#steve fisk

Unwound- New Plastic Ideas (Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Post-Rock) Released: March 21, 1994 [Kill Rock Stars] Producer(s): Steve Fisk, Unwound

Nirvana’s recorded legacy

Remembering Mark Lanegan 1964-2022

This sucks: musician and author Mark Lanegan has died at 57. 

He was like a rock n’ roll zelig in the early 90s. He was the singer / guitarist for Screaming Trees (one of the great underrated bands of the 90s), but he also collaborated with Kurt Cobain (a good friend of his), contributed a few vocals to the supergroup Mad Season’s excellent album Above, collaborated several times with Queens of the Stone Age, formed The Gutter Twins with Afghan Whig leader Greg Dulli, and he’s sat in with countless others. 

Like a lot of people, I discovered Screaming Trees from the Singles soundtrack, which spawned their 1992 hit “Nearly Lost You”. A few years later around the time their song “All I Know” was all over rock radio, I saw them on Lollapalooza ‘96. They played early in the day and flew under the radar, but good show. After the band broke up in 2000, Lanegan continued to be very prolific, collaborating with Steve Fisk, Mike Watt, Melissa Auf der Maur, The Breeders, Moby, and countless others. 

Dylan Carlson (center top), Kurt Cobain ( lower right) and Lanegan (lower left) circa early 90s

His 1990 solo album The Winding Sheet is one of my favorites of that era. Nirvana’s Cobain and Krist Novoselic played on the album and you can hear the influence the album had on them for Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged. Lanegan does a cover of Lead Belly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” that highly influenced Nirvana.

book cover

In 2020, I got to cover Lanegan’s memoir Sing Backwards and Weep for this blog. I learned a thing or two about Lanegan from the book and his writing was really good. 

The Halo Benders- God Don't Make No Junk (Indie Rock, Slacker Rock) Released: June 24, 1994 [K Records] Producer(s): Steve Fisk