Greg Sage: The “visionary” who inspired Kurt Cobain
By the dawn of the 1990s, rock music was in desperate need of a switch-up. The decade’s teens were tired of hair metal and glam rock, leaving them in search of something with a little more edge. Enter alt-rock and, more specifically, grunge. The genre emerged as a cooler, but just as catchy, alternative to the guitar music that had pervaded radios for so long, and Nirvana were at the forefront of it.
The trio spawned out of Washington in the late 1980s with a grungier take on guitar music, veiling catchy melodies under layers of sludge. It was a sound that hadn’t extended beyond the walls of dingey underground venues and practice spaces until now, and it stunned audiences accordingly. Kurt Cobain quickly became the defining rockstar of the era, bringing an entirely new sound to the mainstream.
Over three decades later, Cobain is still remembered as one of the most innovative figures in the alternative scene. His work has influenced everyone from Linkin Park to Lana Del Rey, and his influence can still be felt across modern music. As such an influential figure in his own right, it’s difficult to imagine Cobain being inspired by any other artist, but he was just as much of a fan as he was a frontman.
From Japanese pop-punk outfit Shonen Knife to fellow alt-rockers the Melvins to tape devotee Daniel Johnston, Cobain was always interested in and influenced by the alternative and outsider music made by his peers and predecessors. One band he was particularly inspired by were the Wipers, who Cobain once suggested “started Seattle grunge rock in Portland, 1977.”
With just one listen to the Wipers, it’s easy to see why Cobain admired their music. Though their music wasn’t always quite as muddy as Nirvana’s, it was just as catchy. Gritty guitar riffs and powerful vocals forge a sound that sits somewhere in between the post-punk scene and the burgeoning grunge sphere. Nirvana may have taken grunge and given it to the masses, but the Wipers had kick-started it years before.
Cobain shared his particular admiration for the band’s frontman, Greg Sage, who he deemed a “romantic, quiet, visionary kind of guy. What more can I say about them?” Sage’s voice and vision certainly seems like an integral part of the Wipers’ distinctive sound, his vocals sitting somewhere between British post-punk frontman and punk rocker, while his guitars drive each song forward.
Alongside heaping praise on the band given the chance in interviews, Cobain made sure to take tangible steps to ensure that his influences benefitted from the spotlight he found with Nirvana, covering several Wipers songs to bring them to a wider audience. Just as he spot-lit Shonen Knife by giving them a Nirvana support slot and brought attention to Johnston by wearing a ‘Hi, how are you?’ T-shirt, he always made sure to credit his influences.
Though Cobain was certainly one of the most innovative figures in guitar music during that era and throughout music history, he was also heavily invested in and influenced by the work of those around him. He knew this and took every chance he could to pass on his success to artists who, otherwise, might have been too alternative or off-kilter to attract the public eye. The Wipers remain essential listening for fans of Nirvana and of Cobain.
