[video] Watch Nirvana reunite with Paul McCartney, and Kanye West’s performance at Hurricane Sandy benefit

Dec 13, 2012

Forget about his legendary status for a second, and ask yourself: Would Paul McCartney be your first choice to front a Nirvana reunion? Second? Third? No. So let’s get this out of the way: he doesn’t sound a thing like Kurt Cobain, so “Cut Me Some Slack,” a new song written by Nirvana’s surviving members and performed for a Hurricane Sandy benefit, doesn’t sound like a Nirvana song. Mostly. It starts off with the same quality songwriting that legendary acts late in their careers usually produce, replacing intuition and risk with dishearteningly paint-by-numbers motor oil commercial rawk. But the further they get away from the chorus, the better; the outro is where things really get interesting, simplifying the melodic elements into something fiery enough that it’s plausible that Kurt could have written it, maybe. Not a total loss, then.

Oh yeah, Kanye West did a thing too. A performance, I think? I haven’t watched it. I’m too busy sorting out my feelings. Check that out below the footage of “Cut Me Some Slack.”