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Krist Novoselic: My plan to fix Congress, curb obstruction

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:00 +0000

That Congress is totally dysfunctional is evident to most Americans, with just 16 percent telling pollsters they approve of the job the body is doing. The good news is there’s a constitutional solution that would dramatically improve its efficacy, boost participation, and curb partisan obstruction: switching to a form of proportional representation by electing multiple members in each district based on how it votes.

Legend and myth was important to ancient Roman society. They practiced augury, such as reading the way birds fly, then attributing bad situations to unhappy gods. In reality, their government (a republic, no less) was run by a few elites who made bad decisions. Americans tend to be similar in buying into myths, while a real culprit of our stagnant democracy is right before our eyes. Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but too many of us are focused on distractions -- like blaming Citizens United v. FEC for everything wrong with politics -- while political insiders rig the game.

“Foo Fighters” frontman Dave Grohl thinks that “Foo Fighters” is a very stupid name for a band

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:54:00 +0000

Apparently, "Foo Fighters" frontman Dave Grohl does not like the name of the band that he started in 1994. Speaking candidly onstage at the Austin Convention Center during SXSW on Thursday, the former Nirvana drummer admitted that "finding a good band name is still the hardest fucking part" of founding a band. "Foo Fighters is the stupidest fucking name," he said, according to NME.

That wasn't the only surprising personal insight Grohl dropped: He also admitted that Psy's viral sensation "Gangnam Style" "is one of my favorite songs of the past decade."

Cobain is rolling in his grave

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:03:00 +0000

O, the sacrilege!

It's hard to say who is the bigger culprit in this crime against rock humanity: ESPN magazine or the Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte. The publication released this video of its just-completed, inexplicably timed photo shoot with the megalomaniacal swimmer, whom they cast as the floating baby to re-create the iconic cover of Nirvana's best-selling 1991 album, "Nevermind." Or as Lochte puts it, "the iconic Nirvana blah-blah."

As if the concept alone isn't enough to make all of Seattle sink into the Earth with a collective, massive cringe, just wait until they hear Lochte explain why the album's imagery resonates with him. "When you look at the baby, he's definitely happy in the water. And that's what I am. Whenever I step foot in that water, I'm happy." Lochte crinkles his nose, the soundtrack in the background blaring ESPN's idea of Kurt Cobain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"-esque guitar riffs (how many ways can they kill a dead man?). "And he's chasing after a dollar bill," Lochte continues, "so he's always on the grind."

Though the photo shoot was easy, according to the Olympian, in order to be true to his subject, he had to forgo the goggles. He hopes that, "when everyone sees it, they'll be like, 'Dang, look at that guy!' I honestly think I nailed the shot." Smells like ... oh, never mind.

Record reviews: Who needs them?

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I could be wrong, but – adding together a decade of Trouser Press magazine, five Trouser Press Record Guides and a whole lot of freelance writing -- I may have reviewed as many albums as any American rock critic this side of Bob Christgau. From adroit to inept, I’ve offered my full faith and credit to a small percentage of them, attacked some (with the fierce indignation generally reserved for orphan-robbers, World Series goats and career criminals) and juggled the rest. I suppose I’ve shared a few valuable insights, but no doubt just as often I’ve come up empty, papering over ambivalence with utilitarian description.

How often was I right? Even if we can stipulate that there is a “right,” it’s hard to say, since the inconstancy of life synchs unreliably with value judgments that have been frozen in time. What was on the money in 1978 may seem horribly naïve in 1988 and condescending by 2008. Plus, a critic continues to hear and learn long after committing an appraisal to print, and that both alters the context and expands culture’s possibilities. When it comes to records that no longer live clearly in my memory, even going back for a refresher listen promises only a slim chance of summoning up enough sense of who I was and what I knew at the time to extrapolate what I was feeling when I wrote what I did.

Nirvana without Kurt is not Nirvana!

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:45:00 +0000

Of all the bands that seemed ripe for reunion, Nirvana had to be near the bottom of the list: The death of Kurt Cobain in 1994 left the trio without a singer, songwriter or guitarist, and replacing him, really, was unimaginable.

And yet there were Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and touring guitarist Pat Smear, onstage at Madison Square Garden last week with substitute frontman Paul McCartney, storming through a new song called “Cut Me Some Slack” — the first time the surviving members of Nirvana had performed together in public since Cobain’s suicide. And there they were again, on “Saturday Night Live,” in what seemed more like a plug for Grohl’s upcoming documentary “Sound City,” about the beloved (defunct) Los Angeles recording studio of the same name. (“Cut Me Some Slack” is on the soundtrack, don’t you know, and — what a coincidence! — available for purchase right now.)

Nirvana Beatles songs

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Twitter, amused at the prospect of the Beatles' Paul McCartney taking the spot of the late Kurt Cobain at a Nirvana reunion concert tonight, has created #nirvanabeatlessongs. Here are some of the best:

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