Mozart died in 1791, aged 35. That was 213 years ago. If people are still playing Nirvana in 213 years as much as they are playing Mozart now, then yes, Nirvana is as good as Mozart. Until then...i don't think so.
No doubt, Trent is a big Aphex Twin fan. He comes up with some of the most original stuff I've ever heard.
Nomar didn't start the thread to say Nirvana is as good as Mozart! The intention was to see if people think they are as influential and as good of a band in modern times (1990 on) as Moazart was back in his time. I agree with Nomar in saying that they are.
Mozart was a child prodigy who was writing complete scores at around 5 years old. Writing four part harmonies for strings. He composed entire symphonies, more complete symphonies than Nirvana had 4-minute songs. He wasn't a musician, but a composer; one who influenced every generation of music since. Nirvana spent months hammering out "Come As You Are," the first song I ever learned on bass. They've influenced "artists" as diverse as Creed and Good Charlotte for around 10 years now. They wore their own obvious influences on their sleeves (Pixies, Black Flag), and aren't even as influential as many of their own pop contemporaries, like Metallica. "Nevermind" is a good album, a great album. Along with Metallica and Guns 'N Roses, they helped make mainstream music a lot heavier and rockin' in the early nineties, wiping out ultra-soft 80s pap in the process. But Mozart? Well, that's just not a very good comparison any way you look at it. Some good tunes, though.
You might be about the only person here who has heard of Aphex Twin. Do you have any of his stuff? He has a remix CD (it is a double one) called "26 Mixes for Cash" and it has 2 NIN songs in "Beauty of Being Numb" and "At the Heart of It All" and they sound nothing like the originals!
Kids...let's have some perspective here. I can't really believe people are comparing Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Prince, etc etc to Wolfgang Amadeus Frickin' Mozart. Are you all kidding me? Do you folks really think that those bands/musicians will still be listened to in TWO HUNDRED YEARS?? By the year 2204, the only 20th century musicians likely to be considered more than historical footnotes would probably be Sinatra, Elvis, and the Beatles. That's ALL. I'm fairly certain that people will still be humming Beatles tunes in 200 years, but even that doesn't put them on the same plane as Mozart. Let's try take ourselves out of our specific time and place for a minute and use some historical perspective (i.e., a span of CENTURIES) before making such outlandish claims.
ttboy i think you are exaggerating a bit. if there are im not aware of them. but what types of music that are notable that are documented besides classical music. so therefore the best composeres are going to still be listened to now. becuase it was the first type of music that anyone can really remember that is notable. as far as 200 or 300 years from now. this time will be remember as the birth of modern times. and more then three artists will be remebered. i promise me that. im not making this argument in regards to Nirvana. but just in general. i think some people want to hold mozart, handel, and all the other guys so high because it makes them sound intelligent. by the way i love mozart.
I don't listen to Classical music. I listen to contemporary commercial popular music because I like it more. But you're kidding yourself if you think the average person 200 years from now will know about any more than a handful of 20th century musicians. How am I exaggerating? You tell me, how many 18th century musicians can you name? How many 18th century artists/novelists/poets/statesmen/scientists can you name? Perhaps a handful of each, yes? And that's how many 20th century musicians the average citizen of 2204 will know. Future historians and musicologists will know about Nirvana; the average individual in all likelihood WILL NOT. On the other hand, I assert that Sinatra, Elvis, and the Beatles will be remembered simply because, regardless of personal opinions about their music, they all were responsible for significantly large bodies of work, and sold many, many, many, many records.
well to me i guess that it seems that there were many types of music started in the last 50 years or so. and also the first time that there will be actual recordings of artists for the first time. along with video of them that they will be remembered more then your thinking.
I have to agree with ttboy here. You guys are seriously deluding yourself if you think the music being made today will be remembered even a hundred years from now. If Kurt Cobain was alive today his music would be relegated to the bargain bin just like Pearl Jam is today. The music of the 90's is still being made the only problem is that you've grown out of it. Now if you at 30 grow out of "grunge" metal then how is this music supposed to be influential 200 hundred freaking years from now?
Not only is this an impossible comparison from a musical standpoint, it is an almost impossible comparison from a sociological standpoint. It's a totally unfair comparison any way you look at it and no matter how much you like the band or the composer. It's not really even worth trying to compare.
Well, I was being a little melodramatic, but I have been pimping Richard James quite a bit around here and I have been getting nothing, NOTHING, you hear me!
Cobain undiminished as rock 'n' roll icon By GENE STOUT c.2004 Seattle Post-Intelligencer I was a young music reporter in San Jose, Calif., getting ready to cover an INXS concert when the Nirvana lead singer's body was found in the greenhouse of his Seattle home. When he died three days earlier at the age of 27, he left a letter. EXTRAS "This note should be pretty easy to understand," Cobain wrote. "All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years. ... It's proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing something, for too many years now. "I don't have the passion anymore." Along with Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, Nirvana overran the charts during the early 1990s by blending scattershot but hook-filled verse-chorus-verse loops with amplifier static. Cobain's emotional singing sounded more like a panicked scream. The sound of him barking, "Teenage angst has paid off well/Now I'm bored and old," made the glam-fury of Guns N' Roses and the pop of Ace of Base seem shallow in comparison. Cobain's riveting songs gave rock's underground a voice in the mainstream with the seminal Nevermind. The 1991 album has sold more than 14 million copies. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain committed suicide on April 8, 1984. "Here we are now / Entertain us," Cobain sang in Smells Like Teen Spirit, the anthemic debut single from Nevermind, which rocketed up the record charts in the fall of 1991, sweeping past such acts as Boyz II Men, Garth Brooks and Metallica. In January 1992, Nevermind knocked Michael Jackson out of the No. 1 slot on Billboard's album chart, an achievement viewed with amazement. Nirvana's success was a triumph for what people were calling "alternative" rock. Plaid flannel shirts and cut-up Levi's 501s were the uniform of its fans and inspired the sound's ultimate name: grunge. A decade later, grunge is as significant on the timeline of rock 'n' roll music as the British Invasion or the folk and blues-rock from the summer of '69. Cobain was the leader of grunge, which makes it hard to glorify the era without revering the man. But Cobain's significance has been debated since the day his body was found and grunge music stood still in Seattle. That his songs were often conceived from within a haze of drugs is an issue those who loved him or his music have had to address. When Cobain killed himself, he left a young widow, Courtney Love, as well as a 19-month-old daughter, Frances Bean. His death -- from a lethal dose of heroin and a self-inflicted shotgun blast -- seemed cowardly. Today, Love appears in the news frequently, battling charges of assault, indecent exposure and drug use that have jeopardized her custody of their now 11-year-old daughter. The lawsuits between Love and Nirvana's Universal Music Group have been settled. A greatest-hits album was released in 2002, and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl has gone on to superstardom as the frontman for the Foo Fighters. But bassist Krist Novoselic vowed last year that he was through as a performer. Books about the singer keep coming. Charles R. Cross' Heavier Than Heaven: The Biography of Kurt Cobain was a New York Times best seller. Another credited to Cobain himself titled Journals was a sensation when it was published. In their new book, Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, authors Max Wallace and Ian Halperin raise the question of a conspiracy surrounding Cobain's death. At the INXS show I attended the night Cobain's suicide became public, lead INXS singer Michael Hutchence eulogized Cobain saying, "A gentleman named Kurt Cobain blew his head off. He was one of the greatest songwriters ever." Hutchence spoke briefly about the senselessness of suicide. A little more than three years later, Hutchence hung himself in a hotel room. It's an ironic note, but that's where the similarity ends. Hutchence was an admired singer and suave hit maker in a respected band. Cobain's impact on rock 'n' roll and society has been more lasting. Cobain spoke to disaffected teens and seemed to share their isolation. It was the message for the time and the reason Cobain's music earned a place in history. But the life (and death) it took to create it should not be emulated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
