Stoney

"The album consists of 6 songs, of which 3 are long and 2 are of medium-short duration." 3+2=6?! Lol!...

In fact, the god of guitar is and will always be Richard Benson.

Wow... yes yes, they are strong... but the lyrics? The lyrics... I don't know, the attitude... I'm not sure. They seem to me like one of those bands "let's be alternative by writing lyrics that seem random accompanied by a slightly off-key hypnotic melody that, however, want to indicate an inner and profound state of mind that nobody can understand, therefore we are poets because we express adolescent and human malaise."

Wow... yes yes, they are strong... but the lyrics? The lyrics... I don't know, the attitude... I'm not sure. They seem to me like one of those bands "let's be alternative by writing lyrics that seem random accompanied by a slightly off-key hypnotic melody that, however, want to indicate an inner and profound state of mind that nobody can understand, therefore we are poets because we express adolescent and human malaise."

Mine was anything but a technical speech: either I explained myself poorly or you didn't get a thing. Look, I like Nirvana; I grew up with their albums, and far be it from me to start making sweeping statements about who plays better or worse. Rather, I leave such silly discussions to the fans of Dream Theater and Manowar. I didn't even want to compare Staley to Cobain; let alone... I have absolutely no intention of saying who is better or worse because it wouldn't make any sense. I respect both of them and I'm fascinated by their figures and how they carried on their art over the years; it’s inconceivable for me to even think of comparing them. Moreover, I never said that Alice in Chains or Pearl Jam are BETTER, nor that they are because "they rock" (what does that even mean?), or because they sold less than Cobain. You said those things, not me. My point was anything but belittling Nirvana; in fact, it was rather to save them from the easy derogation and the simplistic myth from people who don’t appreciate them for what they are. And anyway, even if I had wanted to make the point that "it’s better to sell less," I would have proven the exact opposite, since Alice in Chains have surely sold more than Nirvana, at least in the USA, not to mention Pearl Jam. So once again, you understood everything in the opposite way of what I was saying. Alright, basically I wanted to raise a discussion of an entirely different type, but given the air, I guess it's better to end it here. Regards.

Longliverock, aren't you ashamed to defend Baglioni with a nickname like that?

Alright, I listened to that damn "Male di Miele." If that’s the manifesto of Italian grunge, then I am the President of the United States. Grunge doesn’t exist; it’s a fictional term and is not synonymous with "Nirvana" or "Kurt Cobain," nor with "teenage" or "angry/sad/melancholic electric guitar music." Grunge refers to the music from Seattle between 1991 and 1996, PERIOD. It’s a geographical definition, not a musical one, and it includes both Nirvana and, for example, Mother Love Bone, who played a completely different genre, just to name one. If a song talks about how ugly life is while there’s half an electric guitar in the background, that does not mean it’s grunge. It would be like saying Fabri Fibra or Mondo Marcio make BLACK MUSIC just because the hip hop they’re inspired by (very distantly) comes from that musical movement. So now you get the magnitude of the nonsense you’ve written?

commercially to no one and then they would cause too much uproar: we are a too soft-hearted people to accept that those who play rock/metal don’t necessarily have to be beasts of Satan. And if we really want to broaden the discussion, we can also talk about other genres, like hip-hop for example, or jazz, which boasts talented musicians who remain completely unknown in favor of the same old 4 record labels that have been sharing the Italian music market for 50 years. All of this means musical but also cultural, expressive, artistic immobility, of which the Verdena are the most glaring and annoying example...

Wrong. I too own the entire discography of Nirvana, and I know it by heart. Just as I know by heart those of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. If you don't find them fascinating, I can accept that, but if you don’t find them important, then well, I repeat: it seems to me that you understand very little about the "grunge" phenomenon. I'm 27 years old, and I would never dream of saying that Nirvana is just a commercial band, especially since their debut album, Bleach, went largely unnoticed when it came out, unlike this debut from Verdena, which seems a bit too well-produced and, above all, well-promoted for a first album (I remember videos in heavy rotation on MTV day and night). However, Nirvana is definitely the most famous "grunge" band and the one that has played the most on MTV; my grandmother even knows them, not to mention that people believe they invented grunge. But, you see, unfortunately we live in Italy, and the musical reality reaches us in a heavily distorted manner. Here we not only believe that the pinnacle of 90s rock was Nirvana, but also that their entire message fundamentally reduces to "I'm young, I'm troubled, I'm doing heroin, I want to die." This is because things arrive here in "pieces" and in a confused way. If it weren't so, we would know that Pearl Jam, for example, had at least equal success to Nirvana in the USA with their first two albums (of which I won’t mention the names because you obviously know them, and I don’t want to teach you anything), while here we didn’t even notice, and we would surely have been moved by Layne Staley's death no less than we were for Cobain's, but we don't even know who Layne Staley is. It’s just that we're a strange people: we believe that classic rock is Celentano, that heavy metal is Vasco Rossi, and now we even think that grunge is Verdena. For every cultural/musical phenomenon that emerges in America or the rest of the world, we only grasp the most superficial aspects, clean them up so they don't cause too much scandal in public opinion, and then sell them off in our own way. Thus, we have our local myths that are worth one tenth of the original ones they draw inspiration from (not to mention "copy from"), and who essentially make popular music as our millennia-old tradition dictates, albeit with a minimum of influences in their sound, but they consistently offer the same tired and overplayed stuff, in a frightening stagnation, for decades. Rock groups, yes, but without exaggerating, otherwise people get scared and then they don’t sell anymore. Fake, polished, and sanitized, allowing “the youth” to feel rebellious but not scaring the moms too much. We're a people that loves background music, music that can stay there and not be too bothersome, that accompanies us at home or in the car on the radio, and that makes us sing when the chorus comes. And in all this, genuinely valid Italian bands that play rock, metal, and grunge seriously are forced to remain in the underground, destined for global indifference and ignorance. Just to give an example, we had a fantastic rock band in Italy, the Timoria. Nobody noticed them for years and years: too heavy, too much personality, loud drumming, too noisy guitar riffs... and meanwhile Pelù was doing well with Litfiba and his mentally ill verses were mistaken for "singing style." Until the Timoria, orphaned by Renga, their historic singer, released that terrible piece, "Sole Spento." Renga remained anonymous until he pursued a solo career and presented himself at Sanremo. Then, if we want to go further into the underground, I can tell you from personal experience that in Italy, especially in the south, the hardcore and heavy metal scene is vibrant and full of incredibly talented bands that, unfortunately, will remain there ignored by everyone because, although they could have a consistent following, they aren’t commercially interesting to anyone and would stir too much uproar: we are too nice a people to accept that those who p

Here's another one who misuses the word "grunge." There's nothing grunge about this. Saying this album is grunge is like saying Gigi D'Alessio is death metal. Turn off MTV and start listening to music seriously, so maybe you'll write fewer blasphemies in your reviews.