Nirvana was a decent band -- not the best, nor the most original of their "scene". Then they signed with Geffen. Geffen, being a business genius, told them not to lay on the distortion pedals all the time. They broke through. Suddenly they were stars, having gone from sub pop to top of the pops in the course of a year.
Ignorant press types started calling them "Grunge." They were never "Grunge", they replied. "Grunge" is the sound a band like the Melvins put out.
"Ooh, so the Melvins are to Nirvana as the Misfits are to Metallica?"
Clearly there's no reasoning with these people. Then they publish your guitar tabs, you do an "MTV Unplugged" bit, and everyone starts referring to you as "the artist".
They don't understand or care about the scene, the context of your sound, or even your own strengths and limitations. What's left to do?
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And crappy musicians have rocked like thunder long before Nirvana. Have you listened to any Black Sabbath guitar solos recently? Iggy and the Stooges learned to play "on the job", and yet their first album is a recognized classic.
On the other hand, Rush puts out these precious pieces with weird time signatures and Dungeons and Dragons-inspired lyrics, and they just don't move the masses.
The Onion article is hilarious, btw