Nirvana

Music from the 90's is vastly underappreciated. Kurt Cobain had his day in the sun, so here are five other bands that stimulate the emotion the late rock star named his band after.


The Brian Jonestown Massacre

All it took to fall in love with this band was to take one listen to "(David Bowie I Love You) Since I was Six", a blissful love song from their best album Take it From the Man. The fifth track on the album comes after four hard hitting rockers tasty enough to fall head over heels before singer Anton Newcomb spouts the indecisive lyrics, "Does she love you? You suppose.". The album ends with the fantastic seventeen minute jam session "Straight Up and Down", with the band so caught up in the moment they begin chanting "Hey Jude". With my excitement at its peak of discovering Jonestown the previously mentioned song burst onto the opening credits of prohibition drama Boardwalk Empire, giving me hope that more folks would catch on to the bands excellence. However, Newcomb claims to have never even seen the show, appearing content to stay under the radar. The 90's should have belonged to this band who released seven different, progressive, and artful albums before the core of the group broke up. Yet, with a mind as active as Newcomb's the music continues to be delivered with the same passion to this day. I only wish I could go back to the first time someone played "Anemone" for me so I could feel that excitement of hearing The Brian Jonestown Massacre again for the first time.

Pavement

With five superb and radically different albums the Stephen Malkmus' lead band is able to lay claim to the only group with a perfect catalogue. Slanted and Enchanted begins the journey with the group sounding raw and edgy. Filled with improvisation from a band mates getting to know each other. Malkmus is quoted as saying this is probably their best record simply for how it created a new Indie genre. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain follows with their most accessible and critically acclaimed set of songs. The album gave the group a following which seemed to irk the slackers the wrong way. In response they recorded Wowee Zowee, an assorted mess of genres ranging from folk "Father to a Sister of Thought" to borderline techno "Western Homes". Of the eighteen songs at least half seem to have inspired the sound for newly formed bands. Still, being a group of seemingly well educated members were once again eager silence the critics when they released Brighten the Corners. As the title implies there doesn't seem to be a throw away track on the entire track list. Kicked off with the sarcastic "Stereo" and finishing with the epic "Fin". Like all bands who spend countless hours together on tour emotions began to cause riffs. The turmoil is apparent in their finale Terror Twilight. Sounding more like a Malkmus solo piece, the songs focus on life after fame and settling back down into the middle class blur from whence they came.



The Apples in Stereo
There's nothing wrong with basing your groups music off another. The Beatles have inspired countless bands and were themselves inspired by early blues. The Apples quickly find their own sound with each progressive record. Happiness gushes from their songs usually keeping things light. Tracks featuring drummer Hilarie Sidney on vocals "Stay Gold" and "Winter Must Be Cold" give me goose bumps with every listen. It's also a nice change of pace from the whiney vocals of Robert Schneider. Even though the band has slowly shifted from psychedelia to techno pop, their early albums are amongst the best of the 90's.


Built to Spill

This group took a while to build on me, until a few months ago the music is now spilling out into my ear drums on a daily basis. The reason for this could be that for years the only record I owned was Perfect From Now On, which like the name suggests is a batch of eight perfectly crafted songs. Yet, there is not a stand out single in the bunch. Perhaps if I first listened to There is Nothing Wrong with Love, before handing out judgment I could have enjoyed this band for a longer span of time. Much like Pavement, band leader Doug Martsch adds an incredible intellectual touch to the music. They aren't some group of noisy misfits, but a well educated band with the ability produce songs of purposefully guided misdirection. The swirling dual guitars are constantly reaching a point of apex, while Martsch's lyrics keep everything grounded. Nirvana is no channeled in songs like "Some", but the lyrics are somewhat tongue and cheek, "Some people like her for her charm, some people take her for granted." Nobody sees one another in the same vein, all the more reason to give people second chances, because sometimes you might miss out on a hidden gem.



The Olivia Tremor Control
Despite only releasing two magnificent opus's, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss are among the most innovative minds ever to make music. The beautiful musical collages of Dusk at Cubist Castle and Black Foliage are works genius beyond any doubt. There are enough ideas on each of the two records to have enough material for a ten disc catalogue. It's difficult not to mention Neutral Milk Hotel who also only dropped two records of superior quality, but the Jeff Magnum led band had to have lent some inspiration. Both albums, at times, seem to teeter off into obscurity with prolonged journey's into Pink Floyd type noisy banter. However, the wait for actual music is well worth it. At one point on Dusk the words "How much longer can I wait", are uttered before a epic guitar solo in the vein of Jimi Hendrix. The same such tease occurs on Black Foliage as we lulled away from melodies for over ten minutes before the bands best song "California Demise" hits the air waves like a jolt of thunderous melodic bliss. New ideas and sounds appear with each listen, expanding each and every moment of sound glorious, introspective, and always enjoyable.

All five of these bands are likely considered classic rock here in 2013. I wonder how coincidental it is that my love of these five 90's bands is so strong despite never hearing them as I grew up. A recording is locked in time, so even though it was radio heavy bands like Weezer, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Green Day that were among my record collection during the decade, these five bands were inspired by the same satellite of time. Thanks for the eternal nirvana.