The 1990s was a great decade for music, and also one of the craziest. Woodstock in the 90s was probably the most dangerous it has ever been: riots, naked people, fires it was all there. Lets remember the time when rock (grunge or otherwise) reigned, and some of the best bands to ever play.
Here’s my list of the best rock bands from the 1990s:
10. Silverchair!
This band was one of the youngest in the 90s. Daniel Johns, the lead singer and guitarist was only 14 when they took off with their huge hit, “Israel’s Son.” His voice is so great and true to rock, you would’ve never known he was so young. He didn’t sound like Justin Bieber… Take a listen for yourself.
9. Bush!
Formally known as Bush-X, this British rock band invaded the Western World in the early 90s. I still have the tape somewhere in my room with “Swallowed” on it, which was my favorite song at one time. While most kids these days know lead singer Gavin Rossdale as Gwen Stefani’s husband, he used to be cool once too back in the day. If Bush ever went back on tour and I would be there, sitting front row.
8. Metallica!
With the screaming goat videos replacing the Harlem Shake as the Internet’s new viral video, why only stop at Taylor Swift? The new meme has everyone making remixes from Miley Cyrus, to One Direction and yes, even Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi? Trust me, the goat fits right into the song. Here are ten of the best goat videos out there right now:
Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA
This rendition of “Party in the USA” got me nodding my head like yeaaah, shaking my hips like yeaaaaah.
Justin Bieber – Baby
The classic “Baby” song. I think this one speaks for itself.
Rebecca Black – Friday
Is it bad to say that I believe this version might actually make it sound better?
David Guetta feat. Sia – Titanium Read more…
ESPN went the musical route for the famed sports outlet’s magazine version this month. But to keep in touch with their roots, they decided to recreate famous album covers with some famous athletes. Soccer player Alex Morgan sits pretty as Katy Perry, sprinter Allyson Felix gets bootylicious as Beyoncé and Ryan Lochte is the baby from Nirvana’s Nevermind album.
Yes, you read that right and yes, Nirvana and Ryan Lochte were i the same sentence.
Here’s his ESPN photo:
and here’s the original:
Thankfully, and unlike his baby counterpart, Lochte did not drop trou for the occasion but he did managed to get a pretty spot on baby expression. Actually, who are we kidding? Lochte only has two facial expressions: utter confusion and stupid confidence. No wonder he nails it.
We’ve all done it — pretended to know a song, when really we’re all just noobs with a collection of misheard lyrics. Pleated Jeans recently made an epic compilation of songs with lyrics that are brutally misheard. I may or may not be guilty for some of those Blink 182 failures.
According to the video, these are some commonly misheard lyrics:
“I’ve left some brains down in Africa,” – Toto’s “Africa”
“With the lights out, sex is dangerous. Here we are now in containers,” – Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
“Padded bra! Padded br-a-a,” – Van Halen’s “Panama”
“You keep making me reek, yeah, frozen in Cadbury,” – One Direction’s “One Thing”
“Come on Barbie, let’s go potty,” – Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”
Watch the compilation here:
Covering Nirvana may not be an easy task, but longtime fan Lana Del Rey took a shot at it during a performance on Thursday night.
Performing Nirvana’s 1993 hit “Heart-Shaped Box” in front of a crowd in Sydney, Australia, the singer switched the typically heavy-sounding grunge piece into a ballad featuring heavy string instrumentation and her trademark vocal style.
Del Rey has previously discussed the impact the song had on her when she was growing up. In an interview at a radio station in 2011, she said, “When I was 11, I saw Kurt Cobain singing ‘Heart Shaped Box’ on MTV and it really stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Even at a young age, I really related to his sadness.”
While I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this cover, Del Rey certainly took a risk. Having recently released controversial music videos for “National Anthem” and “Summertime Sadness“, she seems to be full of surprises!
And the award for parenting of the year goes to…this couple. By turning on Nirvana’s “Breed”, their adorable three-year-old kid wakes up by playing some air drums! Absolutely adorable!
Lil Wayne was a big fan of Nirvana when growing up.
“I was a real big fan of that,” Weezy told MTV News’ Sway after his MTV “Unplugged” taping earlier this year.
“Because I was young and I actually listened to the lyrics, and I probably felt at that time that I was rebelling and I could associate myself with that and relate to the things [Cobain] was talking about and speaking about in the song,” Tunechi remembered. “I probably couldn’t, but I thought I could.”
Overlooking the Toronto skyline from backstage at the Molson Amphitheater, Manchester Orchestra’s rhythm-guitarist and singer-songerwriter Andy Hull took in a drag and the scene.
“It’s pretty awesome to wake up in the city that you grew up in,” confessed Hull, moments before opening for My Chemical Romance and Blink-182 as part of the 2011 Honda Civic Tour. It would almost seem that, other than sharing a stage, lyrical honesty and vulnerability is about all that these three bands have in common.
“It’s fun man, they’re all really kind people,” says Hull about being on the road with MCR and Blink. It’s been a sleepless summer for Hull and company, leaping between a plethora of festivals from Montreal’s Osheaga to Chicago’s Lollapalooza. “It’s been quite an experience to play these venues. It’s definitely this casting vision tour to really see how big a band can get. It’s kind of crazy. And [Blink-182] is definitely a band that represented a huge part of our childhood.”
We didn’t personally know Kurt Cobain, but we can’t believe he would be okay with this. Cyrus kicked off her “Gypsy Heart” tour April 29 in Ecuador with a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” reports PopEater.
The former Disney darling introduced the song to the crowd, saying, “For this tour, I want to be able to do the music that inspired me and made me want to be on this stage tonight.”
She continued, “It’s hard being on the road because you miss your family back home, and this song is something I always sing with my little brother who can’t be with me on tour, so this song is also for him.”
Nirvana inspired Miley Cyrus? We guess it was really an eye opener for the singer to see an artist with genuine talent. Think about it – that’s a hugely foreign concept for her.
Stadium tours and big venues are so last album.
Dave Grohl and co. have been touring through North American suburbs playing in Foo-Fan garages in support of their new album, “Wasting Light”.
Fresh off their appearance at SXSW, the Foo Fighters started the tour on April 8 in New York and touched down in a small Toronto suburban garage yesterday.
The inspiration behind the “Foo Fighters Garage” tour was that their seventh album was recorded in Dave Grohl’s garage in San Fernando Valley. The nostalgic experience goes even further as it was recorded entirely on analog and produced by Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s Nevermind two-decades back.
“We don’t want to keep on making the same record or doing the same things over and over,” Grohl said in an interview for Spinner. “So rather than make an album on a big commercial studio, we were like, ‘Fuck it, let’s do it in our garage.’”
Garages were chosen through a contest on the band’s website, which had fans submitting 25-word essays on why they should host an intimate show for 50 of their friends. Eight fans in cities including New York, Toronto and Seattle were chosen. In 2008, Foo Fighters played 86,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium on two back-to-back sold out nights.
“When you are confined into a tight space, you are forced to really listen. These shows in little rooms are only making us tighter. We are not ready to play a big arena rock show — so why not get warmed up in someone else’s garage?”
Last month, an announcement was made that a Kurt Cobain biopic was to be filmed, and according to CHARTattack, this has resulted in a flood of suggestions as to who should play the late front man of the legendary grunge group, Nirvana.
Cobain committed suicide in April of 1994.
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko) is the most recent actor to be added to the list of possible “Cobains.” Jokingly, it was pointed out that since he’s got long hair now, for his new role in Prince of Persia, he could fit the role.
“I don’t know if I’d be the right choice – but the hair from Prince Of Persia could translate somehow,” Gyllenhaal told NME. “We could just bleach it!”
The rumours last month were that Robert Pattinson (Twilight) would play Cobain, but Courtney Love, Cobain’s widow, squashed those hopes. Love said that she would rather see Ryan Gosling (The Believer) or James McAvoy (Atonement) play the role.
Gosling has got great acting skills and has proven himself to be able to pull off a wide variety of roles.
Although McAvoy is only just beginning to gain recognition on this side of the pond, he is also great. He’s won BAFTA (British Academy Of Film And Television Arts) Awards … meaning he is good.
There is also Heath Ledger. But seeing as he is dead, this is not going to happen. But he would have been fantastic as Cobain. He was deep, dark, and a little troubled in his own right. He also displayed top quality acting chops, and while he was alive, Ledger could pretty much take on any role thrown at him.
And why not Emma Watson? Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan and got nominated for an Academy Award. There is no reason why Hermione Grainger can’t turn into the grunge rocker. And she could also bring a whole new audience to appreciate Cobain.
From here, the list goes on and on. But it’s all in the hands of Courtney Love now, more or less. Hopefully this turns out OK.
It seems that biopic is the new black, as yet another film about an iconic musician is in the works.
Universal Pictures is moving forward with their long-time-running Kurt Cobain biography film, reports rollingstone.com. The film is based partly on the 2001 book Heavier than Heaven by music journalist Charles R. Cross. The studio is reportedly in negotiations with Oscar-nominated director Oren Moverman (The Messenger) to direct the film and work on its screenplay. Moverman would replace original screenwriter David Benioff, whose previous films include X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Kite Runner.
Cross, who is part of the movie production as a “factual consultant,” is looking forward to Moverman’s involvement.
Dave Grohl is admired by many. The Nirvana drummer, turned Foo Fighters lead singer, and most recently, Them Crooked Vultures drummer, has had quite the music career. Still, he has his idols too. And one of them is in his new band.
Playing with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones in his new super-group Them Crooked Vultures is a dream come true for Grohl, reports rollingstone.com.
Grohl’s Led Zeppelin love goes all the way back to when he was just a teenager. He’s got three Led Zeppelin-inspired tattoos – the John Bonham three-circle Led Zeppelin IV logo in three places – the first of which he did himself when he was just a teen.
“I did the first one myself when I was 16,” said Grohl. “I tried to get different coloured ink to make it seem pro, but now it looks like someone put a cigarette out on my fucking arm.”
In a move sure to delight and anger plastic instrument enthusiasts everywhere Kurt Cobain has been included in Guitar Hero 5 alongside living rockers Santana, Matt Bellamy, Shirley Manson and deceased Johnny Cash.
The addition of Kurt Cobain gives us two never before used Nirvana tracks in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band video game, “Lithium (live)” and the holy grail *drum roll* “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
One has to wonder how much money Courtney Love made off this little foray but in any event I’m excited to take my flannel jacket out of the closet and rock out come September 1st.
Finally the last 15 songs have been revealed for Guitar Hero 5, and September 1st is fast approaching. Included in the list is the coveted “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that Rock Band couldn’t seem to get for their Nevermind DLC, Dire Strait’s “Sultan’s of Swing” a highly requested classic song with an amazing call and response guitar solo sure to delight people everywhere, a Muse song which isn’t just fast strumming the majority of the time, and a Megadeth song which has a relatively tame solo.
Of course this game isn’t just about guitar anymore so vocalists get ready to be destroyed by Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” along with Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and drummers prepare to fail Arctic Monkey’s “Brianstorm” over and over.
One thing is for sure September is going to be a big month for carpal tunnel and future arthritis. Read more…
London & Co., a business management and accounting firm is suing Courtney Love for failing to give them profits from the sale of a portion of Nirvana’s publishing catalogue.
According to CTV.ca, the company claims that Love agreed orally to split five per cent of her earnings or those from her company when she sold a portion of Nirvana’s catalogue.
The company alleges that Love sold a portion of Nirvana’s publishing catalogue for $19.5 million but did not give them their share of the sale.
The company alleges that they should have received $975,000 from the sale.
Love became a widow in 1994 when her husband and Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain committed suicide. She owns most of the rights to both Cobain’s and Nirvana’s work.
According to Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain’s ashes have been stolen from her Hollywood home, leaving her suicidal.
The remains were stored in a pink bear-shaped handbag and hidden in a wardrobe, leaving Love to suspect a former friend of the theft.
“I can’t believe anyone would take Kurt’s ashes from me,” Love told News of the World. “I find it disgusting and right now I’m suicidal. If I don’t get them back I don’t know what I’ll do. They were all I had left of him.”
Much of Cobain’s ashes were scattered in a New York Buddhist temple and in the Wishkah river in Washington state.
It was a raw, moving performance that revealed another side of Nirvana to the world.
Fourteen years after the Seattle band’s landmark “MTV Unplugged” taping, the show is finally making its way to DVD on Nov. 20.
“Unplugged in New York” will show the unedited 66-minute concert in its entirety, including two tracks that weren’t in the original 44-minute television broadcast: “Something In The Way” and “Oh Me.”
The DVD will also feature previously unreleased behind-the-scenes footage and four songs recorded during Nirvana’s pre-show soundcheck at Sony Music Studios.
The band opted to perform some lesser-known album tracks and six covers during their Unplugged performance on Nov. 18, 2003, including David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” and the traditional folk song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”
The show, which aired a month later on Dec. 14, was also made into an album. It was released 12 months after the taping, making it was the first Nirvana album following the suicide of frontman Kurt Cobain.
Scottish actor James McAvoy is reportedly the first choice to play Kurt Cobain in a new biopic that will be produced by Courtney Love.
According to a source, “James is making a big impact in Hollywood at the moment. Hollywood bosses are convinced he is the perfect choice to play Kurt Cobain.”
The film, written by David Benioff (“The Kite Runner”) will be based on both Cobain’s personal unpublished journals and the biography “Heavier Than Heaven.”
McAvoy will next be seen in the Ian McEwan adaptation “Atonement” with Keira Knightley. He broke out as Mr. Tumnus in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and garnered critical acclaim in the Oscar nominated “Last King of Scotland.”
