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Jim Farber

Nickleback and David Cook releases mark the death of grunge
Sunday, November 16th 2008, 4:00 AM

Nickleback are back with an unimpressive new album.

'American Idol' champ David Cook specializes in watered-down grunge.

DAVID COOK, "David Cook" (19/RCA Records)
NICKELBACK, "Dark Horse" (Roadrunner Records)
(One star for each)

Let any genre stick around long enough and it starts to rot. Over the course of 40 years, soul slid from the searing pain of Etta James to the suburban privilege of Robin Thicke. After a quarter century, punk plunged from the soaring glory of the Clash to the frat-house pranks of Blink-182. And, in just over a decade, grunge has gone from the rallying cries of Nirvana to the mall crawls of Nickelback and David Cook.
That's the fate of all revolutionary forms: Once the mainstream devours and digests them, they're excreted like so much cultural waste.
The unappetizing result hits a pungent new low in the work of David Cook. Even by the most generous math, he's a sixth-generation copy of an original sound, descended, steeply, from Nirvana's meaningful peak through second stringers (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden), third (Candlebox, Bush), fourth (Nickelback) and fifth (Daughtry). Cook, let us pray, will slam the final nail into this coffin.

How fitting that grunge's nadir should take place on "American Idol," whose crown Cook swiped this year. It's even more appropriate that this year's champ regurgitated the work of an earlier contestant from that very show (Chris Daughtry). Given the success of Daughtry's CD (over 4 million sold), it should have surprised no one that Cook triumphed over rival and fellow David, Archuleta.

Now comes Cook's debut CD, which features the same faux growl and planed down, pseudo-Seattle power chords he showcased on TV. There's just one fiddle: "David Cook" presents an even more diluted take on that style.

Cook's recordings - some of which he co-wrote - reconcile the bottom feeders of '90s grunge (think: Seven Mary Three, only lower), with the detritus of '80s hair-pop (the later solo albums of Journey squawker Steve Perry).

Proceed at your own peril.

Compared to this, Nickelback, the former epicenter of post-grunge evil, sounds like Led Zeppelin. In fact, playing the Cook and Nickelback albums back to back almost makes the more seasoned band sound good. (I said almost.) "Dark Horse" does offer one small improvement for this, the band that has made more hay than anyone by picking over the bones of grunge (with 6 million copies sold of their peak CD, "Silver Side Up").

The new disk marks the first time they worked with a major outside producer, and they picked a doozy - Robert (Mutt) Lange. He's the brains behind both Def Leppard and (ex-wife) Shania Twain. Predictably, Lange made Nickel's sound fatter, and a bit catchier, though there's only so much he can do with their lank songwriting and slack singer.

The band itself changed one key aspect: their lyrics. Perhaps spooked by Daughtry and Cook having seized the more mainstream part of their demographic, they've aimed younger. Out of nowhere they now present themselves as leering stoner dudes. They drool out lyrics about sexed-up babes and, even less convincingly, about getting high.

Suffice it to say, if Kurt Cobain came back to life and heard these CDs, he'd do himself in all over again.

Liquidsunshine wrote:

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Uh oh, opendoor. You'd better start writing a feverish complaint letter to the Washington Post! Because their reviewer referred to precious Archie Warchie as "...this season's Clay Aiken." Clay Aiken! Oh, horrors! I guess that would make Archie fans Claymates, no?

He should be honored to be compared to Clay. His last album was highly under rated but he's still a star 5 1/2 years later. Let's wait and see if either David makes it to their 5th album or if they'll be doing mall openings and shilling ice cream.

Meh! Every season has it's mates. This year both Davids, Blake last year, Taylor and Elliott the year before and so on back to season 1. Most of them move on to newer idols every year.