{"id":388,"date":"2016-02-01T04:54:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T04:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2019-09-24T01:36:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T01:36:58","slug":"nirvana-from-the-muddy-banks-of-the-wishkah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/?p=388","title":{"rendered":"Nirvana: From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Originally published in\u00a0<em>Alternative Press<\/em>\u00a0magazine<a href=\"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/uim.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-440\" src=\"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/uim.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/uim.png 245w, https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/uim-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Contrary to recent mainstream-media imagery, Nirvana onstage weren&#8217;t much about Kurt Cobain sitting quietly in a fluffy sweater with an acoustic guitar. It seemed poignant at the time, but 1994\u2019s\u00a0<i>Unplugged in New York\u00a0<\/i>captured only the frail, withdrawn side of the Nirvana pathos.<\/p>\n<p>For the other nine-tenths of the band, visit this posthumous compilation. Handpicked by bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl are 16 of the band\u2019s finest blasts (from 10 separate performances dating December 1989 to late 1993).<\/p>\n<p>After an appropriate noise-jam sound-check intro, things kick in with a heavy, hoarse, and sloppy version of \u201cSchool\u201d from a November 1991 Dutch gig. It\u2019s a solid, hard-edged performance, as are most of this album\u2019s tracks, with other highlights being an absolute punk savaging of \u201cAneurysm\u201d and a muddy version of the band\u2019s flagship tune, \u201cSpank Thru,\u201d played in relative obliviousness to a Roman audience in November 1991\u2014just as\u00a0<i>Nevermind\u00a0<\/i>was, unbeknownst to Nirvana themselves, beginning to dominate every popular U.S. medium and alter the American music industry. And sure, you\u2019ve heard the tune countless times, but \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit\u201d is almost priceless here: the irony of Cobain singing \u201cEntertain us, cuz we&#8217;re stupid!\u201d followed by 10,000 enthusiastic cheers never fades away.<\/p>\n<p><i>From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah\u00a0<\/i>is essential for anyone even remotely interested in what this band were really up to: \u201cNegative Creep\u201d and \u201cBlew\u201d without the metal production, \u201cLithium\u201d and \u201cTeen Spirit\u201d without the glossy production, and the fully nihilistic blast of \u201cTourette\u2019s.\u201d I don&#8217;t want to put words in anyone&#8217;s mouth, but I imagine this is how Nirvana perceived themselves: not industry subversives, not Gen X spokespeople, maybe not even pop geniuses. Just a good, hard punk rock band that could kick it live.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014John Pecorelli<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally published in\u00a0Alternative Press\u00a0magazine Contrary to recent mainstream-media imagery, Nirvana onstage weren&#8217;t much about Kurt Cobain sitting quietly in a fluffy sweater with an acoustic guitar. It seemed poignant at the time, but 1994\u2019s\u00a0Unplugged in New York\u00a0captured only the frail, withdrawn side of the Nirvana pathos. For the other nine-tenths of the band, visit this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpecorelli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}