I think it's also true for classical and jazz musicians. I heard that the way jazz musicians play solo they do not think about scales, arpeggios, and so on. They try to reach freedom in playing and that's how they improvise. Kurt Cobain is also like them, he seems to be absolutely absorbed during his performance. Also if speaking whether it's 100% rehearsed or improvised, it's actually not that different in my opinion. Also I don't really understand what you misjudged about him. It seems you understood everything from the start...
To be able to start using jazz-like“freedom”, you gotta learn a hell lot of scales and get used to switch between them during your phrasing. That freedom is a result of serious skills. Otherwise it’ll sound really bad.
@@magneat true, classical musicians play by the book 99% of the time - they mainly focus on sight reading and playing classical pieces, jazz musicians usually learn shit ton of scales, arpeggios, triads etc., and then practice changes all the time, what most people think of freedom is the chromatic licks they add here and there, but that’s only to glue things basically.
Nothing. I love Kurt. I think that I was hearing bands like nirvana for like 8 years before I heard nirvana Bands like dayglo abortions..they have a similar sound. I think the world was not really introduced to punk rock and they got to see how special that movement is through nirvana.. When I first heard punk...I was like wow, man i can do that too I've done it ever since. ...yes jazz and classical, they learn rules and proper play but the good ones they throw the r ules out and play from the heart and soul. Gosh what a perfect beautiful thing to behold. Imperfection is perfection for me.
@@atlas4497 yup we're all standing on the shoulders of Giants. I am influenced by ppl like Brian Wilson, Tom Delonge, and Ben Burnley but I realized it's ok to pay homage to them musically as long as I am not trying to BE them.
To my mind, this is about Nirvana because Nirvana is about just be yourself and not to try be someone else. Kurt wasn't perfect but he was just himself and even haven't been trying to be someone else : as good as he wanted to be and as bad too. Just like Venera Miloska
Some vocal teachers like to point out his imperfections and how he carry his voice but they can't even replicate a bit of it when it comes to style and that's what made Kurt unique.
He put the A in Angst for sure. True passion, and have nothing but respect for what he brought to music and the honesty of music. I love when I am performing and all I am doing is getting lost in the emotion. It's pure bliss! That's why I play music, to get there!
There has always been something so raw about his performances, even if many people try to recreate his style there was something especially unique about how he did his vocals that I don't think anyone will be able to fully replicate Even with that said, his vocals have 100% completely inspired a lot of new music now. That's how special of a vocalist he still is to this day
Nirvana defined grunge. Grunge bands were all supposed to have that IDGAF attitude, but Nirvana truly showed that from their studio albums to their live performances. Probably the biggest example of that is how they found so much success on Nevermind, then proceeded to make an album that seemed less radio friendly and raw with In Utero.
" punk rock means freedom as fast as you want as loud as you want as sloppy as you want as long as It's good and has passion " he was right listen to other bands he covered in there albums/songs they way they did it or "music is 1st lyrics are 2nd" another quote he also said.. I've been playing guitar since I was 17 18 years old it was because of him Tony Ioni of black sabbath dudes like that did and so play with feeling and passion u can feel the raw vibe from it
Kurt’s emotional rawness and the way he wove those Melodie’s and that through Nirvanas music made him and them one of a kind really. He really dug in himself to express sometimes what we feel but can’t quite put into view by singing it rawly and purely from deep within. I believe that rawness and vulnerability that comes through on his music is what elevated him to become one of the all time greats
You hit the nail on the head. Authenticity, angst, abandon mixed with vulnerability. Isn’t that similar to the punk creed he used to talk about? Anyway, great video. Love hearing a professionally trained musician’s experience listening to Nirvana. It’s been almost 30 years and I’m still in love with his music. 🙏❤️
@@boredwithadhd Hi, I said “mixed with” {Cobain’s} vulnerability. Since I’m not an expert on punk ethos I used words like “similar” and ended with a question mark. Thank you for your punk knowledge input. I’m by no means an expert. Feel free to elaborate about the punk creeds, if/when they changed and how? 🙏
@@boredwithadhd Hi! Yeah I looked it up. I’m not an Emo fan. Prefer OG punk. The Emo phase was interesting just not for me. But then I was long out of high-school when the Emo thing hit.
Playing/singing his music does indeed push our own limits and expand our talents, over time we start to resolve the sound into something tolerable and sometimes it's even good. Amazing how singers like Cornell, Staley and Cobain live through so many of us aspiring from the music created in which they have left behind. The energy and truth each of these guys brought should echo on this planet for eternity. Great piece on Kurt, hit the nail on the head with calling out the perfection musicians expect.
Chris Cornell, Cochise. Radiohead, Creep. Led Zeppelin, Inmigrant song. Matt Bellamy, Showbiz,... They instilled their feelings with their voices in these songs. Kurt Cobain instilled his feelings everything he sang. My goodness! I can't stop crying... Regards.
A good clue of that is listening to In Bloom and Stay Away before sessions before Nevermind and before Grohl arrived, the drums parts are very similar. I cannot think a drummer is coming with a beat for example on " Floyd the Barber" without having Kurt approval or a passive aggressive 'nah'. The drum of beat is literally someone who is knocking at the door . ", DWIN DWIN TOCK TOCK TOCK, DWIN DWIN TOCK TOCK TOCK". "Bell on door clank/ring, come on in!"
Kurt projected a reckless image, he danced often frantically around CONSISTENT perfection with a little something bubbling over and spilling out. That synergistic tight and loose combination was the magic.
I realized that after listening to Butch Vig talk about recording Something in The Way. After not getting the song right on many takes, Kurt lay down on a couch and simply said “This is what the song is supposed to sound like.” And Vig got it! Kurt’s first huge record and he wasn’t there for magical recording tricks or tutorage - he didn’t budge on how the songs were meant to sound.
As a vocalist too I absolutely agree with what you have said, there are too many singers trying to be perfect and losing feeling and passion and believe-ability.
Kurt paid for his vocal fearlessness. I've heard he coughed up blood after performances and had severe vocal damage before he died. It's almost like he was consciously giving us everything he could within a few albums because he had no plans for longevity.
I wonder if he knew it was completely destroyed at that point and if that played into what he did, I’m sure not being able to continue what he loved would make his mental problems worse
Kurt claimed he coughed up blood but Kurt liked to embellish and tell stories like sleeping under a bridge and other stuff. I’d take those claims with a grain of salt.
@@flannelblindllama I think his claims are closer to truth. I tried to sing like Kurt and my throat hurt a lot after just a couple of songs. He did it for many years.
@@shufflingutube Kurt probably wasn't completely clueless about what he was doing vocally, but yeah I agree that he definitely sounded like he was hurting himself most of the time
He sang pretty aggressively, but lots of people sing more aggressively and don’t cough up blood. He liked saying stuff like that. Like, he claimed to not know the names of any of the chords he was playing. Not like C# augmented 13 and a half, but like G. Dude wanted people to believe he didn’t know he was playing a G chord. Which, it would take an insane level of dedication to not knowing that to avoid knowing that. He bullshatted a lot.
Thanks for this video. I'm crying my eyes out. Kurt Cobain was much more than a grunge musician. He was the spirit of a whole generation. Nevermind was the first album I bought in my life. I memorized the lyrics of every song. Smells like teen spirit was a hymn for me. He had a tortured soul. I cried like if there was no tomorrow when he died. He was my strength and my support for my miserable life. I'm not going to explain here my childhood problems but I felt like someone knew how I was feeling. I could feel the pain, the rage, the sadness in his voice when he sang. People say that he was an awful singer. I know he wasn't Chris Cornell, with his amazing voice. Both of them instilled deep and strong feelings. Kurt Cobain sang feelings. Thanks again. Regards.
The first song I heard by Nirvana was "Negative Creep" in 1991 when I was 11 years old. I remember the moment as if it was yesterday and of course I immediately listened to the rest of "Bleach" after hearing that track. To say it blew my mind is an understatement. It changed me. No other musician has had an effect like that on me since and I doubt they ever will.
What great timing, I’m a vocal coach and I just had a new student today who I basically gave this same schpeal to! He didn’t think he could ever be a “good” singer but he hoped I could at least help him learn how to use his voice to express himself better and I was like “good singing isn’t about pitch accuracy and breath control… it’s about knowing how to use those things to… express yourself! Technique is just the tool you use to be creative, so if you get to a point where you feel confident in your expression, whether it’s technique that gets you there or not, it will be good, and other people will agree when they hear you sing, and when you think about singers like Kurt in that way, the playing field gets leveled and the defining factor isn’t a natural gift or mastery over the study of singing, it’s passion and commitment.”
Chris! You're right! Kurt was one of my biggest influences when I was a teenager, and all that you've said is true. It was because of him and others like Chris Cornell that I started being passionate about music and dreaming about wanting to make music. This is the trick, just expressing ourselves, not trying to be perfect. It's what I have been trying to do and hopefully I will be able to complete enough tracks to release an album of music that is expressive and mine as I have always wanted. thanks for the video
Incredibly beautiful video. I experience exactly the same while exploring the voice. You inspired me to do that by the way. You are carrying Kurts torch already I guess. Keep up your great work. Blessings from Germany!
Ah dude! I was in my early twenties when he passed. I was a struggling, broke college student, deep into the music of the time, exploring my artist interests. The day I found out he passed I was at my sisters when her roommate told me. I felt instantly a crazy vibrational wave run through me and I was shocked and blown away all at the same time. I must of stood there stunned. I'm sure I was bummed for several weeks. I turned 50 this year and still love his music. I love how you are breaking down his vocal range and tones. Happy to find you. Thank you and I'm sure you are going to do great with your business venture approach and appreciation for expression of authentic expression.
I miss the energy he brought to rock music. He was super authentic and unique and you can hear it in his music to this day. It's so hard to completely pinpoint him. But he really was a Rockstar who just didn't give af what the media thought. A true Rockstar. 90s Rock is just not easy to beat, and I think for me at least really good rock kinda died away, and it's spirit was transfered to metal (overall) and many rock bands incorporate harder elements to this day because of the 90s movement even some good rock bands.
Nice vid bru. I was in a nirvana cover band while Kurt was still alive. U right, I learnt so much from him musically but also about not giving a shit. I've lost that as I've gotten older. I'm gonna get it back....
Dude you just described punk rock My whole neighborhood was starting bands cause we all found out about punk!!! We could all fo it. Kurt was just extraordinary.
Thank you for posting this and perfectly expressing what made Kurt so special. Kurt and Jeff Buckley are my top two musical beacons because they were both completely fearless and unapologetic in their expression. One of my favorite examples of this from Kurt is his vocals on “Hairspray Queen.” At face value, it sounds completely crazy. It is, and that’s the point.
Feeling is so important. That, for me, is what makes art. Some singers are just over the moon talented and technically excellent..but don't convey emotion behind what they sing. Same for painters, writers, or any other art. You could be genius-level at what you do, but the poor kid down the street singing about his life experience is going to blow you out of the water. Sort of makes me sad for the talented one because talent x heart = 🙌
I started studying and experimenting with distortion 3 years ago, I'm impressed to know the sounds I'm capable of vocalizing, understanding how "me works" and how much I've been taking from great musicians. Your vids have been helping me expand that posture to a whole new degree! Thanx and God bless you!
We never have to forget that music is not a sport or a competition, is art, expression, the language of emotions through sounds. You just inspired me to relisten all the Nirvana work with a new mindset. Thans for always bringing good content, Chris!
I didn’t get into nirvana until the late 90s when I was a in college. Same thing with Alice In Chains. Walked to class every day jamming both of those bands music. Have great memories of that time.
I have learned your mindset, your heart and soul and passion can send your voice to places and textures you never even dreamed of. You must not be afraid...the key!
One time I was listening to a song in my car. The song was about someone passing away and for some reason that day I was feeling extra emotional. I sang along like I usually do but I really felt the song like I was going through it, and even though it wasn’t perfect vocals I was like wow I wish I could always sing like this! I can see why some musicians can become addicted to being sad/emotional. It gives such a different sparkle to music something I wish I was able to do like Kurt. This video was eye opening.
Great topic Chris. When I go to a concert, I go for the experience. I want to feel something. If I feel something, it doesn't matter to me if the singer is on pitch, sings every note technically correct. That feeling can bring tears and/or joy and to me that is what makes a singer great.
Kurt is not a vocalist that other vocalists should look up to. He blew his voice out regularly. After shows he would spit up blood. When recording, they would often have to cut early or record small parts because of how often he would blow his voice out. Expression and letting loose is incredibly important, but taking care of your instrument and yourself is key. Have fun everyone!
Where in the world did you hear that?? Jack Endino, Butch Vig, and Steve Albini all say that he was just a very natural rock singer that had great technique and a great control over his voice and (aside from having to retrack some vocals for In Utero because he insisted on playing an instrument while singing and chose a rain stick at one point for whatever reason) tracked the albums' vocals relatively quickly with no real trouble.
@@Gatchi Kurt did not have great technique (Chris is being quite generous in this video). He had OK technique but by today's standards it was not healthy and efficient. Having said that the best sounds in rock often require you to break the rules of what is considered "great technique" because that is the sound that "draws blood" exciting the rock audience. That said you still need to know the rules and be proficient with them before you can break them in a good way. Kurt was very good at these primal sounds. However if Kurt did not die early he would suffer in the long run and very likely would not have a great long productive career singing in that kind of mode especially with long extensive tours singing 90 - 120 minutes night after night. Many great rock singers have suffered this fate on top of the unhealthy lifestyles they lived. Primal unhealthy sounds are fine and bring excitement to the performance but you still need healthy "great" technique so you can use those primal unhealthy sounds judiciously at the right moments only and pace yourself at your gigs.
@@AtomizedSound Yeah probably urban legend or myth but I was responding to the guy who said Kurt had "great technique"......he didn't and probably never took a single vocal lesson in his life unlike Chris Cornell who had quite good vocal training on top of his natural talent.
This to me is what organic artistry vs technical artistry is. The organic actively seeks the abstract, pushes into the uncharted and seeks pleasant imperfections. The technical seeks the ordered, organized and most perfect results. Although I know both are capable of amazing things, I tend to drift always to the organic. The “spirit” of your creation is always found on that side.
Hey Chris, thanks for the Video. I think this is such a valuable philosophy. I came to the same discovery through John Frusciante and the RHCP's. I binged red hot chilli peppers documentary's a performances when i was university, because there was something uniquely pure that i felt from their music. The album that really struck me was johns album Niandra LaDes and usally just a tshirt. Lots of love Chris!
Thank you for making this video for the young ones so they don’t get discourage from watching crappy shows where judges judge people and shame them and they see that and likely think well I can’t sing like the top picks so why should I continue to write music or sing and etc.. listen to this man I just came across this video and Kurt showed me as a young teen in the late 90s and a older teen in the early 2000s that I can pick up the guitar and teach myself how to play and sing.. Kurt was a genius in my opinion with his catchy melodies almost like nursery rhymes aka his guitar and signing being off and scrappy showed me I can make music and I did and I’ll be 40 next year and still love Nirvana/Kurt and his voice draws you in like a light in my opinion and it’s sad he was taken from us to early bc he was supposedly about to do more mellow and acoustical music but we didn’t get it sadly.. RIP Kurt bc I was able to pass you on to my niece and she will pass you down to someone else and you will live on forever and I have a son who is 4 and I will pass it on to him 😃
Kurt made the most with what he had. It sounds obvious but many of us often forget or don't realize that's what we should be doing. Got a 2 octave range?? Great, slay those 2 octaves you can do it. Its ok I promise. Btw, I once listened to their Fecal Matter demo tape & then immediately listened to Nirvana's 1st album Bleach. Wow, its amazing how quickly he honed his artistic vision.
Expression is a tool best discovered in solitude. Bent till it snaps. Experiment until bastardised but aim for minimal physical discomfort. It's such a strange concept when you haven't tried it. Your education is greatly appreciated and you honestly get it. I have been singing my whole life but I held back performing much because I always associated the "pain" to be real and one must feel that to convey and be genuine. I couldn't sustain my style past a week and had nowhere near the dynamics and variety i had in mind. I found it so easy to forget that as I hadn't conceptualised it.
I was also about that age when I first listened to Nevermind and in all honesty, after all these years, I forgot why I used to do it. Music has became a chore in a sense, and I put myself in the back, helping others achieve their musical aspirations. So thanks for reminding me of that, Chris.
Kurt Cobain is an absolute legend. Always been my favorite singer even though I never really could put a finger on why. It was like he had a natural effect box on his voice where he could control the texture unlike anyone else. His voice sounds like home.
great insights. it wasn't just a gift to musicians, as someone just a few years younger than Kurt, it was a gift to all of us to be ok with ourselves. to flip off the pressures from society about how we need to look, act and sound and feel like, "fuck it, i'm ok with being me. fuck your fashion and fakeness, i'm me and that's good enough". god, what we lost, he would have aged so well...
Amongst so many things, Kurt taught me for example how to instantly disguise and recover from a wrong note voice crack that can happen while performing live in a let-loose emotional moment, and only Kurt can teach you that 😀
Excellent video Chris. So true. It reminded me of a Sam Cooke quote about Bob Dylan and his lack of singing technique: "From now on, it's not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It's going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth.
Terrific video. You were able to explain it very well, very clearly. And so true. Art is about expressing yourself and not caring what others think. For me, listening and singing Nirvana is freedom.
You're really just explaining the punk rock ethos and the diy attitude. The only way I can explain Kurt's voice is just passion. Belting out pure passion. That's what it is to me at least.
Not sure if there's a "formula" per se; a lot of standout artists tend to produce from the heart and it's their sound/look/etc because it's coming from them, not just their skill. It's not just "a mindset" but "their mindset", it's why covering Nirvana, or Bjork, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner or Janis Joplin etc beyond the technicality of "sounding like them" is difficult Found that folks that sort of do their own thing with covers tend to fare better because that also tends to fall into the camp of coming from themselves rather than just being an emulation, but also totally understand folks inspired by established legends Great video, really neat insight!
Kurt had a gift for writing catchy songs too! I bought the Nevermind album on cassette. Interesting hearing your story. I was in a nightclub when I found out he had killed himself. I was talking to a couple people I'd gone to elementary school with and we were having a drink together. I had seen the change in the clubs from the 80s to the 90s. Night and day difference. If Kurt had lived, do you think he could have continued to sing the way he did for years and years?
I always found the idea that guitar teachers these days teach how to do Kurt’s fingering. Even though without question had he had a classically trained guitar teacher he would’ve corrected Kurt’s fingering. As it’s “wrong” but that’s where so much of his unique sound came from, which I don’t know enough about vocals but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true there too ~ as it sounds a bit like what you’re saying. The tricky part, is with this said many begin to think “Oh, so to get my own sound, I can’t be taught “properly” which is not true. As you can take what you’ve learned and still create “your own”. Art is a cruel thing, as our own mistakes make us cringe, while seeking perfection but more often than not those “mistakes” tend to be what allows others to separate our art from another.
Hey @Chris Liepe- Have you listened to the song Kurt wrote when he was leaving Courtney? Its my favorites song called "You know You're Right. If you havent- you need to . So glad I found your TH-cam channel
So I was raised around classic rock and started playing guitar when I was nine. My mentality then was to be the world's best guitarist and I judged musicians on the basis of how well, or more specifically, how fast or how complicated their music was. So to me, any musician who couldn't play a solo or couldn't sing extremely high notes wasn't 'good'. But then, at 13, I heard Nirvana and it actually scared me. I was scared to like it because it went against everything I believed a good musician was and I straight up avoided listening to them again cause I was a stubborn teenager. But then I heard it again and it hit me SO much harder than anything I'd heard earlier. How could this have been? He didn't play any solos, he didn't sing like Freddie Mercury but I felt like I made a new friend when I heard his songs. He seemed to know exactly what i was feeling and channeled it into his art. I feel like I never understood true artistic expression until I heard Nirvana and for that I'm eternally grateful.
This vid essay could be repeated verbatim by millions of music lovers and musicians. I’d been playing guitar for six or so months when I first heard Smells Like Teen Spirit. I didn’t know what I had heard, but I knew I didn’t want to play like I had before I heard it anymore. Kurt blew the doors off. His impact can never be understated
The way you were learning music is what made grunge the rebellion that it was. It was escaping the very things you had been taught. Wabi Sabi, man. "You're imperfection is your art"
Something like "Dream with your music", said once great classical guitarist Andres Segovia. Best advice someone can get from teacher. Imagination, nothing can replace.
Well said! I do see SOOooo many guitar players WAY better than me but..... When I play I really "mean" what I play regardless If it is far from perfect....
I think it's also true for classical and jazz musicians. I heard that the way jazz musicians play solo they do not think about scales, arpeggios, and so on. They try to reach freedom in playing and that's how they improvise. Kurt Cobain is also like them, he seems to be absolutely absorbed during his performance. Also if speaking whether it's 100% rehearsed or improvised, it's actually not that different in my opinion.
Also I don't really understand what you misjudged about him. It seems you understood everything from the start...
What I misjudged is that it was is GOODNESS that I was drawn to... It wasn't. It was his genuine and honest spirit.
To be able to start using jazz-like“freedom”, you gotta learn a hell lot of scales and get used to switch between them during your phrasing. That freedom is a result of serious skills. Otherwise it’ll sound really bad.
@@magneat true, classical musicians play by the book 99% of the time - they mainly focus on sight reading and playing classical pieces, jazz musicians usually learn shit ton of scales, arpeggios, triads etc., and then practice changes all the time, what most people think of freedom is the chromatic licks they add here and there, but that’s only to glue things basically.
@@magneat It's like the ad for GIT said: "You've gotta learn the rules before you can break 'em"!
Nothing. I love Kurt. I think that I was hearing bands like nirvana for like 8 years before I heard nirvana
Bands like dayglo abortions..they have a similar sound. I think the world was not really introduced to punk rock and they got to see how special that movement is through nirvana.. When I first heard punk...I was like wow, man i can do that too
I've done it ever since. ...yes jazz and classical, they learn rules and proper play but the good ones they throw the r ules out and play from the heart and soul. Gosh what a perfect beautiful thing to behold. Imperfection is perfection for me.
This is why all the Nirwanna copycats failed. You can take the quiet loud quiet formula and dress it in flannel -- but you're not gonna get nirvana.
Exactly
Spot on! And why should you be Kurt? Nirvana? Mercury, Buckley or Cornell? You should be you
@@atlas4497 yup we're all standing on the shoulders of Giants. I am influenced by ppl like Brian Wilson, Tom Delonge, and Ben Burnley but I realized it's ok to pay homage to them musically as long as I am not trying to BE them.
To my mind, this is about Nirvana because Nirvana is about just be yourself and not to try be someone else. Kurt wasn't perfect but he was just himself and even haven't been trying to be someone else : as good as he wanted to be and as bad too. Just like Venera Miloska
"Trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are" - Kurt Cobain
Some vocal teachers like to point out his imperfections and how he carry his voice but they can't even replicate a bit of it when it comes to style and that's what made Kurt unique.
Kurt screamed lyrics like his soul was being murdered on stage.. absolutely primal,real and beautiful ❤
I still listen to Nirvana almost daily. It still gives me the same goosebumps It did since I was 12 years old.
I know right!???
Im there too..
im guessing u listen to deftones daily aswell
@@descentintomadness7448 yes...what gave me away lol
Same yo. Theres some serious magic in these records, that is just timeless and universal.
He put the A in Angst for sure. True passion, and have nothing but respect for what he brought to music and the honesty of music. I love when I am performing and all I am doing is getting lost in the emotion. It's pure bliss! That's why I play music, to get there!
Kurt was a king man his vocal ability to display emotion was amazing
There has always been something so raw about his performances, even if many people try to recreate his style there was something especially unique about how he did his vocals that I don't think anyone will be able to fully replicate
Even with that said, his vocals have 100% completely inspired a lot of new music now. That's how special of a vocalist he still is to this day
Nirvana defined grunge. Grunge bands were all supposed to have that IDGAF attitude, but Nirvana truly showed that from their studio albums to their live performances. Probably the biggest example of that is how they found so much success on Nevermind, then proceeded to make an album that seemed less radio friendly and raw with In Utero.
" punk rock means freedom as fast as you want as loud as you want as sloppy as you want as long as It's good and has passion " he was right listen to other bands he covered in there albums/songs they way they did it or "music is 1st lyrics are 2nd" another quote he also said.. I've been playing guitar since I was 17 18 years old it was because of him Tony Ioni of black sabbath dudes like that did and so play with feeling and passion u can feel the raw vibe from it
Kurt’s emotional rawness and the way he wove those Melodie’s and that through Nirvanas music made him and them one of a kind really. He really dug in himself to express sometimes what we feel but can’t quite put into view by singing it rawly and purely from deep within. I believe that rawness and vulnerability that comes through on his music is what elevated him to become one of the all time greats
Kurt had this sort of buzzsaw in his voice especially during screaming
You hit the nail on the head. Authenticity, angst, abandon mixed with vulnerability. Isn’t that similar to the punk creed he used to talk about? Anyway, great video. Love hearing a professionally trained musician’s experience listening to Nirvana. It’s been almost 30 years and I’m still in love with his music. 🙏❤️
og punk has no vulnerability. confessional lyrics weren't brought into punk until the 80s emo hardcore era
@@boredwithadhd Hi, I said “mixed with” {Cobain’s} vulnerability. Since I’m not an expert on punk ethos I used words like “similar” and ended with a question mark. Thank you for your punk knowledge input. I’m by no means an expert. Feel free to elaborate about the punk creeds, if/when they changed and how? 🙏
@@lisasmith7066 they never changed. they just spawned subgenres
@@boredwithadhd Hi! Yeah I looked it up. I’m not an Emo fan. Prefer OG punk. The Emo phase was interesting just not for me. But then I was long out of high-school when the Emo thing hit.
@@lisasmith7066 When I say emo I don't mean 2000s emo. I mean 80s emo. Bands like Rites Of Spring and One Last Wish. No pop influence whatsoever
Playing/singing his music does indeed push our own limits and expand our talents, over time we start to resolve the sound into something tolerable and sometimes it's even good. Amazing how singers like Cornell, Staley and Cobain live through so many of us aspiring from the music created in which they have left behind. The energy and truth each of these guys brought should echo on this planet for eternity. Great piece on Kurt, hit the nail on the head with calling out the perfection musicians expect.
Chris Cornell, Cochise. Radiohead, Creep. Led Zeppelin, Inmigrant song. Matt Bellamy, Showbiz,...
They instilled their feelings with their voices in these songs.
Kurt Cobain instilled his feelings everything he sang.
My goodness! I can't stop crying...
Regards.
Radiohead creep lol...
@@eniolotero8808 Listen to the song Creep
I always maintain Kurt knew exactly what he was doing musically
A good clue of that is listening to In Bloom and Stay Away before sessions before Nevermind and before Grohl arrived, the drums parts are very similar. I cannot think a drummer is coming with a beat for example on " Floyd the Barber" without having Kurt approval or a passive aggressive 'nah'. The drum of beat is literally someone who is knocking at the door . ", DWIN DWIN TOCK TOCK TOCK, DWIN DWIN TOCK TOCK TOCK". "Bell on door clank/ring, come on in!"
I'm agree
Kurt projected a reckless image, he danced often frantically around CONSISTENT perfection with a little something bubbling over and spilling out. That synergistic tight and loose combination was the magic.
I realized that after listening to Butch Vig talk about recording Something in The Way. After not getting the song right on many takes, Kurt lay down on a couch and simply said “This is what the song is supposed to sound like.” And Vig got it! Kurt’s first huge record and he wasn’t there for magical recording tricks or tutorage - he didn’t budge on how the songs were meant to sound.
He’d definitely argue against that . But I’d agree with you
As a vocalist too I absolutely agree with what you have said, there are too many singers trying to be perfect and losing feeling and passion and believe-ability.
Kurt paid for his vocal fearlessness. I've heard he coughed up blood after performances and had severe vocal damage before he died. It's almost like he was consciously giving us everything he could within a few albums because he had no plans for longevity.
I wonder if he knew it was completely destroyed at that point and if that played into what he did, I’m sure not being able to continue what he loved would make his mental problems worse
Kurt claimed he coughed up blood but Kurt liked to embellish and tell stories like sleeping under a bridge and other stuff.
I’d take those claims with a grain of salt.
@@flannelblindllama I think his claims are closer to truth. I tried to sing like Kurt and my throat hurt a lot after just a couple of songs. He did it for many years.
@@shufflingutube Kurt probably wasn't completely clueless about what he was doing vocally, but yeah I agree that he definitely sounded like he was hurting himself most of the time
He sang pretty aggressively, but lots of people sing more aggressively and don’t cough up blood. He liked saying stuff like that. Like, he claimed to not know the names of any of the chords he was playing. Not like C# augmented 13 and a half, but like G. Dude wanted people to believe he didn’t know he was playing a G chord. Which, it would take an insane level of dedication to not knowing that to avoid knowing that. He bullshatted a lot.
Nirvana is a fantastic band... Kurt paved the way for so much. such an amazing songwriter and performer. thank you for this video, Chris
Thanks for this video. I'm crying my eyes out. Kurt Cobain was much more than a grunge musician. He was the spirit of a whole generation.
Nevermind was the first album I bought in my life. I memorized the lyrics of every song. Smells like teen spirit was a hymn for me.
He had a tortured soul.
I cried like if there was no tomorrow when he died. He was my strength and my support for my miserable life. I'm not going to explain here my childhood problems but I felt like someone knew how I was feeling.
I could feel the pain, the rage, the sadness in his voice when he sang.
People say that he was an awful singer. I know he wasn't Chris Cornell, with his amazing voice. Both of them instilled deep and strong feelings.
Kurt Cobain sang feelings.
Thanks again.
Regards.
The first song I heard by Nirvana was "Negative Creep" in 1991 when I was 11 years old. I remember the moment as if it was yesterday and of course I immediately listened to the rest of "Bleach" after hearing that track. To say it blew my mind is an understatement. It changed me.
No other musician has had an effect like that on me since and I doubt they ever will.
Yep... A similar experience to mine. totally mind-blowing!
Bleach changed my life
bleach changed my life back in 2004
Fuck that's a great story.
What great timing, I’m a vocal coach and I just had a new student today who I basically gave this same schpeal to! He didn’t think he could ever be a “good” singer but he hoped I could at least help him learn how to use his voice to express himself better and I was like “good singing isn’t about pitch accuracy and breath control… it’s about knowing how to use those things to… express yourself! Technique is just the tool you use to be creative, so if you get to a point where you feel confident in your expression, whether it’s technique that gets you there or not, it will be good, and other people will agree when they hear you sing, and when you think about singers like Kurt in that way, the playing field gets leveled and the defining factor isn’t a natural gift or mastery over the study of singing, it’s passion and commitment.”
Damn. That's a heavy revelation. Inspiring. Motivating. Thanks man.
You're so welcome!
Chris! You're right! Kurt was one of my biggest influences when I was a teenager, and all that you've said is true. It was because of him and others like Chris Cornell that I started being passionate about music and dreaming about wanting to make music. This is the trick, just expressing ourselves, not trying to be perfect. It's what I have been trying to do and hopefully I will be able to complete enough tracks to release an album of music that is expressive and mine as I have always wanted. thanks for the video
Incredibly beautiful video. I experience exactly the same while exploring the voice. You inspired me to do that by the way. You are carrying Kurts torch already I guess. Keep up your great work. Blessings from Germany!
Ah dude! I was in my early twenties when he passed. I was a struggling, broke college student, deep into the music of the time, exploring my artist interests. The day I found out he passed I was at my sisters when her roommate told me. I felt instantly a crazy vibrational wave run through me and I was shocked and blown away all at the same time. I must of stood there stunned. I'm sure I was bummed for several weeks. I turned 50 this year and still love his music. I love how you are breaking down his vocal range and tones. Happy to find you. Thank you and I'm sure you are going to do great with your business venture approach and appreciation for expression of authentic expression.
I miss the energy he brought to rock music. He was super authentic and unique and you can hear it in his music to this day. It's so hard to completely pinpoint him. But he really was a Rockstar who just didn't give af what the media thought. A true Rockstar. 90s Rock is just not easy to beat, and I think for me at least really good rock kinda died away, and it's spirit was transfered to metal (overall) and many rock bands incorporate harder elements to this day because of the 90s movement even some good rock bands.
Nice vid bru. I was in a nirvana cover band while Kurt was still alive. U right, I learnt so much from him musically but also about not giving a shit. I've lost that as I've gotten older. I'm gonna get it back....
It's tough to lose sight of for sure!
Dude you just described punk rock
My whole neighborhood was starting bands cause we all found out about punk!!! We could all fo it. Kurt was just extraordinary.
Thank you for posting this and perfectly expressing what made Kurt so special. Kurt and Jeff Buckley are my top two musical beacons because they were both completely fearless and unapologetic in their expression. One of my favorite examples of this from Kurt is his vocals on “Hairspray Queen.” At face value, it sounds completely crazy. It is, and that’s the point.
Feeling is so important. That, for me, is what makes art.
Some singers are just over the moon talented and technically excellent..but don't convey emotion behind what they sing. Same for painters, writers, or any other art.
You could be genius-level at what you do, but the poor kid down the street singing about his life experience is going to blow you out of the water. Sort of makes me sad for the talented one because talent x heart = 🙌
I agree, but you don’t need to go through the ringer to convey emotion into your singing lol
@@sdmdrums9275 no, you're right. I was just going for the easy comparison.
This video spoke directly to us...immediately connected and felt seen and heard...Real stuff!❤🎵❤
Thank you, Chris! We genuinely appreciate you!!
You are so welcome
I started studying and experimenting with distortion 3 years ago, I'm impressed to know the sounds I'm capable of vocalizing, understanding how "me works" and how much I've been taking from great musicians. Your vids have been helping me expand that posture to a whole new degree! Thanx and God bless you!
We never have to forget that music is not a sport or a competition, is art, expression, the language of emotions through sounds. You just inspired me to relisten all the Nirvana work with a new mindset. Thans for always bringing good content, Chris!
Beautifully said brother
Art is feeling put forth through passion. 🤘
Amazing video Man for real thabks so much for these type of videos that inspire to being authentic musicans
Kurt and Shaun Morgan my 2 favorite voices ever.
I didn’t get into nirvana until the late 90s when I was a in college. Same thing with Alice In Chains. Walked to class every day jamming both of those bands music. Have great memories of that time.
I have learned your mindset, your heart and soul and passion can send your voice to places and textures you never even dreamed of. You must not be afraid...the key!
One time I was listening to a song in my car. The song was about someone passing away and for some reason that day I was feeling extra emotional. I sang along like I usually do but I really felt the song like I was going through it, and even though it wasn’t perfect vocals I was like wow I wish I could always sing like this! I can see why some musicians can become addicted to being sad/emotional. It gives such a different sparkle to music something I wish I was able to do like Kurt. This video was eye opening.
Great topic Chris. When I go to a concert, I go for the experience. I want to feel something. If I feel something, it doesn't matter to me if the singer is on pitch, sings every note technically correct. That feeling can bring tears and/or joy and to me that is what makes a singer great.
Very nice!!! Great way to explain the abandoned approach of expressing, and for sharing how you got inspired by it.
Kurt is not a vocalist that other vocalists should look up to. He blew his voice out regularly. After shows he would spit up blood. When recording, they would often have to cut early or record small parts because of how often he would blow his voice out. Expression and letting loose is incredibly important, but taking care of your instrument and yourself is key. Have fun everyone!
Where in the world did you hear that?? Jack Endino, Butch Vig, and Steve Albini all say that he was just a very natural rock singer that had great technique and a great control over his voice and (aside from having to retrack some vocals for In Utero because he insisted on playing an instrument while singing and chose a rain stick at one point for whatever reason) tracked the albums' vocals relatively quickly with no real trouble.
@@Gatchi Kurt did not have great technique (Chris is being quite generous in this video). He had OK technique but by today's standards it was not healthy and efficient. Having said that the best sounds in rock often require you to break the rules of what is considered "great technique" because that is the sound that "draws blood" exciting the rock audience. That said you still need to know the rules and be proficient with them before you can break them in a good way. Kurt was very good at these primal sounds. However if Kurt did not die early he would suffer in the long run and very likely would not have a great long productive career singing in that kind of mode especially with long extensive tours singing 90 - 120 minutes night after night. Many great rock singers have suffered this fate on top of the unhealthy lifestyles they lived. Primal unhealthy sounds are fine and bring excitement to the performance but you still need healthy "great" technique so you can use those primal unhealthy sounds judiciously at the right moments only and pace yourself at your gigs.
@@TheChristOfRockNRoll while some of this is true, where is the source that Kurt spit up blood and blew his voice out a lot? Curious
@@AtomizedSound Yeah probably urban legend or myth but I was responding to the guy who said Kurt had "great technique"......he didn't and probably never took a single vocal lesson in his life unlike Chris Cornell who had quite good vocal training on top of his natural talent.
@@Gatchi Dave Grohl has spoken about recording with Nirvana and the complications Kurt would regularly have.
It would be so weird to see what Kurt would be doing artistically right now if he was alive.
Playing an acoustic on his front porch in Arkansas
Vulnerability and feel. Expression through composed noise. Which is Grunge music.
The trouble is people try to imitate those that inspire them, but often the people who inspired them where just being themselves.
Serv the Song not your ego.
YES
Kurt got me out of just rap, hip hop, and R&B
This to me is what organic artistry vs technical artistry is. The organic actively seeks the abstract, pushes into the uncharted and seeks pleasant imperfections. The technical seeks the ordered, organized and most perfect results. Although I know both are capable of amazing things, I tend to drift always to the organic. The “spirit” of your creation is always found on that side.
Kurt connects to so many souls because his music, voice, and love is real 🙂
Hey Chris, thanks for the Video. I think this is such a valuable philosophy. I came to the same discovery through John Frusciante and the RHCP's.
I binged red hot chilli peppers documentary's a performances when i was university, because there was something uniquely pure that i felt from their music. The album that really struck me was johns album Niandra LaDes and usally just a tshirt.
Lots of love Chris!
Thank you for making this video for the young ones so they don’t get discourage from watching crappy shows where judges judge people and shame them and they see that and likely think well I can’t sing like the top picks so why should I continue to write music or sing and etc.. listen to this man I just came across this video and Kurt showed me as a young teen in the late 90s and a older teen in the early 2000s that I can pick up the guitar and teach myself how to play and sing.. Kurt was a genius in my opinion with his catchy melodies almost like nursery rhymes aka his guitar and signing being off and scrappy showed me I can make music and I did and I’ll be 40 next year and still love Nirvana/Kurt and his voice draws you in like a light in my opinion and it’s sad he was taken from us to early bc he was supposedly about to do more mellow and acoustical music but we didn’t get it sadly.. RIP Kurt bc I was able to pass you on to my niece and she will pass you down to someone else and you will live on forever and I have a son who is 4 and I will pass it on to him 😃
That's so strange, literally yesterday I was hoping you'd make a Kurt Cobain video o.o
Kurt made the most with what he had. It sounds obvious but many of us often forget or don't realize that's what we should be doing. Got a 2 octave range?? Great, slay those 2 octaves you can do it. Its ok I promise.
Btw, I once listened to their Fecal Matter demo tape & then immediately listened to Nirvana's 1st album Bleach. Wow, its amazing how quickly he honed his artistic vision.
💜hi,
You're Great!
Thank you for your inspiration😘
Thanks for this video. I think that one of the few that understand this approach was Craig Nicolls from The Vienes.
Expression is a tool best discovered in solitude. Bent till it snaps. Experiment until bastardised but aim for minimal physical discomfort. It's such a strange concept when you haven't tried it. Your education is greatly appreciated and you honestly get it. I have been singing my whole life but I held back performing much because I always associated the "pain" to be real and one must feel that to convey and be genuine. I couldn't sustain my style past a week and had nowhere near the dynamics and variety i had in mind. I found it so easy to forget that as I hadn't conceptualised it.
I was also about that age when I first listened to Nevermind and in all honesty, after all these years, I forgot why I used to do it. Music has became a chore in a sense, and I put myself in the back, helping others achieve their musical aspirations.
So thanks for reminding me of that, Chris.
Kurt Cobain is an absolute legend. Always been my favorite singer even though I never really could put a finger on why. It was like he had a natural effect box on his voice where he could control the texture unlike anyone else.
His voice sounds like home.
great insights. it wasn't just a gift to musicians, as someone just a few years younger than Kurt, it was a gift to all of us to be ok with ourselves. to flip off the pressures from society about how we need to look, act and sound and feel like, "fuck it, i'm ok with being me. fuck your fashion and fakeness, i'm me and that's good enough". god, what we lost, he would have aged so well...
his screams are my life man.
Amazing video brother. Great dining as well. 👏👏👏
Kurt truly was outstanding and unique.
This video and these advices are gold. thanks
Lithium is one of my favorite songs. Yes, Chris and Layne were different and absolutely great in their own right.
Amongst so many things, Kurt taught me for example how to instantly disguise and recover from a wrong note voice crack that can happen while performing live in a let-loose emotional moment, and only Kurt can teach you that 😀
I feel the same way 30 years later, i came back again and i love it more
I still write songs about Kurt...
Excellent video Chris. So true. It reminded me of a Sam Cooke quote about Bob Dylan and his lack of singing technique: "From now on, it's not going to be about how pretty the voice is. It's going to be about believing that the voice is telling the truth.
Terrific video. You were able to explain it very well, very clearly. And so true. Art is about expressing yourself and not caring what others think. For me, listening and singing Nirvana is freedom.
Man this touched my heart
Great take on it Chris, couldn't agree or have said it better
We pursue expression through music
Dude ive preached the very same thing about what u said about Kurt in your video to every young musician i know. Amazing video man.
You're really just explaining the punk rock ethos and the diy attitude. The only way I can explain Kurt's voice is just passion. Belting out pure passion. That's what it is to me at least.
Gerard from MCR must've take some inspiration with that angst distortions!
Such an iconic man
Not sure if there's a "formula" per se; a lot of standout artists tend to produce from the heart and it's their sound/look/etc because it's coming from them, not just their skill. It's not just "a mindset" but "their mindset", it's why covering Nirvana, or Bjork, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner or Janis Joplin etc beyond the technicality of "sounding like them" is difficult
Found that folks that sort of do their own thing with covers tend to fare better because that also tends to fall into the camp of coming from themselves rather than just being an emulation, but also totally understand folks inspired by established legends
Great video, really neat insight!
Kurt will always be a legend to me!
Kurt had a gift for writing catchy songs too! I bought the Nevermind album on cassette. Interesting hearing your story. I was in a nightclub when I found out he had killed himself. I was talking to a couple people I'd gone to elementary school with and we were having a drink together. I had seen the change in the clubs from the 80s to the 90s. Night and day difference. If Kurt had lived, do you think he could have continued to sing the way he did for years and years?
Thank you for this ❤️
He was great at emoting, had good melody and could scream musically
I always found the idea that guitar teachers these days teach how to do Kurt’s fingering. Even though without question had he had a classically trained guitar teacher he would’ve corrected Kurt’s fingering. As it’s “wrong” but that’s where so much of his unique sound came from, which I don’t know enough about vocals but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true there too ~ as it sounds a bit like what you’re saying.
The tricky part, is with this said many begin to think “Oh, so to get my own sound, I can’t be taught “properly” which is not true. As you can take what you’ve learned and still create “your own”. Art is a cruel thing, as our own mistakes make us cringe, while seeking perfection but more often than not those “mistakes” tend to be what allows others to separate our art from another.
beautiful
Art is the expression of emotions. Art of any type: Sound, pictures, words, etc.
If you listen to his demos early (kurt cobain)
you'll get that same lesson in music about expression and well its pretty good
Hey @Chris Liepe- Have you listened to the song Kurt wrote when he was leaving Courtney? Its my favorites song called "You know You're Right. If you havent- you need to . So glad I found your TH-cam channel
Why ? It's genuine emotion plus talent!!!
So I was raised around classic rock and started playing guitar when I was nine. My mentality then was to be the world's best guitarist and I judged musicians on the basis of how well, or more specifically, how fast or how complicated their music was. So to me, any musician who couldn't play a solo or couldn't sing extremely high notes wasn't 'good'.
But then, at 13, I heard Nirvana and it actually scared me. I was scared to like it because it went against everything I believed a good musician was and I straight up avoided listening to them again cause I was a stubborn teenager. But then I heard it again and it hit me SO much harder than anything I'd heard earlier. How could this have been? He didn't play any solos, he didn't sing like Freddie Mercury but I felt like I made a new friend when I heard his songs. He seemed to know exactly what i was feeling and channeled it into his art. I feel like I never understood true artistic expression until I heard Nirvana and for that I'm eternally grateful.
This vid essay could be repeated verbatim by millions of music lovers and musicians. I’d been playing guitar for six or so months when I first heard Smells Like Teen Spirit. I didn’t know what I had heard, but I knew I didn’t want to play like I had before I heard it anymore. Kurt blew the doors off. His impact can never be understated
Lightning in a bottle
The way you were learning music is what made grunge the rebellion that it was. It was escaping the very things you had been taught.
Wabi Sabi, man.
"You're imperfection is your art"
The voice of a generation!
Something like "Dream with your music", said once great classical guitarist Andres Segovia. Best advice someone can get from teacher. Imagination, nothing can replace.
Hi chris, can I check out the full covers somewhere?
Real talk much needed ...very timely for me
Every time I hear Kurt's singing it makes me sad because his vocal cords are being heavily damaged to the point he coughs up blood
Motivated request #2
So Chris analizes/react to Bury The Light.
Well said! I do see SOOooo many guitar players WAY better than me but..... When I play I really "mean" what I play regardless If it is far from perfect....
I couldn't agree more
Good video. Great words.
Yours sincerely,
A huge Kurt Cobain fan.