Nirvana - MTV Unplugged · Riffology: Iconic Rock Albums Podcast

Neil0:17 That sounds really cool. Like, why. It sounds like something I should know. Like a. I don't know. Oh, it sounds like I've just switched on something that's like some kind of Samsung device.

Chris0:28 Yes.

Neil0:30 Sega. That's it.

Chris0:32 That's it. It's like that.

Neil0:33 My friend, we've got. We've got German things in our kitchen. They're all like washing machines and stuff.

Chris0:38 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil0:39 And they're quite. It kind of goes like, the washing's finished. Right. My friend. My friend's got a Samsung one and it kind of goes to you.

Chris0:52 Yeah, I've got that. I've got a Samsung one.

Neil0:54 And I'm like, why feel happy when it's finished? Answered my nerve. Get it? Now what? I'm gonna just. It's very demanding. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Very demanding.

Chris1:07 Yeah.

Neil1:08 But all of it is. The whole kitchen is. So even if you leave. If the kids leave the fridge door open. Yeah, someone must have that door open if you've got a Samsung and we go like, ding, ding.

Chris1:20 So what car have I got? Fiat. What's that? Italian.

Neil1:23 Italian, yeah.

Chris1:24 Right. So when I leave the. Because sometimes when I get. When I get going, I don't always put my seatbelt on straight away. I'm very naughty.

Neil1:30 Yeah.

Chris1:30 And then. But it's very, very insistent. Or Italian's quite insistent. Is that a normal Italian thing?

Neil1:36 I don't know. But all of my Italian friends, it's very.

Chris1:39 It's loud. It's loud and like just that frequency where it's like, you just show up now before I, like, cave your face in.

Neil1:45 All of my Italian friends are, like, almost horizontal.

Chris1:48 Oh, really? They laid back.

Neil1:50 Yeah. They just couldn't care about everything except for. Yeah, like pasta. Like, if you. If you suggest. Like my youngest loves tomato sauce.

Chris2:00 Yeah.

Neil2:01 Like in Italy, I think he's on a list. I think. I think he would. Like, as soon as our plane touched down, somebody would pick him up and take him to prison. You could do like. You'd probably do like nuclear weapons and stuff in Italy and never be like, yeah, whatever.

Chris2:13 Yeah, yeah, whatever. Source of your pasta.

Neil2:16 Yeah, you. If you. You make a mess of your pasta and that's it, you're on a list and you're in. In some kind of prison forever. So I don't know. I don't know why this. My only memory of an Italian car. It didn't. It didn't. Like in the. It was fine in the summer and in the winter it wouldn't work.

Chris2:32 It interesting because mine, I had like, A battery thing on mine where it was like, might not start today in the cold.

Neil2:38 That is very Italian.

Chris2:40 Is it?

Neil2:40 Yeah, Yeah.

Chris2:41 I have to be honest, my friend had a Ducati. Same thing.

Neil2:43 Yeah. My friend had a Ducati. My friend had. Oh, no, it was Ducati. It was aprilia. It was 125. And the garage he bought it from, brand new.

Chris2:53 Yeah.

Neil2:54 About 18 months after he had it, they asked him not to bring it back. Can you take this somewhere else? Which I just thought was absolutely.

Chris3:03 Because I've got a Suzuki motorbike.

Neil3:05 Yeah.

Chris3:05 And I think that if they were. If there were bits hanging off, it'd be still trying to hold it on.

Neil3:08 Yeah.

Chris3:09 It would be fighting just to keep going.

Neil3:10 You know, the thing is, I had

Chris3:12 a Honda like that. They remember that Honda car I had.

Neil3:13 Oh, yeah.

Chris3:14 It done like a quarter of a million miles, just. And it was still trying to keep going. Yeah.

Neil3:18 See, the thing is, though, is the Italian. So they just look.

Chris3:21 They do look lovely.

Neil3:21 And it sounds like you can like Ducatis when you hear them go on. They're just.

Chris3:25 Yeah, they're proper. Yeah. I'd like a monster for a bit. The thing is, because someone obviously, like, oh, what, because I've. Because I've got a 650 motorbike.

Neil3:33 Yeah.

Chris3:33 And after you've been riding for a couple of years, like, that's. You like your starter bike. So you do. Do your 125, you do your test, your CBT, and then I do one of these things where you have like a long course, like a crash course.

Neil3:42 Right.

Chris3:42 So I did that and then failed my. This is quite normal for me. Failed my theory. Yeah, a few times.

Neil3:51 Yeah.

Chris3:52 Because I'll. Same with the car, like, theory. Just not very good at it.

Neil3:55 Yeah.

Chris3:56 Didn't try, I don't think.

Neil3:58 Yeah.

Chris3:58 Didn't revise or anything practical, first time. Both. Both things. So pass your test. Do. Do the 125 thing and then pass your big test. And then I got the big bike.

Neil4:09 Yeah.

Chris4:09 The big bike was in the Suzuki SV650. Lovely V twin.

Neil4:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris4:16 After you've been riding a 650 for a couple of years.

Neil4:18 Yeah.

Chris4:19 You're a bit like, want to go faster now.

Neil4:22 Yeah.

Chris4:22 Want to go faster, quicker and kind of like the. I want a bigger noise.

Neil4:27 Yeah.

Chris4:27 You know, I want to make more noise.

Neil4:29 Yeah.

Chris4:30 And there's always a conversation then that you have with other biker friends who, like, so what are you gonna go for? And everyone is very set on. I'm gonna Go for a cruiser or a sports bike or.

Neil4:40 Yeah, yeah.

Chris4:41 You know, like, I'm not necessarily, you know, what bike specifically, but a particular style. And I like, I haven't done so. Because my. My opinion on this is like yours and tattoos.

Neil4:50 I can't make your mind.

Chris4:51 I can't do it if I'll settle on something.

Neil4:54 Yeah.

Chris4:54 And then 10 minutes later it's like, oh, I like that as well.

Neil4:56 So the nice thing about bikes is that you could buy two because you got this when you put me in your garage.

Chris5:02 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You could put more than one in there.

Neil5:04 Yeah. You could get like. You can get a ch. I learned on two strokes when I was at. When I was at college in school, everyone had like RG50s.

Chris5:15 Yeah.

Neil5:15 125s. And then it'll be like the RG250s and things like that. Or the RD350. Everyone had those.

Chris5:21 Yeah.

Neil5:21 And they were savage.

Chris5:22 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil5:23 They didn't make the best noises in the world, but they were dead fast.

Chris5:27 Yeah.

Neil5:27 Dead good. Which is. Which what it was all about when you're an age.

Chris5:31 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Were they like crosser looking things?

Neil5:33 No, sports bikes.

Chris5:34 Sports bikes.

Neil5:35 They look like race bikes.

Chris5:36 Okay.

Neil5:37 But they were like. They're, you know, you were like little. They were dead good.

Chris5:41 Yeah, yeah.

Neil5:41 Wheelie and everything, right?

Chris5:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't tell. I think. Yeah. I think what I need to do is to get a bigger house with a bigger garage and then have five. I think five's a good number. Yeah, yeah.

Neil5:53 Gemma would love that, wouldn't you? Guess what I've got. What are we doing?

Chris6:00 Oh, yeah. I'm Chris.

Neil6:01 I'm Neil.

Chris6:02 This is not Monster Shop. No, that was a long time ago.

Neil6:05 He was. Yeah.

Chris6:06 And then Dog House before that. We were that as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil6:11 Which is good.

Chris6:12 Yeah. We do a podcast, which is what you'll listen to. We are six or so minutes in and we're just talking, you know, just obviously doing our intro to the channel. Guys, the channel subscribe and, like.

Neil6:24 And if we ever do comments and

Chris6:26 just shoot stars and whatever, if we

Neil6:28 ever open with her, just. Welcome back to the channel. Kill me, kill me now.

Chris6:34 MTV's MTV Unplugged. Nirvana.

Neil6:37 We're doing Nirvana. MTV Unplugged in New York.

Chris6:40 What an album. Like one. Like, not. Not just an album, a snapshot in history, like in audio form and visual form, because obviously it was put to

Neil6:49 tape and dvd and it went on the dvd.

Chris6:52 Yeah, yeah.

Neil6:52 I. I didn't Realize. And this album's been like. I don't know, this album, like, for me, it was kind of just there. It was just kind of there and thereabouts. And it was a. It was. It was a cool record. Right.

Chris7:04 Because they had a series of them, the MTV kind of thing Brian Amsterdam wanted.

Neil7:07 Yeah.

Chris7:08 Summer of 69.

Neil7:09 Yeah.

Chris7:09 In acoustic style.

Neil7:10 I like that.

Chris7:10 Yeah, it's good.

Neil7:11 Yeah. Yeah. But they. They were big.

Chris7:14 Yeah.

Neil7:15 Eric Clapton.

Chris7:16 Yes. Yeah.

Neil7:17 He did an Unplugged thing.

Chris7:18 Yeah.

Neil7:19 Everyone, like, lost their minds over it.

Chris7:20 Yeah. Because he did, like, a version of Layla and stuff.

Neil7:23 Everyone else then decided, oh, we're gonna cash in on that.

Chris7:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil7:26 So loads bands did them and MTV did these. This. This series of. Of MTV Unplugged, which Kurt Cobain hated. Despised. Yeah, all of it. So they just sounded driven. Didn't like them, didn't want to do it, had no plans to do it. And they badgered and begged.

Chris7:44 Yeah.

Neil7:45 Over and over and over for him to do it and just didn't want to do it.

Chris7:48 Yeah.

Neil7:48 Even, I mean, Dave Grohl didn't.

Chris7:50 Didn't want to do it. Didn't enjoy doing it when he finished. Didn't really like it.

Neil7:54 Well, he thought it.

Chris7:55 He thought people didn't like it. People didn't enjoy it.

Neil7:57 Fascinating. He said he got to the end. He thought the silence meant that people didn't like it. Yeah. The producer, they were like. Everyone else had done big banging hits and just like, switched the distortion off.

Chris8:11 Yeah.

Neil8:12 And then they got Nirvana to come and do it and they said no, like, 12 times. Eventually agreed to do it. But there are no hits.

Chris8:22 There's no Teen Spirit. There's no. There's nothing like that.

Neil8:25 It's got Virtue.

Chris8:26 Come as you are is probably the biggest thing that's on there, isn't it?

Neil8:29 It's not a Nevermind alb. That's it. This is Bleach kicks off with a track from Bleach.

Chris8:33 Yeah, yeah.

Neil8:34 And then there's a new tro and the rest of, like, covers.

Chris8:36 Yeah, yeah. This is off our first album. You probably don't know. It's that kind of thing.

Neil8:39 It's mad.

Chris8:40 And then.

Neil8:41 And then.

Chris8:41 And they like this, like the band. Who are the. Who are the two guys from the band that were playing with them because they ended up playing just a load of their songs as well as part of the thing.

Neil8:52 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. So this. Yeah. There's. There's the Meat puppets.

Chris8:57 Meat puppets. That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil8:59 But then also, you've got Pat Smear.

Chris9:01 Yeah, yeah.

Neil9:02 Who. Who did.

Chris9:03 Well, he was knocking about, wasn't he? He was kind of part of the gang. And he obviously. He obviously became, you know, Foo Fighters later with Dave Roll and all that sort of stuff.

Neil9:10 So. He did. And I don't. Oh, they had Laurie Goldston as well.

Chris9:14 Yeah. Who.

Neil9:15 He gets her name wrong, really. Which I only really like. Again, this. You know, we. I love doing these shows because you kind of. You get to dig.

Chris9:20 So that's a cello player.

Neil9:22 Yeah.

Chris9:22 Yeah.

Neil9:23 He calls a Laurie Goldstein. And if you listen to it and you. And you watch the dvd.

Chris9:27 Yeah.

Neil9:28 For anyone with such a thing in your DVD player. And he calls a Lori Goldstein.

Chris9:35 Yeah.

Neil9:35 To. That stays on there. Yeah. And there's just. I.

Chris9:39 Because he wasn't well, was he? That's the thing, is that. Well, he. He was, like, on a. He was on a downer off the day before.

Neil9:45 Like, he. He didn't, like, when you said. Quite correct, he didn't want to do it.

Chris9:49 No.

Neil9:50 Almost committed to doing it, but only, like, if he could bring the meat puppets with him. And the producers didn't want to do that. They wanted, like, smell. Team spirit, please. Yeah. And then they wanted Eddie Vedder.

Chris10:01 Yeah.

Neil10:02 And to come and guest on it. And he asked for the meat puppets to come. Which the producers probably had to look up on. Yeah. You know, in the phone book or ever to figure out who they were. And then. And then, like. So there's no big hits. The. The guests. He's got that producers don't recognize. You know, they.

Chris10:24 They wanted to dress the stage like it was a funeral.

Neil10:26 Funeral. Yeah. And so it's kind of really dark. And, like, in. With hindsight, you know, he. He would die.

Chris10:33 Not, like five months later.

Neil10:34 Yeah. That long after.

Chris10:35 Yeah. Yeah. November 18, 1993.

Neil10:39 You know, it was cold out there. It was that kind of New York

Chris10:41 holiday mood in the air.

Neil10:43 It was kind of festive. It was just getting to that. You know, everyone's wrapping up the year, and it was really. It was gonna be our last taping of the year for Unplugged, so it

Chris10:49 was kind of cool in that respect, too. We're gonna get it on, you know,

Neil10:52 hopefully for the holidays.

Chris10:53 That was the game plan.

Neil10:55 I'm not filming I can pretend the sun's gone the heavy light the day is done I'm having fun I think I'm done maybe just happy Think I'm just happy Think I'm just happy Think I'm just happy. My heart is broke I have some glue Build me hill Melted with you we'll float around Hang out on clouds Then we'll come down Never hang over Never hang over Never hang over Never hang over. Still the sun fall asleep Wish you wait so. Wake me up I'm not like them back in Pretend the sun is gone I have a light the day is done I'm having fun I think I'm dumb, baby Just happy maybe I'm just happy Just think I'm just happy Think I'm just happy. I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down I think I'm down. We talk about these things being a point in time.

Chris13:42 Yeah.

Neil13:44 But this one's kind. It feels more than that. This one.

Chris13:46 Yeah.

Neil13:46 It's not just like a recording of a state in. In. Because, like. Like, he didn't want to do it. He was badgered into it. They. They did all this stuff and kind of, you know, he. He. They kind of coerced him and I think pandered a little bit so he could go and do. I don't think the producers expected it to do particularly well because it didn't have all the big hits on it. The day before, he was on a massive drug come down.

Chris14:08 Yeah.

Neil14:08 And like, couldn't play, couldn't do anything and was basically saying, I'm not. I'm not doing anything. Was recorded in Hell's Kitchen at the Sony Studios.

Chris14:19 Yeah.

Neil14:19 And obviously all the producers there, they had an audience full of people and everything was. But they didn't ex. They were like, 50, 50 whether. Whether it was going to show up

Chris14:28 and it was gonna happen.

Neil14:28 He was gonna turn up.

Chris14:29 Yeah. The office chair.

Neil14:31 Yeah.

Chris14:31 You didn't like the stool.

Neil14:32 It did turn up and then didn't like the stall. So literally we just went in the Sony building and got an office chair. An office chair. And then.

Chris14:40 See, I do stuff like that because, yeah. I'm like, I don't like this one. You have that one.

Neil14:46 But then. Then essentially, so. So everyone's like, it might not record this. Yeah, it might not happen. You've got, you know, all these, like, super cool people there. So you got Beth, you got Scott Litt, who. Who produce it, produced REM And A bunch of other stuff. So. Yes.

Chris15:02 And he mixed it, didn't he?

Neil15:03 Yeah, we mixed some stuff up in Utro as well. So I think he knew the. The band reasonably well. But. But so, so, you know, you got this all. All kind of all star cast of people not knowing if it's going to happen and eventually turns up there and literally bangs out a one take, 14 track thing and like nothing's. And. And reading the history of these MTV Unplugs. MTV Unplugged.

Chris15:26 They do multiple takes. They do.

Neil15:28 Yeah. There's tons of chopping.

Chris15:29 Yeah.

Neil15:30 Oh, no, I'm just going to redo that bit again and I didn't like that bit and. Oh, actually, you know, we can. And. But Nirvana, they did two days of rehearsals.

Chris15:38 Yeah.

Neil15:39 In New York and then they. And then they. Yeah, they just. Just smashed out this in one go and then left.

Chris15:45 Yeah.

Neil15:47 But I think it says more about where the band were at the time as well, because the live shows were chaotic at this point in time. They. They were either like a mess or like just transcendent experiences. You know, they were either like otherworldly and. And phenomenal or like, you know, Kurt would be just a mess. Unable. You're unable to get through songs completely. Not finishing the set.

Chris16:15 Yeah.

Neil16:16 Not turning up. Turning up late a bit. Axl Rosesque.

Chris16:19 Yes.

Neil16:19 He was. He was, you know, smashed off his face on heroin for a large part of it and really suffering with pain and he had lots of stomach pain and stuff. So he was. He was not in a good place physically and just really struggling, you know, so he was either, you know, on. On massive come downs or in pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you keep catching. He's like bottling lightning. If you caught him at the right time and it just happened to fall at the right time. And then you get this amazing live experience.

Chris16:47 Yeah, yeah.

Neil16:48 But clearly unwell. And then this. And for me, this is interesting. This is. This just bottled a good. A good night.

Chris16:54 Yeah.

Neil16:55 You know, their live show.

Chris16:56 Yeah.

Neil16:57 This is almost just bottling. Bottling that. It's kind of, you know, recording that. The state of where they are. But the stories of the. The state of the band, the stories of the state of Kurt at that point. And then of course that has an impact on the band.

Chris17:11 Yes.

Neil17:11 You know.

Chris17:12 Yeah.

Neil17:12 It's interesting. You hear like no one in Nirvana ever said anything bad about Kurt, but at the time they were really struggling.

Chris17:20 Yeah.

Neil17:20 Dave Grohl said it was. It was really traumatic. You know, they. They kind of just wanted to get on and play yeah and. And they could see Kurt was tearing himself apart. He was really, really struggling and not being able to help. Polly wants a cracker Think I shook it off the first think she wants water to put out the blow toss doesn't mean. Promise you haven't you let me take a ride want some help myself. Falling wants a cracker maybe she would like more food Ask me to entire too and didn't ask for me heaven see let me clear up Dirty wings Let me take a ride Hurt yourself want some help and myself got some love heaven promise you let me take a ride Hurt yourself. Polly said. Paulie says her back hurts she just wanted me she come me off my guard Misses me the will. Am I got some love promise you heaven.

Chris20:24 It sounds pretty good. The acoustic stuff.

Neil20:26 I mean, it's kind of hard to

Chris20:27 put that over to a big crowd of fans that are waiting to mosh, you know.

Neil20:32 But the recent shows, they've been interspersing them.

Chris20:34 It's been really nice.

Neil20:35 They're really good. It's a really good change of pace. The choices of tracks.

Chris20:39 Yes.

Neil20:39 On here. If it feels. If it feels like a statement, if that makes sense. Not that any album isn't a statement, but it really feels like this was so deliberately, you know, not picking the track that had blown up from Nevermind.

Chris20:59 Yeah, yeah.

Neil21:00 Almost as if. And we talked about this when we did cover Nevermind and when we did it when we did in Utro and Utah was the first Riffology we ever did.

Chris21:08 Yeah, it was.

Neil21:09 Yeah. But like he. He was almost embarrassed of Nevermind and I think it's really interesting for me. It's really interesting.

Chris21:20 Like it sold his soul or. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil21:23 Embarrassed about the success.

Chris21:26 Yeah.

Neil21:27 It had. Had and the polish that you're so much so that, you know, obviously Butch Vig had done the production and polished it a little bit. And then going with Steve Albin. Utero.

Chris21:37 Yeah, yeah. Get a different sound.

Neil21:38 Yeah, this kind of raw sound. And then almost like take it like. Then this for me is like a next step in that. The production of this is exquisite.

Chris21:47 Yeah.

Neil21:47 Absolutely gorgeously done. But you know, the choices of the songs and the guests are properly like, actually, this is who I am.

Chris21:59 Yeah.

Neil21:59 I kind of get that you. Everybody wants. Smells like team spirit, but.

Chris22:05 But this is what we're about.

Neil22:06 Yeah. This is. This is me. This is. This is where I am.

Chris22:08 Yeah. Because he had that cardigan, but underneath it was like an unknown band T shirt. He got the guys from the meat Puppets.

Neil22:13 Yeah.

Chris22:13 Come into play and played their songs, not his songs. And. Yeah, it's all that sort of stuff, wasn't it?

Neil22:17 It was. It's mad. The. The history behind that stuff's phenomenal as well.

Chris22:21 The.

Neil22:22 I might get a little bit of this mixed up, but the. The cardigan was given to the nanny of his daughter, I think.

Chris22:31 Yeah.

Neil22:33 And then she's. In 2019, she sold it for like 3 or $400,000. It's never been washed, still got like cigarette burns and buttons missing and stuff. And then the Martin you're going to correct, the model is a D150 18. D18.

Chris22:49 Yeah. I don't know, actually. But yeah, the.

Neil22:52 So that. That guitar was the last guitar he ever played. He bought it for $5,000.

Chris22:59 And wasn't it millions?

Neil23:01 Well, bizarrely, because that went to his daughter.

Chris23:03 Yeah.

Neil23:04 And then in her divorce, that ended up going to her husband.

Chris23:08 Yeah.

Neil23:08 Not to her.

Chris23:09 For settlement.

Neil23:10 For part of settlement. And then.

Chris23:13 And then he.

Neil23:14 He sold it.

Chris23:15 Sold it to the guy from Road.

Neil23:16 Yeah, that was the guy that owned Road.

Chris23:17 Yeah.

Neil23:18 And he bought it for $6 million. Wow. And then he gave it to the museums. In a museum?

Chris23:23 Yeah, they're all Royal Society music.

Neil23:24 That's it. Yeah, it's in the museum. And at the time, it was the most expensive guitar ever.

Chris23:29 Ever.

Neil23:29 Yeah, ever. Ever sold. And it's just crazy. I don't know. I love that law. I love that kind of stuff. Yeah. The history. History to it. Yeah, I do. And we talked a little bit about the tone, but it's. There are bits of this, like, the beginning of dumb. The way they managed to pick up the. The, like the. The. The click of the plectrum and stuff is kind of there. But it's. It's weird. Like, it feels like, you know, when you listen to you, you're very aware it's not acoustic.

Chris24:01 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil24:02 And it. Because his guitar was. They. They ran his guitar through a cable.

Chris24:08 But the amp. It wasn't the amp. It was hidden, covered, like it was a monitor.

Neil24:12 Yeah, but it was.

Chris24:13 But it was. It was actually a Fender hot Fender twin reverb.

Neil24:16 That's it.

Chris24:16 Yeah.

Neil24:16 Yeah. So he did that. And apparently he wouldn't do it without it.

Chris24:19 Yeah, yeah.

Neil24:20 So he wouldn't. He wouldn't play without it. But it's interesting because the. Like, it doesn't. I mean, it sounds great.

Chris24:26 Yeah.

Neil24:26 But it's like really clearly not acoustic. And it's. There are bits in there where it's so driven, it sounds almost distorted. Yeah. Through to it.

Chris24:36 Well, it's like Kim as you all's got that chorus sound. Yeah, he's got chorus on it anyway. On the track.

Neil24:54 Come as you are There's a word as I want you to be There's a friend, There's a friend There's a no end of me Take your time Very young justice yours don't relate Take a rest Hella friend yes, I know Memory, memory, memory, memory. Calm down Some mud soft of bleach Yes I want you to be There's a trend There's a friend Yes, I know that. When I swear that I don't have a gun have a gun no, I don't have a gun. Sam. Sa. When I swear I don't have a gun no, I don't have a gun no, I don't have a gun no, I don't have a gun no, I don't have a gun no, I don't have a gun Sam.

Chris28:29 So interesting with that, with Nirvana's use of chorus because I have this chat with Dan sometimes about chorus, like. Because it's not a very cool effect to use.

Neil28:36 Not anymore.

Chris28:37 No. And it was used like a lot in the 80s for that kind of, you know, shimmery guitar sound. I suppose in some instances it's used subtly when it's used, you know, with delay and things these days. But like, Kurt made it cool.

Neil28:50 Who, who, who, who does? So Nirvana make chorus call. Who else make. Makes chorus cool?

Chris28:55 I don't know. Because it's a cheesy effect.

Neil28:57 I was gonna say Linkin park, but I don't know. Is that.

Chris29:00 Yeah, I don't think they use that. I think they. They might use another for like a. Like a flat, like a flange or a phaser. It has similar modulation effects on the guitar tone.

Neil29:08 It's not.

Chris29:09 But it might not be a chorus sort of thing. It might be more.

Neil29:12 Yeah, it's write in and tell us if you know. If you know somebody.

Chris29:18 But. Yeah, that is part of his sound. But he somehow managed to make it really cool.

Neil29:22 It's the other thing that this does for me as well, which I think Chris Cornell benefits massively from this as well. Is that the paired back songs.

Chris29:32 Yeah.

Neil29:33 His voice.

Chris29:34 Yeah.

Neil29:35 Because his voice gets a little. Getting lost is not. It's not what I mean. But it's. The songs take on a different. It's like a different tone to them. They have like a. They have like a different flow.

Chris29:48 Yeah.

Neil29:49 They feel different. And. And most of that for me is. Is Kurt's voice. I think as well, it gets really interesting as he goes from track to track. It kind of feels like. Like the voice. His voice, it just seems to get better and better.

Chris30:06 Yeah.

Neil30:08 There are bits in there where the.

Chris30:09 If he's not well and he's been poorly.

Neil30:11 Yeah.

Chris30:12 Like, physiologically.

Neil30:13 Yeah.

Chris30:14 He's going to struggle with. His voice is going to be straining.

Neil30:16 Oh, yeah. Well. So the other thing that I think is interesting is he purposely chose to sing the Meat Puppets tracks in difficult keys.

Chris30:25 Yeah.

Neil30:26 So not the normal key that he would sing in. He chose to sing them to make his voice strain.

Chris30:32 Yeah.

Neil30:33 More. Yeah. Which again, leads to. It's quite like. It's quite an emotional album. Like, not in an Alice in Chains, slit your wrists. I mean, it is a bit slit your wrists album, but it does. I mean, it's quite. It's melancholy, isn't it? It's kind of a bit.

Chris30:46 Yeah.

Neil30:46 Do you know what I mean? It's. It's got that.

Chris30:49 I. I think it sounds quite meditative. Meditative as a record. I sort of like, kind of relax into it. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Neil30:58 Yeah.

Chris30:58 Like. Like you just saw Zone in zone into zone.

Neil31:00 I love it. I do. I've got. This is one I've got on vinyl and I'll put it on there. And you, like before, you know, it's, you know.

Chris31:07 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil31:08 And you need to go change. It goes really. For me, it. It like. It like melds time. You just kind of.

Chris31:14 Yeah, yeah. You're sort of inside something else for a little while.

Neil31:17 It's weird.

Chris31:17 Yeah. I totally hear that.

Neil31:19 Do you know, I find it's weird that there's music that does that. Like, there are bands that I know will do that to me and bands that I know won't do it to me. Right. So if I put on AC dc, that's not going to do it to me. I will be listening to it and I'll be. Yeah.

Chris31:32 And it'll be brilliant.

Neil31:33 And I mean, I'm in the moment.

Chris31:34 Yeah.

Neil31:35 I'm kind of totally there and I'm in it. Iron Maiden might be the same and Slayer and lots of prong are a bit like that for me as well. Yeah, yeah. But like Dillinger. Dillinger Escape Plan.

Chris31:47 Yeah, yeah.

Neil31:47 That has me in that weird state where I'll start listening to it and as soon as the music. Because it gets a little bit chaotic.

Chris31:53 Yeah.

Neil31:53 As soon as you kind of get that, that's it. I'm kind of almost in this tunnel and. And then, you know, the records at the end of the run out and I've. Yeah. 20 minutes has disappeared.

Chris32:02 Yeah.

Neil32:02 And this does that to me, which is weird for a slow album. For me, this is like. This is an album that I would. I wouldn't expect it to do it. Yeah, it absolutely does.

Chris32:12 I. I think I might have said this before maybe when we did a previous Nirvana album, but my relationship with Nirvana is very much through their live stuff.

Neil32:20 The Muddy Banks.

Chris32:20 The Muddy Banks of the Wish.

Neil32:22 That. But it's interesting. What, because that came out in 96.

Chris32:24 Yeah.

Neil32:25 So way, way after this.

Chris32:27 Yeah.

Neil32:28 I think it was recorded in 91 or 92.

Chris32:30 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil32:32 That's full of hits.

Chris32:33 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil32:33 And I think partly because Kurt is not here.

Chris32:36 Yeah. Yeah. He couldn't make a call

Neil32:39 the. The blog for this. It's kind of really hit me that that's almost like the antithesis of this one. Right. Yeah, it's like the opposite of this. It was. It was. It's recorded live.

Chris32:49 Yeah.

Neil32:51 But it's. It's electric, it's driven, and it's full of. Not full off, but it's. You know, a lot of it is off. Off. Nevermind. It's got. There's some big. Big bangers on there.

Chris33:03 Yeah. It's interesting because, like, I. This is gonna sound awful, but I don't necessarily enjoy listening to the studio records from Nirvana as much as I enjoy watching them and listening to them live on video or whatever. Like, I never saw them live. I never saw them in person live. I was. I was probably. I was a bit too young. But like, the.

Neil33:24 The.

Chris33:24 The recordings.

Neil33:25 Is.

Chris33:25 The Counting Crows are the same. The Counting Crows did the across the Wire album.

Neil33:29 Oh, yeah.

Chris33:30 And that's the one that I connect with.

Neil33:31 Is it?

Chris33:32 Yeah, more. More than. I mean, I. I love obviously, Recovering the Satellites, one of my favorite albums, but that. That kind of around just after that era.

Neil33:39 Yeah.

Chris33:39 And they. It was. I think it was just before they did the one after this. Desert Life, I think.

Neil33:44 Yeah. This doesn't. Life. Yeah. The COVID for that.

Chris33:47 Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then they did the. This kind of like Live across the Wire in New York type thing. I think they're great live. Yeah. Really good. That was the. That was the album that I had the relationship with.

Neil33:59 Well, they're another band that I think just kind of effortlessly. I say effortlessly. They're a band that. That would just work really, really well. Yeah.

Chris34:08 Yeah. It's strange because when you watch them, because I've seen them a couple of times, they're in their own Little worlds.

Neil34:13 Yeah, yeah.

Chris34:14 It's like they're not. You know what I mean? I mean there's chemistry between them, but

Neil34:18 it's chemistry because they're not running up and down.

Chris34:20 Yeah, yeah, there's chemistry in a way that they've played together for years and they know each other inside out.

Neil34:25 They don't even need to look. They don't know even looking at each other. Yeah, yeah, it's.

Chris34:30 And I got that same thing from, from Nirvana. They were all inhabiting their own individual space.

Neil34:35 Yeah.

Chris34:35 But they sort of. They were sort of totally tuned into each other when they were playing.

Neil34:38 So I read Dave Gro. I read. I think the Dave Gro wrote about this recording saying that they. They did two. See, they were in Weehawken, I think, in. In New York for two days before they did this rehearsing.

Chris34:51 Yeah.

Neil34:52 And he said just wasn't working.

Chris34:53 No.

Neil34:53 So it just was not. The songs didn't work. He couldn't figure out how to play the drums.

Chris35:00 Yeah.

Neil35:00 In a way he really struggled, didn't he?

Chris35:02 Because he was such a hard hitting

Neil35:03 drummer and he just. Just like, just wasn't. You know, it was said everybody was frustrated. Like, you know, Kurt was. Was high for some of it and then came down really hard at the end. And so that just wasn't working for them. They couldn't figure out which songs, couldn't agree on which songs and they just couldn't get the sound right. And so they kind of said it roughly, kind of fell together at the end, but nobody was happy. Like no one member of that band were in a state where they felt, yeah, we've got this nailed.

Chris35:34 Yeah, yeah.

Neil35:35 And then of course, Kurt was having a massive come down the day before.

Chris35:38 Yeah.

Neil35:38 And then so like nobody, not even the band really knew what was going to happen when they went into this, into the. The Sony studios to record this thing, which I think, I mean we've talked about this before, but I think they're really special records for me. Don't feel. I mean there are a couple of exceptions to this, but they don't normally feel like they've been agonized. No.

Chris36:03 Yeah, yeah.

Neil36:04 You know, they've got this like, like rock and roll live kind of live wire vibe, you know, I mean, where it feels like it's. I don't know, like alive.

Chris36:14 Yeah.

Neil36:14 You know, not live. But if, you know, if the thing feels like it's. I've got some energy, it's got some. Got some kind of life of its own, you know. The reason I was thinking there's. Example. There's. There. There are, I think, you know, like Def Leppards.

Chris36:28 Yeah, yeah.

Neil36:29 Hysteria. That. I mean, that's quite clearly. You're super polished. Yeah, but. But I think. I think that, like, for an album like this one, especially when Nirvana were. If Scott Litt had. Have. Had. Have polished off the rough edges.

Chris36:45 Yeah, yeah.

Neil36:46 And there aren't many bits in there where it's kind of out of key and stuff, but it's. There are just bits in there where

Chris36:50 it's kind of imperfections.

Neil36:52 Yeah.

Chris36:53 Moments.

Neil36:53 Better description of it.

Chris36:54 Yeah.

Neil36:54 And, you know, I think if he'd have gone and over, you know, if. If that had. Have gone through Pro Tools and been a little bit perfected like they did with Freddie Mercury's voice.

Chris37:07 Yeah.

Neil37:07 You remember, they. They. They went back to some of the original Queen recordings and.

Chris37:12 And Pro Tools. Him.

Neil37:13 They pitched Freddie Mercury's voice. Just the abuse that the. The team got for that. To talk about not understanding the audience, but the same. It's. It feels alive, it feels the emotion. There's a connection. And maybe that's what you get from this as well. That, you know, like, you. There's a. There's definitely a connection that you get.

Chris37:34 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil37:36 That, like, you don't always get from live albums or from any album.

Chris37:41 Yeah, no. Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head. Yeah.

Neil37:43 But is. There is definitely a. Yeah, you. You. I think. I mean, looking back on it, I think being in the room, it would have felt special.

Chris37:54 Yeah.

Neil37:55 This would have felt really, really special to be. To be there. I think the band, you know, would have. If you imagine that stress and pressure like, this is not going to work, it's going to be a disaster, you know, and then for it to just flow and.

Chris38:06 Yeah.

Neil38:07 To do all 14 tracks pretty much without a. They didn't do anything twice.

Chris38:11 No.

Neil38:13 And then to have Kurt die and this be the last real proper thing that was recorded.

Chris38:18 Yeah.

Neil38:20 You know, it makes it.

Chris38:22 It's a special thing, isn't it?

Neil38:24 It is. It's. It's. It's kind of what makes music super special. You know, it's kind of the people that talked about this album, you know, David Bowie. David Bowie joked about it, that everyone

Chris38:37 thinks that he wrote man who Saw the World.

Neil38:40 Everyone thought it was a Nirvana track. Is it. Neil Young talks about the. You know, the. The. The performance.

Chris38:49 Yeah.

Neil38:50 Where did you sleep last night? And stuff. And then even at the end, the producer was desperate to try and get them to do an encore.

Chris38:56 Yeah. And he was like, no.

Neil38:57 Was like, I can't.

Chris38:58 I can't do it. They don't. They don't like it. They didn't want to hear any. Well, there was a bit of that, wasn't it?

Neil39:02 It's a bit where he beat that.

Chris39:04 Oh, I see. Sorry. Right.

Neil39:06 I can't. Can't do anymore. And then. And then it finished. And then he felt that he let everybody down.

Chris39:12 Y.

Neil39:17 Got so high scratching our plan Love myself better than you and know it's wrong what should I do? The finest day I've ever had Was when I learned crawl from mound Love myself better you know it's wrong what should I do? I'm on a plane I can't complain I'm on a plane. My brother died every night it's safe to say call me off Love myself better than you know it's wrong what should I do? Look like she got my melody gown look how to put on the Z Love myself better for you no it's wrong what should I do? Do I'm on a plane I can't complain I'm on a plane. Somewhere I have heard this before. In a day dream my memory store. Else to found some new. Walk around the same. It's not time to make it unclear to run outlines don't make sense Love myself better than you and know it's wrong what should I do? One more special message to go and then I'm done and I can go home Love myself then I know you and know it's wrong on what should I do? I'm on a plane, I can't complain I'm on a plane I can't complain I'm on a plane. After the show, I was in kind of a weird mood, so I asked him, what's up? He was like, I think it was bad. I think that the show was really bad. I don't think I was very good. And I said, I think that you're wrong. I think that it was stunning. And he said people weren't clapping very much. I think that they were really just so taken by what was going on and they were so taken by the performance that they weren't. They weren't going to clap like that. I also said, I think that people were sort of stunned kind of to be that close to the band, because in the general venues, people weren't able to be that close to the band, and it was such an intimate setting.

Chris43:15 Still not sure how I feel about the. The sweet situation.

Neil43:18 It's been A disaster today because we didn't have the right things. So we didn't have.

Chris43:24 We had. So we had bongo sweets from last time.

Neil43:28 You ate all those.

Chris43:29 Cuz I was here earlier.

Neil43:31 So he came in early and ate all the bongo sweets. That's totally not in the, in the spirit of things.

Chris43:38 That's not. But there weren't. No, there weren't any bongo Cokes. I, Bongo coats. I don't know. I don't think we actually had any. I don't think, I think we had them last time. I think we had the bongo Cokes last time.

Neil43:47 Did we?

Chris43:48 Yeah. And then. But we left the bongos because you bought two extra sweets.

Neil43:51 Yeah.

Chris43:52 And I think you thought about taking them with you but then in the end you went, no, no, I'm going to leave them here as bongo sweets.

Neil43:59 You did. What did you do? You said, I've had an accident with the fruit pastels.

Chris44:02 No, Skittles.

Neil44:03 Skittles. I've had an accident with the skittles. You said.

Chris44:08 So. Yeah. The bongo sweets happened and then I messaged you to say there aren't any bongo Cokes. So can you, can you get some on the way? And then like you couldn't get any from the shop.

Neil44:16 So that where we go. We've talked about this before.

Chris44:18 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil44:19 So we go, we go to the garage over the other side of the road.

Chris44:22 Yeah.

Neil44:22 And I, I, I, I, I sort of, I'm in my car with the engine and I, So in I go and I feel like I'm, you know, all good.

Chris44:29 Yeah.

Neil44:30 And I can't get in.

Chris44:31 Yeah.

Neil44:31 And the reason I can't. It's all coned off.

Chris44:33 Yeah. But they normally cone it off when they're having like a delivery.

Neil44:36 Yeah, yeah. When the delivery lorries there.

Chris44:38 Yeah.

Neil44:39 But there was no delivery lorry.

Chris44:40 No.

Neil44:40 Instead there is a car with its bonnet on top.

Chris44:43 Yeah.

Neil44:43 Smashed into the cash points.

Chris44:46 Yeah.

Neil44:47 And we're, we're hypothesizing that one of the local scrotes has tried to steal some ten pound notes.

Chris44:53 Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Neil44:54 I don't know, it's a Fiesta, I think.

Chris44:55 Yeah.

Neil44:56 That's not a great car to go and do that, is it?

Chris44:59 No, I've got a thing about notes. Right. Where the heads have got to be the right way around. So I, I wonder like, you know, if you steal money like that and you get from the cash point.

Neil45:10 Yeah.

Chris45:10 Do you think they have a moment where they've got to sit and then put Their heads the right way around in the car.

Neil45:14 And they get caugh. Caught.

Chris45:15 Yeah, they get caught because. Oh. Oh no.

Neil45:17 Oh damn it. We've been caught. But at least the heads are all the way around. They do. We. I volunteer at the Parkrun and they have to put the tokens to see when you do the park, when you get given a token.

Chris45:29 Yeah.

Neil45:30 And then. And then you give that token to the scanners and it kind of shows where you are. There's this whole like convoluted process. But at the end the tokens have to go back on the ring.

Chris45:39 Yeah.

Neil45:39 And honestly it's very. You need. You need that. There's a special sort of person that just token sorting at the end which organizes them all into piles. Beautifully organized. And so there's hundreds of them.

Chris45:50 Yeah.

Neil45:50 Little dog tags and tiny little things and they all stick together in the. In. In the. When they're wet and stuff. So. Yeah, I don't know.

Chris45:56 I'm.

Neil45:57 I'm down for that definitely.

Chris45:58 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil45:59 And I think. I think my eldest is a little bit like that too because he. I asked him to alphabetize.

Chris46:03 Yes.

Neil46:04 My vinyl.

Chris46:05 It's a good feeling that is when you get that. Right.

Neil46:07 He liked that. But he got really upset about certain things.

Chris46:11 Right.

Neil46:11 So I have a couple. I've got a. I've got a lovely Goo Goo Goo Dolls box set.

Chris46:16 Yeah.

Neil46:16 First five albums.

Chris46:18 Yeah.

Neil46:19 And I told him to arrange them by chronological order.

Chris46:23 Not of best.

Neil46:24 No. But the thing. But I like it done by the album. So the album name.

Chris46:28 Oh, I see. So alphabetical. Right. See I wouldn't. I'd do. I'd do chronological.

Neil46:32 Didn't like that.

Chris46:33 No.

Neil46:33 Because obviously the box sets have got multiple albums in.

Chris46:36 Yeah.

Neil46:37 So he didn't like that. And then there was others that he didn't like as well. So when you've got the.

Chris46:44 Yeah.

Neil46:45 And he's like. What do you do with that?

Chris46:47 Yeah.

Neil46:47 Like the Almighty.

Chris46:48 Yeah, yeah. It's got to be A.

Neil46:50 And so he got. He got a little bit. He didn't. Yeah, he didn't like that. He loves. He volunteers here at the library and he likes organizing the books.

Chris46:57 He does really well actually.

Neil46:58 He loves it. He just loves. Or good loves. He won't do it in his own room. His room looks like, like it's how I imagine. Like a bed sit would look. Yeah, yeah. But he loves organizing other people's things.

Chris47:12 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil47:13 Which is nice.

Chris47:13 It's lovely, isn't it?

Neil47:14 Yeah, it's lovely. It's. It Is. And I can find records.

Chris47:18 Yeah.

Neil47:19 Which is a bit sad, actually. You know that one of the beauties of physical media, I think, is I'll think, oh, I want to listen to Ride the Lightning today.

Chris47:27 Yeah.

Neil47:28 I start firking around where I think, ride the Lightning and I'll find something else.

Chris47:33 Yeah.

Neil47:35 Like the Cult.

Chris47:35 Yeah.

Neil47:36 And I go, I'll listen that instead, then.

Chris47:37 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil47:37 And I like that.

Chris47:38 Yeah.

Neil47:39 But I, I, I listen to the Call the Love. Really like that. We need to do that.

Chris47:43 Yeah.

Neil47:44 There's loads. There's so many really good albums. Do you other. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go on a rabbit hole. Can I go down a rabbit hole?

Chris47:49 Of course you can.

Neil47:51 You know one of my favorite bands, Little Angels. Yes, love Little Angels.

Chris47:54 Yeah.

Neil47:55 With.

Chris47:55 I love. There's a pa. A new page on the website that you've done.

Neil47:57 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So POLICE CAR SIREN Is that police car or an ambulance, do you think?

Chris48:05 I don't know. Police car. I'm going to say, please.

Neil48:07 Car, blue lights. Not coming in here. That's good. So Little Angels back together. Yeah, they said they were not going to get back together. Yeah, they recorded some of my favorite albums. They did. Oh, they did Young Gods, which I think is one of the best, like, British hard rock albums.

Chris48:27 Yeah.

Neil48:27 Like, ever been made. Then they did Jam and. Oh, good. Just brilliant. Brilliant band. Crushed, I would say, by the record industry. Yeah. They were one like them and Thunder and bunch of others. Just didn't break America.

Chris48:42 No.

Neil48:42 You know what I mean? They just didn't get the push. Kind of just, Just like, didn't quite make it in the US and they were being pushed to do that and then I think just, just kind of fell apart. But they're all back together now and they're out and they're playing. They're at Rock City, they're doing a bunch of tours. If you like Little Angels, which you should there, and you're in the uk, you can go and see see them, which is great. And I just hope they do some new material because they've got. They're just cool. They're just such a cool bunch. Like. Like Toby's done production and he's done Wayward Sons and done a bunch of other things, which makes him like. I think he's just epic.

Chris49:13 Yeah.

Neil49:15 But the rest of the band have all done, like, really cool things.

Chris49:18 Yeah.

Neil49:18 Like working in university as a music professor and helping kids and stuff. And they're just such a lovely bunch. I'm very excited about that.

Chris49:28 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil49:29 Very excited.

Chris49:30 Yeah.

Neil49:31 So there you go. That's what. That's my rabbit hole.

Chris49:34 We should do facts. Oh, but shall we do.

Neil49:37 Yeah, I've got my tablet.

Chris49:39 Ah, here we go. Should we do. Because you wanted to talk about Courtney Love not being there.

Neil49:43 You've done that.

Chris49:44 Oh, have you done that?

Neil49:45 No. You've just done it.

Chris49:45 Oh, I've just done it. Courtney Love wasn't there.

Neil49:47 Yeah. Courtney Love. So I didn't know this, but. So Courtney Love and their daughter. Right. So. So. So they had a proper family at this point.

Chris49:57 Point.

Neil49:57 And they weren't there. And I. I never knew. And I look to try and find why there'd be lots of people saying that it was because he was really nervous that it was going to be a disaster and he couldn't cope with her being there if it had all, like, crashed and burned.

Chris50:13 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil50:15 Which is.

Chris50:16 Yeah.

Neil50:17 Considering how it turned out.

Chris50:18 Yeah.

Neil50:18 It's a bizarre.

Chris50:19 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil50:20 Thing to think, I think. But it tells you where his psyche. Well, it tells you kind of where he. Yeah, I guess what the place he was in, you know, just this. It was just not a happy. Good.

Chris50:33 No, no, it wasn't. Well, no, no.

Neil50:36 We can do facts. Should we do some facts?

Chris50:38 Let's do some facts.

Neil50:39 I mean, it's quite a long blog, so I might get a bit. A bit lost, but let's see how we get on recorded.

Chris50:45 Should we talk about the blogs as we do their blog? Blog. Blog is Riffology. Co.

Neil50:48 It is, yes.

Chris50:49 It's having like thousands and thousands of thousands of people explore it every month, which is amazing.

Neil50:53 People a day. Not that many.

Chris50:56 And there's loads of people listen to the podcast as well. That's very nice.

Neil50:59 It is, yeah. It's. Yeah. We talked about this before, didn't we? It's bonkers that people like you.

Chris51:03 Yeah.

Neil51:03 Spending your time with us. And we really like it.

Chris51:05 Yeah. Thank you.

Neil51:06 We should write in and tell us that you do. You talk to us. Yeah, Lindsay does.

Chris51:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil51:10 Lindsay always tells us nice things. Which is good. Which is. Which is good, isn't it?

Chris51:16 Yeah.

Neil51:16 She did a bingo card for us once. We used to say we were ill all the time.

Chris51:20 Ill. Cup of tea.

Neil51:22 It's too late.

Chris51:23 Yeah.

Neil51:24 It's too early. Yeah. It's five past nine.

Chris51:27 I tell you what, we do well, because normally we're like. We're midnight.

Neil51:31 Midnight by now. I. I don't stay up after 9 o', clock, so my eyes are rolling and I'M struggling a little bit and you have to finish it all off. So. Recorded 18-11-1993. This would be the last studio recording that Kurt would ever do. It was recorded in Sony Music Studios in Helskich. It was released almost a year later. First November 94. The label was DGC Records. Produced by Scott Litt.

Chris51:59 Yeah.

Neil52:00 Now we'll come back to Scott Litt. But he did tons. Of course.

Chris52:02 We're gonna maybe choose a Scotland record next, aren't we?

Neil52:04 I think we should do one of the REM records because he's dead cool. And I like. I like Scotland and I like rm.

Chris52:10 Yeah.

Neil52:11 So I think we should.

Chris52:11 And we've not covered anything like that.

Neil52:13 No, I think we should do. That would be quite cool. Um, director was Beth McCarthy Miller. I think they probably aged her significantly.

Chris52:20 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil52:21 As they did that had songs cut. So the original release was 53 minutes. It didn't have something in the way. And the other one. Oh, my brain's just gone. And it's not in my list. There were two tracks that were cut and they were put back in again from this. Yeah.

Chris52:41 Right.

Neil52:41 So they had two. It was too long.

Chris52:43 Yeah.

Neil52:44 So they cut two.

Chris52:45 Oh, would it. Would it have been. Where did you sleep last night? Do you think?

Neil52:47 No, it was definitely something in the way.

Chris52:49 Yeah.

Neil52:50 And another. Maybe it's in my facts. Later on I'll see. I'm scrolling down at the bottom of my table. It might be in the bottom, but definitely something in the way was cut.

Chris52:58 Yeah.

Neil52:59 Which is a weird one to cut. I. Yeah, Yeah. I think. I don't know who made those decisions, but I think it's a weird one to cut. It was released on a CD initially at 53 minutes. And I think that's when they felt the 66 was too long.

Chris53:13 Yeah.

Neil53:14 Trying to think why would 66 have been too long? Because that would have fitted on. Know. Oh, I think this is. This was in. Yeah. Maybe it was too long.

Chris53:24 Yeah.

Neil53:24 For the. For the. For the. For the formats. Anyway. It went back out with a longer one. Do you know when it was reissued on DVD?

Chris53:31 No.

Neil53:31 2007.

Chris53:32 Wow.

Neil53:32 It's quite a long time after. Yeah. Personnel involved Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl. Dave Grohl paid. Played bass as well.

Chris53:43 Oh, I didn't know that.

Neil53:44 No. Normally Chris. Chris Novazilich, who still can't pronounce his name properly. And then Pat Smear, he would go on to do Fighters. And then Laurie Goldston. Not Goldstein, who. He gets the name wrong. And she played the cello. She played cello on

Chris54:05 something, in a way, yeah.

Neil54:08 Was she on anything else? But anyway, I think she. It's interesting. I think it adds a real dimension to it. The unexpected. Yeah, Dimension, which I think is quite cool. Like when Corn used bagpipes.

Chris54:22 Yeah.

Neil54:23 Maybe that's a really bad example, but in my mind that is.

Chris54:26 Yeah, but they're cool, aren't they? Like, sometimes bagpipes aren't very cool, but they. They somehow make it very cool.

Neil54:31 Corn make everything cool, don't they? Guest musicians. Kurt Kirkwood played on it. Chris Kirkwood played on it today. Meat Puppets. Yeah. Do you know where it debuted in the charts?

Chris54:45 No, I do.

Neil54:46 Number one everywhere.

Chris54:48 Yeah.

Neil54:49 Which I think is. Well, I guess it's. It was after Kurt had died, so there's been tons of stuff in the press and you'd have known this was. There was no more Nirvana. It's certified eight times platinum, which is just absolutely bonkers. Only one single.

Chris55:08 Yeah.

Neil55:08 About a girl, which is Bleach, isn't it? Yeah, Soft Bleach is the very, very first. It was broadcast on tv. So it was a lot like just back in the day for the. For the young kids. They're listening to us. MTV was actual tv.

Chris55:22 Like a music TV channel.

Neil55:23 Yeah. And. And so they. They literally. This would have been. Been broadcast like, you know, any other TV channel.

Chris55:29 Did you have sky when you were a kid?

Neil55:31 No.

Chris55:31 Really? No, I never had Sky. I never watched anything.

Neil55:33 No, but the school did. Right. I went to Ashby Grammar School down the road. And they had Borders.

Chris55:39 Yeah.

Neil55:40 Now the Borders had Sky in their common room.

Chris55:42 Right.

Neil55:43 So I used to go and watch. Because it was quiet in there.

Chris55:47 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil55:47 And so I used to go, no, I don't think we were supposed to, but I used to go and sit and do. I used to study in there.

Chris55:52 Yeah.

Neil55:52 Used to go and sit, put my feet up and have MTV on.

Chris55:54 Yeah.

Neil55:56 But I didn't, you know, none. We didn't have. We didn't have m. No. I think I'm scrolling down to my facts list at the bottom. The entire 14 song performance was filmed in a single take. Guess how many other bands did that with MTV Unplugged?

Chris56:13 Zero bands.

Neil56:13 Zero bands did that. Most of them stopped and started and hacked things around as they. As they went on. Kurt asked for the stage to be decorated like a funeral, which again, threw the producers a little bit, which is a bit bonkers. MTV producers again kept giving list after list of tracks that they wanted Nirvana to play and guests and Kurt just refused all of them. So it's either. It's either this or I'm not doing it.

Chris56:44 Yeah.

Neil56:46 The biggest hit they played based on single sales was Come as you are.

Chris56:50 Yeah.

Neil56:50 The rest were all kind of unknown.

Chris56:51 Or there were covers or covers.

Neil56:54 Yeah.

Chris56:55 Or like songs off, like, rarities or B sides or other albums or whatever, wasn't it?

Neil57:00 Yeah, absolutely. But considering. I think it's kind of what makes it special, though.

Chris57:07 Yeah.

Neil57:07 You know, because it could have been like. If you imagine if some dude in a suit had picked this, it would have just been the sing. Big singles off.

Chris57:14 Yeah.

Neil57:15 Enough. Never mind, wouldn't it?

Chris57:16 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil57:18 Dave Grohl struggled more than anyone else with the playing of it. Couldn't play quiet enough. And eventually they solved it by giving him some brushes.

Chris57:26 Yeah.

Neil57:28 Which. Yeah. He'd never, never used before. Kurt Cobain's guitar was amplified, so despite it being badged as Unplugged and all of the others being unplugged, Nirvana's was not. And it went through a Fender twin reverb and effects pedals as well.

Chris57:45 Yeah.

Neil57:45 And they built a fake box to

Chris57:47 make it look a monitor.

Neil57:49 We talked about this before, but Kurt was on a massive drug come down. Down the day before, and they. They felt that it just wasn't going to happen. The whole gig was going to. Going to fall through. The chair that Kurt sat on was some random office chair from the building.

Chris58:05 Yeah.

Neil58:07 Because he didn't like the stool that this meticulously chosen stool that MTV had given him. It's like everything they tried to do, he didn't like, which I think is excellent. Chris played the accordion on Jesus, Jesus doesn't want me for a Sunbeam, which was the first instrument he ever learned.

Chris58:25 Right, right.

Neil58:26 And then in the rehearsals, there was a accordion lying around in the studio, Right?

Chris58:36 Yeah, yeah.

Neil58:37 Chris picked it up and just started mucking about and playing it, going, oh, I remember to play this.

Chris58:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Neil58:41 And then Kurt was like, hang on. And then. And then wove it into the. The set, which I think is. And it does. It works really, really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Kurt deliberately sang the Meat Puppets covers in uncomfortable keys.

Chris58:56 Yeah.

Neil58:57 So producer Coletti would go on record later saying that it was entirely intentional and it was talked about. And he chose to do it in difficult keys. He wanted the strain in his voice. He felt that it was going to do it. Where did you sleep last Night was supposed to be a B side for the Penny Royal T single, but neither were released after Kurt's death. And then famously, Kurt refused to perform the encore on the basis that he didn't feel like he couldn't.

Chris59:34 Top.

Neil59:36 Yeah. Where did you sleep last night? At the end of it, Kurt thought the performance was a disaster. So at the end of it, you can hear the audience kind of clap and stuff, but it's quite subdued and he, he felt that it was just an absolute disaster and that it had gone down really, really poorly and, and like kind of would never obviously go on to realize how well regarded it it was. Which is, which is bonkers. It was originally planned to be part of a double live album called Verse, Chorus, Verse. So they, yeah, they, they originally planned to do this, this, this double live album obviously after Kurt died that was no. And Grow. And they couldn't.

Chris1:00:29 No.

Neil1:00:30 Go through with it. They just couldn't do it. So they just like, just. No, we're not, we're not doing it. But that was the original plan. This is the only album that Nirvana won a Grammy for. Yes.

Chris1:00:40 Yeah.

Neil1:00:41 Which is, I think, fascinating. We talked about the. The Martin D18 guitar sold in auction 2020 for $6 million was bought by the Road founder Peter Friedman, and it's been donated permanent, permanently to London's Royal College of Music. The green cardigan that Kurt wore in the session was sold for $334,000. The T shirt you talked about earlier that Kurt wore in the set, right wing T shirt, all female punk band from San Francisco. Like, very typical, you know, of what he would do. Yeah, like an almost unheard of band. Yeah. Oh yeah. Several songs rehearsed for the show didn't make the final set. So there was the COVID of the Velvet Underground, Here She Comes now, which the Meat Puppets guitar tech Troy Mice said was the best song that they did in, in, in the rehearsals, but it didn't make the cut. Caban introduced cellist Laurie Goldston by the wrong surname, so he called a Lori Goldstein. We talked about this, but Courtney Goldstein was. Sorry, Courtney Love was not in the audience. And then the 2007 DVD release includes five full band rehearsal tracks. So it's got Come as you Are, Polly Plateau, Penny Royalty and the man who Sold the World. So it kind of. You kind of get the, the rehearsals as well as the one that they, they came up with. And that's it for fact. I. I don't know. There is something about this album, I think. It's hard to quantify. It's hard to kind of say how good it is. You know what I mean? Like many albums I Kind of think, oh, how much do I like it? This one's. This one seems to transcend that a little bit.

Chris1:02:33 It's.

Neil1:02:33 It's this. It's as much of like a time capsule as it is a point in time, as is an insight into one man's soul. The point in time. The songs that were chosen were just exquisite.

Chris1:02:47 Just.

Neil1:02:48 I mean, just absolutely genius level. And then the production on top of it and all of the things and then. And then Kurt not being with us for very long afterwards, it kind of. It all just stacks on it, doesn't it? And it takes it into something that's. It's not just an album. This is. This is something. I don't know. It's like a point in time of a generation.

Chris1:03:10 Yeah.

Neil1:03:12 And it's. Yeah. I don't know. This is one that I think will be around and be in. In people's conscious for like, forever.

Chris1:03:20 Yeah.

Neil1:03:20 You know, I. I kind of get the feeling that this. This one is probably not one that's going to disappear.

Chris1:03:24 No. No, I think you're right. Yeah.

Neil1:03:27 So which RM album shall we do?

Chris1:03:30 I think we should listen to.

Neil1:03:31 Yeah.

Chris1:03:32 A song.

Neil1:03:33 Yeah.

Chris1:03:33 And then talk about that.

Neil1:03:34 All right. Yeah, let's do that then. That sounds like a plan.

Chris1:03:37 Y P word.

Neil1:03:57 My girl, my girl, don't lie to me Tell me where, when did you sleep last night? In the plants, in the plants where the sun don't ever shine I would shiver the whole night through, girl My girl, where will you go? I'm going wind where the cold wind blows in the pines, in the pines will the sun don't ever shine I would shiver the whole night through the husband was a hard working man Just about a mile from here his head was found in a tribute field on his body never was found My girl, my girl, don't lie that to me Tell me where did you sleep last night in the pines, down the PS where the sun don't ever shine I was shiver the whole night through Shiver. Sam. My girl, where will you go? I'm going where the cone wind blows in the pines, in the pines where the sun don't ever shine I will shiver the whole night through. My girl, don't lie to me Tell me where did you sleep last night down the PS down the clouds where the sun don't ever shine I was shiver not through My girl, my girl, where will you go? I'm going where the cold wind blows. That's. Sam, I think that, you know, had

Chris1:08:31 their career continued as nirvana for 10 more years. Or something. That moment might have got lost in

Neil1:08:37 a lot of other moments or just become lesser because I think they would

Chris1:08:41 have done consistently great things. But given, you know, just how short

Neil1:08:46 their time was, it's certainly a standout moment.

Chris1:08:50 Right then, R.E.M. it's either out of Time or Automatic for the People. Automatic for the People is my favorite favorite. Yeah, but out of Time's the biggest.

Neil1:08:59 Out of Time. Yeah, Time's the biggest. It's hard, isn't it?

Chris1:09:06 Monster's obviously a big one.

Neil1:09:07 I'm just looking at their list. So I'm looking. I've got my. I've got my. My MacBook, and I'm just looking at their list of records. So Automatic for the People was the one. You know, around this time, I was like. Me and my friend Russell, who was students and had like. Like 20p to rub together, would go into the local audio shop and pretend we wanted to audition. £10,000 worth of speakers and stuff. This was often taken. Yeah, Automatic was one that we would often take in. I think my favorite. Yeah. I don't know. It's really difficult. I think my favorite is probably Monster.

Chris1:09:50 Yeah.

Neil1:09:50 But then out of Time.

Chris1:09:51 That's got. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Neil1:09:52 On it, isn't it? Yeah, but then out of Time, Scott. Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People. I think we should do out of Time.

Chris1:10:01 Yeah, I think it's a good idea.

Neil1:10:03 What's Automatic got on it? Automatic, Scott. Yeah. The sidewinder sleeps tonight and everybody hurts. And then. Yeah. Monster's got what? The frequency, Kenneth. And bang and blame and stuff on it.

Chris1:10:17 What a band. My.

Neil1:10:19 Really good, aren't they?

Chris1:10:20 What a band.

Neil1:10:21 They're good live.

Chris1:10:22 Yeah.

Neil1:10:22 I saw them at El Core. I saw them at Live 8 and they were dead. God. Yeah, they were just songs.

Chris1:10:31 Song after song after song.

Neil1:10:32 They were. They're a bit of a force of nature as well. They just kind of turn up and get it. Smash it out and then go.

Chris1:10:39 Yeah.

Neil1:10:40 And you're always kind of left a little bit like you. What just happened? What just happened? And they're. They're dead good. I think. Again, another band that can tell stories. They can kind of build us. They can build, like a universe or a space or a story in a few minutes in a song. And I think that's really cool. I was like, the production at R.E.M.

Chris1:11:02 yeah, I think they.

Neil1:11:03 They. Yeah, they. They. Their albums kind of sat there. They sound good everywhere.

Chris1:11:12 Yeah.

Neil1:11:12 You know what I mean? You can listen to it on, like, the Crapp. Remember those White earphones you used to get with a new phone. They sound fine on that.

Chris1:11:19 Yeah.

Neil1:11:19 And they sound great on a really expensive stereo.

Chris1:11:21 Yeah.

Neil1:11:22 Which I mean it sounds. You would imagine if you got something that sounded awesome on great speakers, it would sound good everywhere.

Chris1:11:29 But it doesn't always. No.

Neil1:11:31 Lots of dynamic range.

Chris1:11:33 Yeah.

Neil1:11:33 From rems.

Chris1:11:35 Yeah.

Neil1:11:36 Always managed to. To have that. Have that stuff in there. So. Yeah, let's do out of time.

Chris1:11:40 Okay, great.

Neil1:11:41 And then had. We got a plan. I. I can't remember if we've got a plan.

Chris1:11:46 There's a plan somewhere.

Neil1:11:48 You don't like the P word? No, I don't like the P word.

Chris1:11:50 But we've got like a clever software, haven't we, that will tell us what some good advice just whinges.

Neil1:11:56 It just kind of. It kind of goes.

Chris1:11:58 So please stop doing all the niche stuff.

Neil1:11:59 We dumped. We dumped all of our back catalog into the AIs and the chat GPTs and. And stuff. And it kind of goes. Your biggest. You know the ones that get like thousands of views, they're dead good and like they're back in blacks and you know, the Master of Puppets and the Dark side of the Moons and. But you seem to have this obsession with niche small British band. Just. Just get. Just do the big ones just go away. Just. I don't like. I don't want to hear your.

Chris1:12:29 We do what we want. We. We're not going to follow your rules. We can't even follow our own rules. So.

Neil1:12:33 Isn't that rubbish? Yeah. We told what to do. But I. Computer can get lost. That's what it can bloody do.

Chris1:12:40 But out of Time's a good shout. And then let's see what happens after that. I'd love to do Jimmy World. I've said that a couple of times.

Neil1:12:46 Jimmy World. I want to do Ugly Kid Joe.

Chris1:12:48 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil1:12:49 I think that's a banger.

Chris1:12:50 Yeah.

Neil1:12:53 Okay. I'll go in there. That's. That's like at least three or four weeks.

Chris1:12:55 Yeah. Yeah.

Neil1:12:56 It'll be spring then.

Chris1:12:57 Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Neil1:12:58 I've noticed we're not. Didn't really heat. This is heating on. I think it is on.

Chris1:13:02 Yeah.

Neil1:13:02 Didn't really need the heating on today. No, it's like. At least it's like 12 degrees or something tonight outside.

Chris1:13:08 Yeah.

Neil1:13:08 Which is nice. Yeah.

Chris1:13:09 I can live without. Can't we?

Neil1:13:10 Not shaking. Right, well, thanks for listening.

Chris1:13:14 Thank you very much.

Neil1:13:15 If you've got this far.

Chris1:13:16 Congratulations. Very well.

Neil1:13:17 I feel you should get like a medal or something. And then if anyone Knows anyone around trees. Send us fruit pastels.

Chris1:13:25 Yeah, just. It's. That's it. It's all.

Neil1:13:27 If you work around trees. Yeah, somebody's got to just. Just feed it red, red and black.

Chris1:13:31 Flat.

Neil1:13:32 That's that.

Chris1:13:32 You know that maybe there's. There's a color thing there, isn't there? Because red and black. Black through pastels and we have Coke Zero, which is also red and black, so. Oh, that's the thing there, isn't it? You see?

Neil1:13:43 Oh, I see what you're doing there. Yeah. Well, some people get, like.

Chris1:13:48 They get sponsors, don't they? You just want sweets.

Neil1:13:52 Well, you know, I. I really like Matt Armstrong. He lives just up the road, right? Yeah, Armstrong. And he's a. Is a famous. Yo, choba yo. He didn't do. Welcome back to the channel.

Chris1:14:06 Like, subscribe.

Neil1:14:07 He's waste from Leicester. So he says, Lester, Lester, Lester. It's got a flat, proper flat, like, like Midlands accent, which I love to see. It's wonderful. Anyway, I like him. He's dead. God. But he got sponsored by wife. Is it why food? I think it's wife food. He got sponsored by wife food because he was like always working on these cars and didn't have any time to eat. So he got sponsorship from my food to do it and I like that. Yeah, but that's like. He's a. He was a skateboarder and super fit. Yeah, it was all great. Obviously, you know, he's not going to get sponsored by fruit pastels. He's not going to like that. Where.

Chris1:14:41 Where do they live? Round trees.

Neil1:14:43 Fruit pastels.

Chris1:14:43 Yeah. Where do they. Where are they made?

Neil1:14:45 Don't know.

Chris1:14:46 It's around here. It's going. We'll just go around.

Neil1:14:50 Hey, can we have some fruit festivals? Yeah, we'll wear a T shirt.

Chris1:14:54 One pack a week. Week.

Neil1:14:55 I know.

Chris1:14:55 How greedy are we?

Neil1:14:57 Godlusters. Like, if they. I mean, you know what they'll do? They would just like dish out a box of like 50 or whatever. Do you remember when Emma. Was it Emma that did those other donuts. No, not the donuts. Jammy Dodger.

Chris1:15:10 Yeah. No, it was Jamie Dodgers, but because of the donut thing.

Neil1:15:12 Yeah, there's like, like 40 boxes of jammy Dodgers in the studio. Ate so many Jammy Dodges, I was gonna vomit. Jamie, just looking at the box, I was like, I just. I don't feel very well. That was good.

Chris1:15:24 That was good. That was. Yeah.

Neil1:15:26 So when. Ask her what she's going to send us next.

Chris1:15:28 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

Neil1:15:30 Jammy Dodges. Anyway, that's good. Thanks for coming and we'll see you next time. Yeah, I was gonna talk about new music, but I think we can do

Chris1:15:42 a new music thing at some point, aren't we?

Neil1:15:43 Yeah, we've got. We've got like a collection of new artists that we think are cool for the last kind of. Of the release stuff in the last year or so, and so we think we're going to do something about that.

Chris1:15:54 Yeah.

Neil1:15:54 So if you like new music, that might be good. Well, it's not going to replace this. It's just. It'll just be like a random show that's special that you can ignore. If you don't like that kind of. Some people do, don't they?

Chris1:16:05 Yeah, they don't like new stuff. New music's rubbish. Yeah.

Neil1:16:09 Young blood can't even sing. Yeah, all that.

Chris1:16:11 Yeah.

Neil1:16:12 But I think there are. I think there's some. Yeah, yeah.

Chris1:16:15 Or we could put that zombie one on there.

Neil1:16:16 Check out, you know. You know, if you. Oh, God, yeah. Zombie. Yeah, that's good. If you listening and you want something new to listen to and you want recommendation, find Gunshine.

Chris1:16:26 The what, sorry?

Neil1:16:26 Gunshine. Gunshine Gun Shine.

Chris1:16:29 Yeah.

Neil1:16:29 Raucous rock and roll. Proper, you know, slightly out of tune. Interfering with your dog. Rock and roll. Yeah, yeah, that, you know, they're. Do you know what I mean? You wouldn't trust them. They're raucous lads, they are, but brilliant. Try that gunshine.

Chris1:16:46 There we go.

Neil1:16:47 And we'll do another show. We're going to do a show and we'll do some of that. Be great.

Chris1:16:49 Yeah, that's it, then.

Neil1:16:51 Sorry.

RIFF080 - Nirvana - MTV Unplugged

Show Notes

When the Funeral Flowers Were Real and Nobody Knew It Yet

Episode Description

What You'll Hear:

Featured Tracks and Analysis:

Tangential Gold:

Why This Matters:

Transcript

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