I was 13, I can't remember that much. I'm pretty sure I was already an hyperactive kid with lots of interests and hobbies.
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So, what were you doing 30 years ago?
- Thread starter Michedelic
- Start date
Was in my 2nd year as a scanner operator at a facility that produced finished films for printed publications...back when people still read stuff off of paper.
A friend came by & played me Nirvana, I wasn't impressed. In fact, was bored with it before Teen Spirit even finished.
A friend came by & played me Nirvana, I wasn't impressed. In fact, was bored with it before Teen Spirit even finished.
I remember walking into the college radio station for my midnight shift and finding the 12" single in the new release bin and playing it on the air and it was cool, but I would never have guessed what was about to happen to that band.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,084
- 46,056
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
I was a couple of years out of living in Seattle and mostly cruising open mics down here in the Gorge looking for a new thing. Nirvana wasn't that me to at all (the meld of rap and rock as seen a little later in '91 was much more interesting to me), but I was quite happy to see the apple cart get upset and even more so to see at least one of my old friends in Seattle in a different band hit big.
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I was in first grade, and I remember peeing my pants because a teacher forced me to finish putting these handouts on everyone's desk, and I had to walk down to the nurse's office during recess. I also spent that year getting chased on the playground by all the girls.
One of those things has changed as an adult, unfortunately :- /
One of those things has changed as an adult, unfortunately :- /
30 years ago I was just about 10 years old in the second half of Grade 4 in Elementary school. I was playing piano at that point in my life. Bass didn't show up for another 6 years!
Music I was listening to back then was probably New Kids on the Block! Lol!
I did love Pink Floyd too!
I grew up being surrounded by grunge music, but that took a while to sink in with me. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden didn't get my attention until nearly a decade or so later.
Metallica got ahead of grunge, which lead me to Tool and Primus...and eventually NIN and QOTSA.
But yeah, I was a kid 30 years ago!
Music I was listening to back then was probably New Kids on the Block! Lol!
I did love Pink Floyd too!
I grew up being surrounded by grunge music, but that took a while to sink in with me. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden didn't get my attention until nearly a decade or so later.
Metallica got ahead of grunge, which lead me to Tool and Primus...and eventually NIN and QOTSA.
But yeah, I was a kid 30 years ago!
30 years ago today I was getting hoodwinked into planning my first ever trip to Las Vegas where my live-in girlfriend of nine years proposed to me. I believe my answer was..."Uh, okay".
She proposed over breakfast and we were married by lunch time.
She proposed over breakfast and we were married by lunch time.
Managing The Bass Centre in L.A.
I was 29, had been married for nearly 6 years and had become a father about 2 years before. No gigging since '88 as work was more important than the band.
I was 29, had been married for nearly 6 years and had become a father about 2 years before. No gigging since '88 as work was more important than the band.
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With all the references to Nirvana, and commercial fishing out of Seattle in the early 90's. I remember in the following years one of my crew mates introduced me to Robben Ford's Talk to your daughter, then a few years later Soundgarden - both major changes from the CSN, BTO, Skynard, and Claptonesque music styles I had been into. Funny, I was probably into my early 30's and Nirvana really didn't make that big of an impact. In the last few years Dave Grohl has revitalized my interest.
I was finishing up high school and getting ready to go to college in the fall, which is where I would hear Nevermind for the first time. I really liked it immediately.
The thing about grunge is the same as so many other musical happenings. If you were of the right age and in the right average social predicament, you just kind of found yourself there. I had a wide variety of musical interests (and still do), from Waylon Jennings to Skinny Puppy. Nirvana fit right in with so many other things that it just felt like it was meant to happen. 80's hair rock (which I listened to a lot of) was dying out, classic rock was already overplayed, punk was just a fashion statement, and what was later referred to as "grunge" was just a sort of corporate gerrymandering of a roughly-defined social scene.
While I never exactly followed "grunge", I did like a lot of the music and just kind of found myself involved in it. My friends were all the oddballs, we all shopped at Goodwill and rummage sales and Farm and Fleet, more or less listened to the same music, and when Nevermind came out, it appealed widely to most of those people. All the people who widely listened to stuff like Black Sabbath and the Stooges as well as 80's skate punk and alternative sort of just fused up together into this new thing. I think that was the main thing about what grunge was at first- if you met all of the qualifications, you and a bunch of other dudes like you just all found yourself in the same place at the same time. I managed to extricate myself from it, but it was fun for a while. Going into college right when that sort of movement was coming about was actually a lot of fun. I would repeat it.
One of the great things about Nirvana was just exactly that they weren't Rush, as much as I respect Rush. They were just some regular guys in a band who had a band because it was fun to be in a band, and it was gratifying to put their feelings into a form where they could be expressed to other people who often felt the same way. The very worst part about it was the way hard drugs were such a large part of it.
Musically, it was a lot of fun. A bunch of kids could go out, buy some cheap instruments and discover it was pretty simple to bang out "Smells Like Teen Spirit" just like other people did with bands like The Kingsmen and The Kinks so many years before. It wasn't much different than that, in my assessment.
The thing about grunge is the same as so many other musical happenings. If you were of the right age and in the right average social predicament, you just kind of found yourself there. I had a wide variety of musical interests (and still do), from Waylon Jennings to Skinny Puppy. Nirvana fit right in with so many other things that it just felt like it was meant to happen. 80's hair rock (which I listened to a lot of) was dying out, classic rock was already overplayed, punk was just a fashion statement, and what was later referred to as "grunge" was just a sort of corporate gerrymandering of a roughly-defined social scene.
While I never exactly followed "grunge", I did like a lot of the music and just kind of found myself involved in it. My friends were all the oddballs, we all shopped at Goodwill and rummage sales and Farm and Fleet, more or less listened to the same music, and when Nevermind came out, it appealed widely to most of those people. All the people who widely listened to stuff like Black Sabbath and the Stooges as well as 80's skate punk and alternative sort of just fused up together into this new thing. I think that was the main thing about what grunge was at first- if you met all of the qualifications, you and a bunch of other dudes like you just all found yourself in the same place at the same time. I managed to extricate myself from it, but it was fun for a while. Going into college right when that sort of movement was coming about was actually a lot of fun. I would repeat it.
One of the great things about Nirvana was just exactly that they weren't Rush, as much as I respect Rush. They were just some regular guys in a band who had a band because it was fun to be in a band, and it was gratifying to put their feelings into a form where they could be expressed to other people who often felt the same way. The very worst part about it was the way hard drugs were such a large part of it.
Musically, it was a lot of fun. A bunch of kids could go out, buy some cheap instruments and discover it was pretty simple to bang out "Smells Like Teen Spirit" just like other people did with bands like The Kingsmen and The Kinks so many years before. It wasn't much different than that, in my assessment.
Grunge never spoke to me. It was not something I liked or loathed, just background sound on the radio like hair metal had been a few years prior.
30 years ago I was about to abandon making a decent living in studios (behind the board, not playing) because I simply couldn't deal with terrible music 24/7 anymore at any price. In retrospect (given what happened to the studio business within 10 years of 1991) it was a good choice.
So, I was about to go back to school to finish my music degree, which I did that fall.
That detour ended up being much longer than anticipated. I'm still stuck in college, albeit as faculty now.
GT
30 years ago I was about to abandon making a decent living in studios (behind the board, not playing) because I simply couldn't deal with terrible music 24/7 anymore at any price. In retrospect (given what happened to the studio business within 10 years of 1991) it was a good choice.
So, I was about to go back to school to finish my music degree, which I did that fall.
That detour ended up being much longer than anticipated. I'm still stuck in college, albeit as faculty now.
GT
30 years ago tonight, at about 2200, I was bundling my wife into a hastily-emptied sound-hire company van, and getting her to hospital to deliver our first child.
It's all been a bit of a blur since...
As for Nevermind, and Nirvana, I honestly don't think I became aware of them for another few years.
It's all been a bit of a blur since...
As for Nevermind, and Nirvana, I honestly don't think I became aware of them for another few years.
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Attending music school in NC; immersing myself in jazz, and getting my ears opened to the new sounds emerging post 80's; overthinking everything and searching for the new bass gear that would make everything perfect so I could start making great music
I was in my last few days of college and trying to find a job. I was ten years removed from playing music and 23 years from starting to play music again. I didn't even hear Nirvana for another two years past their release. I didn't like listening to them until four years after that.
...and the evolution continues...
...and the evolution continues...
I was 11 years old and I discovered U2's Achtung Baby on tape at a little music store for like $6. I played that tape in my Emerson tape deck over and over, I was totally shocked. I grew up in a house that was full of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Van Halen, Guns n Roses, LA Guns, etc I bought it cause the cover looked cool. Changed my views on music and then 2 years later when I started playing bass I would jump back and forth between Metallica/Iron Maiden/ U2.
