I few weeks ago, I was asked to write something about Kurt Cobain for Black Table.com, because today is the ten year anniversary of his suicide.
I am always flattered and grateful when someone asks me to contribute to something, because it makes me feel like a “real” writer, but I often have to decline, because writing takes time, and time is something I just don’t have right now.
This was different, though, because I thought I had an interesting take on Kurt Cobain’s death, so I accepted. I wrote it up, re-wrote it, and then got buried in the Star Trek convention and forgot to send it in until one day after the deadline.
So it didn’t make the article, which is a drag, because the other writers are all respected and they all wrote great things. It would have been cool to be alongside them. They tell me it was cut for space . . . but I just read the other contributions, and it’s pretty clear to me that I’m not yet in their league.
I’m thrilled that I’ve had this realization while I’m suffering a crisis of confidence at the tail end of a rewrite, and I’m terrified about the “sophomore slump.”
But since I already put the work into it, it seems stupid to just file it off in the “never got published” directory.
Here it is:
The first time I heard “Nevermind,” I wasn’t impressed. As far as I was concerned, it was just a poor rip off of The Pixies’ “Doolittle.” When “Smells Like Teen Spirit” took over eMpTyVee and every radio station in the country, I got burned out pretty damn fast.
Then I read an interview with Kurt Cobain in . . . I think it was
Rolling Stone. Maybe it was Spin. But he said that there wouldn’t be Nevermind without Doolittle. Kurt Cobain was influenced by The Pixies? Okay, I’ll give it another try.
I listened to the whole album three or four times and I was hooked. The only other album that has completely pulled me in like that was Radiohead’s OK Computer. I bought “Bleach” within a week, and stood in line to pick up “In Utero” when it was released. I still think that Kurt’s version of “The Man Who Sold The World” is one of the most beautiful and haunting things I’ve ever heard.
For as much as I loved the music, I completely hated Kurt Cobain’s antics. The destruction of vintage guitars enraged me, the dresses and outrageous behavior in interviews just annoyed me, and over time it became difficult for me to appreciate the music on its own. By the time Kurt ended his life, I’d lost interest in Nirvana, and I told my friend Dave, “Well, what do you expect? Poor Kurt had all his dreams come true, and he just couldn’t handle it. Maybe he ran out of vintage Strats to destroy.”
Dave did his best to convince me that rock had lost a pioneer. Without Kurt’s music, he said, there wouldn’t be Perl Jam, or Soundgarden, or Alice In Chains. Without Nirvana, he suggested, Guns N Roses may still be sitting atop Rock’s Mount Olympus.
“Meh. There’s one less Junkie in the world,” I said. The truth was, I’d recently lost a dear friend to suicide, and Kurt’s death brought back a lot of unresolved sorrow over my own loss.
Almost a year later, I was listening to Chet Baker, an influential Jazz musician who was also a heroin addict when he fell (some say jumped) out of an Amsterdam hotel window in 1988. Baker was a trumpet player, with a soulful voice. There was always a touch of sadness and longing in his lyrical style — be it musical or vocal. I’d been reading a lot of Burroughs at the time, and I called up my friend Dave to rave about Chet Baker’s “How Deep is the Ocean?”
I told him how I could feel Chet Baker’s sadness, and I wondered if his addiction played a part in his music, the way Burrough’s addiction clearly informed his writing.
“Oh, you mean like Kurt Cobain.” Dave said. A statement, not a question.
I thought for a second. “Yes. Exactly like Kurt Cobain. I never thought of it that way.”
“So you maybe have a different opinion of him now?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.” I surprised myself with my answer. “But I’ll never
forgive him for destroying all those vintage guitars.”
Dave laughed, “You’re such a dick.”
“Yes I am. But I’m a dick who can listen to Nirvana again.”
Here’s the part where I eulogize Kurt Cobain.
I didn’t know Kurt, and his death didn’t greatly impact my life. But I knew his music, and when I came to understand his addiction, and his frustrations with the music industry’s efforts to turn him into just another commodity, I felt sad for him, and mourned his loss.
I don’t think Kurt Cobain was that great a musician, and I can speak from experience, because even I was able to play along with most of Nevermind, without learning any new chords. But he was an amazing writer, and his real legacy can be seen in garage bands and on record store shelves all over the world. Dave was right: without Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, there would be no Perl Jam, no Soundgarden, no Alice in Chains, and Seattle would just be this mysterious city where it rains a lot.
I can’t believe it’s been ten years — a decade! — since Kurt Cobain died. Wherever he is, I hope he’s sipping Pennyroyal Tea.
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My brother was the king of “Grunge”, and was a big fan of Kurt. He went to all the Nirvana concerts that he could. One day he trapped me in his car and forced me to listen to “Smells like teen spirit.” It was not a bad song, so I listened to it. That was my first experiance with Nirvana. In 1995 my 18 year old brother died in a car accident. When we cleaned out what we could from the car, I grabbed his tape deck. The last thing he was listening to was “Smells like teen spirit.” I miss him so much, he was my best friend, and while I am not a big fan of Nirvana, I enjoy that particular song. Had it not been for my brother I would have never listened to anything by Nirvana/Kurt Cobain. I am not really sure how to end this…maybe saying this…
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
-Albert Pike
Guitars can be replaced. Life cannot. KC had no respect for his own life. Why should I?
Tortured artist- feh. I have more respect for a one hit wonder, who winds up digging ditches than someone who tosses in the towel while they have the world by the short hairs.
Will, your article did make me think, but,try as I may, I cannot resolve myself to accept suicide.
Jim Infantino said it best (here):
For your sake I hope there is no afterlife
don’t look down, don’t look down
so you don’t see the mess made of you suicide
don’t look down, don’t look down
I hope there are no radios where you are
cause you don’t want to hear what’s going on
cancel all your magazine subscriptions
now
somewhere Jimmy Morrison’s explaining it
and somewhere there’s a talk show being born
and somewhere we’re already sick to death of it
yeah
Mom said it was the heroin that did it
newspapers say it was the fame
I say it was the shotgun what’s the difference
there won’t be another album
shame
somewhere you got someone reading Hemmingway
and somewhere there’s a teenager to frown
and somewhere a boy drags guns out of the river
yeah…
don’t look down
A couple things about your article are off-base IMHO.
a) musicianship is a helluva lot more than chord structure.
That’s like me saying that writing is just stringing together sentences.
Kurt’s stature among fellow musicians to this day speaks for itself.
b) Pearl Jam, Soundgarden et al were doing just fine before Nirvana. In no way do they owe their existence to the grunge explosion, as they all pre-date it, and were in fact moderately famous by then (witness SG on MTV in ’89, Pearl Jam as Mother Love Bone)
c) destroying a guitar onstage comes not from stupidity, nor from not knowing the intrinsic value of the instrument. On the contrary….
Please be aware of what a bright powerful musical presence that Kurt and Nirvana were. Owing much to their predecessors, particurlarly Lennon and Townshend to be sure, not equally their achievements, but that’s not to say he couldn’t have.
Heya Wil —
I’m a newbie to the whole wwdn world, and so have been catching up on your life, reading backwards through your blog. Of course, I’m doing this at work, so it’s slow going — you know, having to flick back to work-related windows whenever someone walks by.
Anyway, when I read your post today, I noted that this is at least the second time I read of an article you wrote not being published because you’ve missed a deadline.
There’s a little philosophy that goes a little something like, “There are no accidents.”
I read your article about Cobain, and then I went to the BlackTable site and read the articles that made the cut. I’m of the opinion that if you’d made that deadline, you would have seen your article on the page — Not the best one, but far far far from the worst.
Remember when you’re writing these articles, that you are a bone-if-eyed published writer (My Amazon order has been processed, thank you very much). Not that I’m complaining about getting to read the article from your blog, but I’d much rather see it over at BlackTable, so “everyone will point and laugh at [the other writers], and then [they’ll] burn us all up at the prom while John Travolta dances with Nancy Allen.”
‘Scuse me whilst I go IMDB “Nancy Allen”.
Wil,
This comment is off topic but I feel it may be worth mentioning. On your webpage for first-time-readers you say “I passionately believe in freedom from religion.” This being Holy Week for both Jews (Passover) and Christians (The Passion of the Christ) we would appreciate hearing a few of your ideas on religion. I’m sure you would get tons of comments.
Thanks so much. Freeman 🙂
How do you even know *who* Leonard Cohen is?
Wow, someone else in this world says meh?! Not that I thought I was the only one, but I just thought it was a localized phenomena. How cool that a guy like you knows the word “meh.” (It’s the little things in life.) We got it from the Simpsons (Lisa to be exact). Anyway, good post, I enjoy reading your site. The book is on order from Amazon and i am excited to get it.
I’ve never listened to Nirvana. I’ve never had the least bit of interest in learning about Kurt Cobain… but it still feels sad to hear about someone so influential who loses their life in such a way. 10 years? Wow.
I was reading all those articles in Black Table about him and I thought maybe I should just go and buy a Nirvana album after all…
I always heard that last line of ALL APOLOGIES as “All alone is all we are.” Is it really “all in all is all we are”?
Oh well, at least I’m the pompatuse of love. (weoh weoh!!)
Your sentiments about how Kurt’s antics affected what you thought of the music is interesting. I always got the feeling that Kurt would have been just as happy without videos and fame, and would rather have people appreciate the music.
eMpTV is all about image and less about substance, which is probably one of the reasons we have Boy bands and Titney Spears. I don’t think Kurt could handle the fame. Look at the comments (no offense to the posters). They say “Kurt was an icon,” “Kurt was like John Lennon”. I can just imagine some fanboy or girl in the early 90’s saying, “Kurt’s just soooooo bitchin.” I think someone told him he could make some money from his music, but if they had told him how much his life would change, he probably would have told them to shove it up their a$$.
Along a similar line (somewhat) I read an anecdote about a aide came up to Julius Ceasar and told him that the people had declared him a god and were building temples in his honor. Exasperated, he said, “What am I supposed to do when someone prays to me to cure their gout?”
Anyway, don’t believe the hype 😉 If you like music, does it really matter what the band looks like? The substance of music is aural, not visual.
Wil,
Honestly, this was not your best work. Maybe because you had little passion for the man’s work, it seems forced. Though edging on way personal, I think it would have been much more appropriate for you to write something about River Phoenix than Kurt Cobain.
I liked Nirvana from the start when I heard it. I could also sympathize with a man who openly admitted to horrible things in his past he was trying to get through. At the same time, I feel awful he is only remembered for 1) killing himself 2) his stupid unplugged songs 3) marrying the whore of the music industry.
I hope I don’t offend you, but the article you wrote did little to shed light on a topic, as you normally do. There was no fresh viewpoint, and that’s what I love about WWdN.
Here’s to your journey as a writer. And a small prayer for Frances Bean Cobain, that she find only more happiness and peace as she gets older.
anc, why would wil not know who leonard cohen is? i’m not too much over half wil’s age, and i listen to cohen’s music…did that comment have some kind of deeper meaning i didn’t understand?
Hi Wil
For what it’s worth, I think if you’d have started your piece for the magazine with a topic(thesis) paragraph, you would have greatly increased your chances of being included….your sentiments about Cobain’s life, attitude, and music, and how his addictions colored those things, were heartfelt, poingant,and insightful-as your best writing always is–but I think they were buried to deeply in the piece. Your first paragraph is a very good second paragraph. This, of course from someone who’s never been paid to write to someone who has, so…..like I said, FWIW
Personally, I’ll be glad when Kurt is finally forgotten. Yes, he brought around a new sound in music, but so did Hanson, Alanis and even Miss Spears. The only difference between these singers and bands is the fact that one couldn’t cut it and took the pussy’s way out and the others are still here.
I have no idea what it is like to be so drugged up and so lost and confused that you think death is better than living and I hope I never do, but no one forced him, including the music industry. If it was so bad, he could have quit and lived his life as a regular person. Killing himself was selfish for so many reason’s. He had a wife who loved him, a daughter he would never see grow up and millions of fans who idlized him. Yet somehow, it wasn’t good enough for him. All of his money, all of the love he got from family and fans wasn’t good enough.
Let the man go for God’s sake. It’s been ten years. Nirvana is done and over with, they aren’t make new music and even if they did, they wouldn’t have Kurt so it wouldn’t be the same. Kurts gone and so is Nirvana. It’s time to move on.
Wil, it’s good to see that I’m not the only one who doesn’t idolize Cobain. Being bipolar and having survived suicidal impulses, I’ve got a bit of sympathy for him, but little respect. He could afford to get good help, as so many people I know can’t. Instead, he turned to drugs, and then killed himself. Purely aside from being fairly indifferent to his music, I can’t respect that in anyone.
In addition to being an abortifacient, as others have mentioned, pennyroyal is toxic in large doses (part of what makes it an abortifacient). It also tastes and smells dreadful, like a rancid mint. Not something that makes a pleasant sipping beverage.
Oh, and Michael Hawkes, that particular anecdote about Iulius Caesar is completely false, as Caesar was declared a god after his death. It wasn’t until Caligula, the first Mad Emperor, that living men were declared gods.
Caesar was, however, a more modest man than many in his position would have been. He refused to crown himself king of Rome, abhorring the notion despite a fair amount of popular support for it. He once emerged from the Senate (I believe) to find a crowd chanting “Rex! Rex! Rex!” at him, rex being Latin for king. He happened to have a cousin whose name was Rex, and so protested, “I’m not Rex, I’m Caesar,” pretending that the crowd had merely mistaken him for his look-alike relation.
Penny Royal Tea was used by women to induced spontaneous abortions, lets hope he’s not sipping it. I lived Seattle’s grunge lust, I’m sorry your artickle didn’t make the list though. LONG LIVE KURT COBAIN, his antics are what makes ROCK n’ ROLL one of America’s greatest mythologies.
Respectfully,
Cupie xoxo 🙂
Some of us were sitting around the lunch room chit-chatting. I asked this question of the group. “When did you feel the most courageous in your life so far?”
The answers varied from person to person.
“When the ferryboat I was on sunk one night, and I swam the river in the dark to shore” — An Ohio geek, I never thought had THAT in him.
“When I was shaking, laying on the gurney getting ready to have my one good eye operated on, knowing I had elected this surgery.” — A woman faced with partial blindness since birth.
“Choosing to live after my girl friend left me.” — a devoted older brother who had gone to the motel room to gather the personal things of his younger brother who had killed himself. So easy to make the same choices.
“Apologizing to my mother for being a brat after not speaking to her for 8 years.” — A woman seeing her own mother grief stricken on an airplane going to her grandmother’s (mother’s mother’s) funeral.
So, I say that Kurt Corbain did not have courage to live the life we was given and what he made of it. Pain can do terrible things to you. It can cloud all your thought processes. I hope that others won’t look to him as a role-model. Many lives are being lived with courage. Too bad it wasn’t his.
Kurt Cobain: Still the world’s most famous…
Statistic.
Sorry, can’t like anything about the man.
“It’s like saying I’m heterosexual but sitting on a butt plug as I write this.”
Oh my ! /Takei
Funniest thing, ever.
I happen to like woman who rock.
But Kurt smashing old guitars? That’s like ripping up the bible in front of a church.
It’s bound to piss people off.
Ok he smashed ’em. They are gone, what of it?
It might be better if they wore out through use.
But worse if they were sitting in a vault somewhere collecting dust.
Nothing is forever.
Back in December I was mourning for another musicain who also committed suicide 10 years ago, but he wasn’t appriciated as much as Kurt. Although I think he should be.
His lyrics speak of depression, drinking, obsession, and, looking back, even small hints of suicide.
“Is there a line that I could write that’s sad enough to make you cry? All the lines you wrote to me were lies.”
“But you wanted to be where you are
But it looked much better from afar”
Sometimes the world just sucks.
sigh
wil,
I can see why maybe your article didn
I remember knowing about it. I don’t think I knew who he was. I knew it was big, important. I don’t know what I was listening to back then, as I was 12. Maybe whatever rock station my dad had on in the car. Fuzzy memories.
It wasn’t until much later that I learned who he was.
Then of all the others who have fallen to addiction, depression, and the troubles that come with being rich and famous.
“I’ll drink enough of anything to make myself look new again”
Kurt had a lot of problems and the fame and money probably just made things worse.
Some people just can’t handle being rich. I mean look at Jack Whittaker. He doesn’t have (much)
fame, drug addiction(hopefully), depression (hopefully), or a The Courtney Love.
He was already a millionaire and he can’t handle being more rich.
I’d hate to think what these actors and musicians go through that have all this other baggage.
Most normal people can’t deal with drug addiction.
We’re only human.
So long to all those people that have touched our hearts, but lost it all.
“Poor us, frail as they come. I’m thinking all this time I’m right, and I’m not. I cannot help myself, and I know it’s not your fault. Well I was certain then, but now I don’t know. Starin’ at the skyline I can smell those brackish waters.
I swear I’ve had this feeling here before. Come on hard at night I cry you and all the others. I promise I won’t hurt you anymore.”
I have to agree with the other posters about your musical timeline. Nirvana may have broken ‘grunge’ to the masses but they weren’t the first. And it was always ‘grunge’ either, in the UK it was US hardcore and long before Nirvana there was a solid fanbase here. And why no mention of the real pioneers like Mudhoney and Tad? Interestingly you only mention the most commercially succesful outfits as peers but while Nirvana were still relatively unknown bands like Tad and Mudhoney were pretty succesful here. Yes they benefited from Nirvana’s success but they were sooner and better imho.
Wil doesn’t want us to treat this like a bbs, so I’ll make sure I generalize my comment Deb.
As a Canadian mentioning Leonard Cohen to non-Canadians, I usually get a response like, “Leonard Who”? I’m often surprised at the things Wil makes reference to, as some of them I think are fairly obscure, and no one I usually speak with knows them. Now, I’m not saying Leonard Cohen is obscure, but perhaps not a household name in the U.S. Leonard is a superb song writer, and Wil obviously appreciates that from his perspective as a developing writer himself.
Does Leonard Cohen even get radio play in the U.S.?
Guys like me are mad for turtle meat.
Thrice I’ve tried to leave a meaningful comment to this entry.
Thrice I failed.
Maybe it is too long ago, maybe the urgency he once had is no more, in my mind. Or maybe I should never ever watch MTV again on 5 april. They’re still trying to show the world that they own Kurt Cobain(TM).
Which leaves me with a short video clip, on the Foo Fighters album ‘There Is Nothing Left To Lose’, where a completely drunk Dave Grohl stammers (and his band members are nice enough to tape and submit for the CD),
‘I was in….nirBana. We helped define rock music.’
Kurt has left the building.
The only thing that really drives me nuts about the whole Kurt Cobain tribute hooplah is that nobody ever ever EVER mentions Dave Grohl. I think he had a WAY larger contribution to the music of Nirvana than people give him credit for. And look at him now: the Foo Fighters have released 4 *AWESOME* albums that I find have WAY more replay value than any Nirvana album (let’s face it, we can’t be angry depressed teenagers for all our lives). But I seem to be in a minority when it comes to these comparisons.
hey wil, you have such a way with words…it sends tingles down my spine…
great article! i can’t believe its been 10 years either…sooo much can and has happened in a decade, that its hard to get your head round it…you know?
anyway…
take care
rach
I was 15 years old when Kurt Cobain died, and going through the worst throes of a very severe depression that would last through the rest of my teens into college. I remember being in the car, and hearing it come over the radio that he was dead. All I could think was “he did it, and I didn’t.” I was angry at him.
I was never a big Nirvana fan. I had the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” single, but most of the music I listened to at the time wasn’t written by men (I preferred Tori Amos, Sinead O’Connor, Kristin Hersh, etc.). Looking back, I see that they wrote some pretty great songs, and they influenced a lot of young musicians. My first boyfriend in high school was the lead singer in a band and he used to wear old dresses on stage, just like Kurt.
What made me so angry about Kurt’s death at the time was that it glamourized suicide. At a time when dying was all I wanted, it made a caricature of a serious, “unhappy generation.” “Teen angst” became a common phrase and people started talking about our depressed young culture in books like “Prozac Nation.” Kurt’s death was the turning point in popular culture in the 90’s. After that, things changed. Popular music became more lighthearted again.
Who knows what would have become of Kurt had he stuck it out? There’s no use dreaming about it. In the end, I became a Foo Fighters fan–I find that Dave Grohl was able to come out of that situation in a really wonderful way.
for those who didn’t get it….
“give me a leonard cohen afterworld ”
is one of Kurt’s lyrics from a song.
I remember hearing it over 13 years ago, saying to myself “Who the hell is Leonard Cohen?” – and searching out some of his tapes and vinyl. I ended up becoming a much larger Leonard Cohen fan than Nirvana fan. I understand the song that lyric came from now… and still listen to Leonard Cohen regularly.
-Scott
TwoPeanuts.com
Actually There was a Soundgarden and an Alice in Chains and a Pearl Jam (from the ashes of Green River and mother Love Bone) long before there was a Nirvana. Cobain was a good (not great) songwriter who happened to give a face & an image to an already burgeoning movement. His suicide certainly fed into the mythology that seems to overinflate the real contributions of people like him who never really have to live up to their potential. For all we know he would have been selling his music for car commercials by 1995. No one knows, and I, for one, am at a loss as to why anyone would give a shit.
Um, Cupie, I don’t think it’s semantically possible to induce a spontaneous abortion, or to induce anything spontaneous at all.
Wil, I don’t get why people think your article wasn’t published because of its content, when you stated very clearly that you didn’t submit it until a day after the deadline.
I liked Nirvana okay, but I never bought any of their albums, and for reasons I still don’t understand, I was very saddened by Kurt Cobain’s suicide. I was 36 at the time. I have to agree with a few commenters that there really wasn’t much to like or admire about him other than his ability to produce decent music. And boy, that sounds harsh to me, even though I said it.
Michael Hawkes, don’t kid yourself, Kurt sought fame out willingly. He hired agents , publicists and worked with A & R guys with the specific goal of getting signed and getting famous. It doesn’t happen by accident.
mikesum32, thanks for the props to Doug Hopkins, he was a drinking buddy of mine and I thought he was a truly talented songwriter I still miss his wit and his music after all of these years.
http://www.justiceforkurt.com
I never liked Nirvana, still don’t. I have always turned to music when I needed to be lifted up from depression or as a relief from anger, so I found the whole grunge thing disturbing to say the least. As to how talented he was/wasn’t all I have to say is Hendrix, Morrison, and Joplin (the 27 club he always alluded to) to my mind were more talented writers than he.
Like you Wil at the time I had recently lost a friend to suicide and seeing all the millions of people mourning this man who I felt wasn’t so great made me angry. Everytime I hear a Nirvana song I still cringe.
What bothers me most is that the “symbol” of our generation is a mildly talented drug addict who decided to end his life rather than take the more challenging road and live. Being told that a cop out is the face of my generation is just plain offensive.
I know exactly what you mean: mixed feelings about Nirvana loom large in my legend as a music fan. They’re one of those bands that sometimes, if you’re in the mood, you can mellow out to and ignore life, whilst at other times it just sounds like alot of noise.
I always find it best to keep feelings about Kurt Cobain to myself because otherwise you’re going to end up offending someone…so well done for being a brave one Wil.
It’s nice to see someone else who had a complicated, sometimes ambivalent attitude toward Cobaine. I’m 32. I often feel very out of sync with my generation when the topic comes up. Most people are so fawning. I hate the “voice of a generation” crap. There are and were better writers and better musicians. There’s no denying that he had an ability to write things that touched people deeply, though.
I still mostly think he’s an asshole for killing himself and leaving his daughter to grow up without a father.
What these people don’t realize, is that he was pre-packaged garbage for another era. The only that changes is time. I honestly don’t see why people give a damn about this person. If you have a personal thing going on, fine. Keep it personal. Don’t try to make it into a public matter.
The timeline of Grunge is, like any other, something ill defined and perennially debatable.
Who was first?
Well, what’s first?
First to form?
First to play out?
First to sign to a label?
First to sign to a major label?
First to get radio time?
First to make a video?
First to have an appearance on MTV?
First to have a Top 10 hit?
First to have a #1 Hit?
And who owes what to whom?
Do Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains owe their fame to Nirvana?
Does Kurt owe his style to the Melvins and the Meat Puppets?
Does Tad owe his girth to Ho-Hos?
When you put a Mudhoney CD in the player, are you tingling in anticipation? Does the sound of Nirvana make you shudder? Is Kurt’s apparent suicide an impediment to his status as a legend? Role Model? Song writer? Icon? Would it make a difference if it was a murder?
I think the ultimate question is:
What does it matter?
It is what it is.
Love it. Hate it. Be indifferent.
Wil,
You inspired me to write up a tribute to KC on LJ.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/soulsistahd/
Thanks.
I’m a little late to place my two cents but timeliness is not a quality I often grasp.
I grew up far away from the people that influenced me in my teens. I lived the safe sprawling tree lined streets of suburbia Ohio.
I spent the time reading all the comments on here, agreed with some, disagreed with others.
Dug on geoster post. Agreed heavily about the vintage guitars- I would break anyone in half if they came near my 79 Fender bass (and I’m a 5’2, so be amused with that image)
I grew up far away from the people that influenced me in my teens. I lived the safe sprawling tree lined streets of suburbia Ohio. 10 years later I found myself watching empteevee recount annoyingly the history of Nirvana, found myself hungry for the music like I did 10 years ago and wishing those brainless dopes would just shut and up and play the music. I don’t care that its damn easy to play- it just feels good to play those cords and sing to that music.
I found the anger that even if somehow this nobody in Ohio made it out west finally and found work as a musician or in film- I’ll never get the dream I had as a little girl of working with River and Kurt.
And I find myself choking on the violent words I have for those who generalize sucide.
I’ve gone through both sides, surviving and being at that edge.
People are just mortal, dummies, children pawing at an exsistance, bumping into others, sometimes making an impression.
I feel lucky that an impression was made on me. Their mistakes, their triumphs, their art, it lives on in those who would take from it and make it better.
Bump.
-mkf
I apologize- my skills for editing also seem in the suck catagory, along with my timeliness, grammar and spelling.
oy
-mkf
OK, so my first reaction to this one was to giggle at “Perl” Jam (as a Unix sys admin/perl hacker myself).
But there are a lot of thoughtful comments here. I find it hard to believe that it’s been 10 years — I still haven’t accepted that I’m old enough to talk about things a decade ago. In truth, I don’t have strong feelings about Kurt Cobain. I do remember Nirvana’s performance on “Unplugged” — it brought everything home for me. Truly great.
Thanks to twopeanuts for ‘splainin’ that the Leonard Cohen subject line was from one of KC’s lyrics. I might have guessed that if I ever owned an album, or was otherwise a fan. But I’m not. Sorry Kurt. But I did like that sunshine band of yours. 🙂
Dude!
Pennyroyal tea was a concoction made by midwives/doctors in the early 17/18 century, it tasted HORRIBLE and it was supposed to cause an instant ABORTION in pregnant women… Many women got poisoned drinking the stuff… So wherever Kurt is, I Hope he is NOT drinking that shit…
Even if he did destroy all those guitars…I think he created new ones… (poetically speaking)
Nice piece of writing.
And for the record, Kurt Cobain didn’t really smash up any vintage guitars. He kept “throwaway” guitars on stage that he’d switch to around the last song so he could smash those to bits. He really babied the nice guitars.
Hey Wil,
I always compared in my mind Kurt’s destruction of vintage guitars to Maude throwing Harold’s gift into the water.
Just a thought.
From what I know, pennyroyal tea is not known to cause abortions. However, it is helpful for headaches, nausea and nervous conditions. For someone with chronic stomach problems who later committed suicide, perhaps these uses are more to the point? I really don’t know.
For an article about this, and more than you probably every wanted to know, check out http://www.aromamedical.com/articles/pennyroy.html.
Oops, sorry. Screwed up the html. That’s what I get for not previewing!
Hey, fuck Seattle. Boeing is in my hometown, Wichita, the Air Capital of the World. Who cares? Starbucks is shit. Try Peet’s. Microsoft is so incredibly crap.
Thank god someone noticed that Soundgarden and Pearl Jam would indeed have existed without Nirvana (not ragging on Wil, just so you know). Soundgarden is an example of true musical ability, and while Nirvana certainly made more money from Kurt’s illnesses, Cornell’s illnesses are much more interesting and he’s had the sense to keep away from firearms. Pearl Jam has proven also to be a better set of talents than Nirvana.
Were it not for Kurt’s dramatic end, we might not be talking about Nirvana at all these days. Sic transit gloria Cobain.
Maybe this isn’t the right place to ask, but I was wondering where I can get/view the clips that were cut of Wil from Nemesis??
Yours,
Jeremy