Features
Friday, March 15 2013
Dave Grohl Gets Nostalgic in SXSW Keynote Address
As the featured speaker of this year's music festival, the Nirvana drummer, Foo Fighters lead singer reflects on what it took to get where he is today.
Friday, September 30 2011
The Year Alternative Went Massive and Defined a Decade
Above all else, musically 1991 will forever be remembered as the year alterna-rock conquered the masses. PopMatters explores how alternative became the dominant form of rock music in the '90s.
Tuesday, September 27 2011
Nevermind Nostalgia: The Music of 1991... 20 Years Later
Over the next several weeks, PopMatters explores the artistic diversity of 1991, as we revisit some of the year's most memorable albums, address the trends of the day, and mine the cutout bin of history.
Tuesday, September 27 2011
Smells Like MTV: Music Video and the Rise of Grunge
MTV’s central role in delivering grunge to a national audience in the early 1990s demonstrated the network’s power as a creator and definer of culture, and the reaction of many of grunge’s iconic figures against the video medium revealed the gulf between principle and reality.
Monday, September 26 2011
Between the Grooves of Nirvana's 'Nevermind'
Our stable of writers undertakes a track-by-track analysis of the most celebrated album of the last 20 years, from the surprise hit that brought grunge to the masses, to the hidden cacophonous noise-fest that may not even be included on your copy of the record.
Columns
Tuesday, April 10 2012
Grunge: Straining to Challenge the Status Quo
Grunge: Music and Memory casts grunge as the unsure middle weight stepping into the ring against one pop music brawler after another. Down goes Michael Jackson, down goes Guns 'n' Roses, and while Springsteen is putting the finishing touches onHuman Touch/Lucky Town, Nirvana and Pearl Jam release the most influential albums of the decade.
Tuesday, October 4 2011
Was Grunge the Last American Musical Revolution?
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten. In revisiting the grunge genre which altered the musical landscape two decades ago, the question arises: was this our last musical revolution?
Reviews
Thursday, December 15 2011
Ride: Nowhere (20th Anniversary Edition)
Alan Moulder's mix reveals, in these Rhino remasters, a grittier coating over the hazy smear.
Tuesday, October 18 2011
'Nirvana Live at the Paramount': Stand Near This Fire
Nirvana were always like some neighborhood kid's angsty little brother: loud, intense, and thoroughly unguarded even as wise-ass irony leaked through the veneer.
Friday, September 30 2011
Nirvana: Nevermind (Deluxe Edition)
Over time, it has become clear that this is an album about the feelings of one man (not a generation), and his struggle between rock purity and pop sensibility is what makes this classic.
Friday, December 11 2009
Nirvana: Live at Reading
Few live shows are able to communicate a band's heart and soul the way Nirvana's is brilliantly encapsulated here.
Friday, May 25 2007
Nirvana by Everett True
One of the author's major assertions, expressed through quotes of others, is that Nirvana remains a powerful entity owing much to the fact that Kurt Cobain is gone.
Blogs
Friday, April 26 2013
Counterbalance No. 126: Nirvana's 'In Utero'
Self-appointed judges judge more than they have sold. They agree though, that Nirvana's 1993 swan song is the 126th most acclaimed album of all time. All in all is all we are.
Friday, December 14 2012
Paul McCartney Gets Heavy with Nirvana
On Wednesday, the former Beatle teamed up with the surviving members of Nirvana for charity and debuted a heavy Zeppelin-esque jam live on stage. Kurt Cobain would have been jealous.
Thursday, August 30 2012
A Masterpiece Will Only Take You to Your Next Album
For the longest time, I’d auto-choose Nirvana's In Utero over its catchier predecessor Nevermind. It’s not embarrassing I chose In Utero for so long. But what is embarrassing is how I reached that conclusion.
Wednesday, August 8 2012
5 Great Bands (Spun Off from Other Great Bands)
Not every band borne out of a great predecessor can measure up. Here are five that do.
Thursday, July 14 2011
Why Shouldn't Miley Cyrus Smell Like Kurt Cobain?
Didn't Kurt Cobain perform as a teenage girl? If Nirvana did inspire an entire generation, then we really should be receiving Miley Cyrus' cover performances in a much more educated fashion than we are.
News
Wednesday, September 21 2011
Nirvana, Pearl Jam revisit era-defining music
NIRVANA “Nevermind: Super Deluxe Edition” (Geffen) 2.5 stars (out of 4) PEARL JAM “Pearl Jam Twenty” (Columbia) 3 stars ——— World domination — so difficult…
