Nirvana vs. Portishead
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=129048
Printed Date: March 06 2025 at 18:19
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Topic: Nirvana vs. Portishead
Posted By: Logan
Subject: Nirvana vs. Portishead
Date Posted: May 26 2022 at 16:16
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These are two bands that were very big in the 90s that each only released three studio albums and various live albums. Nirvana (studio albums): Bleach (1989) Nevermind (1991) In Utero (1993) And a notable live album is MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) Portishead (studio albums): Dummy (1994) Portishead (1997) Third (2008) And a notable live album is Roseland NYC Live (1998) I like Nirvana, but I love Portishead. Dummy was the first album I got into, and then I heard the self-titled which I liked, and Third was instant love (my fave for quite a while), and then last night I listened to the self-titled and really loved it. I haven't heard all three Nirvana albums in full. On a side-note, Les Revenants (The Returned) was one of my favourite TV shows of the past decade, and Mogwai did the soundtrack. Mogwai's The Hut (which is a theme that comes up various times in the series) sounds so similar to the earlier Portishead track, Over. Maybe not surprising that I love the Portishead albums and Mogwai's soundtrack. |
Replies:
Posted By: projeKct
Date Posted: May 26 2022 at 19:44
| Portishead sounds better to me. |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 26 2022 at 23:16
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I like Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a gifted songwriter and their songs aren't as simple or straigt forward as some seem to think. Third probably made me revist those two first Portishead-albums and listen to them differently than before, I think. Of course the latter band were always more interesting than it seems they were given credit for back in the 1990's. I haven't heard their live album, but saw them live the same year it was released. Beth Gibbons was the coolest, most amazing singer I had ever seen: hanging on to the microphone stand as if she couldn't stand up properly, constantly chain smoking while singing her heart out in a way no recording can capture... and backed by the tightest band I had ever heard (well I hadn't really heard all that much yet, but still). Both bands have left us an amazing catalogue of song and all those "rockers" can do far worse than Nirvana. But Portishead is more relevant to my field of interests.
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Posted By: Gordy
Date Posted: May 26 2022 at 23:26
| Portishead by a wide margin. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 00:48
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I have a great love for the mass of music that came out of Seattle in the late ‘80s and early ‘90#, and have a considerable chunk of it in my cd collection, but Nirvana never did it for me, I hones,T have never really been sure why, but I just never really liked them, apart from maybe the odd song or two from their Unplugged album (and, yes, their Bowie cover was one of those one or two). Portishead, on the other hand we’re magnificent, so for me this is an incredibly easy pol. There is simply no contest between the two bands. ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 03:21
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Portishead. They're more interesting. Nirvana were ok. Nevermind is one of those albums that 'everyone' of that 90's generation had in their collection, like Tubular Bells, DSOTM an Rumours were in every music lovers collection in the 70's. I like the drive, anger and energy of Nevermind, but overall I lost interest in Nirvana pretty quickly after that. I think Pearl Jam were a better 'grunge' band. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 04:08
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"I shan't choose between them" I like one album of each band, and that's how it is. ------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 04:12
| Portishead |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 04:50
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Interesting, I thought this would be closer. 7 to one in the votes, one shan't, and every post favouring a band is favouring Portishead. I know the second vote cast was for Nirvana, which had followed my vote for Portishead. Like some others, it really is no contest for me either, although I like various Nirvana -- not to be confused with the Nirvana we have in PA in Proto-Prog. Along with Stereolab, Pram, Broadcast, Swans, Boards of Canada, Air, Current 93 and some others, it's a favourite of mine that I got into for 90s albums/ music. Actually, I got into 2004's Talkie Walkie by Air a little earlier than 1998's Moon Safari. While I heard various grunge on the radio and noticed its effect, I pretty much missed that scene. I think I was just a little old for it as I was already into my 20s when it became prominent and smelled more like spleen spirits than teen spirit. I guess of the major grunge acts I knew, I liked Soundgarden the most. I would have loved to see Portishead in concert, maybe there still be that chance. I just missed out on seeing Stereolab in concert a few years ago. By the way, I thought of this topic because I was thinking that it is such a shame that Portishead released so few albums (plus they released some singles after Third that I like) and so I started thinking about some others with only the three studio albums. Nick Drake was the first to come to my mind, and Drake would have been an interesting one perhaps to compare to Kurt Cobain, but that topic could be more morbid than I would like. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 05:53
Nirvana was overexposed and overplayed back in the day, you couldn't escape them, wherever you lived. Obviously people got tired of them, I know I did.
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Logan wrote:Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 06:02
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Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 06:25
Never liked Nirvana. Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden, would be my choices for the Seattle scene. Not familiar with Portishead, but with the videos provided, they aren't my pint of ale. I do respect Cobain because he loved this parody Weird Al did.  |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 06:33
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I like and respect Portishead, but Nirvana had a much more direct impact on me. Great band, and their music for me hasn't aged at all. A side in me wants aggressive music, but most of the bands who do such music miss me for one reason or another. Nirvana is one of the few who really get me (others are Killing Joke and Kong). In our own music we even nicked some bits of Smells Like Teen Spirit and put them into something proggy at the time. Top quality pairing, I've got to say.
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 06:58
I like an ale with a frothy "head". I remember that Weird Al one. Only the first video I posted is Portishead, the other is Mogwai, and I only included those because of the similarities. Not that I would expect you to like this either, out tastes are significantly different so not a recommendation, but for others, this is one of the group's prettiest songs I think (and something of an oddity for Portishead). "The Rip" has been covered by a contemporary ...head, Radiohead. "Threads" from Portishead's Third sounds quite Nirvana-like, come to think of it. |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 07:21
As I live only a few hours drive from Seattle, I might have been expected to notice the whole Grunge scene and Nirvana more, but I spent part of the 90s working in Japan (md 90s. and post-Nirvana). Aside from the Japanese music I heard there, I was hearing more quirky pop things like The Cardigans and Bjork. I was exposed to Portishead in part because I was quite into the club scene in the 90s here in Vancouver, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I really got into Portishead, which was due to listening to a 90s late night radio sketch comedy plus music program -- it (Blue Jam) also got me into Stereolab and various "boozy-woozy" music. That said, for the middle-aged and up I would think for many that it would have been enough time to get over that over-saturation to return to, and appreciate or re-appreciate the music and re-evaluate the music. Nirvana is considered a classic and still important and relevant by many. And I would expect that some of the younger generations would have discovered it without the baggage of having been overexposed to it at the time. And then of course it is one thing to hear the radio "hits" and another to really listen to the albums. Anyway, I have noted a significant amount of appreciation for Nirvana's music over my years here.
Grungy or not, the music smelled fresh (like teen spirit) at the time and still smells fresh to me now. I like Killing Joke; haven't heard much Kong. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 07:25
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 07:39
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^ From cover song to cover song: This is Portishead covering ABBA's SOS (I prefer it to the original, and I like ABBA). |
Posted By: The Anders
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 12:00
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I like both, but they are like apples and oranges. Two very different musical worlds. |
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 12:06
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Rather hard to make a choice, both are not part of my regular daily listenings Two different styles imho. Think I still got Portishead first couple of CDs near Nir ;-) vana unplugged. |
Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 13:18
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The closest I come to owning a Nirvana album is this release from Aranis. https://aranis.bandcamp.com/album/smells-like-aranis" rel="nofollow - https://aranis.bandcamp.com/album/smells-like-aranis ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 13:29
Different styles as you say, but I would also count some overlap. I know you excluded Portishead's Third from your post, but "Threads", for instance, does remind me of "Something in the Way" and these definitely have stylistic relations to my ears: While Portishead's Third has similarities to the earlier albums, it did move away from the earlier trip hop.
I should get that or at least listen in full at some time. I love Aranis and have most of the Aranis albums. |
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 13:58
Different styles as you say, but I would also count some overlap. I know you excluded Portishead's Third from your post, but "Threads", for instance, does remind me of "Something in the Way" and these definitely have stylistic relations to my ears: I never listened to the third Portishead's CD , I'll give it a try thank you Logan |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 14:24
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^ Mailo, while it is quite different from the earlier Posrtishead, and you may not enjoy it, I hope you like it. I love it. It is more on the Krautrock side (that opening track), with folk and folktronica and a little more alternative/ experimental rock. It's also the album that I consider most Prog-related by Portishead. I hadn't tried until not that long ago myself. I neglected it thinking that it didn't have as high a reputation as the earlier albums. I could understand how Beth Gibbons vocals on this (she is versatile) might be off-putting to some, but this first track hooked me immediately with its groove. It is one that I'd recommend to Can fans and the like. I love the whole album, but recently the self-titled has been getting the most spins. I find all three studio albums to be great, and love various live performances. This I enjoyed very much: |
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 14:39
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[QUOTE=Logan] "It is more on the Krautrock side (that opening track), with folk and folktronica and a little more alternative/ experimental rock. It's also the album that I consider most Prog-related by Portishead" these little clues make me mouth-watering 
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Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: May 27 2022 at 15:19
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Nirvana, easy. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |