Friday, April 11, 2014

Nirvana's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction last night was awesome

First of all, isn't the speed at which news is released great these days?

Great story BTW, Jim Farber. Excellent and trained is your hand in music journalism, distant Jedi colleague.

So, last night, Nirvana was part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 2014 Induction Ceremony. The band members and a few family members of Kurdt Cobain's came onstage to say a few words, as well as Michael Stipe.


Then, Pat Smear playing all of Kurdt's guitar parts, joined Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic for some Nirvana tunes with various females doing the vocals. Joan Jett sang a tired version of Smells Like Teen Spirit, and Lorde got all like, the sensitive songs, but there was one performance that really made me headbang in my seat.

Kim Gordon fucking killing it on Aneurysm.



Did you see that at the end too? She's like, 'Fuck it, I'm out!'

Michael Stipe: did that have anything to do with Nirvana?



Dave Grohl threw out some really heartfelt thanks to the drummers who came before him. I love everything Grohl said here. He's a cool dude.
"I listened to some really, really fucked up shit that my parents told me not to."
Got two daughters, like me. He was definitely the Will Wheaton of the night.



That's right you thank Sub Pop, the Seattle scene, Buzz Osbourne and Steve Albini, Krist Novoselic! Fuck yeah!

NIRVANA WAS ABOUT ROCK!!! Listen to me, getting all pumped up here.

Kurdt's mom: made me cry. She said the right things.

Courtney: you did a good job, too. You said the right things. We all do wish he was here today.

Now, to the harder question:

How rock n' roll is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

This morning, before actually watching the acceptance speech, I thought: not that rocking. But I JUST NOW erased a few pages of negativity directed at the ceremony to say this instead:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—I didn't trust you, but you turned me. I didn't think the ceremony of the event could surpass the pall cast over Nirvana's entirety of output by Kurdt's suicide. But by letting the guests of honor do the talking and simply providing the venue, you really put on the show that I, as a fan and guy who gets teary thinking of the loss of Kurdt, even though I live in Seattle and I'm not supposed to love Nirvana in Seattle anymore, wanted to see.

So thank you.

Do we have to ask ourselves why Kurdt did what he did? No. I'm sick of thinking about it, and so is his family, and concentrating on the good times instead of the bad is, in my opinion, a healthy way to move forward.

It's passé to openly love Nirvana in Seattle now, as a guy who's been in a few bands around here has seen. But I'm my own G.U.Y. and I don't bend to the wills of society, though I do know what it takes to fit in. And you know what? I'm okay with not listening to Nirvana anymore, except seldomly. There's shittons of new stuff out there, stuff that Kurdt helped inspire.

That's what I've taken away from all this Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame 2014 Induction Ceremony Hoo Ha. Kurdt may have wanted to slap us in the face a little with his suicide, but we don't have to let that get to us. I guess I was guilty of letting that get to me. You know, dwelling on my beautiful sadness, like we all did in the nineties.

The healthier way to think about Kurdt's suicide is that it was a stupid move, and if he wasn't on heroin maybe it wouldn't have happened. But it did. He did it. It's over, and we've all had our chances to grieve. Looking the other way now is completely okay with me. To dwell too hard on the why of it all would offer no answers, only clues, only presumption.

I think Courtney saying that Kurdt would be proud of the event and all the people there is a little presumptive, because how can you know? He might have been a Salinger-type recluse and bitterly decried the monied ties behind it and called it false.

One never knows.

No comments:

Post a Comment