Word: cobain
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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From Bob Dylan, who remarked that “the kid has heart” after seeing a performance of “Polly,” all the way to P. Diddy and Fred Durst, musicians, journalists and fans have almost unanimously praised Cobain for the quality of his work and the sincerity of his character. It is also safe to say that nearly all contemporary rock musicians, including bands like Weezer, the Strokes and the Vines, have expressed some debt of gratitude to Cobain and his work...
...Teen Spirit” and “Polly,” and I soon owned every Nirvana album. Now, between the poster of 5-year-old Kurt on my door in Quincy, the antique Fender Mustang (my first guitar, and the one famously endorsed by Cobain) my guitar teacher found for me in a used guitar shop in Greenwich Village, and my outdated, less than tidy fashion sense, I wonder whether my refusal to consider any contemporary pop musician his equal is just a premature case of longing for the good old days, like a parent complaining about...
When he was a teenager, Cobain told friends, “I’m going to be a superstar musician, kill myself and go out in a flame of glory.” These words suggest that Cobain was not always the humble, reluctant star that the media portrayed. Yet, whatever narcissism may have driven his rise to stardom, and perhaps even the timing of his suicide, both Cobain and his music possessed a level of authenticity so rare in pop music that they overshadow such flaws...
Something intangible about Cobain and his music has earned him titles like “Rock’s last great star.” Scarily enough, he reached out so far to people that some of his fans even mimicked his suicide. While the mysteries surrounding Cobain’s death undoubtedly contribute to his legend, I don’t believe they are the primary explanation. Because, frankly, it’s hard to imagine that Enrique Iglesias or Ja Rule would elicit the same reaction if either of them decided to put a shot...
...real answer to the mystery of Cobain’s appeal is that beneath the flannel shirts, torn jeans, intermittent hygiene and biting sarcasm that came to define the grunge movement, there is an unspoken but powerful ideology that Cobain inherited from the likes of J.D. Salinger, William S. Burroughs, Dylan, Robert Johnson, Led Belly and even James Dean. Uniting all of these artists is the cult of the anti-hero, a philosophy which has resonated with generation after generation of disaffected youth. While every new proponent of this ideology has offered his own interpretation of its time old principles...