On a week-long binge and thinking about their trajectory. What does the ILM hive think they might have done next? More noise? Acoustic outsider tape experiments? Broken up, probably. I saw their last Seattle show and the openers of Chokebore and Butthole Surfers were great primers for what was to come. Saw Kurt and Courtney peek out from a side door in a Mercer Arena hallway. Everyone froze and they slinked back in.
― Yelploaf, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 16:59 (seven years ago) link
Acoustic/chamber music
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:14 (seven years ago) link
Dave would've been phased out, and we might've been spared the Foo Fighters.
REM duet
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:15 (seven years ago) link
some combo of "Marigold"/"You Know You're Right"/"Do Re Mi," so probably a Bob Mould-ish version of In Utero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuFf2Gp-lGk
Not a very interesting answer
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:20 (seven years ago) link
I think the likeliest scenario is that Kurt would have killed himself, Dave would have continued with the Foo Fighters project and achieved a level of commercial success that nobody ever could have predicted, and Krist would have went into semi-retirement. The freaks in the Nirvana fanbase would then be free to cook up ridiculous conspiracy theories such as "Kurt was murdered" and "He wrote Hole's second album"
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:28 (seven years ago) link
Nirvana - Don Killuminati, imo
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:44 (seven years ago) link
good stuff here
https://nirvana-legacy.com/category/after-in-utero-the-final-year-1993-1994/
In terms of Cobain’s album-ready material, by his own admission the cupboard was threadbare. Most finished studio works had been released or long abandoned. That doesn’t mean there might not have been some revivals – half of In Utero was filled with songs from before Nevermind – but there’s no indication of him feeling much affection or use for songs like ‘Old Age’ (given away), ‘Sappy’ (already released in ’93), ‘Clean Up Before She Comes’ (abandoned in the late Eighties and never attempted in studio.) His new material in ’93-’94, true songs as opposed to jams like ‘The Other Improv’, consisted of two tracks; ‘Do Re Mi’ and ‘You Know You’re Right’. It doesn’t mean he was done, Cobain was fully capable of writing songs at speed – but he would have been starting almost from scratch. Attempts to fill imaginary tracklistings with old leftovers are fun but fly in the face of the care and attention Cobain paid to the music he put out – who knows?
As for direction; it’s a mystery. Acoustic? Vague statements and a home demo of ‘Do Re Mi’ provide little support for that idea. The opportunity to work with members of R.E.M. also doesn’t suggest an acoustic route given R.E.M. were busy working on ‘Monster’ – one of their most amped-up records (heck, it even had room for Thurston Moore to bust electric on it.) Electric? Well, ‘You Know You’re Right’ was Nirvana-by-numbers (though cool!), messing around with new effects boxes earlier in ’93, all the jams and noisy tracks created in late ’92/early ’93 – it could all suggest Cobain’s sound heading back toward the heavier sounds of pre-pop Nirvana…Or it could be nothing. Preparation for a new album was already well behind
― piscesx, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:45 (seven years ago) link
There was the (overstated) story that Cobain was going to work with Michael Stipe for a project. So I like to imagine the album would have been pitched somewhere between Unplugged in New York/Automatic For The People with shades of Lanegan's Winding Sheet. Makes sense to push back against the noisy, pigeonholing album with something a bit more songwritery. I imagine it would have been truly great.
― Evan R, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 17:53 (seven years ago) link
I would actually have quite liked to have heard a Nirvana album of epic jams
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:05 (seven years ago) link
really hard to imagine what that would even sound like. concision was sorta their thing. can't imagine them pulling off like a Perfect From Now On or something
― Evan R, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link
And what was the most concise music in the years after In Utero? Ska-punk!
― how's life, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:12 (seven years ago) link
Nirvana's transition into rap-rock would've been something to see.
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:22 (seven years ago) link
chinese democracy
― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:28 (seven years ago) link
Given the success of Unplugged, maybe an album of covers as a holding pattern, followed by an album of more acoustic original material?
― here we are now entertain us (snoball), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:36 (seven years ago) link
I'm vividly picturing a fat, dreadlocked Kurt, with Joey C. at his side, slurring his way through the video shoot for 'Still Smellz Like Teen Spirit (Y2K, Y'all)'.
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 18:38 (seven years ago) link
Kurt had a song in demo form meant for Lanegan, IIRC; also had a song for Iggy Pop, again IIRC. Seemed to be writing stuff with Courtney, or at least performing stuff live with her.
― jaywbabcock, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:15 (seven years ago) link
(rap)
Still smells like teen spirit to me, you seeFuck you if you disagreeUp in this bitch, just me and Joey C.Fat stacks, fat blunts, cold brewsNevermind wit yo jealousy
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:20 (seven years ago) link
I assume Pat Smear would've joined them in the studio. Scott Litt was going to produce, no? He's credited on Unplugged.
― beamish13, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:32 (seven years ago) link
The Stipe/Cobain project was going to be a film score, and I've always wondered what the movie was.
― beamish13, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:33 (seven years ago) link
October 31, 1994: The Atlanta Constitution reports that Cobain has begun work on Kurdt Kobain, a solo project written with (and produced by) R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe. There are conflicting reports on what the album will sound like. Cobain initially says the record will be entirely acoustic, but 20 minutes later in the same interview, he suggests that the songs will be similar to Chicago art-punk band Shellac’s recently released At Action Park.http://www.spin.com/2009/04/what-if-kurt-cobain-didnt-die/
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:36 (seven years ago) link
After the liquor stoI'm gonna goAll up in yo uteroWith the lights out, they say it's less dangerousGirl, your heart-shaped box is contagious
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:36 (seven years ago) link
stipe and cobain meshing well creatively has always seemed like a stretch to me, but who knows ...
― tylerw, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:38 (seven years ago) link
Load up on drugsForget your friendsUnless those friendsDrive a Mercedes BenzRoll up in the clubWith the lithiumOn a plain, can't explainTil I make you cum
― Gravy Spill in the Gravitron (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 19:58 (seven years ago) link
Boyyyyyyyy
Cobain said in his last major interview (with David Fricke in RS January 1994) that the next album, though as yet unwritten, would be quieter and more acoustic. It's not speculation that they were headed in that direction. He specifically cited R.E.M. and Automatic for the People, too.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 20:18 (seven years ago) link
Courtney had a good quote about this too a while ago, if he had lived: he probably would've given up music for a while and pursued painting and visual art. she said they'd probably be divorced, living on the Upper West Side, going to gallery openings, and he'd be dating a super model. bit of a stretch, but a sweet thought nonetheless.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 20:21 (seven years ago) link
Wiggy what's up y'all?It's your homeboy Dead KurdtRockin' the micWith my main man Fred Durst
― how's life, Tuesday, 27 September 2016 22:20 (seven years ago) link
See U2 Pop.
― otm in the rain (Eazy), Tuesday, 27 September 2016 22:32 (seven years ago) link