‘Nevermind’ the hype — it’s all in your heart

So it’s the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” this week and everyone is reminiscing about this music that changed the industry — this grunge.

I think Seattle blogger Chris Burlingame is right from the numbers standpoint when he says, “Nirvana was hardly as ubiquitous in 1992 or 1993 as we like to remember.” Afterall, the majority of people still were buying “pop” records.

Nirvana was a big deal — a HUGE deal — to the sorts of people inclined to listen to that which went against the grain and/or teenage girls who had a jones on for Kurt Cobain’s sexy anti-swagger. I mean, honestly, if you were living in the Northwest in the early ’90s, you couldn’t really escape Nirvana-mania. Flip on one of the local rock radio stations and you were bound to hear one of the band’s tunes at any moment.

When the general populace discusses “grunge,” Nirvana is usually the first thing they bring up. Nirvana didn’t create grunge, but I suppose to some degree did make it culturally accessible. It’s a fashion as much as it is a sound. Even people who didn’t listen to Nirvana could be seen sporting roughed-up jeans, cardigan sweaters and/or plaid (often flannel) shirts. Grunge, it seemed, was bigger than Nirvana, but it probably wouldn’t have been if it wasn’t FOR Nirvana.

Pretty sure Kurt had this same sweater in red.

Identity Festival: A tits and bros party

While plenty of Seattle folks were getting glittered by Ke$ha at the WaMu Theater last Saturday, I took my tight-ass rocker pants to the Gorge Amphitheatre for the nationwide touring Identity Festival, a full day of electronic music by some of the hottest acts around right now.

Besides the Crystal Method set I saw at last year’s Voodoo Experience in New Orleans, the last electronic music event I went to was the USC fourth anniversary party in 2000.

Initially, I wasn’t even much of an electronic music fan, but because some of my best high school friends started going to raves, I started going to raves. I liked to be with my friends and I liked to party. The music grew on me, however, and I did become a moderate fan of the genre and its many branches.

In my opinion, electronic music is better now. I listen to a lot more of it. Dubstep seemed kind of weird at first, and I didn’t really get it, until I started paying attention. Glitch-hop was an immediate favorite.

High School Art Class – Pretty Lights:

Since my raving days, electronic music and its scene has definitely changed, and it was interesting not knowing what to expect when I went into the Identity Festival last weekend. It was also interesting discovering what’s different now, and even more what’s stuck around all these years. Here’s a breakdown of some things I observed while I was there:

• I was overdressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Yes, it was certainly a hot day, but if I know the Gorge (and I do), it cools down at night, so I like to be prepared. As far as I could see, I was the only female person wearing long pants. The rest were either wearing shorts, tutus or bikinis. Almost all of them wore bikini tops. Even as a person who is not sexually attracted to girls, I couldn’t help but stare at all the cleavage. It was seriously everywhere.
• Through this, I came to realize I may be the only girl left on the planet who doesn’t have butt dimples.

Yeah, these things.

A proper introduction

Hi! I’m Abby Holmes or, as I’m known on the Internet, abbytron.

You may remember me from such blogs as Radio Free Chicago, Give It a Spin, Another Festive Compromise and Indie College.

This is my first very own WordPress blog, so bear with me as I get it going. I hope to use this space (in addition to all the other places I write) to write about music, including news, reviews and making sweet mixes for y’all.

I keep up with new music in all of my favorite places: Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp, not to mention all the other places it happens to appear. Music is pretty much the thing I think about most of the time. Some may say I “just can’t get enough.”

I’m about to have a lot of time on my hands, so hopefully that time will be an opportunity for me to focus more on said obsession. My goal, or “mission statement,” is to do my part in making sure the whole world can know about the amazing music they may be missing out on. Simple as that. I just want you to know it. I want you hear it. I want you to love it.

This is why I’ve named the blog “hearingade.” Because fortunately, life didn’t give me those figurative lemons. It gave me ears. And with those ears, I am able to experience one of the most amazing things in the world. This is hearingade, where you can drink up all the musical wonders available to you.

I sure hope you’re thirsty, because there’s plenty to go around.