This Week's Playlist #118 - The Kurt Cobain 2024 edition
This Week's Playlist #118 - The Kurt Cobain 2024 edition
I'm picking up 5 Nirvana covers on Kurt Cobain's death 30th anniversary
Hello everyone!
This Week's Playlist - Season 3, Episode 14.
This Friday was marking the 30th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.
As a teenager in the 90s, my musical (mis)education started with rock and grunge music. I started with the Red Hot Chili Peppers (imagine an 11-year-old kid watching the Give It Away video clip on the TV for the first time) and Pearl Jam on the soundtrack of a basketball videotape my parents bought me.
I only got into Nirvana after Kurt died (I was 12 in April 1994). But I still remember reading the news in a Lebanese newspaper. And I obviously listened to it a lot during my grunge teenage years, up until now.
This week, I wanted to pay tribute to our grunge idol and pick 5 Nirvana covers I enjoyed through the years.
See you next week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform:
1. Tanya Tagaq - Rape Me
The famous Inuit art-rocker Tanya Tagaq turned Nirvana's anti-rape song into a delicate and haunting song.
It's also an unsettling track for Tanya Tagaq, known for veering into growls and screams, who sings here instead of an intimate piece and an unsettling whisper.
2. My Own Private Alaska - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
This is not an original Nirvana song, but the epic closing track of Nirvana's seminal "Unplugged in New York" album (potentially one of the greatest unplugged albums of all time).
Here is the rendition of My Own Private Alaska, a French band that introduced a unique style of heavy music called "pianocore." The band had no guitars. They perform sitting down, with harsh vocals delivered over piano and drums.
3. Tricky - Something In The Way
Massive Attack's outlier cover is a gloomy and trip-hop-y rendering of the "Nevermind" closing track.
4. Charles Bradley & the Menahan Street Band - Stay Away
I had to dig for that one.
A gem from Charles Bradley's final album and another unique rendition of a classic of "Nevermind".
"The Screaming Eagle of Soul" brings some warmth to this song with his powerful and electrifying vocals to a song filled with urgency and alienation.
5. Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Possibly the most excellent cover for a Nirvana song.
I won't make the offence of introducing you to Patti Smith (and would encourage you to read her newsletter), but this is one of the few covers where the covering artist owns the song.
Bonus (because 5 picks are not enough)
Ramin Jawadi is covering “Heart Shaped Box” for Westworld season 2
Tori Amos’ cover of “Smell Like Teen Spirit” is probably the eeriest of all covers.
Charlie Hunter’s cover of “Come As You Are” moved from 4/4 to 6/8 feels just uncanny.
There are so much more. If I forgot one, hit reply and let me know.
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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