The Shins are the new Nirvana....
FACE THE MUSIC
By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY
Following in Cobain's Footsteps The Great Expectations Faced by the Shins
Recall Nirvana's Ascent to Alt-Rock Glory February 14, 2007
Welcome to Face the Music, a new Online Journal column about music past and present.
In the 2004 movie "Garden State," there's a scene in which Natalie Portman hands her headphones over to Zach Braff and declares: "You gotta hear this one song -- it'll change your life."
I remember leaning forward in my seat in the theater after that line. Could any composition live up to that kind of hype? The song that then swelled over the soundtrack was "New Slang" by the Shins. Much later, when I was researching the band's background on the Web, I had to smile at the historical connection. The Shins shared a label with another group that was forced to grapple with great expectations: Nirvana.
Last month the Shins released their third and most buzzed-about album, "Wincing the Night Away," on the Seattle-based indie label Sub Pop Records. They recently performed on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" -- a coup for a band that has yet to score a gold record. The band's new single "Phantom Limb" performed well on the rock charts. And while the Shins' debut album, "Oh, Inverted World," only shipped 2,700 copies in its first week, "Wincing the Night Away" shipped an impressive 250,000 copies. The album also debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, selling 118,000 copies in its first week -- a huge commercial breakthrough for a previously low-profile act. (Before that, the highest the Shins had been on the album charts was No. 86.)
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The Shins
Some purists are griping that the Shins aren't truly an indie band since media giant Time Warner owns a minority stake in Sub Pop. While many reviews of the new record are positive, some critics have complained that the band played it too safe in a bid for sales. So the pressure is on and the knives are out: Will a group that formed in 1997 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, end up going Hollywood? Will the band be able to live up to the heavy promotion and retain its indie charm?
Nirvana faced some of the same kinds of questions when they released their third studio album, "In Utero," in 1993. Nirvana's 1989 debut album, "Bleach," was an underground hit for Sub Pop, and the cries of "sell out!" from fans and critics began around its release, and only got louder as the band's popularity grew. Nirvana's second CD, "Nevermind," was a No. 1 smash that elbowed aside Michael Jackson on its rush to the top of the charts. By the time Nirvana came out with its third album, singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl faced a deluge of criticism for courting mainstream stardom -- attacks that only subsided after Mr. Cobain's 1994 suicide.
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Nirvana
But by then Nirvana had made an indelible impact. The group helped usher in the era of alternative rock, which lasted for around a decade. (It should be noted that a number of earlier groups, such as R.E.M., Fugazi and the Pixies, laid the groundwork for Nirvana.) The success of "Nevermind," and the popularity of Nirvana's generational anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit," helped make the world safe for Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Sleater-Kinney and many others.
Many of these acts hated the labels -- such as "alternative rock" and "grunge" -- that the media attached to them. But many of these performers did share a common urge to make progressive music that pushed beyond the borders of mainstream pop. Groups such as the White Stripes, the Strokes, Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio and the Shins are the heirs of that 1990s movement.
Is it still possible for a musical act to have the kind of cultural impact that Nirvana had in the 1990s? Music sales have been slumping for several years, in part due to illegal downloading. In the past, a hit album might sell more than five million copies. Now, an album is considered a smash if it sells a million or two.
And today's bands seem to have downsized their ambitions since the heyday of alternative rock. After all, in "Garden State," Ms. Portman's character promises music that will "change your life," not change the world. The members of Nirvana were taken by surprise by their band's success; the next Nirvana, whoever that may turn out to be, may also be an unexpected phenomenon.
When I talked to Stuart Meyer, the Shins' A&R person, he was bullish on the band's future. But even he didn't believe his group was poised for a Nirvana-sized breakthrough -- after all, Nirvana songs such as "Come As You Are" are still a staple on radio, more than a decade after their release.
Mr. Meyer notes that the two bands have "completely different" approaches to making music. While Nirvana's sound was often raw and expansive, the Shins' music is typically lush and sometimes unassuming.
"I don't think anything will really compare to Nirvana," he says. "That was a cultural and global juggernaut."
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