Why Wayne Coyne is my homeboy

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LMP

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This article from stereogum is fairly old but I love it. It was talking about how Guardian magazine took a group of musicians and asked them what are the most overrated albums in music. Here's what Flaming Lips frontman/genius/resident alien Wayne Coyne had to say:

It's better to be overrated than underrated. Besides, it's not the musicians' fault Nevermind is overrated - it's the public's, or the critics'. But you don't find yourself ever longing to listen to it, because there were - still are, in fact - so many mediocre bands that sound like it, that you're constantly experiencing it.

I never get out Nevermind and think: what great production, what great songs. Nevermind had a poisonous, pernicious influence. It legitimised suffering. The sainthood of Kurt Cobain overshadows the album: Kurt's lyrics, his attitudinising and navel-gazing, were hard to separate from the band's image. You can never just hear the record. For me, Bleach and In Utero are superior. Even the album cover seems cheap: that stupid dollar bill just seems to have been airbrushed in there. If Alice in Chains had done it, we'd have thought it was a joke, but because it was Nirvana we thought it was oh-so-clever. If you think you're going to hear an utterly original, powerful and freaky record when you put on Nevermind, as a young kid might, Christ you're going to be disappointed. You're going to think, "Who is this band that sounds just like Nickelback? What are these drug addicts going on about?"

That is pure poetry.

The rest of the mini-article of the mini-article here: http://www.stereogum.com/archives/wayne-coyne-cuts-into-nevermind-with-laserpointer.html
 
Pinball Wizard said:
He is good at Coyne-ing phrases.

Come on.

That was money.

:up: you win the Pun-Olympics 07...

He's correct in his assessment of Nevermind as well, I always thought In Utero was the superior of their albums.

Although IMO, Alice In Chains Dirt > the entire Nirvana catalogue.
 
I don't understand why he says being overrated is better than being underrated and then he disses the overrated Nevermind. :scratch:

I like Nevermind and prefer it to all their other albums but...

elevated_u2_fan said:
Although IMO, Alice In Chains Dirt > the entire Nirvana catalogue.

That right there is :rockon: Dirt is one of the finest albums of the 90s!
 
Them Bones! What an opener! :love: Rooster, Down In A Hole, Angry Chair, Dam That River all kick ass too!

Not to mention the ending of Rain When I Die... :combust:
 
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Zootlesque said:
I don't understand why he says being overrated is better than being underrated and then he disses the overrated Nevermind. :scratch:

I think because if you're overrated, people at least know who you are. It's not the band's fault Nevermind became that sort of lame monster.
 
I like Nevermind. Not the greatest album of that time, but it's still good, has an excellent groove to it.

Alice in Chains, I have really come to despise them. They have maybe 3 songs I like now. No idea why, I just can't listen to them anymore. And they sucked live.

Wayne Coyne is a Hero.
 
UberBeaver said:
Alice In Chains, I have really come to despise them. They have maybe 3 songs I like now. No idea why, I just can't listen to them anymore. And they sucked live.

:shocked: really?! When I saw them live they kicked ass... They could be one of those bands who weren’t consistently good live though. :hmm:
 
Lancemc said:
He really is an awesome dude. Just about everything he says and does is awesome. :up:

Mystics is getting the 5.1 treatment and is being expanded into a 2 CD set with b-sides, live tracks, and whatnot in October. :drool:
 
Speaking of Alice in Chains, Jar of Flies may be the single finest album to emerge from the whole "grunge" scene.

Rotten Apple
Nutshell
I Stay Away
No Excuses
Don't Follow

Replace Swing on This with either Got Me Wrong or Brother and you have one the finest albums ever, in my opinion.
 
The only song I know from Jar of Flies is I Stay Away. And I love that one! :love: Will have to grab this one sometime. :hmm:
 
Zootlesque said:
The only song I know from Jar of Flies is I Stay Away. And I love that one! :love: Will have to grab this one sometime. :hmm:

Get both Flies and Sap, together they make one of the best albums of the 90's.
 
Has anyone checked out The F'lips' new iTunes Original set?

Pompeii :drool::drool::drool:
War Pigs cover :drool:
Why Does it End? :drool:
 
No spoken words said:
Why do I not know what "Sap" is?

Sap is an EP that was released shortly after Facelift. It consists of 5 tracks, 2 of which are stunning and 1 of which is complete frivolity.
 
me and my 'homeboys' loved those Seattle bands, the original wave anyways, and everyone of us, to a man, liked Nirvana the least. Oh and we all live in the same town as Wayne Coyne, so he's actually our homeboy, literally.


ALice in Chains, Dirt, Sap and Jar of Flies are better than anything released by Nirvana. Soundgarden, I'd say at least BMF and Superunknown were better than anything Nirvana released and Louder Than Love and Down on the Upside were at least in the ballpark.

It's the same principles in those who glorify Janis Joplin and Jim MOrrison. Had they lived to be 40, 45 and embarassed themselves 5 times over, their 'legacy' would be a lot different.

All that said, Bleach, In Utero and Nevermind, even the unplugged record are all great. I mean, truly great not 'White Stripes great' or whatever. What I mean is, it's been 15 years in large part, 14 since In Utero and the music still stand the test of time, there are even some excellent songs on Incesticide. Point being, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised when someone who finds bands such as White Stripes or the Strokes great, to not 'get' Nirvana. Much in the same way maybe I never got the punk movement until I was maybe 22 or 23. It's a bit generational and nostalgic and all of that. The songs speak for themselves,

Cobain had some songs. Overrated? No doubt. Great? Same answer.
 
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