Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance is eerie. Cobain insisted the stage to be decorated with black candles, flowers, and a crystal chandelier to give the stage a gloomy funeral look. When the show producer asked, “You mean like a funeral?” Cobain replied “Exactly. Like a funeral.” Nirvana wanted their show to be like no other MTV Unplugged concert ever done before. Rape me is a good one. TIL Kurt Cobain of Nirvana started playing “Rape Me” at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards instead of “Lithium”, which MTV wanted, “just to give [MTV] a little heart palpitation”. He switched to “Lithium” seconds before MTV was going to go to commercial
That album is beautiful him playing with at band he loved “The Meat Puppets” playing their beautiful songs is almost like a little glipmse at what could’ve been.
I live about an hour from the town he was born and raised (Aberdeen, WA)... when you enter the town the sign says "Welcome to Aberdeen... Come As You Are".
@@TanisHalf-Elven Incubus and Everclear..... I can't even remember a single song from either. SOYBIO disconnects from the grid and then makes statements on the grid. Choose what you want, because right now you are inconsistent.
In Seattle there was a big heroin problem and there was a campaign urging people to not use dirty needles. The campaign had a slogan... "When doused in mud, soak in bleach."
I can only imagine how hard it was for Dave Grohl losing both his great friends Kurt and then Taylor. Check out the tribute concert to Taylor where the Foo Fighters playing My Hero with Taylor's 16 year old playing the drums. It will hit you in the feels.
He also said a few times that people attached more meaning to his lyrics than were actually there like it wasn't intentional so who knows. But I agree with you
@@motleydiggerI think Kurt was communicating things even he didn’t understand. But there was meaning. Lots of conflicted feelings, love, hate, pain, and desire.
I can’t be the only one who has no idea why this song touches my soul but it does. RIP Kurt. You’re missed. You left a hell of a legacy. Your music lives on.
I remeber when Nirvana hit the scene. It was so different from everything that came before. I don’t understand what makes it great, but it just sounds incredbile.
As others have said, you've got to do a couple songs from their MTV Unplugged concert - the entire show is truly one of the most magical music events of the 20th century. Equal parts eerie and sad but also heartwarming for just how raw, candid and genuinely sincere it all is. No put-ons, just Kurt baring his soul to the universe for all to see. Highlights (if anything can be called that when every moment is amazing) are their cover of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World, which they make totally their own - and there's a moment at the end of the final song, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, that has haunted me my entire life... anyone who's seen it will know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm seriously getting teary eyed just thinking about it.
The "I swear I don't have a gun" was a metaphor, it represented people that lie when they promise to not hurt you or mislead you. It was the 1991 version of "Trust me Bro"
The line, "I swear that I don't have a gun" started hitting way differently after Kurt's death. I've never been able to listen to this song without thinking of his passing, since. Nirvana created some incredible music in short time period. You might think about checking out "In Bloom."
My whole life I have struggled with knowing exactly how I want to be and how I wish the world worked... but never really managed to live up to the expectations I feel others had for me or to accept how the world works... Whenever I have periods in life with no worries I end up feeling guilty for having been selfish and not been aware of the struggles of others. It is like capitalism forces you to be greedy and selfish yet my heart only really feels good when i give until I can't give no more... but when I have nothing more to give I crash... Life is truly about balance. Any extreme will wear you out... :)
West Virginia here… brn in 84… while country is my roots, and #1, I always listened to every thing even golden oldies “Little but of soap” to slipknot to black street… Nirvana has a special place in my teen years… it stirs a nostalgia in me that I can’t ever explain .
That show was so good bc Kurt had been withdrawaling all day and got his 1st hit right before they took the stage. That show is amazing bc he is allllllllll in his good feels in that moment. I'm glad it was recorded.
Watch any of the MTV unplugged of Nirvana . Its amazing. May he reat in peace . Illness of the body and mind and addiction is on all his songs. He slips stuff in . He will live on forever in music. ❤
Wikipedia- Many have speculated the song to be about heroin, which Cobain was struggling with at the time of writing and recording. The lyrics "Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach" speak directly to a Seattle-area HIV prevention campaign from the time period encouraging addicts to sterilize their needles with bleach before using them with the tagline "If doused in mud, soak in bleach", and "As a friend, as a trend, as a known enemy", for some, was further allegory of addiction to the drug. After Cobain's death, Sub Pop records approached G. Alan Marlatt at the University of Washington to set up a memorial fund to establish an addiction treatment center titled the "Come as You Are" center, but the funding fell through after the record label was sold to Warner Music Group
They make a big deal about the amount of H in his system like it was a “lethal dose” but as someone who battled addiction myself, you can become tolerant to stupid amounts. What’s a lethal dose for one person is the amount that I needed to feel “normal” (“get well” is the term used because it is exactly what you need to function and not be sick ). Same thing as people who are fresh out of jail or rehab are at the highest risk of ODs because they have lost their tolerance.
I'm almost certain that the "memoria" is actually a dipthong where 2 vowels come together to form a single syllable. It's quite common in certain vocal styling and a lot of vocalists do this.
@@jim2win2 watch Soaked in Bleach, he had 10 X’s the fatal dose of heroin in his system and couldn’t have held his eyes/head up more less a whole shotgun, the shotgun shell was in the left side of him which it shouldn’t have been, Courtney had a pad of paper in her back pack where she had been practicing his handwriting and he had requested his attorney to take her out of the will and file for divorce so yeah that alone gives me reason to “act so sure”
The problem with reacting to music videos, especially from the 90's, is that most of the time it was filled with imagery that wasn't necessarily tied directly to the subject matter of the song itself. It was often mostly trying to capture the mood of a song.
Kurt always said the lyrics don't mean anything. They are just phrases he put together. He had tons of notebooks with just phrases and that's how he wrote.
Yeah me too. They were just phrases he liked or made up that kind of rhymed or sounded good. I guess a few of the songs actually had meaning. Or atleast a story behind them
he said that. and he did just have books. however, once the words, lyrics, get sung ... it brings a life to them. and this had major radio play and was played at nearly every show. the lyrics have no meaning ... i think that is just what someone says to brush off the real problems they are having or feeling.
That’s not the truth tho… Kurt would always say a bunch of mistruths… he would always troll interviewers when asking about his lyrics cause he didn’t want to go into detail and talk about what they meant. Even in a later interview in 1993 he stated he gets tired of people asking about his lyrics and interrupting them their own way cause he didn’t like talking about their meaning and didn’t like getting too personal with interviewers
I don't think his melodies are underrated. That's why people still love Nirvana songs. The lyrics don't really mean anything. Kurt was all about melody.
@@jenfine Poets be Poets for example Jim Morrison lead singer of the doors was a true Poets at heart but a genius. Sometimes lyrics don't make sense to us but to the Poets or lyricist they make all the sense in the world 😃 Peace out ✌️ ☮️
@@RockinMamaT Jim Morrison could have replaced the stupid harpsichord with a bass guitar, but he didn't. The Doors is pretty sh*t music just like the over-used steel-guitar music of country music in the 80's, 90's, and 2000's. The Doors = unlistenable as Miley Cyrus.
I recall a reviewer describing Cobain's lyrics as "the tortured ramblings of an unstable mind", and that's about right. Kurt himself said his lyrics were a stream of consciousness and didn't really mean anything. It infuriated him how the critics and fans alike would over-analyse his every word.
I love listening to lyrics just for how they often sound so very different to the way people speak in daily life. David Bowie showed me this in my early teens!
You may be right, but ultimately these thoughts come from somewhere, right? What exactly is "stream of consciousness"? What comes out certainly isn't "randomly generated", right, it must come from our experiences and feelings. Kurt was indeed a tortured soul, so I bet a lot of his writing came from within his subconscious. I agree that they probably weren't constructed word-for-word with a particular meaning in mind, sure, but to say "they didn't mean ANYTHING" is also a bit disingenuous. Some songs, probably, but certainly not all of them. In most cases I'd say Nirvana's lyrics were meant to paint a certain mood/vibe, sort of like poetry. So I'd say that, as with most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle - some fans overanalyze every word, some say that it meant nothing, when in reality it was a reflection of Kurt's soul, incoherent and rambly as it may have been.
I would argue that. Him and Dave Grohl engineered the sound. They were both integral in the sound. When they met is when both of their music styles created one of the greatest bands of all time. I think people just saw Curt but after his death we see how Dave was most likely a huge part of the band’s creativity. Because we see what he became. Dave Grohl is one the greatest composers, drummer and guitarist and singer. And producer.
Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen now has its town marquee with a tag of 'Come As You Are'. A tribute now, although he was severely mistreated growing up there. One of the few bands that really transformed music. A welcome break from what came before it, pretty dark, but so affecting and real.
To me the song is about the conflict of someone who is suicidal and its so sad since how he passed, I was his age when he passed and its still evocative.
I disagree. Come as You Are and his lyrics weren't about s*icide, it was about him not making his girlfriend pregnant. Because he didn't "have a gun". You were a teenager once, surely this isn't difficult for you to comprehend......
This was the second video by Nirvana. They had blown up from nothing after the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out, and how were they supposed to top that? It was released six months after Teen Spirit came out, and was their second video, so they actually had a budget for it. A bunch of the imagery came from the album, Nevermind, which had a baby swimming in a pool after a dollar bill on a fishing line on the front, and a floating gun in the same pool (probably) on the back.
The remaining band members have done interviews and it’s always interesting when they talk about Kurt Cobain. I believe Dave Grohl (who was the drummer in Nirvana and now lead vocals for Foo Fighters) told a story about when they created and recorded the album In Utero. He said the band recorded the instrumentals for the album and then Kurt went in and recorded all the vocals for the album. What was unusual was that the band members had no idea what the songs would be about until they heard the recordings. Kurt battled addictions, so maybe that story kind of explains the why and how of the lyrics.
Memoria- translates from Italian, Portuguese, but originally Latin. It is also used as a figure I’d speech in Wester Historical Writings. Meant as an “ aid to a memory”, not just a memory itself! Like commemoration, memorial. Was used to describe an altar or collection of relics, pictures to help remember something or someone. They were used in religious processions is Saints. It means a recorded record to aid us in remembering. Favorite of Nirvana. Yes Kurt overdosed.
This is what makes music awesome!! And it is why some artists would never publish lyrics . The music is for you to have the reactions and feelings. I think that while yes it’s about drugs, I personally struggle with depression. I told no one for many years. It took me taking a handful of pills to ask for help. So I see his depression in the song. Perspective is everything.
Kurt was a gun owner. He had guns and liked shooting them for fun. Everyone is aware of the irony of him singing about guns and his eventual death which is related to that. It's just a coincidence, nothing more. Also many of his songs were pieced together with different things he wrote, and many times don't make a lot of sense if you are looking for a storyline or meaning behind it.
I don’t know if anybody else said it, but Curt played guitar left handed and Jimmy Hendrix style. He just flipped a right hand guitar over and played. He didn’t have it strung for a lefty.
The toxicology report stated that Cobain had a high concentration of heroin in his system at the time of his death that measured 1.52 milligrams per liter. The autopsy report also noted old needle tracks on Cobain's arm, as well new puncture wounds. The official cause of death was listed as a self-inflicted "contact perforating shotgun wound to the head".
I loved his poetry. So evocative. Like Emily Dickinson. My favorite line he wrote is "nothing on top, but a bucket and a mop....and an illustrated book about birds." As nonsensical as the lyric may seem...you still get it. That's what makes a Master Poet. I feel the same way about Stevie Nicks.
Live he would pronounce words all different for double meanings & effect affect. Listen in dark w headphones a must. True art the Sinatra Picasso of Grunge
If you recall, in Ren’s song “Life is Funny”, he has a lyric “I bang like Kurt Cobain, reach Nirvana on a spiritual plane”. When you reacted with Andi Rue he comments about the line but the song is playing so I can’t make out what he says. You watched again with Anthony Ray, and AR tells you about the Dutch word for “headache” sounding a little like Cobain and therefore being used as a pun
He was very eerie! At one of his concerts they did this thing to make it look like kurt was dead & had people freaked out. He said it was bcuz there was always a rumor he was dead. The stage was pretty eerie also!! Him & Courtney Love almost lost their baby to social services bcuz of heroin addiction! Kurt had had severe stomach issues his whole life & when he found he cud ease the pain with herion, he never looked back!! Some ppl after using so long, it turns into a worse pain & then they are addicted.
To say Memoria, in spanish the meaning is broader, It´s not just a single memory, is a recorded history of recolections and memories that sums up countless experiences so you can learn and grow . We say "Tengamos Memoria" or "Hay que hacer memoria", meaning "Remember history, struggle and in that way grow up" And something that I think I heard from Kurt this time around, when he says "no, I don´t have a gun" I think he is talking to himself as the rest of the song, trying to talk himself out of the dark place of mistrust and bleak lonelyness he is in...The whole song is filled with social contradicions and anguish..."come as a friend, as I want you to be", "come as a trend, as an old enemy".... And to add something on 7:30, dirt is real, "bleached" is false cleanlyness, it´s the aparent goodness of a superficial and artificial image(while bleach beeing one of the most corrosive and deadliest substances to life as we know it). All the song is about how to recognize reality in others but more important, in oneself. Saddly in the end he couldn´t see himself having a place in the world that was placed in front of him....And when I say "Saddly" is not that he couldn´t find that place, is that he lived on a world one step to the side and one step forward, but no one understood it or dared to be part of it
You're right, it is very eerie, the first three songs off Nevermind all referenced guns (he did own a number of them). As far as "memoria" is concerned, it is pretty much just Latin for memory (don't know how nuanced he was trying to be, but it specifically relates to the crafting and delivery of speeches or prose).
Someone will surely mention this, but he asked for the stage at MTV unplugged to be decorated with candles and lilies as though it was a funeral. He had overdosed in Rome shortly before MTV unplugged because he was suspicious that Courtney had been with another man
You really need to do *All Apologies and The Man Who Sold The World from the MTV Unplugged (really just all of the performance)* Something In The Way, Plateau. Some songs have creepy titles for important subjects...his lyrics do make a kind of sense.
Maybe it represents change in people. The main character is telling people to come as they are NOW. He used to know these people "old memoria." But he's changed too, but in a bad way. He wants to see them again. He wants to see their change. He wants them to see how he's changed, but he's either broken or a monster. "I swear I don't have gun" is him lying to these people when he's reaching out. Maybe it means I'm not suicidal, crazy or evil. He won't hurt you, even though he truly wants to. Because he's taken a dark road. All manipulation to hide true intentions. Or masking one self to appear normal in front of others yet at the same time hiding your dark nature.
Great Reaction BP!!!! I agree about this song being eerie, I put that to the side, because it’s one of Nirvana’s best! Soundgarden has a great song called Pretty Noose, Chris Cornell hung himself, but it’s one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard! I think Kurt and Chris would have wanted the world to keep jamming to these 2 great songs! I believe Kurt killed himself because He suffered from a spine disease, had constant stomach pain, suffered from depression, had a horrible childhood, was on a lot of meds, and most of all He truly hated Fame!!! He was a tortured sole!!! I’m glad that Nirvana came along and changed rock music when they did, they truly saved rock music!!!! Lithium is actually their best song and changed my music universe! This is a song that went deep into the pit of my stomach, not many songs can do that!!! Now that’s rock n roll!!!!
Oh man! Just graduated high school and this grunge scene hits!! Love it!!! 🤘🏼 wished I’d seen them! I did see Pearl Jam and so many other grunge/alternative bands! Went to the same festival every year & saw everyone! #GenX
I think I read the line “I don’t have a gun” was related to a domestic abuse incident with his parents. There were similar incidents with him and Courtney.
Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance is eerie. Cobain insisted the stage to be decorated with black candles, flowers, and a crystal chandelier to give the stage a gloomy funeral look. When the show producer asked, “You mean like a funeral?” Cobain replied “Exactly. Like a funeral.” Nirvana wanted their show to be like no other MTV Unplugged concert ever done before.
Rape me is a good one.
TIL Kurt Cobain of Nirvana started playing “Rape Me” at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards instead of “Lithium”, which MTV wanted, “just to give [MTV] a little heart palpitation”. He switched to “Lithium” seconds before MTV was going to go to commercial
It's the single best live performance from soup to nuts that I have ever heard. In my opinion, the greatest Album I have ever heard.
Funniest thing about that performance was the stage diver that nobody bothered to catch. That guy definitely needed hospital treatment. 😂
Bridgetlewis: The performance on Mtv unplugged is my favorite.!!!
That album is beautiful him playing with at band he loved “The Meat Puppets” playing their beautiful songs is almost like a little glipmse at what could’ve been.
@@TheSleightDoctor Krist also knocked himself out with his own bass :)
I live about an hour from the town he was born and raised (Aberdeen, WA)... when you enter the town the sign says "Welcome to Aberdeen... Come As You Are".
Shout out fellow Washingtonian 👍
Shout out from Lacey
I lived in Aberdeen and have seen that sign many times.
Shout out from Tumwater!
It's nice that Aberdeen was forced to embrace Kurt, but he hated it there.
RIP Kurt Cobain, been 30 years as of this month! ❤❤❤
😪 I remember exactly where I was.
Nirvana literally destroyed the hairband scene and even til this day, the biggest infuence on alternative rock.
I was so happy to hear the Seattle sound on the radio! Tired of the pop and hair bands!
That's why we got whiney soyboi rock. Nirvana Incubus Everclear.... not grunge not alternative, it's SOYBOI rock
Nah that was thrash metal and death metal that killed that scene lol js.
@@TanisHalf-Elven Incubus and Everclear..... I can't even remember a single song from either. SOYBIO disconnects from the grid and then makes statements on the grid. Choose what you want, because right now you are inconsistent.
I remember. They all went away over night. #GenX
In Seattle there was a big heroin problem and there was a campaign urging people to not use dirty needles. The campaign had a slogan... "When doused in mud, soak in bleach."
did not know this - and it's interesting
I can only imagine how hard it was for Dave Grohl losing both his great friends Kurt and then Taylor. Check out the tribute concert to Taylor where the Foo Fighters playing My Hero with Taylor's 16 year old playing the drums. It will hit you in the feels.
Tear up every time I watch that
I absolutely love watching his son play in his father’s empty drummer stool.
Dave's mom passed away later that year too... I don't know how he does it.
Have you read Dave's book? The part where he talks about Kurt is so sad.
@@katemccrea6963 not yet. I also know he put out some music where he plays everything himself.
Heart Shaped box is one of my favorite songs!! 💯🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻❤
My favorite song of theirs was the cover of David Bowie's Man Who Sold the World. Their version was incredible
A memory...a memory....a memory
The detuned guitars always made his music sound eerie. A tormented soul who caused most of his own pain and let it all get out of control.
He also said a few times that people attached more meaning to his lyrics than were actually there like it wasn't intentional so who knows. But I agree with you
@@motleydiggerI think Kurt was communicating things even he didn’t understand. But there was meaning. Lots of conflicted feelings, love, hate, pain, and desire.
I can’t be the only one who has no idea why this song touches my soul but it does. RIP Kurt. You’re missed. You left a hell of a legacy. Your music lives on.
I was 20 when someone introduced me to this song ❤
I remeber when Nirvana hit the scene. It was so different from everything that came before. I don’t understand what makes it great, but it just sounds incredbile.
As others have said, you've got to do a couple songs from their MTV Unplugged concert - the entire show is truly one of the most magical music events of the 20th century. Equal parts eerie and sad but also heartwarming for just how raw, candid and genuinely sincere it all is. No put-ons, just Kurt baring his soul to the universe for all to see.
Highlights (if anything can be called that when every moment is amazing) are their cover of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World, which they make totally their own - and there's a moment at the end of the final song, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, that has haunted me my entire life... anyone who's seen it will know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm seriously getting teary eyed just thinking about it.
The "I swear I don't have a gun" was a metaphor, it represented people that lie when they promise to not hurt you or mislead you. It was the 1991 version of "Trust me Bro"
The line, "I swear that I don't have a gun" started hitting way differently after Kurt's death. I've never been able to listen to this song without thinking of his passing, since. Nirvana created some incredible music in short time period. You might think about checking out "In Bloom."
Also, this song is about how conflicted we are about who we are inside versus societal expectation. It's a song about conflicting identity
😊Well said!!❤❤❤
My whole life I have struggled with knowing exactly how I want to be and how I wish the world worked... but never really managed to live up to the expectations I feel others had for me or to accept how the world works...
Whenever I have periods in life with no worries I end up feeling guilty for having been selfish and not been aware of the struggles of others. It is like capitalism forces you to be greedy and selfish yet my heart only really feels good when i give until I can't give no more... but when I have nothing more to give I crash... Life is truly about balance. Any extreme will wear you out... :)
Nirvana drummer is Dave Grohl, the lead singer of Foo Fighters.
I'm with you BP. Its like he was confirming to someone while depressed, that he don't have a gun
The bottom line, no matter what Nirvana's music was about or how Kurt died is that their music was ICONIC and continues to be popular 30+ years later.
Nirvana- something in the way, is a really eerie song I never understand it lyrically.
I always loved the juxtapositions in this song.
West Virginia here… brn in 84… while country is my roots, and #1, I always listened to every thing even golden oldies “Little but of soap” to slipknot to black street… Nirvana has a special place in my teen years… it stirs a nostalgia in me that I can’t ever explain .
Nirvanas MTV unplugged is a masterpiece.
Yes it is. This 69 year old great grandma plays it a lot!
That show was so good bc Kurt had been withdrawaling all day and got his 1st hit right before they took the stage. That show is amazing bc he is allllllllll in his good feels in that moment. I'm glad it was recorded.
@@BeatNicMa Yes, even people with DT issues perform better when mildly intoxicated.
Agreed there are a few MTV unplugged that are amazing setting the bar high nirvana was definitely one of them
I agree. The Alice in Chains Unplugged is up there too. A beautiful, live funeral.
Watch any of the MTV unplugged of Nirvana . Its amazing. May he reat in peace . Illness of the body and mind and addiction is on all his songs. He slips stuff in . He will live on forever in music. ❤
Wikipedia- Many have speculated the song to be about heroin, which Cobain was struggling with at the time of writing and recording. The lyrics "Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach" speak directly to a Seattle-area HIV prevention campaign from the time period encouraging addicts to sterilize their needles with bleach before using them with the tagline "If doused in mud, soak in bleach", and "As a friend, as a trend, as a known enemy", for some, was further allegory of addiction to the drug. After Cobain's death, Sub Pop records approached G. Alan Marlatt at the University of Washington to set up a memorial fund to establish an addiction treatment center titled the "Come as You Are" center, but the funding fell through after the record label was sold to Warner Music Group
He was a deep dude. Battled addiction and depression. There are hidden messages in his writings.
They make a big deal about the amount of H in his system like it was a “lethal dose” but as someone who battled addiction myself, you can become tolerant to stupid amounts.
What’s a lethal dose for one person is the amount that I needed to feel “normal” (“get well” is the term used because it is exactly what you need to function and not be sick ). Same thing as people who are fresh out of jail or rehab are at the highest risk of ODs because they have lost their tolerance.
There's also gibberish in his writings 😁
that mrs of his - and far too many say that he didn't do it 'himself'...
I'm almost certain that the "memoria" is actually a dipthong where 2 vowels come together to form a single syllable. It's quite common in certain vocal styling and a lot of vocalists do this.
Another eerie song foreshadowing his demise is "all apologies" live unplugged
Memoria
One of my favorite songs by Nirvana.
If you look up the lyrics he is saying "memoria" which means memory in Latin.
Memory yeah
They want us to think he killed himself but we don’t believe it….Where did you sleep last night by Nirvana is a MUST!!!!!
He self identified as depressed for years before he died man. You can’t act so sure
@@jim2win2 watch Soaked in Bleach, he had 10 X’s the fatal dose of heroin in his system and couldn’t have held his eyes/head up more less a whole shotgun, the shotgun shell was in the left side of him which it shouldn’t have been, Courtney had a pad of paper in her back pack where she had been practicing his handwriting and he had requested his attorney to take her out of the will and file for divorce so yeah that alone gives me reason to “act so sure”
@@tiacalhoun3841 Sorry late but In a documentary her own Father said she was 100% complicent in his death
@@caranconarroe-pearson2954 evil!!!! He signed himself out of rehab to divorce her and file for custody of his daughter and then BOOM…he’s dead 🤦♀️
The problem with reacting to music videos, especially from the 90's, is that most of the time it was filled with imagery that wasn't necessarily tied directly to the subject matter of the song itself. It was often mostly trying to capture the mood of a song.
I love his unplugged cover of "The Man Who Sold the World"
MTV Unplugged and Heart Shaped Box!🔥❤️
I freaking love ❤ this song!!
Lyrics are like an abstract painting
Kurt always said the lyrics don't mean anything. They are just phrases he put together. He had tons of notebooks with just phrases and that's how he wrote.
Yeah me too. They were just phrases he liked or made up that kind of rhymed or sounded good.
I guess a few of the songs actually had meaning. Or atleast a story behind them
He was trolling
he said that. and he did just have books. however, once the words, lyrics, get sung ... it brings a life to them. and this had major radio play and was played at nearly every show. the lyrics have no meaning ... i think that is just what someone says to brush off the real problems they are having or feeling.
That’s not the truth tho… Kurt would always say a bunch of mistruths… he would always troll interviewers when asking about his lyrics cause he didn’t want to go into detail and talk about what they meant. Even in a later interview in 1993 he stated he gets tired of people asking about his lyrics and interrupting them their own way cause he didn’t like talking about their meaning and didn’t like getting too personal with interviewers
I seriously doubt he was such a bad lyric writer that they meant nothing. More likely he said that to get people to stop asking.
Nirvana Number One GRUNGE
Kurt wrote the lyrics for Nirvana and his melodies are underrated. 🤙🏼 "All Apologies"
He's not as underrated as you think. A lot of bands followed in their footsteps ❤
I don't think his melodies are underrated. That's why people still love Nirvana songs. The lyrics don't really mean anything. Kurt was all about melody.
@@jenfine Poets be Poets for example Jim Morrison lead singer of the doors was a true Poets at heart but a genius. Sometimes lyrics don't make sense to us but to the Poets or lyricist they make all the sense in the world 😃 Peace out ✌️ ☮️
@@RockinMamaT Jim Morrison could have replaced the stupid harpsichord with a bass guitar, but he didn't. The Doors is pretty sh*t music just like the over-used steel-guitar music of country music in the 80's, 90's, and 2000's. The Doors = unlistenable as Miley Cyrus.
@@RockinMamaT Kurt himself downplayed the importance of his lyrics over and over again in numerous interviews.
I recall a reviewer describing Cobain's lyrics as "the tortured ramblings of an unstable mind", and that's about right. Kurt himself said his lyrics were a stream of consciousness and didn't really mean anything. It infuriated him how the critics and fans alike would over-analyse his every word.
I love listening to lyrics just for how they often sound so very different to the way people speak in daily life. David Bowie showed me this in my early teens!
You may be right, but ultimately these thoughts come from somewhere, right? What exactly is "stream of consciousness"? What comes out certainly isn't "randomly generated", right, it must come from our experiences and feelings. Kurt was indeed a tortured soul, so I bet a lot of his writing came from within his subconscious. I agree that they probably weren't constructed word-for-word with a particular meaning in mind, sure, but to say "they didn't mean ANYTHING" is also a bit disingenuous. Some songs, probably, but certainly not all of them. In most cases I'd say Nirvana's lyrics were meant to paint a certain mood/vibe, sort of like poetry.
So I'd say that, as with most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle - some fans overanalyze every word, some say that it meant nothing, when in reality it was a reflection of Kurt's soul, incoherent and rambly as it may have been.
For all how eerie Cobain's lyrics were, and all the attention focused on him, Krist Novoselic is one of the best bass players I've heard.
He had the best rock voice, IMO. And he was the architect of the whole band's sound. Massive talent.
I would argue that. Him and Dave Grohl engineered the sound. They were both integral in the sound. When they met is when both of their music styles created one of the greatest bands of all time. I think people just saw Curt but after his death we see how Dave was most likely a huge part of the band’s creativity. Because we see what he became. Dave Grohl is one the greatest composers, drummer and guitarist and singer. And producer.
@@bobboy5508 Yes. I didn't mean to minimize Dave Grohl's infuence. It was a brilliant co-creation. And Grohl is still alive and creating.
You absolutely HAVE to watch some of the MTV Unplugged performances. Particularly 'Man Who Sold the World' and 'Where did you Sleep Last Night'
Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen now has its town marquee with a tag of 'Come As You Are'. A tribute now, although he was severely mistreated growing up there. One of the few bands that really transformed music. A welcome break from what came before it, pretty dark, but so affecting and real.
Nirvana MTV Unplugged in NY is peak Nirvana.
I rarely like live performances, but that one gets my approval.
To me the song is about the conflict of someone who is suicidal and its so sad since how he passed, I was his age when he passed and its still evocative.
I disagree. Come as You Are and his lyrics weren't about s*icide, it was about him not making his girlfriend pregnant. Because he didn't "have a gun". You were a teenager once, surely this isn't difficult for you to comprehend......
@@CelticSpiritsCoven Its as I said "to me"
YAY This is one of my Fav songs by Nirvana!!!
This was the second video by Nirvana. They had blown up from nothing after the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out, and how were they supposed to top that? It was released six months after Teen Spirit came out, and was their second video, so they actually had a budget for it. A bunch of the imagery came from the album, Nevermind, which had a baby swimming in a pool after a dollar bill on a fishing line on the front, and a floating gun in the same pool (probably) on the back.
The remaining band members have done interviews and it’s always interesting when they talk about Kurt Cobain. I believe Dave Grohl (who was the drummer in Nirvana and now lead vocals for Foo Fighters) told a story about when they created and recorded the album In Utero. He said the band recorded the instrumentals for the album and then Kurt went in and recorded all the vocals for the album. What was unusual was that the band members had no idea what the songs would be about until they heard the recordings. Kurt battled addictions, so maybe that story kind of explains the why and how of the lyrics.
It’s about contradictions - we tell people to be themselves while making them be something else at the same time.
i believe he's saying "memory ah"
Memoria- translates from Italian, Portuguese, but originally Latin. It is also used as a figure I’d speech in Wester Historical Writings. Meant as an “ aid to a memory”, not just a memory itself! Like commemoration, memorial. Was used to describe an altar or collection of relics, pictures to help remember something or someone. They were used in religious processions is Saints. It means a recorded record to aid us in remembering. Favorite of Nirvana. Yes Kurt overdosed.
This is what makes music awesome!! And it is why some artists would never publish lyrics . The music is for you to have the reactions and feelings. I think that while yes it’s about drugs, I personally struggle with depression. I told no one for many years. It took me taking a handful of pills to ask for help. So I see his depression in the song. Perspective is everything.
Kurt was a gun owner. He had guns and liked shooting them for fun. Everyone is aware of the irony of him singing about guns and his eventual death which is related to that. It's just a coincidence, nothing more. Also many of his songs were pieced together with different things he wrote, and many times don't make a lot of sense if you are looking for a storyline or meaning behind it.
Lol coincidence.
I don’t know if anybody else said it, but Curt played guitar left handed and Jimmy Hendrix style. He just flipped a right hand guitar over and played. He didn’t have it strung for a lefty.
My generation took Latin in High School. It has helped me be smarter without being smarter. Memoria.
I loved what you said about memory-A. Listening to you made me think that it could go even further into memoriam.
Dave Grohl was the drummer. Lead singer of Foo Fighters.
Love Nirvana ! Still love ``em
BP I truly enjoy how you are so open to checking out music that was never your ‘lane’. Thank you! I am the same.
Their MTV Unplugged was absolutely amazing
MTV unplugged My girl, go for it! ❤
NEVERMIND was a badass album... u got the radio friendly tracks, calm tracks, heavy and fast songs... its definitely a classic 🤘🏽😎
💯🤙🏼
It is going over your head. Memoria Is a play on words. Memoreaem is Roman for we all must die.
My fav song to play on the drums high af xD what a great song
Memoria can be the Latin term for memory. But it’s more than just remembering events.
"Memória" in Portuguese, "memoria" in Spanish and Italian. 🙂
A memory... A memory... A memory.
He could also just be emphasizing it that way for the song but cool to know your probably correct
Memory yeah said together
Listen to them singing this on mtv unplugged. Masterpiece.
The toxicology report stated that Cobain had a high concentration of heroin in his system at the time of his death that measured 1.52 milligrams per liter. The autopsy report also noted old needle tracks on Cobain's arm, as well new puncture wounds. The official cause of death was listed as a self-inflicted "contact perforating shotgun wound to the head".
courtney did it!
@@glennhurst9988That's absurd. She hired someone.
So ,in otherwords he got high as a kite and did away with himself...
....la mia giovinezza...😭😞❤🖤
"Erie"...... gotta check out "Heart Shaped Box." Would love to see you react to that one for sure!!
Nirvana - Breed (Live At The Paramount/1991)
I loved his poetry. So evocative. Like Emily Dickinson. My favorite line he wrote is "nothing on top, but a bucket and a mop....and an illustrated book about birds." As nonsensical as the lyric may seem...you still get it. That's what makes a Master Poet. I feel the same way about Stevie Nicks.
Nirvana ❤❤❤adoro esse homem ficou na história. Não existe grupo 💯 como nirvana e guns and roses ❤❤❤.
Live he would pronounce words all different for double meanings & effect affect. Listen in dark w headphones a must. True art the Sinatra Picasso of Grunge
If you recall, in Ren’s song “Life is Funny”, he has a lyric “I bang like Kurt Cobain, reach Nirvana on a spiritual plane”. When you reacted with Andi Rue he comments about the line but the song is playing so I can’t make out what he says. You watched again with Anthony Ray, and AR tells you about the Dutch word for “headache” sounding a little like Cobain and therefore being used as a pun
He was very eerie! At one of his concerts they did this thing to make it look like kurt was dead & had people freaked out. He said it was bcuz there was always a rumor he was dead. The stage was pretty eerie also!! Him & Courtney Love almost lost their baby to social services bcuz of heroin addiction! Kurt had had severe stomach issues his whole life & when he found he cud ease the pain with herion, he never looked back!! Some ppl after using so long, it turns into a worse pain & then they are addicted.
To say Memoria, in spanish the meaning is broader, It´s not just a single memory, is a recorded history of recolections and memories that sums up countless experiences so you can learn and grow . We say "Tengamos Memoria" or "Hay que hacer memoria", meaning "Remember history, struggle and in that way grow up"
And something that I think I heard from Kurt this time around, when he says "no, I don´t have a gun" I think he is talking to himself as the rest of the song, trying to talk himself out of the dark place of mistrust and bleak lonelyness he is in...The whole song is filled with social contradicions and anguish..."come as a friend, as I want you to be", "come as a trend, as an old enemy"....
And to add something on 7:30, dirt is real, "bleached" is false cleanlyness, it´s the aparent goodness of a superficial and artificial image(while bleach beeing one of the most corrosive and deadliest substances to life as we know it). All the song is about how to recognize reality in others but more important, in oneself.
Saddly in the end he couldn´t see himself having a place in the world that was placed in front of him....And when I say "Saddly" is not that he couldn´t find that place, is that he lived on a world one step to the side and one step forward, but no one understood it or dared to be part of it
Nirvana - Aneurysm (Live at Reading 1992) to see what the hype was really about
You're right, it is very eerie, the first three songs off Nevermind all referenced guns (he did own a number of them).
As far as "memoria" is concerned, it is pretty much just Latin for memory (don't know how nuanced he was trying to be, but it specifically relates to the crafting and delivery of speeches or prose).
you have to check out all apologies, where did you sleep last night, about a girl, the man who sold the world cover, heart shaped box, etc
Chills always when I listen to this song. high volume and let's hear it endlessly.....memoria ... memory . suicide thoughts already
This is my favorite Nirvana song. All Apologies next…❤️
Nirvana has so many great songs, but Lake of Fire from their MTV Unplugged sessions is one of my favorites! So much great music from the grunge era!
About A Girl, still one of my favorites
You should really check out the entire Unplugged. It’s so incredible and super creepy. His melancholy is on full display.
Seattle boy is here to watch this amazing reaction 😊
Gun was also used as the double meaning of handgun & gun as a man’s pants pistol being called gun. That’s why called Come as you are every extreme
Someone will surely mention this, but he asked for the stage at MTV unplugged to be decorated with candles and lilies as though it was a funeral. He had overdosed in Rome shortly before MTV unplugged because he was suspicious that Courtney had been with another man
Dave Grohl was like their 5th drummer, and helped change that groove
"Memoria" it's like "memory" in Spanish language. Grettings from Spain, my friend.
You really need to do *All Apologies and The Man Who Sold The World from the MTV Unplugged (really just all of the performance)* Something In The Way, Plateau. Some songs have creepy titles for important subjects...his lyrics do make a kind of sense.
Everyone bought this album ❤️🎶
Got to go back to the old albums. They are so Good and actually Fun. Insecticide and Bleach are amazing and are a joy to listen to
Maybe it represents change in people. The main character is telling people to come as they are NOW. He used to know these people "old memoria." But he's changed too, but in a bad way. He wants to see them again. He wants to see their change. He wants them to see how he's changed, but he's either broken or a monster.
"I swear I don't have gun" is him lying to these people when he's reaching out. Maybe it means I'm not suicidal, crazy or evil. He won't hurt you, even though he truly wants to. Because he's taken a dark road. All manipulation to hide true intentions. Or masking one self to appear normal in front of others yet at the same time hiding your dark nature.
Kurt's mother once threw his stepfather's guns into a river and Kurt fished some of them out and pawned them to buy his first guitar.
Great Reaction BP!!!! I agree about this song being eerie, I put that to the side, because it’s one of Nirvana’s best! Soundgarden has a great song called Pretty Noose, Chris Cornell hung himself, but it’s one of the greatest songs I’ve ever heard! I think Kurt and Chris would have wanted the world to keep jamming to these 2 great songs! I believe Kurt killed himself because He suffered from a spine disease, had constant stomach pain, suffered from depression, had a horrible childhood, was on a lot of meds, and most of all He truly hated Fame!!! He was a tortured sole!!! I’m glad that Nirvana came along and changed rock music when they did, they truly saved rock music!!!! Lithium is actually their best song and changed my music universe! This is a song that went deep into the pit of my stomach, not many songs can do that!!! Now that’s rock n roll!!!!
Oh man! Just graduated high school and this grunge scene hits!! Love it!!! 🤘🏼 wished I’d seen them! I did see Pearl Jam and so many other grunge/alternative bands! Went to the same festival every year & saw everyone! #GenX
I think I read the line “I don’t have a gun” was related to a domestic abuse incident with his parents. There were similar incidents with him and Courtney.
Triumph - "Magic Power" Best goosebumps song