There are two tragic rock and roll death anniversaries to remember today, April 5, both for key figures in the early 1990s Seattle grunge music scene: Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who died 18 years ago, and Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, who died 10 years ago.
Both bands (along with a few others) were instrumental in changing the face of a musical style and generation that was choked by heavy metal, second generation glam, tepid pop music, and unoriginality in many forms in the musical universe during the late 1980s. Nirvana came into that stifled world like a dirty, grungy tidal wave, washing over all the aforementioned genres in a river filled with glass and soot, which was exactly the approach they wanted to take.
Pearl Jam Twenty Netflix Streaming DVD | Blu-Ray
Written and Directed by Cameron Crowe
Starring Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Neil Young
Tremolo Productions
Originally Released: September 10, 2011
As a rock fan and metalhead, it’s hard for me to imagine in many ways that Pearl Jam is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. The time, in my mind’s eye, has flown; but the more I think about it, the more I consider how much this band has been a part of my passion for music… something evidently experienced by other fans as portrayed in Pearl Jam Twenty.
When Pearl Jam was only just starting to achieve international recognition, I was entering my teens. Music was in a transitional period, as far as rock was concerned. In the background, you had your harder edged thrash bands (and up and coming death metal groups) there, consistent with their attack. In the forefront you had the glam and the rock of the 1980s – but not for long…
Butch Vig, best known as the producer of Nirvana‘s Nevermind album and drummer of the band Garbage, recently discussed that he reunited ex-Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic for a track on an upcoming Foo Fighters album. The track is titled “I Should Have Known,” and will be featured on the next album from Grohl’s band.
The new song sees Novoselic contribute both bass guitar and accordion (!!) to the track. Recording for the as-of-yet untitled album was completed at the beginning of this year, and is being held for a release during April.
Grohl and Novoselic first worked together in the band Nirvana, led by frontman Kurt Cobain. Their breakthrough album was Nevermind, released in 1991, and produced by Butch Vig. The release of the album would usher in a new attitude, sound, and feel for the hard rock/metal and punk community that would eventually be labeled as the “Grunge” genre by the media. During their career, Nirvana released songs such as “About a Girl,” “Smells like Teen Spirit,” and “All Apologies.”
The latest issue of Revolver magazine is a “Fallen Heroes Of Hard Rock and Metal” tribute to several late musicians, like Ronnie James Dio and Peter Steele, both of whom passed away in 2010. The issue has special cover artwork by legendary comics artist J.G. Jones.
Gracing the cover along with Dio and Steele are Paul Gray (Slipnot), The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold), Dimebag Darrell (Pantera), Cliff Burton (Metallica), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne), Freddy Mercury (Queen), and Layne Staley (Alice In Chains).
The cover painting also appears inside the magazine as a free poster. Check out the cover image here at right (click for larger, full view).
The issue is on newsstands now, but you can also purchase it online for $19.95, which includes a commemorative limited-edition 1 3/4″–diameter Dimebag Darrell “dime” along with an antiqued metal coin holder. (This is the only way to get the coin and holder, aside from at Barnes & Noble stores.) A portion of the proceeds will go to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout cancer fund.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press