My 5 Favorite Songs This Week Are:
1. Bad Brains - Banned In D.C.
2. The Cure - Disintegration (live version from Entreat, not Entreat Plus which has a terrible mix)
3. Roky Erickson - Starry Eyes
4. Subhumans (U.K.) - Waste Of Breath
5. Bob Vido the One Man Band - Tiger Man
FLOWERS, part 1.
I remember myself a high school student. Very much the same 'man', very much a different entity. I was flipping through the import section of Camelot Music, the CD store at the mall. The import section at this corporate chain-store was never as exciting as the one ya might find at the proverbial 'mom & pop' store. An indie's import section featured bootlegs that just happened to have been produced, without permission from the rights-holder, in another country. The bootlegs tended to contain poorly recorded live takes of hit songs or demos of hit songs or alternate takes of hit songs or B-sides of hit songs or rare compilation non-hit songs or songs that were never officially released so were never gonna be hit songs. Nowadays, that content is usually found on Disc 2 of digitally remastered officially reissued albums. Or the internet. Exhilarating to a die-hard fan, but confusing/disappointing to a newcomer. The chain-store had 'semi-official' releases, any Dave Goodman-produced Sex Pistols album for example, but certainly not any bootlegs. That said, I was at the mall, so I was thumbing through the inferior import section when I came across something of vague interest: a Nirvana single. Now, hear me out. This wasn't 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or 'Lithium' or whatever. This was 'Heart-Shaped Box'. At the time, many critics were confused by HSB and the In Utero album in general. Some even theorized that Kurt Cobain and company had purposely recorded an unlistenable set just to piss off the label. Think 'Ringworm'-era Van Morrison. The initiated recognized it at the time for what it was, as does hindsight for Joe 'Radio' Blow. Put very simply, in reaction to the aftermath of Nevermind, Nirvana recorded a harder, noisier album with In Utero. Those critics must not have been very aware of alternative music because even the craziest Nirvana is very mild compared to A LOT of the music the so-called genre has to offer. And, to this day, I'd still argue that In Utero was a catchier record than their indie debut, Bleach. The Cure rip-off, 'About A Girl', not withstanding. But I already owned a copy of In Utero, so what interested me about the single? Not B-side number one, 'Milk It', which was also from the album. No, it was a little ditty called 'Marigold'. Not only was 'Marigold' a non-album previously-unreleased track, it was also the only Nirvana song to feature the drummer on vocals. I remember thinking, 'How often will I get the opportunity to hear Nirvana's drummer sing? That's rare! What's his name again? Dave Grohl? Awesome." So I snatched up that 3-songs-for-$12 bargain. As I walked across the parking lot to my '86 Honda Accord, I gnawed away at the shrink wrap. I sat down in my car and chucked the partially-devoured plastic onto the floorboard and slapped that CD into the boombox resting in the passenger seat. Skipped right over to track 3 and there it was. It was a soft, low-key affair that still somehow featured a solid garage thump of rhythm. The drummer's voice was okay. Nothing to write home about. Didn't embarrass himself (not the way I do, anyway!), but certainly didn't steal any Kurt-thunder. It was a novelty. I'd whip it out and play it once in a while for my friends and we'd all think how cool I was for having such a treasured rarity. Then Kurt Cobain became Kurt Co-BLAM! and eventually Grohl would resurface with his own band, The Foo Fighters. Now Dave Grohl's voice is the soundtrack to my nightmares.
No comments:
Post a Comment