News

The EMA's Commence & Nirvana Celebrate

• 2nd Nov 2009

Another week, another awards ceremony or so it feels. This week we see the EMA’s taking place in Berlin on Bonfire Night. How many awards ceremonies do we need really? It’s the same artists being nominated for the same things. Can Lady GaGa possibly shock us anymore (not that she ever did in the first place), and as much as we all love to see Beyonce strut her stuff in a leotard to ‘Single Ladies’, I’m starting to feel I’ve seen more of Beyonce’s crotch than she has herself. Will Kanye West get drunk and rain on Taylor Swift’s parade again? Who knows? One thing I do know though is that I won’t be tuning in because I already know it will be an hour and a half of contrived boredom. There will probably be a few highlights, no doubt, but I’ll just catch up with them on YouTube if needs be. One band that will be worth watching though is the Foo Fighters they are rumoured to be performing, so maybe I will tune in for that, I try never to miss an opportunity to drool over Dave Grohl, mmmmm.

Speaking of Dave Grohl, in another life he was in this other band called Nirvana you know. And it just so happens that it is 20 years since the band recorded their debut album ‘Bleach’. Ok, fair enough Grohl wasn’t in the band at that point but eventually he did join and showed us all he was one of the best drummers around. So to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of ‘Bleach’ a live DVD of Nirvana’s legendary Reading performance is to be released to coincide.

Now, we all know Nirvana’s legacy and their influence on many of today’s artists. But what always impressed me about Nirvana was that as they were thrust into the global limelight they never took all the glory for themselves. They always name – checked their influences and even their peers. The band may never have been truly comfortable with the level of fame they achieved but, if they hadn’t had reached that level I may have not known about bands like Mudhoney, the Meat Puppets, The Melvins, Sonic Youth, the Pixies and countless others. Even Leadbelly was brought to my attention by Nirvana covering ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’. Also, if Nirvana hadn’t been so well known would I have been introduced the whole Riot Grrrl genre? The wave of bands that came through with Nirvana eventually linked me to L7 which in turn linked me to the Riot Grrl movement. There is no doubt all of this would still have existed without Nirvana, but would it have stayed more underground? Would l’il ole me living a million miles away ever been aware of it if it wasn’t for Nirvana’s fame bringing it to the masses? So, while I ponder that thought why don’t you check out the website.

On the website this week we have all the latest news and reviews. We have hot new videos from the likes of Britney Spears, 3OH!3 feat. Katy Perry, Wolf Gang and many more. We also have interviews with Senser, Kingskin and Razor Blade Kisses. As if that wasn’t enough, we also have live reviews from Calvin Harris and Juliette Lewis amongst others. This week’s featured gigs are the Ocean Reid Tour, Onlookers Tour, The legendary Wailers and the delightful Mike Dignam and Gabrielle Aplin’s joint headline tour, exciting!