Nirvana, Grunge, and pranking the Times: 20 years since "Nevermind"

[Video Link]

The 20th anniversary of Nirvana's "Nevermind" is an excellent occasion on which to recall an epic prank played on the New York Times by Megan Jasper, the receptionist for Sub Pop records at the time.

When an over-eager Times reporter demanded to know the jargon used by followers of Seattle scene bands, the story goes, she fabricated some neologisms and phrases which were reported in the NYT as the real deal:

bloated, big bag of bloatation - drunk
bound-and-hagged - staying home on Friday or Saturday night
cob nobbler - loser
dish - desirable guy
fuzz - heavy wool sweaters
harsh realm - bummer
kickers - heavy boots
lamestain - uncool person
plats - platform shoes
rock on - a happy goodbye
score - great
swingin' on the flippity-flop - hanging out
tom-tom club - uncool outsiders
wack slacks - old ripped jeans

In an item this week about commemorations in Seattle, the NYT handled things a little better.

(via @katephillips and @damiencave)

UPDATE: Pesco reminds us that Megan Jasper is now VP of Sub Pop! Here she tells the story.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Harsh realm.
Rider

Probably one of the few important and lasting things from the “Grunge” era, a whole generation had it’s eyes opened to the farce that is the media and news outlets. The fact that people still seem to to think there was some sort of collective “Grunge” scene or movement is sad though.
- Cowicide
  
  The fact that people still seem to to think there was some sort of collective “Grunge” scene or movement is sad though.
  
  I resisted for years watching the Hype! documentary on the grunge assplosion thinking it would be just that… a bunch of hype from the harsh realm. But, once I actually moved beyond the title, sat down and watched it some years ago, it was quite an eye opener and gave me much more respect for the bands and the mentality behind much of the generation that produced and dug that music.
  
  In the end, the corporatists have won (handily) – but I’d like to think Gen X was at least one last small speed bump delaying the leadup to the horrible crazy-train-state our country is in today. And, I’m still holding out some small hope that as some of the X Generation ages and finally finds themselves… there might be a late bloomer resurgence of sorts to contend with… but, I digress…
  
  I disagree with you that there wasn’t a collective movement, I just think Gen X was outnumbered by a lot of dumb and greedy entrenched assholes and it stunted its growth.
  
  Nonetheless, there was much gained and many seeds of dissent have been planted via Gen X and it ain’t over until the fat Buzz sings…
  - Private Private
    
    I’m Gen X and I was in uni on the west coast when this album came out. I’d like to report that the hubby and I continue to live in smaller than average digs, on a smaller than average income, with one fuel efficient car between us, no kids to feed the corportatists’ sugar cereals to and with a not so polite finger raised daily to all things that reek of mindless consumerism.
    
    Re: collective movement – We weren’t then and we aren’t now. We’re loners. I was going to say that we’re quieter in our old age about these things, but it’s not even that – we’ve just been screwed for so long by so many, that we don’t give a flying fuck about organized anything. No one can be trusted. And besides, we protest every single day when we step out the door and someone tries to tell us ‘You deserve tenure, but we only hire part time now’ or ‘I know it’s not as much money, but look at the family barbeque days we hold every year.’ We’re sick of it.
    
    We’d much rather go canoeing and get on with our lives in peace.
    
    And, for the record, I’m 42, female, and my tastes in music have only gotten more extreme.
    - Cowicide
      
      Re: collective movement – We weren’t then and we aren’t now. We’re loners.
      
      I appreciate most everything you said, but I’m not sure your anecdotal experience trumps the greater reality as far as the “collective movement” goes. While plenty of Gen Xers are/were loners, there was still quite a few more that participated in many group activities and shared ideas through art, music and business (not to mention hybrids thereof) that changed/affected the world to this day. Lollapalooza wasn’t really an ongoing event supported by shut-ins who stayed home, Silicon Valley collaborations didn’t happen out of thin air and not to mention the activism that took place that you may or may not have been a party to that laid groundwork for the explosion of activism within Gen Y.
      
      I think Gen Xers should be proud of their non-conformist ideals and how those ideals helped shaped our world into a better place, but to say that Gen X was composed mostly of loners who didn’t participate together sounds more like personal anecdotal experience than what was happening with the greater whole of the nineties.
      
      A lot of magazines tried to define Gen X as nihilists who didn’t give a flying fuck and would rather go canoeing than participate in collective actions of any kind, but many more Gen Xers lived up to the “X” title and were harder to define.
RyRoBa

Little bit of Seattle music industry trivia- that receptionist is now the president of sub pop.
- http://www.xeni.net/ Xeni Jardin
  
  score!
  - RyRoBa
    
    and I might add, she is still hilarious.
IanEdgar

I love it. It’s like an extended improv bit from Portlandia – The Dry Genius Receptionist. She was reaching a bit with swingin’ on the flippity-flop, but god bless her.
$16228947

To me, this is one of the most personally influential singles of the Grunge Era.
RobDobbs

“cob nobbler” Classic.
http://www.facebook.com/Hamlet.Au Wagner James Au

Wait, “rock on” and “score” are totally still in non-ironic everyday use — does that mean that fake jargon became real?
- Rider
  
  I’m pretty sure Rock On an Score where already in use but would never have been used by anyone Grunge. She made this up on the fly on the phone, she made the reporter give sayings and she translated it to “Grunge”.
ill lich

HA! Small world, someone asked me recently to confirm this story, they thought it was some urban legend, and I could vouch for it because remembered hearing about it at the time from Megan’s sister. A prank to be envious of.
Abelard Lindsay

Christ, what a cob nobbler!
hypnosifl

Rock on was definitely in use before then, I checked on google books and found this from 1985. I assume “score” probably was too. I like how Harsh Realm went on to become a short-lived sci-fi TV series by X-Files creator Chris Carter, though apparently he got the name from a comic book rather than from this NY Times story.
dagfooyo

I think it’s time to bring “swingin’ on the flippity-flop” into common usage.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I think it’s time to bring “swingin’ on the flippity-flop” into common usage.
  
  It sounds Jazz Age.
http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

I remember this album. It was kind of a rock/metal thing, right?
http://www.matthewpetty.com/ Matthew Petty

Also, ‘Come As You Are’ totally nicked Killing Joke’s ‘Eighties’ bassline.
http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

I worked in college radio around that time and I remember that Sub Pop had a reputation as being somewhat irreverent. A fellow DJ at the station wrote them a random complaint letter about how the bands they signed and their releases all sucked, etc., just kind of messing about with them for some reason. Sub Pop’s response? They sent him a t-shirt that read “LOSER”.
Mantissa128

I’m bound-and-hagged tonight, no swingin’ on the flippity-flop in my plats with lamestain and the tom-tom club, nossir. Rock on to the cob-nobblers – this dish is getting bloated in my fuzz, kickers and wack slacks!
nother68

I’m with you Private Private…
headcode

Notice that baby in the pool? That is Spencer Elden. I occasionally bumped into Rick Elden, his father, on photo shoots. He was a set builder at the time. I remember him telling us about his kid being on the cover of the Nirvana album.

It’s kind of shocking to realize how much time has gone by. Spencer turns out to be doing alright. Wikipedia reports he is interning as an artist at Shephard Fairey’s studio. Nice.
http://twitter.com/johngoad johngoad

It was I great time…. As a person who lived through this here in Seattle, I have something to add…This was DIY at the grass roots.It was a group of Makers …. Artists that took Art back from the man for a short time and were ultimately eaten by the corporate marketing machines the artists hated the most (Yes big record labels sucked way before Napster). At that time the big labels were cramming over produced, over formulated, over dressed music acts down our throats through MTV and Payola controlled airwaves. Being out of the way “at the time” we got skipped on allot of tours. Wanting to be a rockstar was a grim possibility here in Seattle in the 80′s.As these realities stewed in the petri dish.Zines – like “the Rocket” that listed shows and band member classifieds + Local radio – station KCMU (now kexp.org, Mark Arm singer of Mudhoney was a DJ) +F*^k you big corporate angst created by the record companies for being tools and not letting anyone into their stupid club. People like Bruce Pavitt, Jonathan Poneman, Daniel House, Jack Endino, Conrad Uno, and many, many, others bootstrapped it and made it happen for themselves and others, all outside of the crap hole label star making machine. Record your own album, create your album art, get your own music out. Then the giant assholes came… trying to take over everything they could, basically took a big shit all over everyone. The angst was real against all of the invaders, mostly dealt with by heavy doses of sarcasm that still remain an undercurrent here in Seattle. This period in musical history gave music back to the people for a short time… if you had a 4 track tape recorder and talent…. you could be a rockstar. You didn’t need to wear MTV clothes or be on a big label… You just needed to make great music.Great TImes!
- Cowicide
  
  Great post, john, thanks
Charles Crowley

As an enthusiast for American slang, I think these words and phrases thoroughly deserve to be worked into the language. Maybe those in the know should start using them here and there, and the slang terms conceived as a joke would themselves have the last laugh. There are some pretty score words here if you ask me.