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Nirvana or Bob Dylan?
- Thread starter mcblahflooper94
- Start date
This thread is an insult to Dylan. (...and lots of noise isn't the only way to express 'feeling').
john_martin_sai said:
I never said, but I've never been able to hear as much feeling in his music. Listen to Pennyroyal Tea, Something In the Way, or you know You're Right, all have a very strong sense of emotion, not just loudness (loud choruses though
) if you could give me a song that shows me emotion from Dylan, I'd love to hear it
Dylan's voice never really bothered me like it does some people. I like a number of Nirvana songs, but I always felt that the best thing to come out of Nirvana was Grohl. Foo Fighters are one of the best mainstream rock bands around, IMHO. I love Kris's bass tone, though.
...and yeah, comparing Nirvana and Dylan just seems weird to me.
...and yeah, comparing Nirvana and Dylan just seems weird to me.
This is an interesting comparison, and it does somewhat come down to the listener's age group. To me, Dylan has little direct impact, but I am sure that he has a lot of indirect impact through other musicians. Nirvana had a much more direct impact on me than Dylan does.
However, neither comes close to other contemporaries of Nirvana, like Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, who penned songs that were every bit as masterful as anything Dylan put out.
However, neither comes close to other contemporaries of Nirvana, like Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, who penned songs that were every bit as masterful as anything Dylan put out.
If you grew up during Nirvana's heyday, then it's Nirvana for you. If you grew up during Dylan's heyday, then it's Dylan for you. Simple as that. There is no "better", just what you like.
I think thats mostly the case. I like both Dylan and Nirvana.
A close look at a Nirvana lyric sheet guarantees a truly great poetic read, though it is true that the lyrics get lost in Cobain's singing style.
Dylan's voice never really bothered me like it does some people. I like a number of Nirvana songs, but I always felt that the best thing to come out of Nirvana was Grohl. Foo Fighters are one of the best mainstream rock bands around, IMHO. I love Kris's bass tone, though.
...and yeah, comparing Nirvana and Dylan just seems weird to me.
Personally, I love Grohl's drumming and personality, but don't care much for his songwriting. Seems like he's been writing the same song over and over for the last 15 years.
LiquidMidnight said:Dylan's voice never really bothered me like it does some people. I like a number of Nirvana songs, but I always felt that the best thing to come out of Nirvana was Grohl. Foo Fighters are one of the best mainstream rock bands around, IMHO. I love Kris's bass tone, though.
...and yeah, comparing Nirvana and Dylan just seems weird to me.
I COMPLETELY agree. I'm a huge foo fan. Everyone besides Dave kinda sucks at their instruments. I was just thinking about how everyone always talks about how Dylan was the voice of the 60's generation, and how Kurt Cobain is viewed as the voice of the 90's generation. And then I thought about how they're kind of opposites, Cobain and Dylan.
Well, perhaps some of us have had these lyrics tattooed into our subconscious via repetition, but just in case anyone missed it:
Load up on guns,
Bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's overboard self assured
Oh no I know, a dirty word.
Hello, hello, hello, hello?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, how low, how low?
Hello, hello, hello.
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulato!
An Albino!
A mosquito!
My libido!
Yay! Hey! Yay!
And that's pretty typical of Nirvana. And I lied; I can never remember these lyrics even after several thousand listens.
Now, I'm a retired high school English teacher, and I don't really want to debate "great poetry" and go all academic medieval on anyone, but as song lyrics go, that is pure garbage, the kind of "scratch lyrics" most songwriters go back and change into something more meaningful.
But that's just an opinion. To each his own.
See my above post. Credit where credit's due, Cobain was a good songwriter (not great like some of his contemporaries but far better than most). Credit where credit's due, it's Dylan for ****'s sake! He set the bar 50 years ago (sacred feces-it's really been that long) and it's still there, right where he left it.
Neither for me but I will say that Dylan was a good songwriter since many acts did good covers of his songs.
I will agree that Dylan was a great wordsmith, but (with rare exception) I get very little emotional conneciton with his music. Some the people who have covered his songs have done a really great job, but his own singing leaves me feeling very "meh".
There's an emotional component to Nirvana's music that has always been a better fit for my own preferences.
When you really come down to it, it's like comparing apples to panda bears.
There's an emotional component to Nirvana's music that has always been a better fit for my own preferences.
When you really come down to it, it's like comparing apples to panda bears.
Age is almost certainly a factor for some, but I'm in both the Dylan and Nirvana "generations." I grew up with classic rock, including Bob Dylan. It took awhile for me to appreciate him, but I was a huge fan by the time the Seattle bands hit. I loved those bands too, which is no surprise because those guys are around my age (I was born about a month after Kurt Cobain), and obviously listened to all the stuff I did, from the 1960's bands through Sonic Youth and Husker Du. I instantly understood where they were coming from.
For me, Nirvana never came close to Alice in Chains or Soundgarden either, and I prefer Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees too. I think Nevermind might be the most overrated album of all time, but Cobain was a powerful songwriter, and his best tracks are amazing. I began to appreciate this when one of my bands covered a couple of them. I also think he was developing by leaps and bounds when he died, as shown by the best tracks on In Utero. It's a shame we'll never know where he would have gone.
So, I recognize Kurt Cobain's greatness, but his legacy will never be even remotely close to Bob Dylan's. And I'll take John Wesley Harding and Blood on the Tracks over Nevermind any day.
Since you are retired, I suppose you considerably past 50 years old, and therefore have a really hard time to relate to those lyrics, but I assure you that most people below 35 really identify themselves with those lyrics.
For example, the verse "here we are now, entertain us" sums up our current generation quite well, always demanding to be entertained in a passive-agressive fashion, bored by having a high an unrealistic expectation of what the world can provide.
Good point. I'm young at heart and try to stay current (it helps when you're a public educator), so I may not be as clueless as you think.
There are a few lines that actually have meaning.
There is also a lot of meaningless crap IMHO.
Have you every really listened to AIC lyrics, especially off of Dirt or their self-titled album? The lyrics to Angry Chair, Rooster or Down in a Hole are just as powerful (if not moreso) as anything Dylan ever wrote. Rooster is easily one of the best songs about war written in the past 30 years, and comes from a pretty unique perspective (that of the son of an emotionally/mentally scarred veteran).
A lot of people were fooled into thinking "Seattle = shouting + power chords" by a lot of the poor quality second and third generation grunge bands of the 90's. However, if you take the time to listen to the first generation Seattle bands, there is a lot of strong musicianship there.
Smells Like Ten Spirit, to me, is the worst possible example of anything in regards to Nirvana. The band admitted themselves that it was more of a throwaway song. And, you nailed it on the head as far as the "scratch lyrics" comment, these lyrics were written on the way to the studio.
A much better example from the same album, a song about abortion:
One baby to another says
I'm lucky to have met you
I don't care what you think
Unless it is about me
It is now my duty to completely drain you
I travel through a tube
And end up in your infection
Chew your meat for you
Pass it back and forth
In a passionate kiss
From my mouth to yours
I like you
With eyes so dialated
I've become your pupil
You've taught me everything
Without a poison apple
The water is so yellow
I'm a healthy student
Indebted and so grateful
Vacuum out the fluids
Chew your meat for you
Pass it back and forth
In a passionate kiss
From my mouth to yours
I like you
Certainly not the greatest poet of all time or anything, but Cobain had a great way with contradictory thoughts.
Admittedly, its not for everyone.
