Video: Nirvana – “About a Girl” (live in Austria, 1989)
This “rarely seen” video may not be “official” but it was passed along via Sub Pop’s Twitter feed, and it’s pretty cool. Dudes are young.
MP3: Nirvana – “About a Girl” (remastered)
As a big fan of straightforward pop music “About a Girl” has always been my favorite song on Bleach, and remastered by Jack Endino, it sounds better than ever. The 20th Anniversary Edition adds a 1990 live set recorded at Portland’s Pine Street Theatre. And here’s a track from that.
Don’t blame Nirvana for all the awful bands who attempted to copy their sound.
i’m glad i lived through it near the beginning and saw the switch in popular music in 91/92 before the flood of imitation came in their wake. it still has a fresh sound whenever i hear them. i appreciate that they were one of the acts that help change the landscape of pop music in my lifetime.
i was actually talking to a friend about nirvana this week. a song came on and i mentioned that when i was younger and they were climbing up the charts and the subculture that spawned them came to the mainstream, i was worried that nirvana would become the soundtrack to the oldies station in my future. they have, and now i realize i have nothing to worry about. it sounds just fine.
I remember hearing Nirvana on top 40 radio. How weird it seems today that “Come As You Are” was on Contemporary Hit Radio in the early 90’s. I even remember “Banditos” by The Refreshments getting CHR airplay in the mid 90’s. There are still a few surprise hits here and there –like “Hey There Delilah” and “Stacy’s Mom”. But it seems like troublemakers aren’t allowed anymore, unless it’s rap or R and B.
Who else remembers the juggernaut that was “Detachable Penis” on Top 40 radio? Can you imagine???
Ha. I have no idea what was actually played on Top 40 radio, but I remember there being at least one “alternative” station that played a lot of good music for a stretch back then in our mid-market, small city. Which hasn’t happened since 1996 with the Telecommunications Act that allowed more consolidation of the media industry. Oh well, we had a couple of years anyway…
Dangerous, rebellious rockers don’t seem to exist anymore in the top 40. You know–the Chuck Berry types, Keith Richards, The Clash, Kurt Cobain. Danger and rebellion is reserved for rap and r and b artists. Is this cultural? Orchestrated because record companies and radio don’t want to deal with the likes of a Cobain or even an Eddie Vedder? ? All the top 40 rock artists are manufactured. Nickelback, Daughtry and Seether seem more Foreigner than Nirvana to me. The guy from Switchfoot looks like Kurt but doesn’t sound a whole lot like him. Who are these Nirvana sound alike bands? If anything they sound like Pearl Jam who to me didn’t sound anything like Nirvana.
Top 40 is back: “Radio stations that play what’s most popular are on the upswing, even as the charts are growing musically diverse again, a sort of long-distance dedication to the similarly inclusive 1970s golden era of Top 40. […] ‘It’s a broad range of music, just like the ’70s,’ says Sean ‘Hollywood’ Hamilton, who hosts radio shows in New York and Los Angeles and the syndicated ‘Weekend Top 30’ countdown.”
Huh. Good for them.
Jake–With Citadel, Clear Channel and Nassau Broadcasting all in financial trouble and looking to sell stations, some smaller companies will assume ownership in the next few years.The big companies way overpaid for clusters of 5 or 6 stations. Now they can’t pay their loans. Now you might be able to buy a radio station in a medium sized market for as low as 500-grand. That was unheard of three years ago. If 5 buddies have 100 grand each and an operating stash there ya go. But will they put “cool” radio stations in place of the cookie cutters? If so they’d better just be doing it for fun and not profit. People who like so called “alternative” stations are the hardest to please and the most likely to get their local content–news, weather, sports off the infoweb. It could be even worse with small businessmen running these stations. Lots of syndicated programming to keep costs down. And lowest common denominator music programming to appease the car dealers who advertise. Some of these frequencies may just go dark if no one wants them. One thing you can take solace in–the big boys who took advantage of lenient ownership rules and bought as many stations as they could are losing their shirts.
I could see radio going back to it’s hyper-local, personality driven beginnings. Imagine hiring that dude we all know who is hip to bands before most anyone else. Yes, even in this Internet world there are still the folks out there who just care more and seek out more. Loftus would be my program manager and we’d kill in a mid-sized market.
Well Derek if a group of hipsters who would like to break bands wants to own a radio station now is the time to pool your money and buy one. You should be able to get a decent 3000 watt FM in a small to medium to market for as low as 500 grand. Some of the current owners paid 3, 4 , even 5 million dollars for these stations. But ruuning a radio station that has to meet a bunch of technical requirments to the FCC is way more omplicated than most can imagine. My guess is that most of these hipsters will sit on their asses and bitch and do nothing instead of taking advantage of this rare opportunity. It’s funny how even cynical people still think of radio in a childlike mindset that it’s this magical entity.
GLONO has $2,000.00 we would be willing to invest in a cool radio station. Anybody got the remaining $498,000?
Uh-oh. Religious broadcasters just got extra donations from their congregation to up their bid to 700-grand. Plus forget paying DJ’s. If you do that part yourself you’ll still need a good engineer to keep your transmitter up to code. If he knows computers and can do your IT on the automation system that’s a plus. Plus you’ll need a real radio manager to deal with all the day to day business and legal mumbo jumbo. Unless one comes with the sale, you’re going to need a computer automation system to run the thing even if you’re live most of the time. Nobody plays CD’s and comercials one at a time anymore. That can run upwards of 100-grand. You’ll need office space and equipment, some draw money for the sales people if you’re going to generate traditionl revenue. You’ll need a traffic person to schedule the commercials and hopefully do the billing of clients. That’s running it on a shoestring so you’ll need about one million-498-thousand to outbid the bible thumpers and get started and then you’ll have to generate at least 300 grand each year to break even, if you’re not taking a salary. Your hipster listeners are going to love hearing Bob Bumfuck from Bumfuck motors in between those bands you’re going to break. Good luck!
Hmmm, radio seems like a very bad investment. GLONO officially retracts its offer until we see a business plan.
How about soft ice cream? Who doesn’t like ice cream? You only need to worry about operating it 4 months out of the year. And you can hire hot college chicks at minimum wage to serve it up.
According to the book “Come As You Are” Kurt was
listening to the Smithereens “Especially For You” before he recorded “Bleach.” Similiarities beteen “About A Girl” andf “Behind The Wall of Sleep”? You be the judge…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hERot7SrVYo
The guitar player for the Smithereens went on to be some honcho at Rhino Records didn’t he? Anyhoo I saw the Smithereens in a small club in the 90’s after their popularity waned. The Rhino guitar guy whose name escapes me came out into the crowd during “Blood and Roses” and I forced my way up right next to him. It wasn’t like it was a Metallica crowd so so it was pretty easy to knock people out of my way. I had a few in me dontcha know. During “Blood and Roses” he went into this extended guitar part “bare nare nare nare nare nare nare” and I start headbanging to it right next to him cuz I had a few in me. This went on and on until I freakin injured my neck a bit. I was in my 20’s so I recovered quickly. One of my fondest concert memories ever.
How much bigger would the Smithereens have been had Propecia been available in the 80s?
have a listen, were a grunge band from england, liverpool. beatles meets nirvana
Ah, Kurt was into The Smithereens…who went on to write a song called “Sick of Seattle”. Kurt also loved Kiss…whose Gene Simmons gleefully ridiculed him after he died. Oh, well…
How much bigger would the Smithereens have been had Propecia been available in the 80s?
There have been a few successful bald (shaved head) dudes. But having the fashion sense of a sit-com Dad–Jim Belushi, anyone?–hurt them more.
Lat night I went a boozin’. Musta drunk more than I thunk. I’m sweatin’ from me rectum. And bleedin’ from me junk.