Originally Posted by: RaskolnikovSee, that's one of the things that makes AiC such a great band to me; Sean Kinney's drumming.

Most drummers are lucky to have one "signature beat" in their entire career.

Sean averages about three or four per album.

And it's not that they're all technically impossible (not even close), but they're inventive and tricky and interesting.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Sean Kinney is a really good drummer. One of my faves.

[QUOTE=aschleman]That's probably the most perfect two sentences to come out of this thread... haha

Drummers... Dave Grohl is a great musician... Not overpowering behind a guitar... but he was the best guitarist in Nirvana... if that says anything... His drumming for Nirvana was more or less the background music to all the songs. Like was said... it's thoughtless beats that compliment the 3 chords that Cobain would sloppily play and whine over... It was never meant to stretch the boundaries of the sonic mix... AIC always had the type of drum tracks that you could listen to without even having the guitars, bass, or vocals in the mix.

Guitars... Jerry Cantrell versus Kurt Cobain... honestly... I mean... come on... Out of all fairness to Nirvana I will neglect any album that AIC has done with electric leads from Cantrell... and we'll simply compare the "Unplugged" sessions... oh.... wait... that wouldn't be fair either...

Vocals... Kurt Cobain had a unique way about him that could be appreciated. He had that "I'm going to mumble and I don't care if you can't understand me" mentallity... which embodied the grunge theme... Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrells vocals were more musically inspired and less "dying stray cat" inspired... "Rooster", "Angry Chair", "Wrong", "Excuses", "Heaven Beside You"... all unbelievably vocal tracks...

I agree with pretty much everything you said there, but I still like Nirvana more. For me it all comes down to listenability (if that is indeed a word). Like I said before, Alice in Chains is one of my favourite bands, easily in my top 10, but they had a lot of songs that I simply cannot stand. Dirt is absolutely 100% amazing, and so is Jar of Flies. I have never heard Sap or the MTV Unplugged one, so I really can't speak for either. But I can only really listen to about half of Facelift, and it's the same with their self-titled 1993 album. A lot of those songs come across to me as filler. Intense, screeching filler.

A lot of this is due to Layne's voice. Yes, he was very good, but sometimes I think he was a little bit too Axl-esque. Wailing a note and holding it through 2 verses and a chorus is all well and good, but not in every damn song.

Kurt Cobain did kind of the same thing, but he wasn't as good a singer and his voice would crack halfway through. That to me is far more interesting to listen to.

And it's the same with the issue of guitars. Jerry Cantrell is obviously amazing, but this doesn't mean he was always interesting. I'd take a short and sweet atonal Cobain feedback solo over a 3-minute Cantrell solo that drags on and on. But that's just me. :)

As for Dave Grohl, same goes. He's a better player than Kurt, but I find him incredibly boring. The Foo Fighters are guilty of using that homogenized distortion tone which can be found in most of today's rock. It sounds like someone went over the soundwaves with a power sander and smoothed it down, getting rid of all the grit and growl that makes me like rock.



In conclusion, that's everything I can possibly think of to say on said matter.