as much, but I think their influence on 90s culture would be greater than Nirvana's. Grunge would have taken off on it's own, just another band (soundgarden, AIC, maybe pearl jam, even though they're more straight rock than what you typically call grunge) would have been pointed to as the forerunners.
REM:
Document (released in late 87 but still huge in the early 90s) for those of you without a clue this is the album with Its the end of the world on it.
out of time (losing my religion)
Automatic for the people (everybody hurts, man on the moon, sidewinder...)
Monster (what's the frequency, crush with eyeliner)
New adventures in Hi-fi (e-Bow, so fast so numb)
up (walk unafraid, daysleeper)
Pretty amazing string of pretty amazing albums that were influential all through the 90s. Anybody who played any form of rock & roll back then was shaped in some way by REM.
90s would be Nirvana.
REM got their start in the late 80s anyway, but Nirvana along with a few others (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) kickstarted grunge/alternative in the early 90s which lasted tl Britney Spears nad her boy-band cohorts reared their disgusting heads.
REM got their start in the late 80s anyway, but Nirvana along with a few others (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) kickstarted grunge/alternative in the early 90s which lasted tl Britney Spears nad her boy-band cohorts reared their disgusting heads.
Actual album release dates aside, popularity wise, REM started to pick up mid-80s, Nirvana started to pick up early 90s.
A) Pearl Jam did not define the 90's. After Ten - an INCREIDBLE album, granted - their other albums didn't have nearly the appeal or influence. That one album was HUGE, sure, but it didn't have that one hit that would have broken into the MAINSTREAM.
B) Give me one logical reason why one of the other grunge bands of the times would have broken into the mainstream. Ten, Dirt, etc... all good albums, but Smells like Teen Spirit was a one-hit wonder type of success, but Nirvana was actually able to sustain that... do you know how rare that is? They turned that into 10 more hits, and now they had the ears of every kid in America (and beyond). I just don't think you understand what Smells Like Teen Spirit did. It was catchy, sure, and simple, definitely. But that's why it was so big and what made Nirvana so big. Of course the stoners loved it because it was just ANGRY AS HELL! But the key was that it somehow managed to draw in the preppy kids too. And the nerds. And the jocks. And just about everyone else.
I can't honestly explain what about it appealed to so many people, but I can tell you that Evenflow - as good as it was - didn't have it. Jeremy didn't even have it. Spoonman certainly didn't have it; heck, I wouldn't even call it grunge. None of them did. Maybe it was as simple as the name. Smells like teen spirit. When you read that name and then listen to the song, you assume that this angry, confusing, and at times subdued song was supposed to be reminiscent of what teens were feeling. Even though the lyrics didn't make sense to most people (including myself, that made it even more intriguing. Teens don't want someone telling them what they're feeling or trying to define them.
C) I think you need to read the OP again. "Who better defined the Nineties?" Just because REM influenced a lot of bands in the 90's, those bands weren't every mainstream. More importantly, grunge was a BIG movement in the 90's that influenced people. What is REM again? Whiny? Is that a music type? I love REM, don't get me wrong, but they didn't move people like grunge did in the 90's, and they didn't have a lot of other bands that brought that sound or that feeling with them.
WTF are you talking about? Of course they were! Why else did they sell that many albums? People identified with their music. It's what they were feeling! I'm not saying all adults were going along with it, but the kids certainly were.
As for Radiohead, I honestly think they're a perfect band: I don't think they have a single bad song to their name. But they certainly weren't reflective of the whole mood of the 90's. They may have reflected the 90's, but Nirvana helped DEFINE the 90's.
DivideBYZero
Lifer
- May 18, 2001
- 24,117
- 2
- 0
The question was about influence, not about your opinion about the band's music. Name one American band in the 80's that had more influence on alternative rock than R.E.M. Other than The Pixies I doubt there are any other contenders.
I would venture to say Soundgarden influenced Nirvana. Therefore Soundgarden influenced the 90's. Nirvana was just more popular.
Likewise Joe Satriani taught Kirk Hammett. You can hear Joe's influence in some of the earlier Kirk work on Metallica. But I digress...
Likewise Joe Satriani taught Kirk Hammett. You can hear Joe's influence in some of the earlier Kirk work on Metallica. But I digress...
DivideBYZero
Lifer
- May 18, 2001
- 24,117
- 2
- 0
Mudhoney came at the end of the 80's, and their influential work was in the 90's. Sonic Youth possibly, but they were more avant-garde and I don't think they influenced rock as much as a whole.
Who fvcking cares?! How does that exclude them from influencnig bands in the US? We have boats that bring their music overseas nowadays!!!
I'd say they sold that many albums because they were a great band and were the pinnacle of grunge music, itself a new trend. Your second point is a good one, though. But if we are really looking for what defined the 90's, it has to be something that led to the decay of music as an art form and the erection of pop idols that are all marketting machine toxic waste peddled by enormous corporate-owned radio stations with some computer determining the lineup and bigwigs sitting in some oak office conceiving cross-market paraphenalia. Something like the backstreet boys. I'd say mariah carey but I think that she is more like the incoherent dying breath of music and not the actual disease itself.
You make a good point in that the 90's was definitely a time where people moved from "it's cool because nobody has heard of them" or "it's cool because my parents hate it" to "it's cool because the record label tells me it is" or "it's cool because the radio plays it all the time."
But to that end, I'd still look to Nirvana if ANY band can singly define it. Nirvana broke through the mold of what people thought a great band was (they didn't just ACT like they didn't want fame, they REALLY didn't want it). Unlike 90% of bands today, they made it big sounding how they wanted to sound, not sounding how they thought people wanted them to sound. But Kurt didn't want that success and didn't want the pressure of being something or living up to people's idea of who they should be. Those feelings were amplified by his drug use (which by the way started with a prescription, in his defense), and eventually destroyed him.
In that same way, people and music moved through the 90's. People latched on to grunge because they were tired of a lot of things about their lives (and more simply, tired of music). It was very much akin to the movement against disco in the 70's. But that kind of apathy and anger kind of burns you up inside and gets old. When the pop bands of '97 came into the picture, they brought predictability and stability with their sound and look. It also brought light to the fact that as a band, you can make all you want by just doing what a record label tells you to do. Being true to your original 100 fans isn't important when you build a new fanbase of millions that only know your NEW sound (just ask the Goo Goo Dolls).
But neither the Backstreet Boys nor REM can define that quite like Nirvana. If anything, you need Nirvana AND the Backstreet Boys to fully define the 90's.
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