Nirvana's Nevermind came out on September 24, 1991. Can you believe that 20 years has already passed???
Nirvana is one of our favorite bands of all time and Nevermind was one of the first tapes (yes cassette tapes!) we ever purchased. We were just barely teenagers at the time. Not only did this album open up the doors to a whole 'nother world of music for us, it even changed the way we dressed and how we felt about the world around us. This just happened to be the time when we were changing from innocent little kids to angst ridden teenagers. Good times!
Below are five videos that show Nevermind producer Butch Vig breaking down songs from this amazing album. Very interesting to watch! It puts these songs into a whole new light...
OK so we couldn't resist and had to post about another kid who was in an awesome TV show who was in an awesome band. Yesterday, we posted about how Pinksy from Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts" would later join the band Rilo Kiley. Today, we're posting about his fellow "Shorts" castmate Bobby Budnick who also joined a radical band!
You know him. He is the red haired, mullet haired, bad assed "tough kid" from the early 90's Nickelodeon show "Salute Your Shorts". You always knew that he was into playing music on the show, but it's nice seeing the real kid, Danny Cooksey, rock it out in real life! He also happens to be little Sam McKinney (the cute little red haired kid) from "Diff'rent Strokes", which is one of our favorite shows from our youth!
Danny "Bobby Budnick" Cooksey was in a band called Bad 4 Good with three other dudez, including Brooks Wackerman who is the youngest brother of Frank Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman. Brooks now plays for Bad Religion. Who woulda known!!!
Bad 4 Good was a quartet of teens, the oldest being only 16 years old. They only released one record and it was called "Refugee", and it was released in 1992. Here is their music video for "Nineteen" (we do have to add that we LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!! It is almost as radical as you can get without your head exploding...)
Considering their age, we think they did pretty damn good but I guess not good enough for Danny Cooksey. He is now a successful voice over artist (he has been the voice in many video games and television shows) and is in a new band called "Arbuckle". Go Bobby, go!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhh Jenny Lewis! Ohh and then there's Blake Sennett who we also love! Jenny played Haley in the 1989 move "The Wizard" and Blake played Ronald "Ronnie" Foster Pinsky in the 1991-1992 Nickelodeon TV show "Salute Your Shorts".
We loved both of you as kids. Eventually, we grew up a little and then loved you both in the band Rilo Kiley. We've seen you play many times and always wanted to give Pinksy a wedgie and touch Haley's breast (see "Salute Your Shorts" and "The Wizard" to understand these harmless, pathetic jokes). Now, we are back to our little child selves and would like to blog about you! So here is Rilo Kiley's music video from 2001 called "Wires and Waves"....
Dave Grohl is DEFINITELY drunk AND stoned in this clip from "1991: The Year Punk Broke". And so is Krist Novoselic. And you can bet that Kurt Cobain is right around the corner, equally fucked up...
June 4, 1994 was Dave Grohl's first public appearance & performance since the death of fellow Nirvana band member Kurt Cobain. It was at MTV's 1994 Movie Awards and he played drums for the band "Backbeat" which performed the songs on the soundtrack for the 1994 British-German Beatles film "Backbeat".
I still remember sitting next to my VCR and waiting for "Backbeat" to come on and perform and being really excited about Dave Grohl's return. I'm glad that we recorded this and we hope you're glad too!!
The band consisted of some of our favorite performers of that era which included:
Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum): vocals
Greg Dulli (The Afghan Whigs): vocals
Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth): guitar
Don Fleming (Gumball): guitar
Mike Mills (R.E.M.): bass guitar
Dave Grohl (Nirvana): drums
Henry Rollins (Rollins Band): vocals on "Love Me Tender" (not in this video)
The songs they played were "Money (That's What I Want)" and "Long Tall Sally" (both are not Beatles songs).
This shit is fucking rare and it's very cool to see some of the "main players of the 90's" get together and play live. It's nice to see them just fucking rock! Once in a lifetime performance pretty much. This won't happen again.....
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Video Title: (June 4, 1994) Dave Grohl's 1st public appearance after Kurt Cobain's suicide - "Backbeat"
Event: Backbeat performing live at the 1994 MTV Movie Awards
Original Air Date: June 4, 1994
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17 years ago today Kurt Cobain ended his life after putting a shotgun bullet through his head at his Seattle home. Just think about how no one would realize, until 3 days later, that one of the most influential musicians had left us.
It has been raining all day here. The gods must be crying...
We recorded this on April 8, 1995 from "MTV News: The Week in Rock". They did a segment on how people were feeling one year after Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain killed himself.
They interviewed people such as David Fricke (Music Editor of Rolling Stone), Matthew Sweet, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Joe Sib from Wax, and some Nirvana fans in Seattle, New York, and Memphis.
This segment also includes clips from the vigil held on April 10, 1994 in Seattle and how "In Utero", "Nevermind", and "Unplugged in New York" were all currently on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart.
Kurt Loder talks about Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl's "new" band The Foo Fighters and how, in the next few days, they'll be launching a debut tour in Tempe, AZ and opening up for Mike Watt. Loder also adds how Nirvana bassist Christ Novoselic still plays music but has yet to join a new band. It closes out with live footage of Nirvana playing "Lithium".
Luckily, we recorded more videos during the hours and days of this tragic event which we'll be posting soon.......
RIP Kurt
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Video Title: (April 8, 1995) Kurt Cobain's Suicide: One Year Later "MTV News: The Week in Rock"
Event: One Year Anniversary of Nirvana's singer Kurt Cobain's suicide
Original Air Date: April 8, 1995
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Wow. How the hell has it been 17 years. Well, anyway.....
We recorded this gossip TV show "Extra" on April 8, 1995 since it had a segment on how Nirvana fans were feeling one year after Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
John Norris (who was with MTV when Kurt originally killed himself) was working as a correspondent with "Extra" and he takes us to a (yes you guessed it...to a Seattle coffeehouse) to see how people were coping one year after Kurt Cobain's death.
He spoke to 16-year-olds who seemed jaded. Weren't we all jaded in 1995?
John Norris also showed the park bench near Kurt Cobain's home which fans have turned into a memorial site. Have you been there yet?
At the end of the segment, Cobain's wife, Courtney Love is mentioned since she "put together the soundtrack" of 'Tank Girl' and was making her acting debut in 'Feeling Minnesota' (which is untrue since she was in 'Sid and Nancy' back in 1986).
"Extra" also mentioned how "Life after Kurt has been successful for his widow Courtney Love." Is that true???
More Kurt Cobain suicide era videos will be coming soon......
RIP Kurt
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Video Title: (April 8, 1995) Kurt Cobain's suicide: One Year Later "Extra"
Event: One Year Anniversary of Nirvana's singer Kurt Cobain's suicide
Original Air Date: April 8, 1995
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We recorded this on April 18, 1994. It's from an old ABC news show called "Day One" and it was reporting on Kurt Cobain's suicide which happened 10 days earlier. Cobain, of course, was the frontman of Nirvana who ended his life with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. His body was found on April 8, 1994.
They named the segment "Death of an Icon" and they actually did a pretty decent job on covering Kurt Cobain's life, death, and the days that followed. They interviewed a bunch of fans, critics, writers, and musicians during those sad days. And they kind of summed up who that generation was and how they were coping. Damn, I miss those days....
Luckily, we recorded more videos during the hours and days of this tragic event which we'll be posting soon.......
RIP Kurt
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Video Title: (April 18, 1994) Kurt Cobain's suicide "Death of an Icon" (ABC news segment)
Event: Nirvana's singer Kurt Cobain's suicide
Original Air Date: April 18, 1994
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We recorded this on April 8, 1994 just hours after the news broke that Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
This news report is pretty interesting since a lot of the details of his death were still unconfirmed. Also, this was before the contents of Kurt's suicide note was released publicly. (Two days later, a pre-recorded message from Courtney Love reading Kurt Cobain's final words were broadcast at the Seattle Center.)
Yeah, so this is very soon after his body was first discovered. People were still in shock. I know we were.
It was a very sad day indeed. We're so happy that we recorded more videos during the hours and days of this tragic event which we'll be posting soon.......
RIP Kurt
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Video Title: (April 8, 1994) MTV News early coverage of Kurt Cobain's suicide
Event: Nirvana's singer Kurt Cobain's suicide
Original Air Date: April 8, 1994
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We hate being the bearer of bad news but another 90's rocker has died. Mike Starr, the original bassist of Alice in Chains, was found dead yesterday, March 8, 2011, in his home in Salt Lake City. Starr was 44 years old.
Police were unable to determine a cause of death but it does not appear to have involved foul play. Mike Starr helped form Alice in Chains in 1987 and, according to Starr in VH1's "Celebrity Rehab", he was kicked out of the band in 1993 due to his heroin addiction. Starr was arrested and booked just barely a month ago on February 18, 2011 for possession of a controlled substance (he allegedly had six Xanax and six Opana tablets on him at the time).
The band left the following statement: “Members of Alice in Chains are mourning the loss of their friend and ask that the media respect their privacy – and the privacy of the Starr family – during this difficult time. Their thoughts & prayers are with the Starr family.”
We will bring you any updates as soon as we hear them.
