The Hummingbirds Quotes

It came from Seattle, is the traditional wisdom, which is probably true because it all revolved around the Sub Pop label, which was an indie label out of Seattle, and I think that it was active in an underground sense for a year or two before it crossed over, obviously, with ‘Nevermind’. I guess you could charactise it as ‘rock’ more than anything else: 70s rock but with irony added, which gave it a kind of a contemporary feel as well. But it was a re-action against prevailing styles. And I think it crossed over because Nirvana made an insanely great record which was very exciting to listen to, an record that a twelve year-old could play, but in the best possible sense, you know.
Simon Holmes (about grunge)

A million kids in a million bedrooms playing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and playing it with their mates in bands. And I think that’s obviously a good thing. Certainly, ‘rock’: the whole idea of ‘rock’ became more fashionable after Nirvana came along, and I think ‘rock’ is still fashionable now. Whether or not there would be such a 70s undertone to so many things – it’s interesting to speculate whether that would actually have happened. I do think that certainly Kurt wrote accessible songs and the band played them extremely well. Everyone loves a good tune at the end of the day, and if it’s an exciting performance as well you’ve got everything, really.
Simon Holmes