What would happen if Nirvana hadn't come in the spotlight 1991

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What if Kurt Cobain lived?

He would be working at BurgerTown now. By killing himself, he guaranteed his position as "rock legend" right before his band broke up and became a VH1 "Where Are They Now" special.

I agree to a certain extent maybe another band would have help usher in the alternative era, but not make the impact Nirvana did, their success was not some part of a brillant marketing campaign, it is something that happened, a combination of the right band in the right place and time.

SpectreFate wrote:

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What if Kurt Cobain lived?

He would be working at BurgerTown now. By killing himself, he guaranteed his position as "rock legend" right before his band broke up and became a VH1 "Where Are They Now" special.

Either that or appearing on VH-1's "Grunge of Love", where Kurt tries to find true love after his bitter divorce from Courtney. But about the original question, I'm in agreement with the opinions that if it wasn't Nirvana, it would have been someone else from the "grunge" era. The hair-bands of the 80's had run their course and the state of pop rock music was stale. A change was due. Nirvana, for better or worse, were in the right place at the right time.

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"Grunge of Love"

If Kurt Cobain had not died I still think Nirvana would have been considered legendary but I also think the band would have imploded anyway.

manny wrote:

If Kurt Cobain had not died I still think Nirvana would have been considered legendary but I also think the band would have imploded anyway.

I think you're right on the money there. Kurt's dying just sped up the process. Dave Grohl wasn't gonna sit behind that drum kit forever. As much as Kurt shied away from the spot-light, I think Dave's enjoying his "rock star" status. It was only a matter of time before he and Kurt disagreed over the direction of the band and went their seperate ways.

if Kurt hadn't killed himself, this summer we would have the Nirvina Reunion tour

thejokeriv wrote:

if Kurt hadn't killed himself, this summer we would have the Nirvina Reunion tour

Cobainapalooza.

If kurt cobain lived, then there would be no more heavy metal

Wasn't Kurt always trying to get rid of Dave.

One of the things that gets forgotten is that at the time of his suicide Nirvana had fallen off pretty far from their previous popularity. In Utero was considered a disappointing seller. A lot of people I knew who were fans pretty much left them with that record. To me, it was my favorite. Then with his death came the icon status.

First time I heard anything from Nevermind was when they were band of the month on the local metal station 103.1 The Underground. Before it broke huge two months later most of my metal friends were in love with that record. It was just the time and place for something like that to come along. As said before, if not them then somebody else. To me Nirvana did a bigger number on top 40 stuff than it did on metal.

I'll always feel the biggest problem is the music industry not taking advantage of a genre's success in the mainstream to expand and let it grow. It becomes all about sound-a-likes and singles till that's run into the ground. I guess they'll always feel they really are in the fad game. I think one of the many problems the companies are facing today is they never really tried to build music fans who simply love (and faithfully buy) the music. Which is why metal will always survive in some form.

Gilbert wrote:

If kurt cobain lived, then there would be no more heavy metal

Yeah right. Ever heard of the underground?

Metal was already changing before Nirvana even came around. Remember Faith No More? They were mixing rap, funk, alternative and metal together which was a lot different than the straight up thrash and hair metal of 1989.

Troublezone wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

If kurt cobain lived, then there would be no more heavy metal

Yeah right. Ever heard of the underground?

the underground will always be strong.

fingers wrote:

I have a feeling that alternative would of entered the spotlight anyway maybe not so much though and metal wouldn't of been a derogatry term. Bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janes Addiction, Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden were gaining momentum in the spotlight before Nirvana released that awful highly overrated Nevermind album But on the other hand Pearl jam, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth wouldn't of made it though. Alotta glam and thrash bands that started late most likely would of hit the spotlight bands like The Darkness (they formed in 1991 btw), Francis X, Bangalore Choir, Souls at Zero, Spread Eagle, Annihilator and a few others I cant think of. Testament would of hit the charts with that album they released in 1992. But what are all your thoughts on this

This movement was going to happen regardless of whether Nirvana succeeded or not. Nirvana ended up being the torch bearer for the movement after "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the airwaves, and because of this, the scene had an anthemic song to rally behind. In my opinion the saying "The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts" always fit this scene to a "T". It was one that had already existed for the better part of four years, and became a more burgeoning one by 1990. Cameron Crowe had recognized this, and completed his filming of his movie "Singles" by early 1991, before most had even heard of Nirvana. The movie actually was shelved for a while (fall of 92) until those at the studio figured out how to market it.

By the end of 1991 it was evident that something was happening with what was considered to some a music revolution. Soon other groups in Seattle like "Green River", "The Melvins", "Mudhoney", "My Sister Machine", "Pearl Jam", & the "Screaming Trees" were getting recognized. You also had bands like "Alice In Chains" and "Soundgarden" who were all of a sudden a part of this movement, since these bands were also from Seattle. I've always thought that "AIC" and "Soundgarden" were metal, but oh well...

Like what Birmingham, England (early Heavy Metal), Los Angeles (Glam), San Francisco (Thrash) were to their perspective genres, Seattle suddenly had become the cool place to live, and supposedly was the only place where cool music was being made??? Though I liked many of the bands that came out of Seattle, I hated the movement. Correction, I despised the movement. I always felt like those who lived it, ate it, & breathed it absolutely over analyzed everything that went on in this world. Though I welcome clarity in an individual over that of thick headedness, the world suddenly became way to P.C over night. It was a group who desperately wanted to become the next counter culture movement like that of the 60's, yet they were lacking a key ingredient, the "Vietnam War".

Could the garb that this group was wearing be any worse either.....flannels. Talk about suck ass! A flannel once in awhile to wear is no big deal, but when we were expected to transform our overall look to that of a lumber jack, then I have issues. It didn't stop there though, you also had to have the goatee to go along with your flannel look. Okay, so I sometimes have sported the goatee look, but not when it was deemed cool (purposely might I add).

Final thoughts on the scene: Good music, but ass clown fans.

My wife's favorite band would probably be one that rocks instead.

I still don't think you can single out Nirvana to blame for metal's return to the underground. Metal had pretty much run itself into the ground in the early 90's, the hair band thing was deader than a doornail, thrash was galloping itself into an early grave though lack of originality and bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc etc, were searching every which way for inspiration...and for the most part failing miserably. It needed to die on the commercial front...so it could be reborn again in the underground.

Too many bands, too much exposure and not enough inspiration. Same thing that killed off the 70's album rock bands...it wasnt punk, new wave or disco that killed them, it just helped put them out of their misery.

Nirvana is one of my most hated bands. They never spoke to me on any level and from 1990 - 1994 I used to say that if I had to pick a band to go down in a horrible plane crash I wish it would be Nirvana. Well, it wasn't a plane crash but... I really wish I had not said that crap now, I still don't like them but I really didn't wish death upon any of those guys. This band had a huge impact on music, that is undeniable, but as mentioned several times above the times were changing and it was just time for something new to take the place what metal had become. It really made us have to look a bit harder through the 90's to find quality metal out there but at the same time it gave us a challenge. And the bands had to work harder too, instead of having millions of $$ dropped on them so that they could party all the time they had to get back to the real job and produce quality music again if they wanted to continue to eat. Now most of us who grew up with metal in the 80's are revisiting it with the nostalgia reunion tours that have been going on the past few years. I'll give it about 3 - 4 more years then it will be the bands from the 90's chance to regroup and play the casinos.

I hated grunge though many of those so called bands weren't. AIC was more a 70's styled band then grunge. I was sad as some of those hair bands were starting to be more serious and add more blues to the music which I love. Think of Winger's Pull and Poison's Native Tongue. More mature albums that I still listen to.

jstate wrote:

Wasn't Kurt always trying to get rid of Dave.

Not sure, but I know Kurt always made fun of Dave's love for metal.

DallasBlack wrote:

Not sure, but I know Kurt always made fun of Dave's love for metal.

If I were Dave, I would make fun of Kurt's "tummy aches" and his penchant for sucking.

The grunge and alternative scene brought a degree of respectability back to rock music. The whole Satan and "girls, girls, girls..was getting old and silly! Poetry was back and creative songwritting, words were important again!

Have you actually read Nirvana's lyrics? Maybe that's why I was never into poetry, I thought a lot of it was overstated pretentiousness.

NumbskullakaNazgul wrote:

Have you actually read Nirvana's lyrics? Maybe that's why I was never into poetry, I thought a lot of it was overstated pretentiousness.

Yes I actually like his lyrics, sad, humorous, and at times purposely vague.

One of my favorite lines from Nirvana:

Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld
So I can sigh eternally

NumbskullakaNazgul wrote:

Have you actually read Nirvana's lyrics? Maybe that's why I was never into poetry, I thought a lot of it was overstated pretentiousness.

Yea, better go back to "bang your head!"

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If Kurt Cobain had not died I still think Nirvana would have been considered legendary but I also think the band would have imploded anyway.

Agreed as relations in the band at this point we're bad. They would have broken up and Hopefully Dave would have still gone on to make the Foo Fighters. The members of Nirvana were'nt as close as people believed well Kurt I should say wasnt close to the other members as the media made it out to be. If anything Dave and Krist were close, Kurt alienated himself from everybody in the end. I remember reading Krist's account of the last time he had saw Cobain alive he got into a fight with him at the airport. Not verbal fight well it turned physical. Had Kurt lived I think that Michael Stipe/Cobain project that they were working on making happen would have been freakin awesome. I think Cobain would probobly have gone solo but I think that he would have taken some form of break. His health sucked, especially those stomach problems he had which is why he started using heroin in the first place. He also had a family history of suicide (from his father's side) while sad. In a way i am not surprised he killed himself. I think Nirvana opened a whole new door to differant kind of music BUT i dont think it was Nirvana alone, you had bands like Bush, Pearl Jam (gag), Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees,etc... I think change was inevitable and Nirvana was at the right place at the right time with the right sound.

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If kurt cobain lived, then there would be no more heavy metal

Oh Pul-ease thats freakin ridiculous, thats like saying without Bill Haley and the Comets, or Buddy Holly, or The Beatles, or the Rolling Stones theres no more rock n roll or without Muddy Waters theres no more Blues , I like some Metal I like Nirvana in fact im probobly one of the biggest Nirvana fans here. But the whole Metal or nothing mentality is one of the reasons why I broadened my taste cuz I cant stand that mentality. Nirvana in the early days was classified as Heavy Metal and Kurt in countless interviews would have to correct them, To Kurt, Nirvana was a Punk Rock Band that would appeal to a Heavy Metal audience. Though I gotta say alot of people have only heard Nevermind and In Utero and make a judgment on them, I say Give their first album Bleach a shot its Raw and Heavy and IMO the best Nirvana album out there.

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The grunge and alternative scene brought a degree of respectability back to rock music. The whole Satan and "girls, girls, girls..was getting old and silly! Poetry was back and creative songwritting, words were important again!

Dont forget BORING too, That was one of Kurt's qualms with Heavy Metal was that right there, He classified it as people singing about Girls and their how big their genitalia was. I agree big time with Candlemass' statement. In fact i found Nirvana to be very inspiring

I could go on and on.....