I am going to let you guys in on a little secret - Zack Eswine loves Journey. As someone who began to love music - I mean REALLY love music - during the beginning of the 1990’s this seems like musical blasphemy. From my perspective, in 1991, Nirvana lined up Journey and all of their peers (G&R, Motley Crue, Ratt, any band with big hair) and instantly made them irrelevant. This probably says a lot more about me than it does about any of the bands listed above.
Why do I constantly try to take something so remarkably subjective like musical taste/context and try to force it into objective truth? I also seem to love to judge and categorize. I wonder if I do it to create a false sense of security for myself – of course only in regard to my opinions concerning music ☺.
Journey rocks – at least they did when Steve Perry was their lead singer. Nirvana didn’t change that. They probably were a better representation of what was happening in our culture during 1991, but that certainly doesn’t make it “better”.
In this space I hope to explore why music matters, at least in a subjective way. Sometimes that will be in the form of a review or suggestion, sometimes commentary, sometimes I might just ramble on and on. Upfront I would like to state that I do not come to judge but to discuss and appreciate. For reasons beyond current human understanding God has created for us a world in which bare melodies can transform our perception of the world. Nietchze said that “life without music is a mistake.” So let us not make that one.
The authors of Music Monday love comments, topic ideas, and sharp negative criticism... Or, just the first two!
-Jason Wilson
You said that Nirvana "instantly made them(other popular bands of the time)irrelevant." I somewhat agree with this, and wonder what your take is on why this happened. Was it the popularity of the new grunge, or perhaps Dave Grohl joining the band as drummer? Kurt couldn't sing, but there was something amazing about him. Plus I think the base guitarist, Krist Noveselic, was amazing (did I spell his name right?). Their lyrics were honest, naked, and uncomplicated, not to mention totally depressing. They became popular during a time when I was listening to Sesame Street songs with my kids, so I don't remember the cultural setting in which they emerged. Unfortunately I caught up with them later...
ReplyDeleteJourney was (and is) awesome. You STILL hear their stuff played regularly on stations that play more than just current pop music or country. Steve Perry had one of the most amazing voices ever to sing in rock music, and Schon and Cain are a great music writing team. Zack is right on-- you're showing your youth, Matt!
ReplyDeleteThat said: I'll look forward to reading your thoughts on music regularly. As for Nirvana, I appreciate Carolyn's comments. When they emerged, I thought their sound was fresh and innovative, but they also had a lot working against them-- as Carolyn pointed out. I was always curious about why they became so definitive of the "grunge" era, and have sort of written it off as mostly due to Kurt Kobain's eccentricity and eventual tragic death. (Had he lived, I believe that Pearl Jam would have become the truly definitive name of grunge.)
In my opinion they were just doing the right thing at the right time. One of their primary influences were the Pixies - who toiled away in relative anonymity for years before Nirvana ever formed. My point being that sometimes a particular form of music, or any art form, just happens to correlate with what is happening in society. Other examples of this could be the Beatles, Elvis, Andy Warhol, Quintin Terintino maybe...
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Ed, Cobains tragic death has a lot to do with them maintaining such popularity and being remembered as the quintessential grunge band. Of course there are tons of examples of this happening elsewhere too - Morrison, Belushi, Farley, Hendrix, arguably even Kennedy. Strange how that works.
Ed, sorry I forgot to label that this post was written by Jason Wilson.
ReplyDeleteRiverside Sermons (whoever you are... Wilson?), I have often wondered what kind of added mystique Eddie Vetter would have acquired had 10 been their only album, especially given the back story of "Alive"... meaning that he wrote it in one night or whatever, not the "back story" back story...
Maybe Angela from The Office has it right when she said, "I don't even like the spirit of music." or maybe it was just a really funny line.
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