Morphine was a unique band consisting of drums, baritone sax, and two-string slide bass. Their albums didn't fully capture the uniqueness of their sound, and they were far better than what you heard on the records. The band was limited, and their sound was too specific, too alien, and it depended on quiet, on intimacy. Mark Sandman was not going to be a rock star, in the Cobainian sense. Morphine, lower-case m, is a balm, a way of temporarily arresting pain. It does not actually cure it. The article talks about the band's sound, their limitations, and Mark Sandman's personality.