Apolitical Staples

There a Sloan lyric that bounces around my head, "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans" that makes me think what happens when it's the band that hates their own fans. That is impression I got from watching Nirvana Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!. Notice the double exclamation on Sold Out!!, I think that is by design. This movie was conceived as a concept piece, an ironic look at the state of Nirvana versus the state of music in the early '90's. Here is the thing - irony can be tough. What was ironic a decade ago may not be ironic now. That and Kurt Cobain killed himself before the project could be completed. Isn't that ironic (in a Morissettean way).
It is well know now that Nirvana was really frustrated to see the "jocks" they hated in high school in the audience at their rock shows - this hatred is uncontained as they butcher Smells Like Teen Spirit as their revenge.
And though some of the songs are recorded in poor quality I do not want to come down too hard on this DVD. This is still a Nirvana DVD and although they admit their songs are simple (they compare them to nursery rhymes) that does not mean they are not great. That is what they did so well, a punk pop, simple, catchy and still better than most of what qualifies for modern music today.