Rock of Ages/Ages of Rock

As I posted yesterday, I'm thinking about historical periods, how they're defined, how one decade or century shades into the next, or how things, historically, can change instantly.

Spin magazine debunks the popular idea that Nirvana, and grunge generally, killed hair metal. It points out that toward the end of the eighties, several hair groups gave up their makeup and teased coifs, stripping down their music and their look to the basics. This was largely thanks to Axl Rose. (He himself had teased hair in the first Guns n'Roses video, then went natural in the next one.)

Hole>Nirvana?

Hole was a better band than Nirvana. #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion

— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) December 4, 2013

Hole had some good songs such as "Malibu" and "Doll Parts."

Courtney Love was seen as a Yoko Ono--not a serious artist in her own right but a talentless gold-digger/social climber latching onto a brillian musician. So in the popular imagination, especially when Kurt Cobain killed himself almost twenty years ago, Hole was just a footnote.