Are Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, and the Grunge scene as a whole overrated?

During all the retrospective VH1 shows, they always go out of their to kiss Nirvana's ass and act as though the Grunge scene changed EVERYTHING.

 

YES

 

Like them or not it was musically a breath of fresh air for a lot of people. And at the time it really wasn't overrated. Now I guess you would have to measure the respective relevance and influence they had versus the popularity. Personally I think its largely under appreciated now but thats because so much of my musical tastes and what not was shaped by that era of music and culture.

 

It put an end to the overproduced, drum machined sterility of 80s pop.

It was as important as Punk was in the mid-late 1970s in providing a counter-culture to disco and excessive prog-rock.

 

QFT.

Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Motley Crue, Scorpions, Quiet Riot, Bon Jovi, etc.

 

Wanderguard, you are dead to me.

 

I like pretty much all of those bands.

 

Wanderguard, you are not dead to me, and I'm more important.

 

Rock You Like a Hurricane for life!

[image=http://www.vinyltap.co.uk/gallery/sc/scorprylah4979661668452730.jpg]

 

what is this grunge you speak of

 

Says who?

 

Alls I know is they play Nirvana waaaay too much on the radio.

 

That's cause all the early 90s teenagers are now 30-somethings with disposable income.

 

For my money, Heart Shaped Box > Smells Like Teen Spirit

 

I think it's important to distinguish between Nirvana's music and their impact on the music industry and on culture as a whole.

Nirvana's music, IMHO, is wildly overrated by the mainstream music press (and Ryan Schreiber). However, it's almost impossible to overstate the impact the success of Nirvana (et al) had on our culture. It didn't just kill the music of the 80s, it essentially knocked the whole concept of mass market media on its back and replaced it with an emphasis on niche audiences.

Not right away, mind you. The music industry still tried to manufacture hits, but once they started turning more and more people's attention to what had been the underground we started down the road to the world of micro-niching that we live in today.

 

It kind of is overrated but more so in that it is given way to much crated for doing something it did not. That being the death of Glam/Hair Metal. That genre was going out of style long before Grunge got on to the scene. The problem with that kind of metal is that ever one and there mother was playing it and most of the bands were not all that good. That and most of them are not really all that metal. Not when it comes to other metal band that came out of the 80's such as Iced Earth, Judas Priest, and Helloween just to name a few.

 

Coincidentally Pearl Jam is the feature article on Wikipedia today.

 

Judas Priest's first album came out in 1974, and Scorpions' first album was released in 1972

 

Okay, let me revise:

Grunge >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hair Metal.

 

Are Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, and the Grunge scene as a whole overrated?

YES.

 

*gets the feeling he wouldn't know good music if he tripped over it*

 

Speak for yourself... my income is faaaaaaar from disposable.

... and Hood, hair metal is god awful and horrible.

 

You, too, are now dead to me.