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Important in what way?

Nirvana destroyed hair-metal. For this, they are to be celebrated.

As a 34 year-old, I hold little fondness for the music of the 1980s and viewed Nirvana (and grunge) as a fresh sound when they arrived.

Now if only a band could come out today and put the death knell to rap/hip-hop the way Nirvana did to hair bands!

MTV won't let that happen though. MTV hated grunge. It was too white.

Now if only a band could come out today and put the death knell to rap/hip-hop the way Nirvana did to hair bands!

I would point out to you the velvet teddy bear, the round mound of sound, ROOOOOOOOOOOOO-PERT.

I've never been partial to popular music (I like rock and roll but don't like the bulk of what the industry pushes).

The "explosion" of grunge in the early 1990s made it easier for some bands to chase that dollar but most never got the fame or fortune they were seeking. Today there are bands calling themselves "garage" that have none of the attitude or dance sounds that garage rock has always had (from the Seeds and the Standells, to the Fleshtones and the Saints, to the bands on Crypt Records, Estrus, and Sympathy For The Record Industry). The Mooney Suzuki are the closest band to hitting the charts that is pulling this off. Tim Kerr of Poison 13 produced their first album on Estrus which is better than the followup small label album that Columbia picked up this year and reissued with a new (pink) cover.

Little Steven has a syndicated radio show The Underground Garage. On it he explained that the secret of his programming is the Ramones; all of the bands that influenced the Ramones and all of the bands that the Ramones influenced. (VH-1's list placed 1978's "I Wanna Be Sedated" at #75).

The people programming radio today are no different than the industry weasels who tried to equate castrated poster boys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian with the term "rock and roll". Link Wray meanwhile got banned for an instrumental song called "Rumble" (which lit a match under Bob Dylan, Pete Townsend, and just about any other young guitar player who heard it).

The only ones who should be interested in how well a record is selling is the band, their label, and the inventory manager at the store that stocks their albums. Listen to whatever you want to. The VH-1 list is very commercial; a real music historian would have selected songs that didn't chart initially but were better songs or more influential. Hanson made the list? Excuse me???

For more readings on the overlooked history of music and what's genuinely hip today, read the Little Steven Undergound Garage Essay (website linked above). His take is a little myopic/regionally centered in places but I can't fault him on any of the mentioned names in the history (past, present or future).

Other help may be found in the writings of "Big Daddy Soul" and his Young Lions Conspiracy. See what they think of Mr. Suit and who their own musical heroes are.

Or even some words from Tim Kerr himself.

Now if only a band could come out today and put the death knell to rap/hip-hop the way Nirvana did to hair bands! MTV won't let that happen though. MTV hated grunge. It was too white.

Good point. The music industry likes broad categories of music. And rap/hip-hop lets them sell to a broader market segment. Because of this, we shouldn't be surprised when they continue to embrace rap/hip-hop at the expense of musicians with discernible talent.