In a fresh dialogue with Rock Feed, Krist Novoselic and Kim Thayil from 3rd Secret unveiled their thoughts on their most recent work, ‘The 2nd 3rd Secret,’ while also revisiting the halcyon days of their iconic roots with Nirvana and Soundgarden.
In the face of a hypothetical about the fame trajectory of their previous bands in today’s digital age, Novoselic shared an insightful perspective.
Probing deeper, the interviewer asked:
“Given today’s tech-savvy landscape, if grunge was just now emerging in 2023, could we expect the same meteoric rise for bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden?”
Novoselic thoughtfully mused:
“Not likely, and here’s my take on it. Rewind to the early ’90s, and rock barely made a blip on the top charts. The genre was teetering on predictability.”
He then painted a vivid panorama of that era’s rock scene, remarking:
“While we had bands that resonated with crowds and produced remarkable tunes, rock was yearning for a fresh breeze. Titans like Bon Jovi, Poison, and Guns N’ Roses were in their prime, but there was a vacuum, a need for something avant-garde.”
Speaking of the tidal wave Nirvana brought to the scene, Novoselic recalled:
“Out of the blue, a new rock wave swept the scene. While bands like the Beatles, Black Flag, and Black Sabbath influenced Nirvana’s sound, our souls were drenched in punk. However, we didn’t bind ourselves to its stringent doctrines.”
Elaborating on these ‘doctrines,’ he shared a nostalgic snippet:
“The ’80s saw punk purists, who in their radical fervor, discarded their rock anthologies, viewing them as tainted and the artists as misleading.”
Echoing this sentiment, Dave Grohl, in a 2021 heart-to-heart with the Howard Stern Show, had reflected on Nirvana’s inaugural album, ‘Bleach’:
“It was a roller coaster of raw punk energy, but amid the chaos, ‘About a Girl’ stood out. The track could seamlessly blend into a vintage Beatles playlist, reminiscent of the Lennon-McCartney era. It was a revelation of unexpected versatility.”
