Cobain v.s. Hendrix

Cobain was good, but he wasn't anything new, it wasn't something that people haven't seen before.

That's just wrong. It was new. It was something people hadn't seen before. It's tough to compare the two, but too many people seem to think this is a 'who's the better guitarist' thread, og 'who influenced guitar the most'. I don't like Cobain's music, but it was revolutionary. People who say that Cobain has had no influence are just in denial, because they hate his music.

Originally Posted by: LohrtarThat's just wrong. It was new. It was something people hadn't seen before. It's tough to compare the two, but too many people seem to think this is a 'who's the better guitarist' thread, og 'who influenced guitar the most'. I don't like Cobain's music, but it was revolutionary. People who say that Cobain has had no influence are just in denial, because they hate his music.

Nirvana was influential, absolutely, but it was not new.

The Melvins and a number of other Seattle bands (especially Mud Honey) were doing what Nirvana did well before them.

Nirvana, however, was the band that managed to find mammoth commercial success and so therefore are the band most of us think about when we think about "Grunge."

Still the moment Smells like teen spirit came out, it changed everything... (Maybe a bit exaggerated).. There must've been something new about it.

Well it was new to the mainstream scene. I, for one, have never heard of the bands you mention. So to the general public, at least, it was something new and different.

......................................... I ................................ I don't know what to say. Cobain is the greatest guitar player that ever lived... I guess that's what some people who never saw him play think (hence the 14, 15, 16 year olds that think Cobain was a God).... For real. Dave Grohl was the best thing to come out of Nirvana... It's bad when your drummer plays the guitar better than your lead guitarist... I won't take anything away from Cobain as a songwriter... he was good at that, somewhat. Except that Dave Grohl wrote the song that made them popular (Smells Like Teen Spirit)... and Cobain hated to play it live because he would mess up the solo all the time...He did start a movement that carried long after he died... But to say Cobain in the same sentence as Jimi is just an insult to great blues musicians and great prog rock musicians everywhere... A more appropriate comparison would be Cobain to.... me... or you... Cobain was celebrated becuase he was so mediocre. Not because he was good at anything. The youth of the late 80's and early 90's embraced him because he was everything that the Adults were against... There were MUCH better and more influencial grundge bands than Nirvana... they get the press because Kurt Cobain chose to abondone all that he stood for. I like Nirvana... I just don't see how people worship Cobain.

I don't think this thread is about who is the best guitarist. I think we all know that Hendrix was. But when it come to voices Curt beats Jimmy by a long shot. Curt wasn’t a great guitarist but he didn’t care (he was left handed). They are known for different things. Jimmy for his awesome guitar playing and Curt for his singing voice and melodic hooks. Nirvana happens to be my favorite band and is the reason why I wanted to play guitar. I don’t care about over the top guitar solos, but melody. Everyone is going to have their opinions but these two influences deserve their importance in music history. Keep an open mind and try to listen to what both have to offer. I bet those who are against the whole grunge (I despise this word) scene haven’t even given it a chance. And no I don’t mean the commercial sound such as Smells Like Teen Spirt, but Sappy, About a Girl, Heart Shaped Box, Penny Royal Tea, All Apologies, and so many other good ones. Listen to them and you might change your mind about Nirvana.

I didn’t mean to dominate this post with Curt Cobain talk but I felt that something should of been said about the down talk about his artistic genius. And that’s all I have to say about that! :p

are yall kidding?!! you cant compare cobain to hendrix! there not even close to being in the same league!!! Hendrix is the master!!! Cobain isnt worthy enough to have his name in the same sentence as hendrix.



{Editor's note: Some things should just go unsaid!} ;)

If we're talking about being revolutionary in music, no one changed music more than Kurt. Not to say that Hendrix didn't change anything, but look at what kind of music was in the mainstream pre-Nirvana and after. It completely changed. My favorite band before then, GnR was practically kicked out the door along with other bands.

The same didn't happen with hendrix; jam bands and folk singers still owned a bigger chunk of the music business pie.

Now if you look at the longest lasting change in music, Hendrix wins hands down. Without hendrix you wouldn't have bands like Led Zeppelin, Metallica and so on. Hendrix is the godfather of heavy metal, and I think everyone knows heavy metal has lasted alot longer than grunge.

Nirvana never created a genre (if you call grudge a genre), they were a punk band who just happened to be good (if you know anything about punk, the music isn't supposed to be good) and made it pop enough for mainstream. Listen to there stuff pre-smells like teen spirit, its punk.

P.S. I mean good as in the studio, not live. Nirvana with a few exceptions were horrible live. One of those exceptions in my opinion is the unplugged in NY. Not just the music but the atmosphere (that goes so far the breathe itself into the recording as well) is just amazing to actually hear.

The problem I think is they are from two completely ( and I mean completely) different generations. Every so on there are guys who change the way we view music, as in this example. D. Ellington, The Beatles, and so on. Both Hendrix and Nirvana are just those guys who did just that.

This movement was not actually lead by Nirvana as many have said when they released "Nevermind" in September of 91 but actually went back to other Seattle bands like Melvins and Mudhoney. But when MTV placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (a song that Kurt Cobain didn't write...) in high rotation suddenly almost overnight it became a national phenomenon which some have called the anthem of a generation. Kurt Cobain suddenly found himself as the unexpected spokesman of what was beginning to be referred to as generation X......... So I guess what I'm saying is... What's so Inventive about Kurt Cobain? Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots (the only band in my list NOT from Seattle, where Hendrix was from) were all better bands. They just didn't have the monster hit that was "Smells Like Teen Spirit"... And their frontmen didn't commit suicide. Layne Staley's death was pretty much suicide but that being 8 years after Cobains suicide... loses it's "Martyr" effect.


My last reply in this post... I promise...

PS, I still think Nirvana was a good band and I do credit Kurt Cobain as a great songwriter. I just have to get all the real facts out there.

Originally Posted by: aschleman "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (a song that Kurt Cobain didn't write...)

Wow, I didn't know that. Who DID write it?

Dave Grohl. In fact... most of the songs that the Foo Fighters recorded for their first album were all songs that Kurt Cobain either couldn't or didn't want to play.

My last post in this thread... for real...

Even though I do not like the fact that everyone gives Cobain more praise than many other guitarist/songwriters I can not stand when ppl will act like he did nothing to be worth praising.

Hendrix hands down wins the award for more skill, but this thread wasnt about that. Cobain opened up the doors for harder music to get mainstream success. Not only was there a grunge revolution but it got major record labels looking for sharper, faster, harder music. For example, again im going to refer to punk because as Ive said many times its what I know about. After Nirvana exploded onto the scene, soon after pop-punk did. Green Day hit the airwaves in '94 floating on the success of Nirvana opening up more peoples minds. And because of those emergences, more and more people have realized that they love grunge, or they love punk. Now there are thousands of bands whos replicate those sounds.

That is my definition of revoultionary, a band who can just create such an explosion that it gets many to follow in thier footsteps and not only that but makes way for more genres to follow.

Hendrix was more revelutionary and of course a more tallented guitar player and this is why.
Hendrix took one genre of music, the Blues, and reinvisioned it for a new generation, in the prosess he created a new genre of music. This music was vastly different to what was in popular music at the time. It sounded nothing like the Beatles or the Beach Boys or the Rolling Stones And although there were bands that were doing similar things to Hendrix at the time, bands such as Cream and The Who, Hendrix took it to another level and inspired just about every great guitarist since. He changed how Rock was played he ripped apart conventional blues with a creativity and imagination that has never been seen since.
Cobain was a great song writer but his genra, punk, (grunge is a marketing term invented to sell fashion) had been well established in the seventies. his music in particular was not that diferant from the pixies or even the sex pistols what made cobain and nirvana rise above the other great punk bands of his day was the passion and emotion of his performance. This is why when you hear a nirvana cover it never quite sounds right. becauce cobain and his music are one and the same however hendrix music can be performed by other musicans and still sound good. His music stands on its own

why is this even a thread?!
hands down hendrix slays any cobain.
in originality and technique and music.
at least hendrix was famous before he died
unlike cobain who committed suicide......
where do you think cobain learned to smash
guitars from?
hendrix was incredible, its going to be hard to
compare anyone to him as more of a revolutionary
as he was.sure cobain played unplugged alot but
what exactly was so revolutionary about him that we
need to compare him to hendrix?
i dont need to know these answers, think for yourselves cobain fans.

Originally Posted by: Ironbird85where do you think cobain learned to smash
guitars from?

Pete Townshend?

Originally Posted by: megatronCobain was a great song writer but his genra, punk, (grunge is a marketing term invented to sell fashion) had been well established in the seventies. his music in particular was not that diferant from the pixies or even the sex pistols what made cobain and nirvana rise above the other great punk bands of his day was the passion and emotion of his performance. This is why when you hear a nirvana cover it never quite sounds right. becauce cobain and his music are one and the same however hendrix music can be performed by other musicans and still sound good. His music stands on its own

I don't know, I can hear a HUGE difference between grunge rock and punk rock...and comparing Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Alice in Chains/ any grunge band to the Sex Pistols is laughable. I guess they're similar in that they use instruments? And maybe distortion?

Originally Posted by: Ironbird85at least hendrix was famous before he died
unlike cobain who committed suicide......

First off, Nirvana was plenty famous before Curt's death -- there is quite a substantial span of time between the release of Nevermind until his death. In fact, the pressure of fame was a large part of his justificaiton for killing himself.

Second, I think your claims of Hendrix's originality marginalize Buddy Guy and Albert King (and a lot of other more obscure blues cats) who all went a very long way to influencing his sound.

But I dont get it, I mean if this thread was " Which do you like better hendrix or cobain" i would say Hendrix by far, but he didnt start a huge ass movement. People were influenced by him but he didnt have as many FOLLOWERS as cobain. There is a differnce between followers and ppl being influenced. Nirvana spawned millions of bands and made other genres more mainstream. How was Hendrix more revolutionary than that? Yeah millions of people love his music, and millions are influenced by him but i can not think of a single one that played stuff sounding extremely similar. Thats why Cobain is more revolutionary, for one, he had something people could copy,and two he made sharper music trendy therefore pushing it into the mainstream. I can not find how Hendrix made that big of an impact.

Originally Posted by: x0o_BurnOut_o0xBut I dont get it, I mean if this thread was " Which do you like better hendrix or cobain" i would say Hendrix by far, but he didnt start a huge ass movement. People were influenced by him but he didnt have as many FOLLOWERS as cobain. There is a differnce between followers and ppl being influenced. Nirvana spawned millions of bands and made other genres more mainstream. How was Hendrix more revolutionary than that? Yeah millions of people love his music, and millions are influenced by him but i can not think of a single one that played stuff sounding extremely similar. Thats why Cobain is more revolutionary, for one, he had something people could copy,and two he made sharper music trendy therefore pushing it into the mainstream. I can not find how Hendrix made that big of an impact.

He had/has MORE followers than Cobain ever did/does. Kurt Cobain made Grunge rock popular. As amazing as that is, he never broke any huge musical barriers. Hendrix fathered Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Hendrix brought guitar to the forefront of rock and roll, and shaped the sound of nearly every band to come. Kurt Cobain gathered a small following in one musical genre. If anyone would like to argue that he influenced a lessening in the importance of guitar solos and guitar fronted bands, I need only point out the Ramones had already done that with punk rock. Personally, Nirvana bores the living ass out of me, but that's not what this thread is considering. The day I can honestly say "nearly every rock band since the death of Kurt Cobain has been somehow influenced by Nirvana's music," is the day I will concede Cobain's influential superiority to Hendrix.

Since you mentioned "millions" of bands influenced by Cobain (an exaggeration I assume), allow me to retort with a few bands that would never have existed /sounded like they did/do without Hendrix.

Led Zeppelin
Deep Purple
Blue Oyster Cult
ZZ Top
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Black Sabbath
Ozzy
Iron Maiden
Metallica
Guns N Roses
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
Symphony X
Dream Theater
Van Halen
Foreigner
Journey
Styx
Queen
Anthrax
Megadeth
Slayer
Alice in Chains
Almost every rock band since 1967 including, oh, say...Nirvana

Originally Posted by: paradymeI personally find Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kerry King, Kirk Hammett, Randy Rhoads, and especially Eddie Van Halen to bore me to tears.

.....joe bores you? vai bores you? only the two most versatile and craziest guitarist of the age bore you? whats wrong with your ears man? I know you got an opinion of your own but i dont think that stament can ever been really true for anyone.