THE NINETIES-IST
Welcome to another edition of Brook Pridemore’s The Nineties-ist. This edition discusses 1994, Courtney Love’s response to the death of Kurt Cobain  (and how Rivers Cuomo plays into all this) and Pearl Jam, Korn, and the steep descent of metal. For earlier installments, go here.

One of the funniest conspiracy theories I’ve heard about in the last few years is that Kurt Cobain and Rivers Cuomo are the same person. Right: Kurt Cobain was so affected by the spotlight that he faked his own death, only to return a few months later with a new, poppier sound and a slightly altered look. Even his wife, Courtney Love, believes his death was real. Yeah.

When you think about it, the number of flimsy similarities between the two men are astounding. Nirvana and Weezer were both signed to the David Geffen Company (their recording careers only overlap by the slimmest margin). Both men were the sole songwriters in their respective bands, though Cuomo has deferred to the other guys in recent years, and Dave Grohl got to write one of the B-Sides for In Utero. Cuomo and Cobain are both often seen wearing sweaters in photographs; Cuomo’s dapper and preppy, Cobain’s most likely intended to cover up track marks. Both debuted with music most people did not hear (Weezer’s earliest recordings are still-unreleased pop metal tracks), followed by a slicker-than-owl-shit major label debut, then followed by an intensely personal, self-produced sophomore effort. In Utero is infinitely better than Nevermind, and Pinkerton is infinitely better than The Blue Album. Weezer, after Pinkerton, have slowly pissed away everything that was great about them, while Cobain didn’t last long enough to watch his career go to shit.

Of course, Cobain was a left-handed guitarist, while Cuomo is right-handed, but have you ever noticed that Cuomo became something of a fret-shredder between the first two albums?
More on #11: 1994

THE NINETIES-IST
Well aware that my railing against the big bucks corporate music system might be veering dangerously close to the realm of beating a dead horse, I thought I’d take a week off from clue hunting and celebrate several of the happy accidents that Kurt Cobain and Co. championed once every press mic in the world was in their faces. So, here it is:

TOP FIVE RECORDS YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAVE HEARD WERE IT NOT FOR NEVERMIND

1. The Raincoats | S/T
Sharing drummer Palmolive with The Slits , The Raincoats, were a noisy mess of fun, frantic, Celtic-inflected punk rock that fervently embraced feminism and Do-It-Yourself charm. The Ramones may have been the first band to say, “We can be in a band even if we can’t play like virtuosos,” but the Ramones (who could keep a beat) sound downright virtuosic themselves next to the always slightly tipsy-sounding Raincoats. Check out their gender-bending cover of the Kinks’ “Lola:” Ana De Silva, Gina Burch and Co. keep pronouns the same in their version, which raises a plethora of gender-identity queries. Plus, it’s a sick dance number, too. In the liner notes to his band’s collection of B-Sides and rarities, Incesticide, Cobain asserted that meeting de Silva in UK was the best thing that had happened to him since Nirvana took off.

2. Mazzy Star | So Tonight That I Might See
Partially because of Cobain’s kind words about Hope Sandoval and David Roback, but also because Mazzy Star’s best album dropped in a year when even a somnambulant country song like “Fade Into You” could be a hit, So Tonight That I Might See is the perfect example of the positive effects “alternative” rock had on public consciousness in the early 90s. Here was an elegant, three chord ballad, sandwiched in between the latest Dr. Dre and Aerosmith videos, and nobody seemed to notice. “Fade Into You” turned out to be the band’s only real hit, but the song still pops up from time to time in movies and TV, when the right tender moment is called for. The rest of the album is equally elegant, simple and gorgeous, as well.
More on #8: 1991

Stream Another 17-Minute Memory Tapes Jam, “Walk Me Home”…It’s Halloween Spooky, And Leads To Fun Puns Such As “Monstrous Memory Tapes” or “Memory Terrifying Tapes” [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Nas Joins Courtney Love and Method Man On List of Musicians Who Owe a Shit-Ton in Back Taxes (For Nasir, $2.5 Million); Well, Life’s a Bitch (Eh? Get it?) [Prefix]

Stream New Of Montreal “Wet Butcher’s Fist” Off the HHBTM Single, Which Sounds Like It Was Recorded It Was Sounded Underwater, and Features Kevin Barnes Admitting to Wanting to be a Sex Offender [You Ain’t No Picasso]

Canadian Hardcore Band/Polaris Prize Winners Fucked Up To Release Singles Collection, The Two-Disc Couple Tracks; Released January 26 [Pitchfork]

Stream All of Devendra Banhart’s What Will We Be a Week In Advance of Its Release – This Album Isn’t Nearly Strange Enough; I Thought The Warner Bros. Were Supposed to be Pretty Crazy [Stereogum]

Animal Collective Joins Animal Rights…Collective, PETA, In Fight Against Bludgeoning Seals; If You Don’t Want To See a Seal Bludgeoned, Don’t Watch This Video [I Guess I’m Floating]

The Roots Push Baked Upcoming LP How I Got Over To Early 2010; Meanwhile, The Roots Still Playing on Jimmy Fallon Every Night, So No One Has Any Shortage of Roots (Except Licorice Root…I Can’t Get Enough of That) [Idolator]

Watch Norwegian Sleep-Folk Duo Kings of Convenience Play a Bunch of Songs in the Spin Studio Off Released-Today LP Declaration of Dependence; Grow Bored In a Matter of Seconds, Take Nap [Spin]

Madonna Getting Sued By Her Neighbor For Rehearsing To Loud; Shouts of “Damned Kids With Their Grasping at Straw Attempts at Former 80s Glory” Heard From Neighbor’s Apartment [NME]

Lego Freddy Mercury Will Appear in Lego Rock Band; Lego Moustache and Chest Hair Not Living Up To Precedent of Actual Moustache and Chest Hair [Idolator]

compiled by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Watch New Girls Video For Girls Highlight “Laura,” Which Is Like a Really Hip, Joyous Version of the Opening to The Brady Bunch…Only With More Tattoos (Maybe; They Rarely Took of Their Shirts on That Show) [NME]

Dancey Portland Band Starfucker (Who, You May Remember, Was Unhappy With Their NSFW Band Name) Changes Name to PYRAMID; Elsewhere (Specifically in North Carolina), There Is Already a Band Called Pyramid [Brooklyn Vegan]

Brooding UK Indie Band Editors Launch Their Own Version of Google Street View, With Specific Locations Playing Songs From Their New Album, In This Light and On This Evening — This Is Probably A Lot Cooler For Someone Even Remotely Familiar With London’s Geography [NME]

Weezer Frontman Rivers Cuomo To Sit Down and Write Songs With Katy Perry Next Week; Possible Results: “I Kissed a God Damn Half-Japanese Girl,” “Only In Ur Dreams,” “Waking Up In The Garage (If You Want To Destroy My Career)” [Pitchfork]

Courtney Love Owes Over $300,000 In Back Taxes, Shuts Down Her Twitter Account – Two Stories Unrelated, As Twitter Is Free Service [Prefix]

New Zealand Innocuously Good Indie Poppers The Ruby Suns Announce New Album; Fight Softly Released March, 2010 [You Ain’t No Picasso]

Stream Bon Iver’s Final Concert; In Other News, Bon Iver’s Hiatus Very Temporary, I Get Bombastic In Attempt to Cause Controversy On Our Website [Radio Milwaukee]

Stream Title Track From Brooklyn’s Acrylics’ Upcoming EP All of the Fire; Produced by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor (And Released on Terrible Records, His Label), EP Released October 28 [Jezebel Music]

Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox To Release Bonus EP With Atlas Sound LP Logos When Ordered From Rough Trade; I Haven’t Looked Into Yet, But Knowing Cox’s Security Practices, EP Probably Leaked Before It Was Even Recorded [Pitchfork]

Guard Arrested For Assaulting a Fan Taking Pictures at House of Blues Chicago; Weirdly, Assault Took Place at Hanson Concert – And What Else Is There To Do When Seeing Hanson, Except Twittering Pictures of Hanson, Still In Disbelief They Have Songs Other Than “Mmmbop” [Idolator]

Baritone California Mope-Folker Mark Everett, AKA Eels, AKA Mr. E, AKA E, To Release Basement Tapes Album; End Times Released January 18 [NME]

compiled by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Joe Satriani’s Lawsuit Against Coldplay, Claiming That “Viva La Vida” Had Ripped-Off “If I Could Fly” Dropped, Most Likely Due To Out of Court Settlement (Too Bad – Satriani v. Coldplay Could’ve Split As Many Lines As Roe v. Wade [Brooklyn Vegan]

Stream “N/A,” A Track By Seattle Locals Naomi Punk, All Sung By Rwandan Children (Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling Feels He Loves Children More…But Not In That Way) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Stream a Piece of Sufjan Stevens’ Indie-Orchestra Suite The BQE, Entitled “Movement VI – Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges” (First Impression: Eh, It’s Not Tha — Oh! So Pretty!) [Asthmatic Kitty]

Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah Records Lewdest Song Possibly Ever Recorded; Watch Video (Read: Pornography); You’ve Been Dethroned, Three 6 Mafia, Your “Knobs” Will Be “Slobbed” No More [Videogum]

Stream New Times New Viking LP Born Again Revisited In Its Entirety; Released September 22 [Matablog]

San Francisco’s In the Tube-d Girls Announce Fall Tour; Album Released October 22 (And I Promise It’s Really, Really Good! Stream It Here!) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Masked Rapper DOOM, Formerly Known As MF DOOM, Announces Odds and Ends Compilation Unexpected Guests; Allegedly Working With TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek [Pitchfork]

Scarlett Johanson, Courtney Love, and U2 To Headline AIDS Benefit Concert At Carnegie Hall…(Not) More Importantly, Spin Calls The Trio “Music’s Biggest Stars;” Blows Last Vestige Street Cred [Spin]

New York’s Favorite Ivy-Leage Post-Afro-Poppers (New York Hates You, Chester French) Vampire Weekend Formerly Announce Sophomore Album Contra; Released January 12, 2010 [Spin]

Stream Jim James’, Conor Oberst’s, and M. Ward’s Supergroup Monsters of Folk’s Debut Self-Titled LP; Released October 22 [Stereogum]

compiled by Max Sebela

Courtney Love Tweets At Her Disgust Of Kurt Cobain Appearing In Guitar Hero 5; Threatens To Sue Activision; Claims “Ever did intend on allowing GUITARHERO for me or for Kurt am NOT oko fucking ONO;” Meanwhile, Yoko Ono’s Name Remains “Yoko Ono” [Spin]

Watch New Air Video For “Sing Sang Sung” – Follow The Bouncing Ball Through What Looks Like Yoshi’s Island; Love 2 Released October 6 [Pitchfork]

Sufjan Stevens To Play All Of Seven Swans, His Most Christian (And Arguably Worst) Album At All Tomorrow’s Parties NY [ATP Twitter]

Brooklyn Snore-Pop Duo Beach House Sign To Sub Pop; Third LP (Still Unnamed) To Be Released Early 2010 [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Smashing Pumpkins Frontman/Sole Original Member Billy Corgan Launches Spirituality Website; Good For Him: Corgan Has Convinced Himself He’s God For About Twenty Years – Now He Has An Outlet To Prove It! [Pitchfork]

Britpop So-So’s The Cribs’ Fourth Album Ignore The Ignorant Outsell The Beatles Reissues – Americans Remain Unclear As To Whether The Cribs, The Hives, and The Bravery Are Different Bands [NME]

Watch New Sunset Rubdown Video For Dragonslayer Cut “Black Swan” – It’s A Third ITunes Visualizer, A Third Grim Fandango, And A Third Swedish Jeans Commercial (Alternatively: 100% Good, Ol’ Fashioned Peyote Induced Fun!) [Pitchfork]
[Pitchfork]

You’ve Had A Tough Day, I Understand…Here, Have A New Lil Wayne Track…There You Go, All Better Now [Prefix]

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Off-Shoot Grinderman Announce Follow Up To Their 2007 Self-Titled Debut; To Be Released Early 2010 [NME]

compiled by Max Sebela

TOP DOG
For every budding mid-nineties guitarist learning the riff to “Plump” off of Hole’s Live Through This, there’s finally some news in this world to get excited about: Courtney Love is planning to reunite Hole and release an album that she has been working on for five years.

Photo: Tina Paul / Camera Press / Retna

Well, it’s dubious that the new album will ever be released. I mean, in 1997 I went to a Marilyn Manson concert and Hole was supposed to open. Did Hole actually show up? No. Did Courtney Love stumble around in a nightie with creepy dolls singing “Violet”? No. Will Love show up for herself in 2009? Hmmm. And who cares now that Eric Erlandson isn’t being asked back to join Hole? The last bit of news I could find on Erlandson was that he had joined a “band” with sociopath Vincent Gallo.

Instead, Erlandson will be replaced by Micko Larkin, and original bassist Melissa Auf der Maur will clean off her Thunderbird bass and head back to camp Hole. Hole’s new album, entitled Nobody’s Daughter, features songs like, “Letter to God,” “Skinny Little Bitch,” and “Never Go Hungry Again.” A number of these songs were originally Love solo tracks, but will now officially become Hole songs, much to the dismay of fans who say that Love has jumped on the 90s-band-reunion bandwagon (think, Smashing Pumpkins, Jane’s Addiction, Meat Puppets, etc.).

I will light a candle in my Courtney shrine and say a silent prayer to a riot girl.

by Thomas Wilk

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Auerbach Stars in “Heartbroken, In Disrepair” [Stereogum]

Beyonce Selling Tickets on the Cheap for Upcoming Tour [NME]

Bennett Family’s Letter to Fans [Spinner]

Courtney Love Being Sued for Spending Like a Rock Star – And Not Paying For It [Prefix]

Depeche Mode Frontman Recovering from Cancer Surgery [SPIN]

Michael Jackson Geography [Prefix]

Previously on Lost to Record Soundtrack for Lost Online [The Tripwire]

Hardcore Canadian Rocker to Become Regular on Fox [Pitchfork]

compiled by Elana Jacobs