Tentoze is correct here, and I don't really want to take this much further. So, of course, I will. Hey, there was a question directed at me, I believe.

N. Abstentia:

>Were you referring to Cobain as 'the most talented mofo to ever come down the pike'?

No. I said 'one of the.' But I have a feeling that if someone wanted to make some case that he were indeed the most talented, they would have some substance to work with. I say it takes talent to come up with something that change the music business, not to mention pop culture, as radically as his song did. The guy's song had a tremendous impact on a vast cross-section of pop culture all through the Western World; can the same be said of Vai or Satriani or Mustaine? I think the number of people or outfits who impacted popular music in the 20th Century as much as he did can probably be counted on the fingers of two hands.

>I assume you never saw that 'mofo' live.

You assume correctly.

>He can't sing or play a note in tune when playing live.

I have live recordings, a videotape of an MTV broadcast of a live show (not Unplugged), and a bootleg live show somewhere around here...and something called Nirvana Live Tonight, I think...a video release, not the MTV broadcast. Based on them I'd dispute that contention. Remember, also, he played junk guitars on purpose at times. I remember him talking about the sorts of sounds you can get out of pawnshop guitars, which of course don't stay in tune as much as a Paul Reed Smith or a Hamer.

>The MTV unplugged show was the best performace the guy ever gave because he didn't have to scream and had plenty of backing musicians.

What, a cello player? The Meat Puppets? Pat Smear? This makes no sense.

>I guess I just never bought into the whole grunge/MTV hype.

That makes sense. Neither did I. I thought all of those bands sucked, every last one of them except for Mudhoney. But then I never considered Nirvana to be a grunge band. That's because Cobain understood how to write a melody & the guitar playing was fairly straightforward, instead of chords that sound like there's an electric can opener in there somewhere. Nirvana never sounded all that much like the Screaming Trees or Tad or the Melvins to me. Or Alice In Chains or Soundgarden or Pearl Jam, for that matter.

>What exactly was Cobain talented at? Guitar playing?

Among other things. That's a very nice list you put together there. You like yr guys, I like my guys. We can leave it at that; I have nothing to add to what Swish had to say on that score. You want to listen to guys like Satriani, knock yrself out. I've heard enough of that sort of thing. I won't bother telling you how good I think Cobain was if you give me a break & don't try to convince me that I should like what you like. I don't.

>I urge you to check out

Again--no thank you. I've heard enough in that realm. I really cringe when I hear that stuff. It's really not what I thought Mike Portnoy'd end up doing. Back in Jr. High & High School his tastes always seemed a little more diverse than his band ended up being. What can you do. Mike was a nice guy, and I'm sure he still is, and I'm glad for his success, but boy do I think his band's music sucks.

>The worst thing about the whole 'Seattle Grunge Craze' is that real bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and even Queensryche (somewhat) got lumped into it.

Well, that's one view, I guess.


Kexodusc:

>I saw Cobain live...I think it was the lack of talent that made them so appealing.

Look, I don't know how you define talent, but the more I read stuff like this, the more curious I get. I have to remind myself that sort of thing kills cats, I think.

Sorry, I should've just let this lie. Oh, well.