Nirvana plays "The Green Manalishi"

sharksfan2000 · #1 11-30-2012, 03:38 PM

Spotted this video on YouTube while I was searching for some Fleetwood Mac live performances of "The Green Manalishi":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoSxo6eJCho

It's Nirvana in September 1991, playing at a record/video store appearance just a week after "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released and a week before the release of the "Nevermind" album. Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl are playing around while Kurt Cobain switches to a new guitar and tunes up. Krist breaks into a very sloppy "The Green Manalishi", singing some of the lyrics. I'm guessing he learned it from the Judas Priest cover version rather than the original but who knows?

There's another video on YouTube of this same in-store appearance - that one has better video quality but this one shows what's going on much better.

Wouter Vuijk · #2 11-30-2012, 08:17 PM

AAAAARGHHHH!

sharksfan2000 · #3 11-30-2012, 09:43 PM

Well, they're just screwing around trying to kill a couple of minutes while Kurt tunes up so it's about as sloppy as you could get...obviously not meant to be a real performance of the song. But I give 'em credit for knowing the song at all.

gypsy-sara · #4 03-06-2013, 05:06 AM

You don't have to - most of the grunge bands of the early 90s loved Fleetwood Mac.
For example, "Rumours" is one of Jerry Cantrell's (Alice In Chains) Top 10 albums of all time.
And Courtney Love covered "Gold Dust Woman" with Hole and has always expressed her admiration for both Stevie and the band. I can imagine Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love listening to Fleetwood Mac together while doing... hm, who knows what?

dino · #5 03-06-2013, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsy-sara

You don't have to - most of the grunge bands of the early 90s loved Fleetwood Mac.
For example, "Rumours" is one of Jerry Cantrell's (Alice In Chains) Top 10 albums of all time.
And Courtney Love covered "Gold Dust Woman" with Hole and has always expressed her admiration for both Stevie and the band. I can imagine Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love listening to Fleetwood Mac together while doing... hm, who knows what?

Yeah, but that's a totally different version of Fleetwood Mac we're talking about.

gypsy-sara · #6 03-06-2013, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dino

Yeah, but that's a totally different version of Fleetwood Mac we're talking about.

What are you talking about?

I wasn't talking about cover versions in particular or any "versions" at all.

I am confused about whatever "version" we're talking about?
Fleetwood Mac is Fleetwood Mac. We all love them. And obviously, many bands of the late 80s and early 90s love(d) them too.

I don't get your point.

slipkid · #7 03-07-2013, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsy-sara

What are you talking about?

I wasn't talking about cover versions in particular or any "versions" at all.

I am confused about whatever "version" we're talking about?
Fleetwood Mac is Fleetwood Mac. We all love them. And obviously, many bands of the late 80s and early 90s love(d) them too.

I don't get your point.

There are two distinct Fleetwood Mac's, with a middle period. Both versions are in the RnR Hall of Fame, but they are two different bands.

This topic concerns Fleetwood Mac 1967-1970. I saw the Nirvana youtube video years ago, I can't remember if they're doing Judas Priest or Peter Green FM. Kurt Cobain was a good soul, if not for him many would forget David Bowie's first real album; "The Man Who Sold the World"! It's my favorite Bowie/Ronson album.

slipkid · #8 03-07-2013, 01:22 AM

It's more Priest than Fleetwood Mac.

gypsy-sara · #9 03-07-2013, 05:05 AM

Ok, I absolutely agree.

I didn't get it at first because I can clearly remember from interviews that I read back in the early 90s that there was a lot of admiration for all incarnations of Fleetwood Mac going on in Seattle.

Yet I have only listed the two "Rumours" related examples because they are the only ones I remember precisely.

Maybe someone else knows more?

gypsy-sara · #10 03-07-2013, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slipkid

It's more Priest than Fleetwood Mac.

And of course Kurt Cobain would have known both the Fleetwood Mac and the Judas Priest-version of the song.

Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains... for sure all of these bands were listening (at least at some time in their life) to both FM and JP.

THD · #11 03-07-2013, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slipkid

It's more Priest than Fleetwood Mac.

The Judas Priests version, seems to me ,to differ from Peter's version ,because they leave out the quite fiddley little guitar figures which occur at the end of the verses and little guitar bridge passages (if that's the right term) I've always presumed this was because they couldn't be bothered to work them out cause they are difficult !!

slipkid · #12 03-08-2013, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THD

The Judas Priests version, seems to me ,to differ from Peter's version ,because they leave out the quite fiddley little guitar figures which occur at the end of the verses and little guitar bridge passages (if that's the right term) I've always presumed this was because they couldn't be bothered to work them out cause they are difficult !!

The irony of "The Green Manalishi" is that Peter Green helped to create late 70's/early 80's British Heavy metal!!! So Priest didn't get the classical guitar tuning solos of Green, but Iron Maiden was paying attention. If you couple Manalishi with Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy", you have described British HM, along with Metallica during the 1980's. If Judas Priest had covered Manalishi when they released "British Steel", I think they would've done it justice.

Just like Black Sabbath, they were poor blue collar british kids in middle England trying to learn their craft.

THD · #13 03-11-2013, 02:01 PM

[QUOTE=slipkid;1081207]The irony of "The Green Manalishi" is that Peter Green helped to create late 70's/early 80's British Heavy metal!!! So Priest didn't get the classical guitar tuning solos of Green, but Iron Maiden was paying attention. /QUOTE]

I've probably posted this before but I think The Green Manalishi is the proto heavy metal equivalent of Brian Wilson's Good Vibrations ! (and therefore obviously a composition of genius ) Many sections and interludes stuck together to make perfection in a song lasting only a few minutes !

slipkid · #14 03-14-2013, 12:38 AM

[QUOTE=THD;1081702]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slipkid

The irony of "The Green Manalishi" is that Peter Green helped to create late 70's/early 80's British Heavy metal!!! So Priest didn't get the classical guitar tuning solos of Green, but Iron Maiden was paying attention. /QUOTE]

I've probably posted this before but I think The Green Manalishi is the proto heavy metal equivalent of Brian Wilson's Good Vibrations ! (and therefore obviously a composition of genius ) Many sections and interludes stuck together to make perfection in a song lasting only a few minutes !

WOW, great analogy. Peter Green's Manalishi did for British Heavy metal music what Brian Wilson's Good Vibrations did for rock music in the late 1960's.