Just changed jobs at work so during the change, I’ve ended up with back to back hump day videos.  I’ll come up with something soon.  If you’re reading this and would like to contribute to the blog with your own 90′s memories/articles, feel free to drop me a line at stabbyjoe@gmail.com.

Now, I give you Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People.

I was made fun of relentlessly when I was younger for even liking these guys.  I still do.  Enjoy!

A mural from the Chicago area.

So it would seem I’m sort of biased now.  Almost like this is a blog devoted to Nirvana.  What can I say?  I’m a fan.

Anyway, I know I’m late.  Working the afternoon shift this week so for me, THIS is still Monday April 5th.  The anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.

I’m not going to get into the how or why.  Whodunnit’s have gone around long enough.  It was the radio that inspired me today.  I’m going to bring you a collection of tributes from wherever I can find them.  Not my own of course.  I’m FAR too lazy for that heh.

Top of the charts is MTV who did a good spread for the occasion along with a few fan memories.  Feel free to share some of your own on this post.

Next, courtesy of Ryan Cooper and About.com we have a punk rock fan’s personal remembrance.

And finally Beatweek magazine brings us a more bitter look at the events that unfolded 16 years ago today.

Till then… the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under the Bridge.

This week, one of the coolest videos ever made!

From 1993 comes Sober by Tool.

(Warning, page may take a while to load.)

"Because you want to not; because everyone else is."

Honestly, I’d have liked to have started earlier than this in Nirvana’s adventure but given the format I’ve chosen, I give you Nirvana’s first album under the Geffen label, Nevermind.  An album disliked by Kurt because it didn’t portray them in the “punk rock” light he wanted to be seen in.  I’m sure the fact that after it’s release in September 1991 it quickly rose to top the charts and sold over ten million copies didn’t help either.  Suddenly the band went from being a backyard sensation to being responsible for figureheading a movement in the music world.  That’s a lot of weight to bear.  How did the band deal with their overnight success?  In response to Nevermind going gold, Krist Novoselic was quoted “It’s cool… I guess.” and in my opinion that speaks volumes about what was to be the attitude of a generation.  Whether the nonchalance was genuine or a clever marketing ploy, it worked.  If you grew up in the 90′s and never owned this album you really don’t know what you’ve been missing.

Twelve tracks long with Endless, Nameless, a bonus track, on the CD version.  It began with possibly the most popular song Nirvana ever recorded, Smells Like Teen Spirit.  While the title itself is in reference to something a friend spray painted on his wall “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit”, which was intended to be a jab at him about smelling like his girlfriend’s deodorant, Kurt claimed ignorance of the brand name entirely and believed it to be a statement about his revolutionary ideals.  But as with all of the stories surrounding his lyrics and song titles, the stories seemed to change every time they were repeated.  Personally I just don’t think he liked sharing enough of himself to either deny or validate the ideas everyone had about him.  Instead he chose to confound everyone and lead them down false avenues for perhaps nothing more than his own amusement.  This idea is only enforced by the obvious message in the album’s second track, In Bloom.  It speaks about the popularity of the music drawing in unwanted fans who were only going with the flow.  It’s funny that this was their biggest album with a track that was a shot at the trend-following masses on it. 

The next track I’d like to discuss is Polly.  A song that appeared on pretty well every album put out with the name Nirvana on it.  Significant because it was one of the few songs where the message could not be misconstrued.  Based on a true story about a 14 year old girl who was abducted, raped and tortured by her captor.  Obviously troubled by this incident in particular, Kurt dealt with his feelings about it the best way he knew how.  He sang it.  On the liner for Insesticide he wrote “Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song ‘Polly, I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience.”.  Evidently the message he had hoped to give was ill-recieved…

Great album anyway.  Whether it was Kurt’s favorite or not, it’s become one of the many albums that belongs in the soundtrack to my own personal life.  Not because I’ve shared the experiences or viewpoints exhibited by it’s songs but simply because some of my best memories were formed with this cassette in my stereo.  And now I’ve written my first blog post here to it as well.

This time, hopefully things will work out better.  This time I have a purpose.  To bring you information on all things 90′s.

Why?  Well I can really only answer that with a little bit about myself.

My name is Michael and I was born in June 1982 in London, Ontario, Canada.  When the 90′s officially hit, I was only seven and a half but this means I spent a good part of my memorable youth and adolescence in the era.  Who I am today is based largely on the events, music and media of the decade.  To this day, there is nothing I hold more dear than the immortal lyrics of Kurt Cobain and the cold, dirty reality of the whole Grunge scene.

Now, I’m 27 years old and it seems that my kind is dying.  I’ve gotten to the age where I just don’t understand popular culture anymore.  I don’t care which celebrity is dating which celebrity.  I’ve all but stopped listening to the radio because they simply don’t cater to my tastes, eclectic as they are.  Reality television, in my opinion, is the worst form of entertainment imaginable.  Having given your run of the mill douchebag the ability to be applauded for airing their dirty laundry in front of the masses.  I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling like it’s impossible to connect to what’s new.

I hold on to my cynicism and bitterness because they’re what seperate me from the sparkly vampires of the day.  I still wear my torn clothing because it’s comfortable, social stigma’s be damned.  I cling to my meloncholy because it allows me to think rationally.  I’m stuck in a bygone era because it was a good place to be.

But on that note…  take a walk with me down memory lane as I intend to review movies, music and television shows from my youth as well as revisit some of the more notable events of the 90′s.