Nirvana - School
Sometimes I think that out in the ether somewhere there is this oil well of artistic creativity and greatness, and you’re lucky to get a few drops of it here and there over the years. I also think that, even given all the bullshit that came later, for about 18 months in 1989-1990 Nirvana mainlined directly into the motherlode of this oil well. “Bleach” could be, probably is, the greatest debut record ever. Punkmetal stoner rock to its fullest expression.
The jump from Nirvana to Arlo Guthrie is a bit of an odd one, but years ago Guthrie did a bit live about how he didn’t think people really wrote songs. He said that songs are just floating around out there, and that sometimes you can catch one and write it down before it floats away again.
“That’s the thing about Bob Dylan,” Guthrie would say, “that guy always seems to have a pen on him.”
