There is a welcome sign on the outskirts of Aberdeen, Washington that says
“Welcome to Aberdeen – Come as You Are”
This is an homage to Kurt Cobain. As you venture further into the community an additional memorial awaits. It is a replica sculpture of Cobain’s Fender Jag-Stang guitar. This tribute was created by Aberdeen artists Kim and Lora Malakoff. The inscription on the memorial is a line from a Nirvana song called ‘On a Plain’. It says;
One more special message to go and then I’m done, and I can go home.”
Kurt Cobain – On a Plain
Here is a live version of that song from the famous 1993 MTV ‘Unplugged’ performance.
All of this is a way of introducing today’s feature song ‘Come as You Are’ and how this date is intrinsically tied to music history on several fronts. You will see how the characters in this post become interwoven, forever connected by April 5th.
Let’s go back to late 1988. A new band was forming in Seattle’s burgeoning ‘grunge’ music scene. In November, Nirvana released their debut single ‘Love Buzz’. In two December recording sessions that amounted to about thirty hours of recording, Nirvana produced their debut album that would become known as ‘Bleach’. The bill was $606.16. Their label ‘Sub Pop’ were huge supporters of the grunge scene so they channeled Nirvana’s creativity into that style.
There was this pressure from Sub Pop and the grunge scene to play ‘rock music. We stripped it down and made it sound like Aerosmith. We had to fit the expectations of the grunge sound to build a fanbase, so we suppressed my arty and pop songwriting traits while crafting the record.”
Kurt Cobain
In order to match that format, they created songs that were…
…deliberately bleak, claustrophobic, and lyrically sparse, with none of the manic derangement or sense of release of the live performance.”
One song that really stood out against that form was ‘About a Girl’.
‘Bleach’ was a harbinger of great things to come. By the time their second album ‘Nevermind’ was released in 1991, ‘Bleach’ had sold approximately 40,000 copies in North America. Once ‘Nevermind’ burst upon the scene in 1991, Sub Pop gave permission to Geffen Records to release ‘Bleach’ on their label and sales of the debut album flourished, approaching the 2 million range.
As the rock and grunge subculture exploded in the Pacific northwest an act that was actually from Seattle gained international prominence with their debut album.
Enter, Alice in Chains. This act is widely associated with the grunge scene, but they had a strong heavy metal influence. Their debut album ‘Facelift’ was released in 1990. It featured the harsh condemnation of commercialism and conformity, known as ‘Man in the Box’. For many, this song was an assault on the senses and the conscience. The more I listen to it, the more I applaud this act for coming out of the gate with such a strong message. Powerful doesn’t begin to describe this timeless piece of music, nor the astute lyrics. Have a listen.
‘Man in the Box’ was released in January of 1991 and had an immediate impact on the Billboard Mainstream chart, penetrating the Top 20. It was nominated for a Grammy in 1992 for Best Hard Rock Performance. For guitarist Jerry Cantrell ‘Man in the Box’ was a career defining song that he was glad they were fortunate enough to create early.
That whole beat and grind of that is when we started to find ourselves; it helped Alice become what it was.”
Jerry Cantrell
The talk box and guitar effect was the idea of producer Dave Jerden who was listening to the radio on his drive in to the studio and heard Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’. While I am not a Bon Jovi fan at all, I thank them for this influence.
Having said all that, for me it’s the lyrics. So many times, it comes down to the lyrics when it comes to my love of music. This is intense.
Vocalist Layne Staley explained the song from this perspective in a 1992 interview in Rolling Stone:
I started writing about censorship. Around the same time, we went out for dinner with some Columbia Records people who were vegetarians. They told me how veal was made from calves raised in these small boxes, and that image stuck in my head. So I went home and wrote about government censorship and eating meat as seen through the eyes of a doomed calf.”
Layne Staley
Jerry Cantrell added his thoughts by implying it is up to the individual to break out of the box and educate themselves, rather than accept force fed garbage from mainstream media. There are sources that can be trusted, but we need to dig, and we need to be discerning.
It’s basically about how government and media control the public’s perception of events in the world or whatever, and they build you into a box by feeding it to you in your home. And it’s about breaking out of that box and looking outside of that box that has been built for you.”
Jerry Cantrell
I can’t move on from Alice in Chains without sharing the lyrics to this important song.
“I’m the man in the box
Buried in my shit
Won’t you come and save me?
Save meFeed my eyes, can you sew them shut?
Jesus Christ, deny your maker
He who tries, will be wasted
Feed my eyes now you’ve sewn them shutI’m the dog who gets beat
Shove my nose in shit
Won’t you come and save me
Save meFeed my eyes, can you sew them shut?
Jesus Christ, deny your maker
He who tries, will be wasted
Feed my eyes now you’ve sewn them shutFeed my eyes, can you sew them shut?
Layne Staley – Man in the Box
Jesus Christ, deny your maker
He who tries, will be wasted
Feed my eyes now you’ve sewn them shut”
With the success of the ‘Seattle’ scene making waves across North America and around the world, music fans were watching closely for subsequent releases from acts like Nirvana and Alice in Chains. As a result of the success of these acts other bands were able to emerge and take the world by storm. The timing was perfect for acts like Soundgarden, Silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam (who I will get to shortly). Everything was ripe for Nirvana’s follow up release.
I alluded to ‘Nevermind’ earlier. I am not going to go into too much detail here because “I have miles to go before I sleep”. Everybody knows that ‘Nevermind’ is an essential album. It was a turning point for Nirvana and it epitomizes an important chapter in music history. The album marked the debut of drummer Dave Grohl who continues to be a prominent figure more than a quarter of a century later. For Nirvana, at the time they knew they needed to release something that would make a statement. It had to work within the framework of the evolving scene, but it needed to test the boundaries and push the narrative. They wouldn’t settle for any clichés. The result was what Kurt Cobain described this way.
The Knack and the Bay City Rollers getting molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath“
Kurt Cobain
Cobain was unapologetic about his range of musical interests. He was as comfortable listening to ABBA and The Beatles or David Bowie as he was listening to The Pixies or The Sex Pistols. This open-mindedness to songwriting and creativity bore ‘Nevermind’. In essence, ‘Nevermind’ was an invitation for everybody and everything to just throw away any pretense and be yourself. Literally, ‘Come as You Are’. Stop the charade.
Of course, the elephant in the room is the fact that Kurt Cobain repeats over and over again at the end of the song “no I don’t have a gun” which in light of the fateful conclusion of his life has been pointed to as one of music’s most ironic forms of lyrical foreshadowing.
Another intriguing thing about ‘Come as You Are’ is it has been suggested the song’s riff is a blatant rip off of ‘Eighties’ by an English post punk band called Killing Joke. It is widely reported that this act considered legal action but opted not to, due to the tragic circumstances that ensued. Singer Jaz Coleman explained:
(We were) very pissed off about that, but it’s obvious to everyone. We had two separate musicologists’ reports saying it was. Our publisher sent their publisher a letter saying it was and they went ‘Boo, never heard of ya!’, but the hysterical thing about Nirvana saying they’d never heard of us was that they’d already sent us a Christmas card!”
Jaz Coleman
He added this quip in another interview:
It’s a short f–king life, mate – we could be going fishing or something sensible”
Jaz Coleman
Ironically, another British punk era called The Damned insisted that Killing Joke borrowed ‘Eighties’ from their song called ‘Life Goes On’ so the list goes on. What is the old saying about ‘three chords and the truth’?
Here is ‘Eighties’ by Killing Joke:
Fittingly, here is ‘Life Goes On’ by The Damned:
Naturally, Dave Grohl managed to smooth everything over by playing drums on Killing Joke’s 2003 self-titled album ‘Killing Joke’. A couple of interesting points here: The first is that Killing Joke has the distinction of being a band to have two self-titled alums in their library. They were going to call it ‘Axis of Evil’ after the Bush regime’s ‘weapons of mass destruction’ crusade, but they went the self-titled route. The second interesting point is; Dave Grohl laid down the drum tracks after all the other tracks were complete. This is a very rare approach to recording which Grohl found to be a unique.
It’s the first record I’ve ever done where the drums come last. Usually drums are first. It’s nice, though, because once you put the drums down and all the percussion is done and everything, it’s done. You have a finished song. And also, all the programming and stuff that Andy is doing, the rhythms that they came up with are great. It’s not conventional “rock drumming”, it’s not like conventional rock rhythms. It’s challenging. Everything is a challenge.”
Dave Grohl
Other drummers considered to take part in this project were John Dolmayan from System of a Down and Danny Carey from Tool. When Dave Grohl heard the tracks, he was intrigued and offered to play the whole album…for free. Ever the class act, he gave his time for this project. What a guy.
The story continues and it gets dark.
As we all know, Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994. This is well documented, so I won’t go into detail. See ‘Heart Shaped Box’ and ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.
The death of Kurt Cobain in 1994 had a significant impact on Layne Staley who was struggling with depression and drug addiction. The captivating Alice in Chains singer had a strong support system working in his orbit and they did everything they could to channel his attention toward positive projects.
Alice in Chains released their follow up album to ‘Facelift’ in 1992; the critically acclaimed ‘Dirt’. This was followed by ‘Jar of Flies’ which was an acoustic EP that brought out the best in the act from a fans perspective. The problem was, in the background the band was in turmoil. Bassist, Mike Starr was fired at the end of the ‘Dirt’ tour. He was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne bassist, Mike Inez. While this was happening, Layne Staley was in a state of deterioration on a personal level, but the material on ‘Jar of Flies’ indicated that he was at a creative peak. By the time ‘Jar of Flies’ was released in January of 1994 the band was at a crossroads. The album was critically acclaimed, and it sold well but Staley’s condition had become so bad that the band opted not to tour. Layne Staley entered rehab and at the invitation of Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, he participated in a project called Mad Season along with Seattle musicians, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees, and John Baker Saunders of The Walkabouts. This was an olive branch presented by McCready because his Pearl Jam bandmates were deeply impacted by Kurt Cobain’s death and they were terrified at their friend, Staley’s prospects. As a group the Mad Season mates hoped the creative outlet they offered would by a positive diversion. Although the group performed together and released an album called ‘Above’ in 1995 the effort to help Layne Staley fell short. The project resulted in some strong material which included ‘River of Deceit’. Check out these lyrics:
My pain… is self-chosen At least so the prophet says I could either burn Or cut off my pride and buy some time A head full of lies is the weight Tied to my waist The river of deceit pulls down The only direction we flow is down Down, oh down.”
Mad Season – River of Deceit
Here is the song. It is so honest. So sad.
To continue this portrayal of how interconnected the ‘Seattle’ scene was, I will move on to Pearl Jam bassist Stone Gossard, who had his own side project called ‘Brad’. This is yet another cool story. Along with drummer Regan Hagar, (who also played with Gossard and Pearl Jam bassist, Jeff Ament in Mother Love Bone) and Seattle songwriter Shawn Smith, Brad served as a strong creative outlet while Pearl Jam took a break from touring their hugely successful debut album, ‘Ten’. Brad’s first album was called ‘Shame’. It was released to a tepid response in 1993. It truly is a shame that it did not receive more attention because it has some great material.
Here is a funny story about how Brad chose the band name. It seems the ensemble wanted to call themselves ‘Shame’ but they quickly discovered that a fledgling act featuring a musician named Brad Wilson called themselves ‘Shame’. Gossard and his bandmates reached out to Wilson in an effort to acquire the rights to the name, but their request was declined. The group simply shrugged their shoulders and called the album ‘Shame’ and named their band ‘Brad’ in an ironic homage to the reluctant musician.
Brad followed up ‘Shame’ with four other releases between 1995 and 2012. Here is a taste of the work ‘Brad’ created from a live, in studio performance on KEXP in Seattle where they worked to support their final release as a band called ‘United We Stand’. This is really good.
As you watch this video you will see Stone Gossard take a back seat role. He gives a lot of credit to the driving force behind ‘Brad’. That person was Shawn Smith, who was a beautiful songwriter and strong vocalist with an artistic mystique. As you go through his library of music that includes projects such as Satchel, Pigeonhed and The Twilight Singers, you detect a wide range of influence. One fascinating item is that in his own words, he attributed his love of music and desire to create, to one artist; Prince. It is always interesting to see where musicians get their inspiration.
Throughout this post I have done my best to weave this ‘Seattle/Pacific northwest music scene’ together to show how connected the artists who emerged were. It was a fascinating exercise which opened the door to some fantastic material. It sent me down a rabbit hole and quite frankly, in today’s world there is really no reason to come out too soon. I hope you are inspired to explore some of these artists along with their deep tracks and side projects. This is often where the most honest creativity is borne because it is not bound by expectations.
In addition to the theme illustrated above, here is the significance to this day over the past 55 years.
April 5th – A summary of its’ significance:
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam was born on April 5, 1965
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana committed suicide on April 5, 1994
Layne Staley of Alice in Chains died of a heroin/cocaine ‘speedball’ overdose on April 5, 2002
The guitar statue tribute in Aberdeen, Washington was unveiled on April 5, 2011
Shawn Smith of Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed and The Twilight Singers died as a result of complications from diabetes on this day in 2019.
To me, Shawn Smith is the unsung hero of this post.
Cheers Shawn!
Just as an added bonus, may it be noted that one of many pop influences for Kurt Cobain was the artistic brilliance of ABBA and their ability to blend their artistic talent and great vision to create great music. Well, April 5th just happens to be Agnetha Faltskog’s 70th birthday. Here is ‘Dancing Queen’.
Influence can come from many places if you look at it right. Open your mind.
Back to today’s feature song ‘Come as You Are’, here is a great cover by one of my favourite cover artists, Leo Marachiolli doing his version along with his wife Stine, back in 2017.
To send you off with a smile on your face and a dancing groove, here is a reggae version of ‘Come as You Are’ by Little Roy.
Dance like nobody is watching.
To paraphrase Kurt Cobain:
This is my special message…I am done. I can go home.
Ted Tocks Covers 
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Originally posted on April 5, 2020
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