Artists whose last album was their best.

[Stadler]

Nirvana-In Utero

Great call!

Well, you're right on the band, but wrong album:  MTV Unplugged In New York.  No offense, but while I'm not a huge Nirvana fan to begin with, In Utero is their worst record.

1. I never considered 'Unplugged' (or any live album for that matter) to be an official 'album' release. By this logic, 'Celebration Day' is Led Zeppelin's final release.

2. Count me in as someone who considers 'In Utero' to not only be Nirvana's best album (by a mile), but also one of the best album's of the decade.

I love Albini's production (do you all know that, to this day, the man still charges a flat fee to record, and only made a few thousand dollars to record Nirvana?).

The songs are a great representation of everything Kurt had done as a songwriter...pensive ballads (Dumb), radio-friendly-unit-shifters (Heart Shaped Box, Rape Me), stage-ready rockers (Serve the Servents, Frances Farmer...), and brazen noise-fests (Tourettes). Oh, and don't even get me started on Scentless Apprentice...jesus, what a riff!

The performances are visceral (again, thanks to Albini's methods).

And, above all else, I feel like the album was a nod to where Kurt was heading. Obviously, the man (really, he was still a kid) was troubled, but I firmly believe that if he had gotten the help he so desparately needed, he could've/would've setteled into a reclusive, artistic phase not unlike J. Mascis or Bob Mould or Pearl Jam, content to write and record without the pressure of expectation. His fans would've been there for all the twists and turns, and the masses would continue to say 'Nevermind was their peak.'

Bleach is interesting.

Nevermind is, well, it's the closest thing alt-rock got to 'Thriller.'

In Utero, however, is the epitome of a band captured at the peak of their powers.

I'm not here to shit on Kurt Cobain; what you like is what you like and I dig the enthusiasm.  I guess I disagree with the "peak of their powers" line.  There was too much of the extraneous in their music for me.  Most of the bands I like - not all, but most - it's first and foremost about the music.  I never bought into that whole vibe that was an undercurrent for most of the Seattle bands, but seemed to be an... overcurrent (is that a word?) for Nirvana?  The whole "radio-friendly unit shifter" dichotomy thing. 

I'm probably biased, but I have a sort of idea where if you have to TELL people you're... smart, funny, filled with musical integrity, whatever, you might not be.  They should get it on their own without you telling them.   I always thought Cobain protested a wee too much about that whole commercial/art thing for it to be wholly on the "corporate suits".  Compare that to Chris Cornell, who had the same conflicts about his music, but just got on with it. 

[WilliamMunny]

Nirvana-In Utero

Great call!

Well, you're right on the band, but wrong album:  MTV Unplugged In New York.  No offense, but while I'm not a huge Nirvana fan to begin with, In Utero is their worst record.

1. I never considered 'Unplugged' (or any live album for that matter) to be an official 'album' release. By this logic, 'Celebration Day' is Led Zeppelin's final release.

2. Count me in as someone who considers 'In Utero' to not only be Nirvana's best album (by a mile), but also one of the best album's of the decade.

I love Albini's production (do you all know that, to this day, the man still charges a flat fee to record, and only made a few thousand dollars to record Nirvana?).

The songs are a great representation of everything Kurt had done as a songwriter...pensive ballads (Dumb), radio-friendly-unit-shifters (Heart Shaped Box, Rape Me), stage-ready rockers (Serve the Servents, Frances Farmer...), and brazen noise-fests (Tourettes). Oh, and don't even get me started on Scentless Apprentice...jesus, what a riff!

The performances are visceral (again, thanks to Albini's methods).

And, above all else, I feel like the album was a nod to where Kurt was heading. Obviously, the man (really, he was still a kid) was troubled, but I firmly believe that if he had gotten the help he so desparately needed, he could've/would've setteled into a reclusive, artistic phase not unlike J. Mascis or Bob Mould or Pearl Jam, content to write and record without the pressure of expectation. His fans would've been there for all the twists and turns, and the masses would continue to say 'Nevermind was their peak.'

Bleach is interesting.

Nevermind is, well, it's the closest thing alt-rock got to 'Thriller.'

In Utero, however, is the epitome of a band captured at the peak of their powers.

I'm not here to shit on Kurt Cobain; what you like is what you like and I dig the enthusiasm.  I guess I disagree with the "peak of their powers" line.  There was too much of the extraneous in their music for me.  Most of the bands I like - not all, but most - it's first and foremost about the music.  I never bought into that whole vibe that was an undercurrent for most of the Seattle bands, but seemed to be an... overcurrent (is that a word?) for Nirvana?  The whole "radio-friendly unit shifter" dichotomy thing. 

I'm probably biased, but I have a sort of idea where if you have to TELL people you're... smart, funny, filled with musical integrity, whatever, you might not be.  They should get it on their own without you telling them.   I always thought Cobain protested a wee too much about that whole commercial/art thing for it to be wholly on the "corporate suits".  Compare that to Chris Cornell, who had the same conflicts about his music, but just got on with it.

Alas, we'll always have KISS, Stads

[Stadler]

Haha, I know.  Just talking shop.  For a band I know it seems like I'm dismissing, I actually have about half their catalogue, including the box set, so it's not like I HATE them or anything.

[TAC]

Nirvana's Unplugged In New York is a real album, and it is excellent. I mean, fantastic.
I'm pretty casual on the rest of their catalog, but In Utero is indeed kind of a tough listen.


I'm not a fan of Kurt Cobain or his whole "thing". But I dug a lot of the tunes. I don't know enough about what kind of guy Chris Cornell was because 1. I can't stand Soundgarden, and 2. His singing makes me want to gouge my ears out.

[wolfking]

Nirvana's Unplugged In New York is a real album, and it is excellent. I mean, fantastic.
I'm pretty casual on the rest of their catalog, but In Utero is indeed kind of a tough listen.


I'm not a fan of Kurt Cobain or his whole "thing". But I dug a lot of the tunes. I don't know enough about what kind of guy Chris Cornell was because 1. I can't stand Soundgarden, and 2. His singing makes me want to gouge my ears out.

[TAC]

Even better. Play some Cornell and paddle my ears.

[Stadler]

Even better. Play some Cornell and paddle my ears.

he was a different guy than Cobain.  By all accounts widely admired and well-liked on a personal level.  Even before he died (so not the sort of "myth-making" that surrounds so much of Cobain) the bands that both made it (Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains) and didn't (Mudhoney, Meat Puppets) spoke of his sincerity and his mentorship.  He was like a father-figure to so many of those artists, and the "extraneous" nonsense of the music industry - wchih seemed to consume Cobain - didn't seem to faze Cornell.  He'd work with other artists, he'd help them, there seemed to be a real camaraderie. 

I know Cobain wasn't LITERALLY in Seattle like the rest of the artists - they were further south/southwest - but they were on SubPop so intricately related to the Seattle scene, but other than the Melvins, you hear of little interaction with the other bands of the area.  There are no EPs like Alice's SAP, with Cobain on there.  There are no bootlegs like Pearl Jam's, where Chris comes out and plays three or four songs.  There was no involvement of Nirvana members in any of the celebratory words like Tempe of the Dog, and likewise, when Cobain died, there was no great "coming together" of the rest of the grunge bands.

I personally think that speaks volumes.