Music Calendar, Nirvana

April 05: Kurt Cobain died in 1994 – Nirvana’s 10 best songs

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Kurt Cobain death 1994

April 05: Kurt Cobain died in 1994 – Nirvana’s 10 best songs

Kurt Cobain died in 1994, (April 5) he is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the rock band Nirvana. Kurt Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1985 and established it as part of the Seattle music scene, having its debut album Bleach released on the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989. After signing with major label DGC Records, the band found breakthrough success with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from its second album Nevermind (1991). Following the success of Nevermind, Nirvana was labeled “the flagship band” of Generation X, and Cobain hailed as “the spokesman of a generation”

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During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with heroin addiction, illness and depression. He had difficulty coping with his fame and public image, and the professional and lifelong personal pressures surrounding himself and his wife, musician Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of a suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.

Since their debut, Nirvana, with Cobain as a songwriter, has sold over 25 million albums in the U.S., and over 50 million worldwide.

We, at Johannasvisions, made a list of Nirvana’s ten best songs a few months ago, I will include it here as a tribute to a great musician.

Nirvana’s 10 best songs:

10. Pennyroyal Tea (Pennyroyal Tea (Live On “Nulle Part Ailleurs”, Paris, 1994):

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Blues, Classic Concert, Concert films, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones

Muddy Waters and Rolling Stones live at The Checkerboard Lounge 1981

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checkerboard

Muddy Waters and Rolling Stones live at The Checkerboard Lounge 1981

The Stones rushed into the small club unannounced. There was no VIP area, so they sat in front of the stage as Muddy kept playing. Drummer Charlie Watts sat out the Checkerboard trip, but Jagger, Richards, Ronnie Wood and keyboardist Ian Stewart were all willing participants. One of the highlights is “Mannish Boy,” with Waters standing up from his stool for the first time to jump up and down with Jagger as they wail “I’m a rolling stone.”

Richards swigged Jack Daniel’s straight out the bottle. Mick Jagger chewed lots of gum. “The Stones drank about five bottles of Jack in two hours,” said Thurman.

– The Chicago Sun Times (Read More)

Country Boy:

muddy waters rolling stones

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Blues, Muddy Waters, Music Calendar

April 04: The late great Muddy Waters was born in 1913

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Muddy Waters, blues legend,  was born 102 years ago today!

 

 

“Man, you don’t know how I felt that afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my own voice.” 

– Muddy Waters

 

 

“I rambled all the time. I was just like that, like a rollin’ stone.”

– Muddy Waters

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Classic Concert, Concert films, Film, Rolling Stones

Classic Documentary: The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter

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Classic Documentary: The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter

“It’s creating a sort of microcosmic society, which sets an example to the rest of America as to how one can behave in large gatherings.”
– Mick Jagger

“Altamont was supposed to be like Woodstock, only groovier, and their movie would be groovier still. Instead, the Stones got what no one had bargained for: a terrifying snapshot of the sudden collapse of the sixties.”
– Godfrey Cheshire

Gimme Shelter is a 1970 documentary film directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin chronicling the last weeks of The Rolling Stones’ 1969 US tour which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert. The film is named after “Gimme Shelter”, the lead track from the group’s 1969 album Let It Bleed. The film was screened at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. It is one of the greatest documentaries ever made, not just in the music documentary genre. The last third of the picture is painful to watch but difficult to turn away from.

Gimme Shelter (full documentary/concert movie):

The Maysles brothers filmed the first concert of the tour at Madison Square Garden in New York City. After the concert, the Maysles brothers asked the Rolling Stones if they could film them on tour, and the band agreed.

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Richard Thompson

April 03: Richard Thompson was born in 1949 – Happy Birthday!

Richard Thompson

“The finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix.”
– Los Angeles Times

April 03: Richard Thompson was born in 1949 – Happy Birthday!

Richard John Thompson OBE was born 3 April 1949, he is a British songwriter, guitarist and recording and performing musician.

Thompson was awarded the Orville H. Gibson award for best acoustic guitar player in 1991. Artists who have recorded Thompson’s compositions include such diverse talents as Del McCoury, R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, Christy Moore, David Gilmour, Mary Black, Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw, The Corrs, Sandy Denny, June Tabor, Joel Fafard, Maria McKee, Shawn Colvin, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Nanci Griffith, Graham Parker, The Pointer Sisters, Maura O’Connell, Los Lobos, John Doe, Greg Brown, Bob Mould, Barbara Manning, Loudon Wainwright III, The Futureheads, Jeff Lang, Dinosaur Jr., David Byrne, and The Blind Boys of Alabama.

Check out our post about one of the saddest songs ever written, Walking on a Wire.

Richard Thompson BBC 4 Session 2013 (full set):

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