![]() What follows is the roughest, sloppiest, maybe worst rendition of the Zeppelin song ever-complete with solo! But the song rocks so thoroughly it staggers crossover-stepping into rawk territory. Somebody shouts out “Heartbreaker!” and somebody else sheepishly admits: “I don’t know how to play it.” Rising through a shitty house-party recording comes moaning amps and squealing feedback. This set is clearly targeted at serious Nirvana fans (skimmers are directed toward 2002’s Courtney-approved greatest-hits compilation), but its appeal extends to just about anybody who enjoys the sound of an electric guitar being strangled to death. But the dust has settled and With the Lights Out is here, complete with 81 songs (68 previously unreleased), and a DVD of videotaped shows, basement parties and on-the-road tomfoolery (grunge-style: unloading your own gear from the van, sleeping on foam pads, getting lost, etc.). Then there was the ongoing legal battle between Courtney Love and Cobain bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic that kept a collection of rarities shelved back in 2001. Yahoo groups, post mortems, college essays and video tributes. ![]() Which is pretty much how things have gone for the past ten years. All talking at once, obscuring the music. But instead, as the final notes played, they laid on a collage of people who’d called in during the day to grieve and share and vent. As the marathon came to an end and “All Apologies” slipped into its coda, I figured it would peter out and then we’d have a moment of silence in the form of dead air. When authorities finally confirmed that the body was indeed Kurt Cobain’s, the perhaps-too-influential LA radio station KROQ decided to pay tribute by playing all four Nirvana LPs back-to-back.
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