Saturday, July 19, 2008

My Generation. . .

Every generation has its landmark artiste/s and the attendent seminal performances which resonate long after the last amp has been turned off. These are legendary gigs that have become cultural beacons through the ages.

Just a few quick examples (& by no means exhaustive list) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience exploding into the American consciousness at the Monterey pop festival in 1967; Led Zep's swansong at Knebworth in 1978; U2 begin their bid for world domination under a blood red sky at Red Rocks in 1985 . . .

As fer the 30-somethings among us, we've got this to point to as OUR defining moment in pop history. Stumbled onto the entire recording on youtube & have posted it here fer yer weekend enjoyment. It may take awhile to fully load, but fook, when was the last time you heard something as raw, visceral & hauntingly beautiful as this . . .

Ladies & gentlemen,

Nirvana Live & Unplugged (1994)



ps: Some bastard stole me copy of the CD. Does anyone know where me can download an audio version of this?

pps: Please share yer thoughts on this. Me knows many folk remember precisely what they were doing when they first heard of Kurt's demise . . .

35 comments:

nick m said...

buy the DVD of the complete performance instead.
BTW. Head over to my blog to watch the trailer for the Watchmen.
23psi.com

Mohan said...

AD: Lame dude! You never pull the plug from Nirvana. I cringe everytime i see that! They were a life punk rock band(pity i never got to see them though).

Don't really know where you can download that. But there're all this boxsets(courtesy of the money grabbin' bitch C.Love) now. Good luck!

Yeah..suppose that music did define me at that stage. They had a reunion at Taunton 2 years ago.. Sonic Youth, Melvins(guest K.Novaselic), Dinasour Jr., Flipper, Iggy and the Stooges...etc. It was a blast and I got to meet me dream girl Kim Gordon(SYouth)....probably had a hard on for 2 weeks!

As for junkie janitor Kurdt's death...can't remember.. but quite sure i was stoned/smashed though. They did have a vigil in Melbourne which the damn Christians hijacked telling people that it's not OK to splatter your brains on the floor whilst listening to Michael Stipe!!.. DOG(sorry GOD) loves you and this and that!

Mohan said...

p/s: Something to for us the remember the good ol' times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_bCyirfn8

p/s2: She is a babe indeed!

Tinesh said...

Ive got the demo recordings in a CD..Best of Sliver I think its called. I was prolly running around in std 1 and playing catch lol..

Kurt is GOD :D

Tinesh said...

Btw, there's always been a voice for the generation eg Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Kurt Cobain. It's fucking unfair that my generation has to be stuck with stuff like Daughtry and MCR and such.. Pundek betul :s

nick m said...

LOL!!! Tinesh you're so right about the current crop of bands such as MCR, Daughtry etc as you pointed out. That said, I know guys my age (38) that really dig MCR. I mean WTF?!!??
23psi.com

Unknown said...

can't say am a big fan but i recognised kurt as an important symbol just as what Johnny Rotten meant to me back when i was 13.

we were recording The Pilgrims' 2nd album (Away from the Numbers) in Section 1, PJ when a friend came back from hanging out the Central Market with the news.

we decided not to record anything that night. instead we sat around over coffee and cigarettes reminiscing about pre-MTV Nirvana, The Melvins, Mudhoney and Sub Pop and SST and how "punk" it was at the beginning of it all.

and the next day we recorded "Pure", written by me with Lee's poem as lyrics:

Pure

Dark side of me
Nothing that I could see
Unbearable pain again I scream
Live day by day
Life is just the same
Keep on doubting it's my middle name
Need to be loved, soul
Love that can never be sold
What can I say
Sometimes I just hate myself
I hate myself

I walk, I creep and I crawl
I wanna be pure
I walk, I creep and I crawl
I wanna, I wanna.....

anfield devotee said...

nick: This is the complete recording of the show, ciggi breaks & all.
RE: Watchmen - have you read the graphic novel? Great stuff.

Joe Kidd: Glad to know it inspired you guys to do something, insetad of the usual bout of INACTIVITY!
Btw, good to see Shaberry Cheek try to use the Dung as a stick to beat Anwar some more he he! Notorious la you dudes . . . Ok, time to cash in. When is the Best of Dung compilation coming out?

Tinesh: Don't worry dude, still got a few more years what? Who knows who might turn up?

Mohan: Whoaaaaa . . . dude. Sorry but totally diagree. And speaking as a metal fan, you'd expect ME to complain bout the sound levels. But dude, you don't need to be electric to be heavy. (!!!)

How can you argue bout the quality of the performance? The covers alone is worth the price of admission - Meat Puppets, Vaselins & Bowie all given a new coat of paint.

And what about that Leadbelly closer? C'mon Mohan, don't tell me you needed that to be "plugged in" fer impact?

As fer live punk rock needing to be electric, see also Violent Femmes fer evidence to the contrary.

ps: Yup, me was also glued to the left stage where Kim Gordon was playing on Dirty tour. Sizzling . . .

Mohan said...

AD: Donno man.. Kurdt tanpa second-hand fender seems lame to me! Oklah nice music!..but audience tengah duduk..sesat kat mana tu?
Am not too much into old stuff.. although I do listed to some Pixies and Velvet Underground sometimes.
Maybe the music/lifestyle/emotions at that time was what i was into. Still struggling to find good new stuff, just can't find something i like nowadays!(still stuck within that time i suppose)!
Am blasting Negative Creep through my IPod as i write this.
M.
p/s: and yes!! dreaming of Kim Gordon too...mmmmmm!

Anba said...

balaji:- I still remember when i first found out bout Kurts demise..it was on Sunday..was jus about to got to Mr Kau's Maths Tution ...there it was in the back page of NST...what can i say that hasn;'t been said anyway...
Regarding this release ..when it first came out i simply refused to buy it or listened to it...was misguided a lot in those days still am now...heheh
But now after reaching the age of 30 abt 20 days ago...i guess i've become more lame...
This is a perfect summation of My generation...

mozlovesnigella said...

tuan balRIC/kerpRIC dan dif-diff kehormat skelian,

re: posting de'liwat
question: if spurs fans do universally get locked under isa, will special privileges ala well lubricated leeways be provided in the form of:-
a) free cable porn (pasar malam pirate dvd pon jadik la..oh yeah with the dvd player of course);
b1) will be nigella be granted on-off er..conjugal (familial?) visits?; OR
b2) maybe an allowance of full-blown posters..er..uh..on the ceiling;
c) will the moz be allowed to wail on me stereo?
d) any chance i can catch a game or 2 of heartfelt footie? (notably when the ride comes to the N.L.D or hithers over lancashire/merseyside?
e) bear available - yes, no? bear, porn, nigella, the moz, revhortonheat and spurs fc, potent combination that.

ok ok chief, will cut the crap (kinda hard to do in me current train of thought : )) ). but to summate it ..it's interesting that yu brought up that marely classic of gettin' up and standin' - correct me if me memory is hazed. but there is a line that goes something like
"yu can fool some of the people; some of the time, but,
yu cant fool people,
all the time..".

hows about a suggestion of blarin' it live over farkin ballpark sized PA systems over at parliament road (or maybe just at mushroominafterrain roadblocks).
..OR..a saliva swallowin possibility - mobile "SOUND SYSTEMS" a la the heydays of jamaican ska...(much akinto the days of the "Ronggeng" or sidewalk cabarets of the yesteryears).

*mozstandsarmsakimbo and looks at the amountofrot he has spewed onto the FFS - and wonders to backspace or not to backspace*

fark the backspace machaa :))

re: latest posting. thanks it sparked some memories dude. some of it good, others bad.
mostly reminiscing about the time friends gathered around a beat-up stereo amp to relisten to songs the we later on decided (to unfairly) pan. to size the impact it had on some of me good mates; ive got a mate who still auto-calls me on the anniversary of the passing..just to tanye khabar. well. although he doesn't mention it. i feel for him (it probably sounds silly for 30-something to harp on the passing on someone who probably didn't even know our first names let alone surnames - people dun get it. so farkin what? what matters is it matters to this mate of mine). it's usually followed up by a coupla beers reminiscing some fun times.now limited to tea sessions at a nearby mamak whenever we have the chance to put up. but he still carries tracks in his car. father of 2. that's what yu call personal.

what about me? again dude, id like to reiterate as i one mentioned in LGL, the utter simplicity of it - can't help carvin an awe in me sunken sockets. never though, something can dent yer head with power chords..sometimes 2 or sometimes 3..and make yu go "wtf, why didn't i think of that?" and make yu ram yer head into clean whitewashed wall. oh yes, then again it is me we are talkin' about here. to again,circumcize a long story short -
it's hard,
bein simple
and yet
sound so farkin
good. (undoubtable proof - look at me ramblings, something which i'm spot on sure could have been summarized in 2 paras - REALLY SORRY dude, and dif-dif kehormat skelian :(((

one thing he did tell me was this, they did cover a couple more of MR.LEADBELLY's numbers..if there is one track i truly loved and started me voracious scrounging for anythin i get on pure guitar n' nicotinecorroded voice...that track was a major factor, the leadbelly one.

okay bro, have a great week ahead. gonna slide me arse over to LGL now. and oh yeah, if there's any new vocab bein asked - please post it by all means.
MWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA.

mozlovesnigella said...

WHAT I MEANT TO say was, the cover of the mr.leadbellys track got me seriously dwelving into the blues to discover some pure gems, most notably, mr.robert johnson, mr.muddy waters and a little bit of the mr.wolf.thanks.

anfield devotee said...

Mohan: Remember the dude who shouted "Judas" at Bob Dylan when he plugged in fer a set in Manchester? Same diff?

Or how bout the critical mauling Led Zep got fer going acoustic on III after the mighty bombast of II? The thrird instalment has belatedly been acknowledged as one of the band's gretest albums.

But hey, dude, yer entitled to yer opinion. After all, that is the beauty of great music. It will definitely spark a debate ot two.

But no debate bout Kim Gordon though.

Anba: Good to see you have seen the error of yer ways. This is a LANDMARK album. Every home should have one.

Moz: Yes, you are absolutely right about that line in Get Up Stand Up.
As fer the blues, all roads inevitably lead back to the Delta, dude . . .

Achilles said...

AD: Was never a too big a fan of Nirvana, and the only album me posses is Nevermind.... me bought it... not downloaded.

Just to add, me had one fren in college who absolutely hated Nirvana, coz he blames them for the demise of the rock age..."smells like teen spirit" basically changed the entire scene of music... shifting people from rock to grunge.

in essence, that shows you how influential Nirvana was...just one song changed the entire music scene.

Mohan said...

Ad Dude: You make much sense...but all i was trying to say was that Kurdt without electric is like Hendrix without electirc!!
You take care, M.
p/s: Apologies for prolonging this!!... just need you to introduce me to some new good music.. definitely need it!!

anfield devotee said...

mohan: No issues dude! Me knows what you are saying there. Nice to be able to discuss music with people who share the passion.
As fer new music, will get on it asap. However much of the stuff me posts here is metal which may not be to yer liking. Will see if can locate some alt-rock fer you. BTW, know where to download Jesus Lizard albums? Never got round to buying em coz they were bloody imports ie expensive.

achilles: Hey dude, thank goodness fer Nirvana & the rest of Subpop doing a cleaning act. Got rid of much that was absolutely horrible about rock & metal! Gone were the SHIT bands like Poison, Motley Crue, WASP et al. Hair metal was dead & good riddance as well.

Good stuff like industrial, grindcore & death metal lived on.

Nirvana v RATT? Alice In Chains v Kix? Mudhoney v Warrant?

In me humble opinion, the face of rock was changed fer the better.

mozisgod said...

nice..but then again yu get a band like the darkness comin along...a throwback to the times..which me seem "punker" than the norm, current scenario factored it...to some probably a shite band...to some extreme goofiness..to me..goofines with a twist..(acdc meets Lep? chegu..correct me if wrong la..heheheh)

with some super sugar coated poppy riffs..which in a vague "once-upon-a-time-when-spandex-was-big" way can't help tuggin an epileptic smile on yer face - tuan achilles/bala/premo (the sonicyautthhhmeister) yer comments on this? curious to know.

Unknown said...

I remember clearly when I first heard the news about Cobain's death. Was during break time in high school - must've been in Form 4 or 5. Me and my mates just ripped up some black cloth we found and wore it as mourning bands the rest of the day. The teachers and other students really thought someone important or close to us had passed away but frowned disapprovingly when we revealed who it was actually for. Yes it was juvenile and embarrassingly naive now when I look back but it felt real at the time. We truly felt we had lost an icon, a spokesperson for a generation. Though most of us were already in the advance stages of hardcore, grind and metal, the effect Nevermind, Bleach and even Incesticide had on our lives were forever etched in our hearts and minds, growing up as a motley crue of outsiders in small town JB.

Subsequently after that, it has become common practice for me and maybe a few other friends that still have a soft spot for nostalgia to slip in Bleach into the cassette player and cruise around aimlessly on the night of Cobain's death anniversary, preferably after a beer or two.

PS. The gems for me from Nirvana's Unplugged were On a Plateau, Lake of Fire and Oh Me. All Meat Puppets covers but by no means coincidental. The intricate melodies and country/psych sensibilities in their songs were perfect to be rendered in semi acoustic settings, unlike Nirvana's catchy, Pixies inspired power pop that relied much on the simplistic yet abrasive tone and manner of its sonic delivery. Not to discredit the bands overall stellar unplugged performance, but it does pale in comparison to say, Neil Young's Zuma or Arc/Weld. Then again to warrant comparison with the godfather of grunge himself is a compliment.

Joe Kidd: May I humbly suggest a title befitting for your newly infamous band's career long best of's album? How bout Dung's Greats Shits Album? Hehe :)

anfield devotee said...

moz: The Darkness. Good fer a laugh but yer not gonna collect their complete discography are you? Novelty will probably wear thin after awhile. Fourth rate Queen but still better than a lot of other stuff out there.
This is unlike Nirvana or Alice In Chains which are bands that attract hardcore adulation fer the simple fact they were/are brilliant. Case in point - Alice In Chain's unplugged/Jar of Flies / Sap releases. Acoustic yet brilliant!

premo: Neil Young - grumpy old man or original flannel shirt. Discuss.

Anba said...

Bro...
just fer argument sake what do you think of Alice in Chains unplugged album compared with nirvana's unplugged ?

Achilles said...

AD: Dunno if it changed the music scene fer the better or not-lah... as you know... me is quite a huge fan of some fooking glam rock bands... such as Motley Crue and i do like some stuff from Poison as well. I know a lot of glam rock bands were shite (which even i wouldn't listen to), but some of them did appeal to me lah.

I am sure you are banging your head right now in disagreement. hehehehehe....

anfield devotee said...

achilles; No, you are entitled to like these bands. Millions of others also did. But me wasn't one of em. And truth be told, many glam rock bands sorta faded after the first LP. They made no secret that they were there fer the drugsm chicks & the mullah. Sadly, the music was a distant last.

anba: Nirvana's better but like me said, really rate the Sap & Jar of Flies releases.

Achilles said...

AD: Agreed... the music was not their first priority... but some of them were quite cool lah... and i still have fun listening to them... it brings back a lot of memories...

Unknown said...

AD: Neil Young maybe a considered a grumpy old man by many of his industry peers and ex band mates (see CSNY or Crazy Horse) but the man is the rightful owner to the title of Godfather of Grunge. Can't imagine anyone else whose voice, lyrics, demeanour, state of mind and of course guitar who could have influenced a generation of younger bands. Listen to After the Goldrush and hear the future of Mad Season and Buffalo Tom. Listen to Harvest Moon and recognize the blue print for a genre soon to be known country grunge/folk. Everyone Knows This is Nowhere, Zuma, On the Beach, Arc/Weld... the list goes on.

Probably the only other bands that can boast that kind of overwhelming influence on grunge rock would be Hendrix, Led Zep, MC5 and The Stooges.


Anba: Alice In Chains Sap and Unplugged to me were better than Nirvana's version but I think most ppl were put off by its lyrically darker themes.

Achilles: True - not everyone in our generation embraced the sweeping tide of change that Nirvana lead onto the then current rock scene. I remember quite a few mat rock that took joy in bashing grunge as poseur boy PC whinge rock as they could not accept that the Warrants, Poisons and Van Halens of their world were suddenly deemed irrelevant and unfashionable. While this may have been unfortunate for some bands future (such as GNR and Skid Row who were actually GOOD), the general consensus was that it was a change for the better since rock music at that time needed a good kick up the arse. It had become lazy, complacent, arrogant and lame - not even the undercurrents of a then fledgling post hardcore/metal scene fueled by labels such as Dischord, Earache, SST etc could have significantly made more than a scratch on the fat underbelly of mainstream rock.

But I have far more respect for ppl who were admittedly more forthright in expressing their distaste for 90's alterna rock/grunge rather than those pretended to do so cos it was 'in'.

anfield devotee said...

premo: Well said regarding sticking to yer guns.

As fer AIC v Nirvana; as you know me is a fan or both bands but Nirvana's unplugged show shades it coz of the fabulous covers. And make no mistake - it was fooking dark. The MAn who Sold The World became a rock star's lament, Leadbelly's tune a dire warning of things to come and Lake of Fire Kurt's own personal hell . . .

As fer glam rock, GnR would've imploded anyways under the weight of Axl's ego, grunge or no grunge.

As fer neil Young, yes, me is a fan as well. But me actually thinks a lot of seattle acts only got whiff of the granddaddy's music later on. They were more informed by classic rock of Sabbath (see Soundgarden & AIC) & punk (see Tad, Nirvana & Mudhoney).

But kudos to neil Young fer being a true original. However some of the Crazy Horse stuff is fooking unlistenable. Feedback overload!!!

Achilles: Hey, yer musical past is designed precisely fer that. A musical jukebox as yer own personal memory card.

However, me urges you to try & expand yer horizon sikit la. Lot of great, experimental & new stuff out there waiting to make it into that jukebox in yer brain. So while the Crue et al bring back fond memories, you never know how say Satyricon may affect you.

At least download & cuba la. Free what?

mozisgod said...

tuan balric: hehehhe. point taken. will never trudge miles to get a complete disco of them. unless its entails a bet - where if i loose, i end up wearing some clingy spandex..(whoa - moz in spandex, now there's a sight to behold. had lunch yet?) :)))

and yes, in light of comparison with something that is worthy of a work of art - it would never equate the likes of the bands mentioned. (jar of files - prolific gilerrr). as far as the point in time was concerned, a friend of mind palmed a tape in me hand and said dude - listen. it was sg's badmotofinger. needlees to say, the whole works (and the exceptional voice) sent chills up my spine. other than, never was adventurous in terms of that sound (yes, i'm one of those idiots who never really appreciated mr.vedder and his jam). my loss. although, this i have to say, their sound did turn me on (inspire?) me to other out of this world stuff. with the help of some ardent mates, i began to see a thread - evolutionary perhaps. e.g. s/garden riffs...ladened with lots of zep, which in turn leads back to the blues..which in turn as yu said..leads back to
to the delta :))

tuan kerpRIC: I HEAR WARRANT being mentioned :)) *nudgenudgewinkwink* shall we ah macha?

achilless: want me to ge that copy of mid-price manowar stuff chief for yu?

tuan premo: dude, sonic youth - in terms of a leaving a legacy of sorts of behind? very curious mon.

Jon-C said...

My cassette of this excellent live session have gone to timbaktu a long time ago. Kekekeke.

Truly the soundtrack to my teenage life.

anfield devotee said...

Jon C: Same here la. Need to replace. NickM says the ori DVD version is being sold at half price.

moz: Please don't encourage kerpie to start on his Cherry Pie shit. He he . . . fooking shameless pundek la that fella.
As fer pearl jam, me just didn't have the stamina to follow their career. Good luck to em fer sticking to their guns.

Unknown said...

AD: Thanks for correcting me - Nirvana's lyrics were haunting as well but their proceedings were presumably more light hearted than Layne Staley and co.

Moz: Its ok for not liking Pearl Jam! I fell in love wit Ten but then I could understand why some ppl began to loath ol marble mouth thanks to wannabie warblers such as Creed etc who ripped of En. Vedder's vocal stylings kow kow! Ah but Badmotofinger... now there's an album that separates the fans from true fans. Louder than Love anyone?

As for Sonic Youth - what can I say asides that I'm a huge fan for a band that even indie rockers think a re way too noisy. Noisy is an insult here because I think too many ppl fail to appreciate their multi layered yet discordant melodies and alt tunings. I own all their albums from EVOL to Washing Machine so yeah I am prejudiced in my opinions. But like Nick M said about iconic sludgemeisters Fudge Tunnel, it ain't noise if yer can understand it.

Without SY, one can safely say the traditional songwriting structure of most rock songs would not have differed too much as is with their excellent use/abuse of feedback, alt tuning and boy/girl vocal harmonies etc. They definitely encouraged experimentation and revelled in breaking down the macho posturing on most rock songs with angular, feminized post rock.

SY kicked ass live as well (saw them in Spore during their Washing Machine tour w Foo's). But crediting them alone for being progenitors of a movement would be shortsighted. The Melvins, Television, The Pixies, Big Black etc have all been around for ages but never found (or perhaps sought to find) the commercial acclaim of their more successful peers.

anfield devotee said...

premo: Ultramega ok?

Achilles said...

Moz: sure thing. but what kind of stuff? if got poster or t-shirt... me would be very very interested.

Premo: Agree with you that the rock scene needed a kick in the butt... but maybe not so hard-lah... hehehehe.

i really feel that the rock era came to an end with nirvana, and why rock today is such an underground thing and why so few people listen to it today, and we feel this special bond with other "surviving" rock fans because there are so few of us around. don't you feel the same? not saying me hates nirvana, like them, but not as much as skid row, the crue, van halen... just to name a few.

but perhaps its like you said... this is better than having posers who like rock music only because it was cool and hip at that time...
mmmm... this debate could go on forever.

AD: Yes... me is very fussy with the music me like... but will try to open up more. i think since you started this blog, i have explored a whole lot more music than i normally would have.

mozisgod said...

tuan premo: "..noisy is an insult"...nice one dude:))) mwahhaha. very interesting and thanks.

AD, to tell yu the truth, if it were not for premo here - i wouldnt even have bothered to give THEYAUTTHHH a second listen. but the mere "freshness" of hearin' (what later on i found out) to be screwdrivers jammed into the fretboards/necks was to appealin to resist bro..read: as in wahhheyeyeyeyy wtf is this...:))
i guess what i'm tryin to say is they've got an own sound, unique and a thorn in the heart - to say the least. plug in an SY-track anytime and yu know it's them
that coupled with me lyrics like
"..scrape, scrape, scrape in melted cheese..you and me burnin'
in the summmmerrr timeee..last night i kissed neilll younnnggg..
if i was bhoyy,the it
would be fun"..yes, yes, one of their more "commercial n'radio-friendly" tracks..mwahhahha

having said that dude, heck even SY-led us on to other things from there did it not? and ironically thanks to spore fer getting BBC worldwide service and of course Mr.JOhnna Peela...we got our heads farked with
the noise that is
the fall..mwahhahahhahahah

tuan achilles: only CD's so far la bro. in case you have one not in the collection, so far have seen kings of steel, triumph of something and one "black" album. kalu nak sound bro. tadok hal.

Tinesh said...

Holy shit it was Joe Kidd! lol..

anfield devotee said...

tinesh: Yes, it is the now-infamous Joe Kidd of the rowdy, uncouth underground band Carb Dung! Autographs are five bucks a piece . . . he he.

achilles: Glad to hear you are trying out more stuff. Hey dude, moz was talking about loincloths la. The official merchandise ones with logo & all hee hee!

moz: wah, turn me blog site into a Manowar trading site ah? Bugger you fellas . . .

Yes, Sonic Youth fooking rules!

Achilles said...

Moz: Audio CDs me got already-lah... only the other merchandise me don't have. Nvm.. if you happen to stumble upon any cool t-shirts or posters let me know. Thx man.

AD: Would you like a Manowar Underwear??? hehehehee