How Nirvana Taught Me It's All BS

But not how you think

Fair warning: I get a little salty below. You might even say I “hulk out.”

But before we dive in, I’d like to reflect on the words of Abraham Lincoln, who said:

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to post on X (formerly Twitter) and remove all doubt.”

Good ol’ Abe was ahead of his time, and that’s probably why the simulation had to remove him.

(Too soon?)

Anyway, more on that below, but first…

RED XMAS is sold out (!) at Scout Comics

As the holidays are fast approaching, this is as great a time as any to let you know that RED XMAS, the graphic novel by me, Alexandre O. Philippe, Fabio Ramacci, and Ilaria Chiocca is SOLD OUT at Scout Comics.

But there appears to be one copy (!) left at Amazon.

And they’ll even deliver it in time for Christmas.

Here’s the pitch:

“When Mrs. Claus dies in a tragic toy accident, Santa vows to make all those little brats pay! But when his rampage kicks off at the home of FBI agent Ellie Tewksberry, he’s messed with the wrong lady. Mama Bear will travel to the ends of the earth to save her son—even if it means teaming up with the Easter Bunny, the American Santa Society (A.S.S.), and her wannabe-elf ex-husband. This December, Santa must die!”

Haha, sounds like a laugh riot.

OK, enough shilling.

Smells Like (Artificial) Teen Spirit

My post about the 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s In Utero album reminded me of this LA Times article I read around the 30th anniversary of Nevermind.

If you’re ancient like me, you remember this moment in pop history very clearly.

Nirvana released Nevermind in 1991, and its massive popularity unleashed a wave of new music (grunge) that upended the music industry and all but buried any other genre.

Right?

From the man who produced Nevermind (emphasis mine):

…[A]s producer and Garbage co-founder Butch Vig points out, this perceived change in taste was driven in large part by industry gatekeepers, most of them white and college-educated, rather than by fans.

Wait. So you’re saying no big change in buying habits happened…

…just that rock insiders were bored and wanted something else to be popular?

Rick Krim, MTV’s director of talent and artist relations at the time:

“We were ready for a change,” he says, even before grunge blew up. “Our mindset was, Let’s shake it up and try something new.”

Meanwhile, as grunge was supposedly taking over the world, acts like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith continued having big hits well into the 90s, including tours that outgrossed supposedly more popular acts.

Even, shall we say, “less illustrious” hair metal acts like Mr. Big scored big enough hits to put their kids through college thirty years later.

Grunge was cool, yes.

It was influential, no doubt.

But it wasn’t the huge success we were told it was.

“Nirvana wasn’t really mainstream,” says Mark Kates, another Geffen exec who handled A&R and alternative radio promotion. “They were successful, and their impact was huge. But it’s not like they took over Top 40.”

In fact…

The week that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100, the song was bested by hits from Color Me Badd, Mariah Carey and MC Hammer; “Nevermind’s” second single, “Come as You Are,” got no higher than No. 32, well behind a down-the-middle smash such as Vanessa Williams’ “Save the Best for Last” (which, as it happens, bumped Mr. Big’s “To Be With You” from No. 1).

And as for the genre it spawned?

For all its influence, though, grunge remained a relatively limited commercial phenomenon, at least compared with juggernauts like Garth Brooks, Michael Bolton and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack.

Maybe the only thing this proves to you is that the mainstream has terrible taste.

And maybe you have a point.

(Or maybe you don’t, you elitist!)

But the bottom line is that it was all BS.

We were sold a false narrative, all because some (in the words of Butch Vig: “white, college-educated”) critics were bored.

Which brings me to the latest Twitter drama.

What do you call a Sub-Tweet on Substack? Sub-Substack?

Which Twitter drama am I talking about?

Doesn’t matter.

This is an evergreen post. It’ll apply to the next one and the one from five years ago.

OK, deep breath:

Is the guy who said that thing really the big turd everyone on Twitter says he is?

Possibly.

But it’s also possible that a bunch of critics are bored.

And before you go amplifying the latest drama they’re trying to sell you, you owe it to everyone involved to understand the truth.

The great (?) thing about tweets is that they’re right there for you to read.

You can go straight to the source and decide for yourself if it meets your personal standard of douchebaggery.

Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t.

But don’t believe something’s true just because a lot of people on Twitter told you it is.

And if you don’t have time to do the research? To dig through every tweet that’s been ever been twat?

Maybe don’t say anything.

Especially if you’re someone with a big audience.

More True Lies

Here are other “truths” I heard on Twitter this past year:

Anthologies are dead!

Really? NIGHTMARE THEATER 3-D did just fine, thanks.

Kickstarter is slumping!

Hmm. As lots of people have pointed out, the comics Kickstarter space is growing.

In fact, in 2023, I tied my personal best in funding from two years ago.

Is the Kickstarter market adjusting? Sure.

Do any markets stay hot always? Of course not.

Did I want more funding and more backers? Does my dog want to eat any old shit she finds in the street?

But the fact remains, if I look at it objectively, the five Kickstarters I ran did just as well this year as the five I ran when prevailing wisdom said we were in boom times.

So, yeah, the game may not be as easy as it was a few years ago.

But we’re still in a golden age for crowdfunding.

Bill Bixby is Trending!

Wait. That one’s true.

And a great excuse to post this banger of an opening title sequence:

See?

I warned you I’d hulk out.

And FURTHERMORE…!

…

Hoo, boy. I did go off a bit, didn’t I?

Anyone still reading this?

Hello?

Oh well.

Whatever.

Nevermind.

- Clay

P.S. This is my last email of 2023. Thanks for reading, happy holidays, and see you in the new year!