Reaching Nirvana
"Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind" (2005) Documentary
Crank (it) up and realize the bliss, power, and passion… TOTAL NIRVANA!
The band Nirvana defined grunge—an entire sub-genre of music—by going mainstream and popularizing it. Who does that? How many times has this been done? It’s like Apple determining what we expect a cellphone to be and how to use it with its introduction of the iPhone.
In both cases these innovators created something that had never quite been seen before and that became popular because they filled a basic human need that had not previously been met. Beautiful, heartbreaking, fiery, and defiant music on the part of Nirvana that gave voice to teen angst and alienation, and a portable touchscreen computer on the part of Apple that helped people communicate with each other and stay connected to others as never before.
Classic Albums: Nirvana – Nevermind (2005) is a documentary directed by Bob Smeaton about the making of “Nevermind,” a landmark record by the band Nirvana (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, David Grohl and producer, Butch Vig) because of its successful introduction of grunge/alternative rock to the mainstream, reaching #1 on the Billboard charts, and eventually selling over 30 million copies worldwide.
Life Lesson: Whatever you do, do it well; you might create something great.
🍿Movie Scene Link (movie quote)
Both continue to endure even though their respective leaders died too soon, too young, and too tragically. At age 27 the lead guitarist, singer, and primary songwriter of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide, and at age 56 Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, in a way did too, by not getting treatment for his pancreatic cancer earlier. Their deaths were 17 years apart: April 5, 1994—October 5, 2011, half a generation, but their legacies are so significant that the works they created still reach and influence many across the world to this day.
Apple, of course, has done a lot to shape and help the music industry as a whole with its introduction of iTunes, which pioneered a functional way for digital music to be sold and bought. Prior to iTunes, people were just copying and sharing digital music, otherwise known as pirating, through sites like Napster and thus robbing from artists the opportunity to profit from their labor. So Apple truly is a revolutionary company, as both consumers and producers have benefited from its products and services.
And Nirvana did what few bands have ever done, which is to broaden the reach of a new type of music. Grunge was local, geographically restricted to the Seattle, Washington area, then Nirvana released the album Nevermind on September 24, 1991 (DGC Records) and the world changed. There is something very powerful about this type of music that can cross geographical boundaries, and even reach across time.
But what is really at the core of the success of both Apple and Nirvana is the quality of what they produced. These were planned, refined, and intelligently designed products. This is obvious when looking at an Apple computer, but it may not be obvious when looking at the seemingly disheveled, seemingly aloof members of Nirvana. But nothing great just happens by accident, and an album like Nevermind does not just appear out of thin air.
The story of the creation of Nevermind was the subject of a 2005 documentary directed by Bob Smeaton and released by Eagle Rock Entertainment as part of the Classic Albums TV series. In it band member Krist Novoselic explains their process:
“We were very disciplined, and we took rehearsals and playing music seriously. There really was no messing around; no partying, or having girls over, or anything. It was very serious. And we played the songs over, and over again, until we felt they sounded right, and you know, worked out all the bugs. At that point, we’d go in the studio and we’d just do our thing.”
This is not the image that most have of rock bands. But the reality is that well-honed skills require a great deal of practice and discipline. And it is only after the work has been put in that powerful and wonderful things are allowed to materialize. The members of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, David Grohl, and producer Butch Vig, set out to make the best album they could, not expecting (how could they?) or even wanting any kind of commercial success. This is how drummer Dave Grohl described it:
“We had that sort of do-it-yourself punk-rock ethic that we all shared. I don’t think it would have worked if one person didn’t have that. I mean honestly, there was hardly any career ambition at all. We knew there was no way we could be the biggest band in the world, we just wanted to play… We weren’t on a mission; we just wanted to make a great record.”
Nevermind went on to reach #1 on the Billboard charts, selling over 30 million copies worldwide; it was certified Gold and Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in November 1991, certified Diamond in March 1999, and added to the American National Recording Registry in 2004 for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." But unfortunately this external success appears to have caused some catastrophic failure in musician Kurt Cobain, who wrote in his suicide note:
“I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things.”
He in particular seems to have been profoundly and negatively affected by the distractions, pressures, responsibilities, duties, and stresses of sustaining commercial success, when all he probably really wanted to do was make good music:
Kurt Cobain (re: the success of Nevermind): “We weren’t prepared for it, and it’s never been a main goal of ours. You know, we really don’t care about anything like that. We just wanted to put out a good record. Hopefully the people who liked our first album would like this one also.”
And they did. Nevermind is beautiful, full of sincere, intense, and visceral passion, particularly the songs that speak from the heart:
Come As You Are
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Lithium
In Bloom
Something In The Way
Please go listen to them. And hopefully they will help you appreciate the life lesson in all of this, which is: Whatever you do, do it well; you might create something great.
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Thanks for reminding me
Sounds like electric bob dylan too, re anticipating a need and mass appeal as a side product .. 💯