Negative Creep -Velvet Revolver

If Nirvana were the Heroes of their story then there had to be a cabal of evil Villains. If they had come to slay dragons, topple kings and ring in a revolution it was quite clearly Hair Metal they had set their sights on hunting down. Or that’s how the story goes.

The band were on record stating that they were not going to grow up to be Aerosmith. And yet we know Kurt rated the hell out of Rocks and Toys In The Attic. Guns N’ Roses on the other hand? Well they were only a few short years ahead of Nirvana when they revolutionized rock themselves. And look what decadence they dragged in. You could (If you wanted to) blame the huge hair metal pop rock scene of 1990 on Guns N’ Roses.

So the media went with that. Pot shots in interviews, MTV award show beefs, huge epic mountain top video ballads versus raw punk noise. Little did they report that Duff McKagan and Kurt Cobain’s back stories overlapped. Nor that many of one bands fans were also fans of the other. It was possible to see grunge bands open for GNR. It was also quite normal to see Hard rock bands playing alongside Nirvana and getting on famously. For the press though? Divide and rule is the only rule.

All good things must come to an end. Pretty soon after Kurt and Duff shared that last flight home together (it’s now legend that Duff was the last person to see Cobain alive) Guns N’ Roses came to an end as a good thing. They kept going for two more decades in various incarnations but if it ain’t got Slash and Duff it ain’t GNR… and now it does have, it costs a fortune to see ’em.

This issue was addressed directly when another grunge icon teamed up with the lions share of Gun N’ Roses. Introducing Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots fronting post 20th century rock super group Velvet Revolver.

You can hear the relish Slash is playing that primal riff with just as clearly as you can hear Matt Sorum upping the Grohl quota (OK I know Grohl didn’t play on the first Nirvana album factoid fans). To hear Scott get a go at the premier material from his scene after a career of being called a second waver?

It’s a bit tasty. That’s not me creeping. I find the whole thing quite positive.

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