You are vastly underestimating the impetus that Cobaine and Vedder created together. And Vedder while annoying sometimes has a vast range and is still active, winning Golden Globes and getting nominated for Grammy awards while Axl has tarnished his legacy.
Your opinion about their singing is subjective remember, I'm not fan of Pearl Jam but can recognize how strong of an influence he played with Nirvana in the early 90's. They completely changed nearly everything rock and roll related for a long time. Guns n Roses was flash in the pan, a momentary collection of musicians while Pearl Jam and Nirvana changed the way every band looked and behaved, including bands like Guns n' Roses. The entire industry went from this
to this (same band)
because of 2 bands and the sound changed as well.
Guns N' Roses bridged the gap for the Grunge look while actually knowing how to play their instruments.
Guns N' Roses bridged the gap for the Grunge look while actually knowing how to play their instruments.
Do you play an instrument? I've played guitar for 13 years now and both Pearl Jam and Nirvana have some difficult and respectable songs, not the kind of thing you'd know without ever playing music. If I was forced I'd learn Pearl Jam over GnR 10/10 times because their songs are more enjoyable to play personally. But there's obviously a bias against them, understandable with how much Nirvana and Pearl Jam were overplayed in the past 2 decades.
Do you play an instrument? I've played guitar for 13 years now and both Pearl Jam and Nirvana have some difficult and respectable songs, not the kind of thing you'd know without ever playing music. If I was forced I'd learn Pearl Jam over GnR 10/10 times because their songs are more enjoyable to play personally. But there's obviously a bias against them, understandable with how much Nirvana and Pearl Jam were overplayed in the past 2 decades.
I played guitar religiously for 5 years and knew tons of Nirvana songs and could play almost the entire lead guitar GN'R catalogue in high school. Since then I've moved into electronic music so I can barely remember any songs on guitar but I still have fun playing what Guns N Roses songs I do remember. Very little interest in reteaching myself Nirvana's stuff. Never got into Pearl Jam so my comment was more directed at Nirvana.
I don't know how exactly you could say that playing any Nirvana song is a challenge? The only challenge I could think of when it comes to playing a nirvana song on guitar is staying awake and not messing up out of pure boredom. I guess tuning to drop d could be hard for some? Aren't Nirvana's songs almost all simple chords or power chords? I did only learn their popular songs though so maybe I missed something but Kurt wasn't exactly known for his technical prowess around a guitar.
but the dislike is almost equal because Vedder-wannabees were for years by far the most common type of rock vocalists. They were effing everywhere, all the time, for like a decade.
Everyone forgets about Alice in Chains who are one of the most underrated bands of that age. They were actually my personal favorite of the Seattle grunge bands followed by Nirvana, Soundgarden, then Pearl Jam. IMO it's extremely tough to top work like Facelift, Dirt, Sap (collaboration with Heart and Soundgarden members), and Jar of Flies. The fact that troutman omitted them from his list just goes to show how underrated they are.
Alice in Chains was a good band, so I don't mean this a disrespect to them, but it is pertinent to the discussion that they also started out as a hair/glam metal band:
I played guitar religiously for 5 years and knew tons of Nirvana songs and could play almost the entire lead guitar GN'R catalogue in high school. Since then I've moved into electronic music so I can barely remember any songs on guitar but I still have fun playing what Guns N Roses songs I do remember. Very little interest in reteaching myself Nirvana's stuff. Never got into Pearl Jam so my comment was more directed at Nirvana.
I don't know how exactly you could say that playing any Nirvana song is a challenge? The only challenge I could think of when it comes to playing a nirvana song on guitar is staying awake and not messing up out of pure boredom. I guess tuning to drop d could be hard for some? Aren't Nirvana's songs almost all simple chords or power chords? I did only learn their popular songs though so maybe I missed something but Kurt wasn't exactly known for his technical prowess around a guitar.
Some of Nirvanas more acoustic slower songs are difficult to play properly because there is a lot of chords that have bass notes as well as gbe or dgb chords that transition fast enough. They have several songs that are Hendrix esque but with a much different tone. Yeah most of their music is easy to play.
That doesn't change the influence they had. It was like a musical uturn. Tool, GnR, Metallica, Rage or any other major band from the era was less influential as Nirvana and Pearl Jam had a ripple like effect through pretty much anything closely related to rock and roll. This is regardless of how many albums they sold or what people think of their music. I don't listen to any of those bands regularly but can recognize the impact they had.
What are the best Hard Rock albums (quality,impact and sales)?
Classic:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Led Zeppelin - IV
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Who - Who's Next
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Boston - Boston
Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti
Aerosmith - Rocks
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Stooges - Raw Power
Kiss - Destroyer
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Spinal Tap - Intravenus de Milo
Punk:
Ramones - S/T
Clash - London Calling
1980s:
AC/DC - Back in Black
Rush - Moving Pictures
Van Halen - 1984
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Metal:
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Post Punk:
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Pixies - Doolittle
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Rage Against The Machine - S/T
Deftones - White Pony
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie . . .
Grunge:
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pearl Jam - Ten
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Art Rock:
Radiohead - Ok Computer
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
You forgot
Emo:
Jimmy Eat World
Alexisonfire
Paramore
Fall Out Boy
The Following User Says Thank You to Magnum PEI For This Useful Post:
Some of Nirvanas more acoustic slower songs are difficult to play properly because there is a lot of chords that have bass notes as well as gbe or dgb chords that transition fast enough. They have several songs that are Hendrix esque but with a much different tone. Yeah most of their music is easy to play.
That doesn't change the influence they had. It was like a musical uturn. Tool, GnR, Metallica, Rage or any other major band from the era was less influential as Nirvana and Pearl Jam had a ripple like effect through pretty much anything closely related to rock and roll. This is regardless of how many albums they sold or what people think of their music. I don't listen to any of those bands regularly but can recognize the impact they had.
Oh I completely agree with their impact. I just said Guns N' Roses sort of started bridging the gap between hair metal and grunge.
What are the best Hard Rock albums (quality,impact and sales)?
Classic:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Led Zeppelin - IV
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Who - Who's Next
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Boston - Boston
Frank Zappa - Sheik Yerbouti
Aerosmith - Rocks
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Stooges - Raw Power
Kiss - Destroyer
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Spinal Tap - Intravenus de Milo
Punk:
Ramones - S/T
Clash - London Calling
1980s:
AC/DC - Back in Black
Rush - Moving Pictures
Van Halen - 1984
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Metal:
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Post Punk:
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
Pixies - Doolittle
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Rage Against The Machine - S/T
Deftones - White Pony
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie . . .
Grunge:
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pearl Jam - Ten
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Art Rock:
Radiohead - Ok Computer
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
I like that you don't have the sex pistols listed... But where's the Velvet underground and nico?
I don't think Nirvana in any way evolved from gnr. They came out if the 90s alternative genre and built upon bands like the pixies and such with a little grunge flavour.
I like that you don't have the sex pistols listed... But where's the Velvet underground and nico?
I don't think Nirvana in any way evolved from gnr. They came out if the 90s alternative genre and built upon bands like the pixies and such with a little grunge flavour.
No, Nirvana didn't evolve from GnR. Nirvana formed in 1987 and GnR first hit the charts in 1987. The music scene in general evolved partly because of GnR and their Appetite album though, which paved the way for bands like Nirvana to break into the mainstream. When you look at the top 40 hits of 1987, GnR stands out against acts like Tiffany, George Michael, Rick Astley, etc... Could the mainstream have gone right from Rick Astley to Nirvana without bands like GnR bridging the gap? Maybe, but I have my doubts.
Sort of OT though, but a lot of credit to the way music was shaped in the 1980s and 1990s has to go to David Geffen though too who was never afraid to give big studio production and distribution to longshots.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 11-23-2015 at 09:03 AM.
Everyone forgets about Alice in Chains who are one of the most underrated bands of that age. They were actually my personal favorite of the Seattle grunge bands followed by Nirvana, Soundgarden, then Pearl Jam. IMO it's extremely tough to top work like Facelift, Dirt, Sap (collaboration with Heart and Soundgarden members), and Jar of Flies. The fact that troutman omitted them from his list just goes to show how underrated they are.
My favourite of that era as well. They were the only good part of a Van Halen show that they opened in 91 or 92. Their new stuff is worth looking up as well.
BTW, I think Layne Staley's vocal style was ripped off a lot more than Vedder's from that time (Vedder actually wrote about it after Staley's death, hidden track at the end of "Bee Girl" from Pearl Jam's Lost Dogs.)
If we're going there, we should totally talk about Hanoi Rocks, who were a major influence for both Slash and Axl and thus GnR. Some call the lead singer Mike Monroe "the godfather of Hair Metal" (which is somewhat ironic considering that band actually was way more punk than the bands that copied them).
Slash even took his "signature" look pretty directly from Andy McCoy, the guitarist from Hanoi Rocks.
You are vastly underestimating the impetus that Cobaine and Vedder created together. And Vedder while annoying sometimes has a vast range and is still active, winning Golden Globes and getting nominated for Grammy awards while Axl has tarnished his legacy.
This statement is so wrong it isn't funny. You know why so many bands vocalists imitated Vedder? Because you don't have to be able to sing worth a damn to do so. I am not a huge Axl Rose fan but he has oodles more talent as a vocalist than Vedder.
