donjunio

"We chase the lies of scrap paper." I think in that line he refers to the lies of the press, to how there was speculation at the time about Layne's drug addiction (at one point, there was even news published about his alleged HIV positivity!)... that "We chase" seems quite ironic, also referring to those fans who are unwittingly responsible for the morbid attention of the media. Another line is emblematic: "My privacy is raked"...common themes for both Cobain and Vedder, clearly.

I don't want to give a speech about who experienced things first; everyone was doing their own thing, and I love both groups madly. What I meant to say is that grunge had become synonymous with stupid headbanging, and the unplugged performance was a reaction to that massification, to the urges of an audience expecting certain sounds. Then Cobain was in a position to do whatever he wanted: he was playing grunge when AIC were still - in Cantrell's exact words - a "speed metal band in love with Guns and Roses' Appetite for Destruction." AIC made "Sap" first because they have always been chameleonic, but the true pioneer of the acoustic sound in Seattle was still Mark Lanegan with his masterpiece "The Winding Sheet" from 1990, to which Cobain had collaborated (having had the idea of creating a similar work in mind for when he had the time). Finally, when you say ["of musicians from a not particularly diverse sound universe like Nirvana, the struggle for 'survival' was becoming harder compared to... I don't know... Pearl Jam"]... but you're saying that while listening to the Manics??? Joking aside, Cobain intended to experiment in other directions as well, starting from certain aspects of In Utero to the influences from the Butthole Surfers, as he mentioned in his last interview with "Rolling Stone." When they asked him, and what if the others in the band aren’t on board, what do you do? Cobain replied, "Oh well, fuck it." Nirvana was going to break up anyway, and not by coincidence for the exegetes of conspiracy theories, at this point a dead Cobain to recycle as a perennial icon was worth more than a solo Cobain, dedicated to quirky projects (like the one with William Burroughs, which many ignore).... you’ll see that when the King returns to his natural habitat, he will make a splash, even if we don’t really need him to beat Napoli, hihihi.

never appreciated elvis that much, impeccable review

@mopaga...you'll see that Suazo will be back with us in January, and with him at Napoli, we'll do much more than just two (even though I didn't mind the 2-0 at San Paolo, quite the opposite). BTW, for experimentation, Cobain meant to make an acoustic album, something deep like "Automatic for the People" by R.E.M., an album certainly less innovative but more intense than a lot of pseudo-alternative and "experimental" stuff. Trying that kind of composition, the best way to channel his poetry and his lyricism, was in his eyes the best way to overcome the standardization of the grunge sound that had now tired him, and that was being diminished by the various clones infesting the charts and MTV. After all, he himself, with clarity in the opening of "In Utero," had ironically remarked: "youth discontent has done well, now I'm old and tired." @oleinar..Yes, the version of "Down in a Hole" on the Unplugged is really remarkable, with the unmistakable vocal harmonies, but that song is so perfect that it is indestructible in any form.

but no ocean, he's a friend...I was being ironic about the fact that mopaga usually doesn't show his British flair on unusual matters like "is nevermind the best album by Nirvana?" or "is Tizio's unplugged better than Caio's?"....anyway, back to Jar of Flies, it has a somewhat slick production. I prefer Sap, rough and down-to-earth, also for that reason.

Mopaga, you prefer the Manic Street Preachers to Nirvana, so your opinion doesn't count hihihihi. Anyway, the Unplugged sessions by Alice in Chains and Nirvana are quite different: Staley and the gang's performance is basically a farewell greatest hits, since almost all the original songs were already in acoustic versions, and those few they unplugged (like "Rooster," less effective than the electric version) aren't among the most memorable. The Nirvana Unplugged, on the other hand, is a experimentation by Cobain on the type of music he wanted to make to break away from his cliché; it's no coincidence that there are no hits in the setlist, but rather the famous covers.

The most touching and immense Layne is in "Am I Inside"....."Black is all I feel so this is how it feels to be free".. drug addiction as an endless curse. I also don't mind the lyrics of "Rain when I die": I wonder if it was raining when he left.

This discussion about lyrics is great. I believe Chris has also written excellent ones, condensing his mal de vivre: "Hunger strike" for Temple of the Dog, "4th of July"... Cobain himself knew how to be raw and obsessively sick, just think of certain lyrics like "Paper Cuts" or "Scentless Apprentice," and he often distilled everything into incredibly effective images ("Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld so I can sigh eternally," or "We've broken our mirrors/Sunday morning is everyday for all I care"), or he would dive into exquisite visionary miniatures like in "Dumb"...."My heart is broke But I have some glue /Help me inhale And mend it with you Well float around And hang out on clouds Then well come down And have a hangover."

Yes, Layne wrote some beautiful lyrics... "Am I Inside", "Frogs"... not to mention those by Mad Season... although it's worth noting that the burden of lyrics in AIC was more often taken on by Cantrell, he didn't write that many. I don't think Vedder, Cobain, and Cornell were inferior to him, staying within Seattle.

Nice line, but it strikes me as inspired by "I'd rather be dead than cool" from Cobain's memory...