Today marks the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.. SIXTEEN FUCKING YEARS AGO!!!! How the fuck old are we getting??
I remember my dad picking me up from lacrosse practice after middle school in 7th or 8th grade. I hopped in the car and he says "The singer of one of your bands killed himself today."
My young little heart skipped a beat..
"I can't remember who.. I think it starts with an N?" he said.
my immediate thought was "NOFX??! FAT MIKE?!! No way! He wouldn't do that!"
and he said "No, that's not it"
Then we turned on the radio -and with timing so perfect it coulda been set up- heard; "Kurt Cobain, lead singer and guitarist of the band Nirvana, was found dead today at his home in Seattle, Washington. He was 27 years old."
My poor angst ridden, mid-pubescent, voice cracking, flannel shirt wearing, shoulder length 'Sun-In' lightened hair having, 'depressed' , young teenage self was completely shell shocked! It actually hit me pretty hard! Kurt Cobain was my official idol back then! (my parents were a little disturbed by the poster i came home with that had his face all huge and just said underneath it "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" -Kurt Cobain")
I wrote a paper that year, before he died, entitled 'What I Wanna Be in 20 Years' (or some shit like that) and it had a picture of Kurt with an arrow pointing to him that said 'ME!', and it said all this dumb shit about how i'll be a famous rockstar living in a 666 story tall mansion in Death Valley, California and married to a Victoria Secret super model, and play in an 'alternative-grunge-rock band' and bleach my hair and get blue contact lenses.. pretty ridiculous teenage idol worshipping nonsense. But.. yeah.. Nirvana, and Kurt Cobain, were a big deal to me!
So, that sunny April 8th back in 1994, when Big Papa Shaffer rolled up to pick me up from school, and I heard that life shattering news on the radio.. was a pretty big day in my young formative musical life...
ME!
Please feel free to share your 'I remember where I was when....' story for the day Kurt Cobain died, in the comment section below!
I grew up in Detroit and was one of only a few white kids in a public school K-8. At the beginning of 8th grade I was all about R&B: En Vogue, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, etc. Then a kid on my bus gave me a tape of Nirvana and told me to check it out. I was hesitant. I tried it. I never turned back.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I was in 10th grade I didn't listen to any rap whatsoever. It was Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam on repeat.
The first concert I ever went to was Nirvana. My dad got me three tickets and told me to invite two friends. So I invited Dan and Jon, and in my uncommon foresight I thought to bring my belt holster for my glasses. Here I was at the Detroit State Fair Colosseum and everyone was giving the opening band the middle finger with both hands - WOW.
We thought we should try to push as far to the front as possible; but we had no concept of the idea of a mosh pit in our innocent little brains. As soon as Kurt's first guitar note rang out (or it may have even just been a tech tuning the guitar), the crowd became dense and squeezed the breath out of me. I was terrified. We clawed our way to safety along the boards near the front, which of course had no good line of sight.
By the end of the show, after studying the mosh pit far more closely than paying attention to Nirvana's performance since I couldn't actually see Dave Grohl, I was ready to venture in. My glasses were firmly snapped into the belt case. I felt my way into the edge of the pit, where I could feel the squeezing but didn't need to deal with any direct impact. It was glorious. I felt like an animal. Squeezing, pushing, pulling, simultaneously relaxing my body to the drift of the current while fiercely defending my right to actually breath.
How many Nirvana songs did I learn on my first guitar! In fact, how many non-Nirvana songs did I ever even bother trying to learn?
I'm right there with you, Mykee. Nirvana played a huge role during my formative years of rocking out as an adolescent.
I was 18. Was just about to get out of my car and go to my job after work and they announced it on the radio. At the time I wasn't really a Nirvana fan because I was so tired of hearing Nirvana on the radio and everywhere else. It was the talk of the workplace that evening. Seemed kind of unreal, yet expected after seeing him with the white t-shirt with marker on it saying "I hate myself and want to die". To this day I still believe Courtney Love had him murdered.
ReplyDeleteI watched a lot of MTV growing up. Being born in 74 was just about the the right time to be born into a white upper class family with cable. MTV hit in what? 82? 84? THAT IS ALL I WATCHED. I mean my family and I might rent a movie or a sitcom or two a week, but me and my two older brothers watched MTV NON-STOP! 120 minutes was ofcourse, when it came out THE best show on television showing everything from REM to Sonic Youth to Metallica, etc.
ReplyDeleteI never cared too much for the hair metal bands such as White Lion, Poison, or the rap acts meaning: I never went to the record store and bought their stuff. but I did spend time listening in the living room after school, before or after work and/or school.
Then Guns & Roses came out and I KNEW something was up. it was 1990 and you could JUST feel something was up.
Anyway, I got into to school and socializing and MTV just became THE ONLY thing I'd watch besides The Simpsons. Nirvana broke MTV wide open and for the first time MTV meant something to me...but I still didn't run out and buy any Pearl Jam, STP, Alice in Chains, Janes Addiction, RHCP, or even Nirvana...but MTV REALLY did mean something to me and I connected with these bands and musicians.
I came home from college in 94 for the second semester to attend community college working as a prep cook. There on the Radio a story about finding Kurt Cobain dead (possibly) by a self inflicted gun shot...I laughed a little before realizing it was a girls favorite band. She even had a poster above her bed of them and Kurt wearing big white rimmed sunglasses. I would be the one to tell her.
I was 19.
If I had a 3 wish first one will be: I want Kurt Cobain alive and happy
ReplyDeleteSecond one would be: Dont let him die before me
Third one would be: Let it be
R.I.P ♥Kurt Cobain♥