The most overrated Band to walk on Earth.

In my school days, one band considered cool universally was Nirvana. Students swore by their songs and believed the three-piece to be the greatest of the lot. Their favourite song was "Smells like a Teen Spirit" and used to quote Kurt Cobain's last words,"Its better to burn out than fade way". Intrigued by my peers, I set about listening to their discography and honestly, found them ordinary if not pathetic. I am still trying to understood how Nirvana is "Great".

Listening to their music convinced me they are the most "over-rated band to walk on earth". Analyzing the band on the following parameters (which i mentioned earlier in my Led Zeppelin post), I will justify my stand on Nirvana.

Talent. Nirvana was a three-piece who played simple guitar strums and basses accompanied by simple drum beats. Kurt Cobain could not even play the basic chords properly when playing live. Dave Grohl the drummer, didn't know how to tune his drums. Krist Novoselic used to often completely drop out of performances. A band, who didn't have enough skills to perform live, worthy of being respected?

2. Originality. Nirvana's sound was certainly not original or extraordinary. People say "They popularized Grunge". The keyword is 'Popularized'. They did not play any role in shaping the genre. Nor did they leave their mark on it. Everything Nirvana did, it had being done by others, and arguably better. If you don't believe me, check out Pearl Jam, Rasputina, Residents. How Nirvana became a cultural phenomenon, its more about luck and coincidence than originality. (To learn more about how crucial role luck plays in being successful, read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell or "Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

3.Creativity. All of Nirvanas's songs were based on simple chord progressions and the lyrics more often than not did not make sense. Wailing voice, basic basslines and simple drumming reinforce the fact that Nirvana didn't care to understand their instruments, leave alone experiment with them.

4.Passion. Did the band care to atleast try to improve? No. Infact, Kurt Cobain used words like "bored" and "faking it" when describing his live performances. When a band is not interested in performing for their fans, can they termed passionate?? A Resounding NO!

5.Standing the test of time. Nirvana will always be heard by people in their teens as an outlet for teenage angst and when they grow up, they outgrow Nirvana. This teenage segment will consider Nirvana "great" and keep up the hype. Additionally, it is the stupid tabloids and magazines like 'Rolling Stone' who praise, worship and revere such Bands and keep their "legacy" alive. Interestingly, such magazines start worshiping bands, only after they have developed a substantial following ( This fact deserves an blog entry).

6. Changing the face of music. Where is grunge today? Its absent. How many bands follow the footsteps of Nirvana? None. Did they change the music industry? Certainly not. Nirvana's work had little or no production values. One can actually hear numerous mistakes in their recordings. Today, production values have increased tremendously. Nirvana made wailing your sorrows and being a cry-babe in fashion. Infact the best thing that could have happened to music was the death of Cobain.

People debate whether Nirvana was truly a phenomenon or was a passing fad which attained cult-status due to the "untimely death of Kurt Cobain". Well, the question was answered by the man himself. He knew he was going to 'fade away', and decided to 'burn out'.