Comments on: Check Your Blind Spots: Week Two http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:53:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Tyson http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-314 Tyson Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:27:11 +0000 http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-314 Write more and it will right more. The world is wrong! Fix the broekn with your words. Write more and it will right more. The world is wrong! Fix the broekn with your words.

]]> By: Carson Mills http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-299 Carson Mills Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:11:02 +0000 http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-299 About Grunge: Grunge didn't abolish "image" first bands, it just changed the image. Half of those second wave grunge bands were probably into hair metal only a couple yeas earlier anyway. And it's not like grunge all the sudden brought the artists down to the audience. There's a wellspring of early 80's hardcore bands that would be happy to point out that "everydude" rock wasn't Kurt's invention. Nirvana, a great band certainly, were the benefactors of a music industry that suddenly realized there was a gold mine in the independent music scene. Grunge was a breath of fresh air in an generally awful time for music, but honestly, but they broke out because some of the other great rock hopes of the time were either too hard (Faith No More), too weird (Sonic Youth), too scary (Fishbone), too stridently independent (Fugazi) or simply not rocking enough (Teenage Fanclub). Sure, grunge was the great rock hope, but something had to be and it just so happened that a lamely named Pac-Northwest music scene won the lottery. On top of that, three out of the five names you listed above were not affiliated with grunge bands (traditional definition grunge, that is). When I think of grunge (and I rarely do), it's Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and then all the shit that came after them. As for Buckley, you're right about Buckley's guitar playing - even more than his voice, it's what I've been enjoying the most. I've been hearing a lot about some of those live performance DVDs and albums. I hear that what he put to tape and what he presented live were two totally different things, which doesn't surprise me because I really feel that a lot of the songs on the album lacked an discernable structure, which, to me, is a drawback. About Grunge: Grunge didn’t abolish “image” first bands, it just changed the image. Half of those second wave grunge bands were probably into hair metal only a couple yeas earlier anyway. And it’s not like grunge all the sudden brought the artists down to the audience. There’s a wellspring of early 80’s hardcore bands that would be happy to point out that “everydude” rock wasn’t Kurt’s invention. Nirvana, a great band certainly, were the benefactors of a music industry that suddenly realized there was a gold mine in the independent music scene. Grunge was a breath of fresh air in an generally awful time for music, but honestly, but they broke out because some of the other great rock hopes of the time were either too hard (Faith No More), too weird (Sonic Youth), too scary (Fishbone), too stridently independent (Fugazi) or simply not rocking enough (Teenage Fanclub). Sure, grunge was the great rock hope, but something had to be and it just so happened that a lamely named Pac-Northwest music scene won the lottery. On top of that, three out of the five names you listed above were not affiliated with grunge bands (traditional definition grunge, that is). When I think of grunge (and I rarely do), it’s Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and then all the shit that came after them.

As for Buckley, you’re right about Buckley’s guitar playing - even more than his voice, it’s what I’ve been enjoying the most. I’ve been hearing a lot about some of those live performance DVDs and albums. I hear that what he put to tape and what he presented live were two totally different things, which doesn’t surprise me because I really feel that a lot of the songs on the album lacked an discernable structure, which, to me, is a drawback.

]]> By: Tys http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-296 Tys Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:40:38 +0000 http://www.carsonmills.net/2009/07/14/check-your-blind-spots-week-two/#comment-296 You started by pointing out that you missed out on one of the greatest periods in music history. The "grunge" movement changed music in an inaudible way. Mainstream music at the time was like a lightbulb, even though it was invented for light 80 percent of its energy went to heat, the popular bands of the time spent most of their energy on image and the labels pushed that. Musicians were consistently separating themselves from their audience. Grunge ended that. In Nirvana you could see yourself in the performance. Kurt, Chris Cornell, James Iha, Black Francis, Kevin Shields, these guys were like your buddies or classmates. Grunge brought music back to the audience and inspired the masses to become a part of the movement. One of the great things about Buckley was his stage presence. He spent so much time performing to smaller crowds that he was able to focus on the music and then get passed that and focus on introspectively performing the music. His albums and what he created in his live show were two different things entirely. "Last Goodbye" and his Live in Chicago DVD are good examples. I was always an admirer but never really appreciated him until after he had died. As a fellow guitar player you have to be impressed with his progressions and inventiveness. Good article. You started by pointing out that you missed out on one of the greatest periods in music history. The “grunge” movement changed music in an inaudible way. Mainstream music at the time was like a lightbulb, even though it was invented for light 80 percent of its energy went to heat, the popular bands of the time spent most of their energy on image and the labels pushed that. Musicians were consistently separating themselves from their audience. Grunge ended that. In Nirvana you could see yourself in the performance. Kurt, Chris Cornell, James Iha, Black Francis, Kevin Shields, these guys were like your buddies or classmates. Grunge brought music back to the audience and inspired the masses to become a part of the movement.

One of the great things about Buckley was his stage presence. He spent so much time performing to smaller crowds that he was able to focus on the music and then get passed that and focus on introspectively performing the music. His albums and what he created in his live show were two different things entirely. “Last Goodbye” and his Live in Chicago DVD are good examples. I was always an admirer but never really appreciated him until after he had died.

As a fellow guitar player you have to be impressed with his progressions and inventiveness.

Good article.

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