[markl]

Upfront confession-- I LOVED Nirvana. At last, here was a band that even my lamest friends could "get" and know what I was talking about all this time... They were very important to a demographic to which I belonged. Kurt was sincere when no one was sincere and this band mattered, mattered more than other bands of their kind.

Anyway, I'll never forget it. I was in Las Vegas with my then-fiancee, visiting my best friend, and having an absolutely miserable time and in the process of breaking up with her...

We went into this little sandwich shop across from UNLV where my best friend went to school. All the people in there (all college-age folks) were murmuring among themselves in a very alarming way.

Somehow, I just KNEW what it was. It was freaky and scary but I just *knew* he had done it...

I asked one of them what was up and they confirmed my fear-- Kurt Cobain had killed himself. Then on the TV in the sandwich shop came MTV News with the awful confirmation... he was gone.

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach, yet how could I be all that surprised? How dare he do the one thing, commit the ultimate rock cliche, at the ultimate rock-star death age of 27? He was supposed to change music forever. We lost a lot when he did it. Look at music since then. I was angry and sad at the same time. He had no right to do that... no matter how much pain he thought he was in. He belonged to a lot of people, not just himself.

I was lucky to grow up in a time in which something like the death of a rock star could be a defining moment, I recognize that.

Where were you when this happened and did it affect you like it affected me?

I fully expect the younger folks here to be cynical, but for some of us, this was indeed almost like a death in the family...

Mark

 

[kerelybonto]

I was pretty young at the time and really only knew Nirvana through my older sister's In Utero CD. But I still remember the Sunday afterward -- I was at a Catholic mass and this old priest did the whole homily about Cobain. Surreal.

kerely

 

[eastsidemetalhd]

riding the bus home after another awful day of school. I had just transferred to this place waaaay on the other side of town, and didn't know anybody there. then saw the front page of the afternoon tabloid and ... man, 1994 sucked.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

I had just got finished a marathon editing session on a video piece I was doing as a final in my video class in college. The subject of the video was addiction, and I was editing some footage of a girl shooting up, getting high, and dying as the video faded out.

I walked into my dorm room, turned on MTV, and heard Kurt Loder announcing that Kurt had committed suicide.

I was very sad at the time, but now I reflect on how much good music was being made before from rock song writers just as good or better. Would the nation mourn if Bob Mould killed himself? I listen to Sugar's Copper Blue record to this day, while I have not taken out my copy of Nevermind in quite a long time. Would anybody care if Black Francis (Frank Black) offed himself? Cobain admitted that Smells Like Teen Spirit was a Pixies ripoff.

The deification of Kurt Cobain is as much a result of media hype as it is his talent. I'm not saying that people who are saddened about his death should not be, but I am saying that Cobain and Nirvana were CERTAINLY not the be-all-end-all of alternative rock in their era. Perhaps some of the myth of Kurt Cobain would fade if people had better memories or a better developed sense of rock history........

 

[royboy2k]

Good post Jeff. Yeah it's too bad that Kurt Cobain is dead (I like Nirvana), but great people die every single day so we shouldn't dwell on it. Just because he was popular doesn't make him a hero.

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

jeff, I could have not said it better myself, I notice in our society that when a person dies (celebrities I mean) we tend to project a kind of cult status on them, I guess its the "what could have been" type thing, nirvana was good, but certainly not what they are made out to be by the media, just my opinion..... walks tip-toe out of the room........

 

[archosman]

You wanna hears something sick? The week he killed himself the manager of Towere Records in Nashville put every Nirvana CD on sale at 1/3rd off. I **** you not... saw it with my own eyes.

 

[markl]

Quote:

I was very sad at the time, but now I reflect on how much good music was being made before from rock song writers just as good or better. Would the nation mourn if Bob Mould killed himself? I listen to Sugar's Copper Blue record to this day, while I have not taken out my copy of Nevermind in quite a long time. Would anybody care if Black Francis (Frank Black) offed himself? Cobain admitted that Smells Like Teen Spirit was a Pixies ripoff. The deification of Kurt Cobain is as much a result of media hype as it is his talent. I'm not saying that people who are saddened about his death should not be, but I am saying that Cobain and Nirvana were CERTAINLY not the be-all-end-all of alternative rock in their era. Perhaps some of the myth of Kurt Cobain would fade if people had better memories or a better developed sense of rock history........

The chief difference between Cobain and the others you mention (who I loved as well), was the fact that he *crossed over* and connected with people who never would have listened to that kind of music had he not been there. Black Francis, good as he is, is not a "star". neither is Bob Mould or Paul Westerbeg. Cobain had "it" and that was obvious. Nirvana were the thin end of the wedge for all the good music that had been ignored in the 80s and the early 90s. They provided a context for a lot of great music that followed in its wake (yes, and some **** too).
Without the momentum of Nirvana, it all just petered out and now we've got Creed and Shakira, and the Strokes somehow seem revolutionary. Tragic.

Mark

 

[Mr.PD]

Where was I when who died? Okay I am being bad. I know who Curt Cobain was. I have no idea when he died. I think that is because I am too old to understand or enjoy Nirvana.

Then again, I always liked the Beatles and I have no idea when John Lennon died either. I do remember that the radio played that awful song of his for two weeks after he died.

By the time Cobain killed his self I had pretty much given up on listening to the radio. So I don't know if the stations had some bad song of his to play for two weeks or not. I mean by bad that they would not play one of his good songs but instead pick one of his worst songs to play like they did with Lennon.

 

[Beagle]

 

[neil]

CNN's article headline:

Link to story: Cobain journals reveal tortured soul

It's about a release of Cobain's journal entries -- 288 page book, to be released November 4th.

 

[fyrfytrhoges]

just imagine, cnn doing a story on cobain, who has been dead now for how long??? just in time for the greatest hits package to come out, hmmmm????

 

[TimSchirmer]

Quote:

Originally posted by fyrfytrhoges just imagine, cnn doing a story on cobain, who has been dead now for how long??? just in time for the greatest hits package to come out, hmmmm????

lol

 

[redshifter]

i don't know where i was when he did it, he offed himself and i don't think they found his body for a few days.

when i found out about it i was walking home from a friend's apartment. she had cooked me dinner and we drank and whooped it up all night. i was feeling pretty bleary that morning when i saw the headlines in a newspaper box.

i live in seattle but didn't get into nirvana until late in the game. since he killed himself my enjoyment of his music has waned.

now if you will excuse me my sacd player just arrived!

 

[erix]

I was mopping the floor in the multi-purpose room of the elementary school I worked at. Howard Stern announced it, as I recall.

I didn't really get the diefication of him - just another rock star junkie..

But then again..

So was Miles,

and Garcia...

I never really felt a loss for Nirvana or Cobain. Sorry.

I did feel sorry for him as a fu#!ed-up artist in the hands of a giant corporate machine bent on milking him dry of every scrap of potentially profitable creativity regardless of the consequenses to his person.

Then again, I feel sorry for every artist in the same situation - and there are a lot.

ok,
erix