Kurt Cobain

[winters in buffalo]

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the day Kurt Cobain was found dead in Seattle.

Of course, the radio station here is running a 24 hour Nirvana marathon and talking about nothing but Cobain all day. Actually, they've been talking about it all week. I keep hearing the term 'musical genius'.

While I liked Nirvana, I never really thought of Cobain as brilliant by any means.

One of the most disturbing things I ever heard was someone once called Cobain "the John Lennon of our generation". I always thought he was more like our Janis Joplin.

Anyway, I'll open it up for discussion: what are your thoughts about Kurt Cobain - musical genius or just another dead rocker?

Bonus points for the first 10th Anniversary Patch. (j/k)

[winters in buffalo]

BTW - Kurt Cobain was one of my Death Pool picks in 1994, and remains my only successful pick ever.

[paynomind]

the term 'genius' is for your own personal debate.

Cobain, without question, changed the game. MUCH more than janis did, and more than anyone since. Outkast is on the precipise of doing somehting similar to the rock/rap community, but we will have to wait a while to really see if that happens.

Cobain MADE alt music in the 90's possible. He was a merciless marketer of himself, and most times he was talking about himself, he was full of plop, makign the story sound awesome to solidify his fame.

But one cannot argue. Cobain IS alt rock.

[fiasco!]

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the day Kurt Cobain was found dead in Seattle.

Of course, the radio station here is running a 24 hour Nirvana marathon and talking about nothing but Cobain all day. Actually, they've been talking about it all week. I keep hearing the term 'musical genius'.

While I liked Nirvana, I never really thought of Cobain as brilliant by any means.

One of the most disturbing things I ever heard was someone once called Cobain "the John Lennon of our generation". I always thought he was more like our Janis Joplin.

Anyway, I'll open it up for discussion: what are your thoughts about Kurt Cobain - musical genius or just another dead rocker?

Bonus points for the first 10th Anniversary Patch. (j/k)

i was and still am a huge nirvana fan....i firmly believe that they, along with sonic youth, mudhoney, soundgarden, the pixies, the melvins, pearl jam and others, changed the face of music in the early nineties. they made plopty hair band run for cover and hide their faces. they brought back REAL rock & roll, despite whatever label was put on it. they brought meaning back to music and for that i will say that cobain was a musical genius...not the only one, but a genius nonetheless.

for such a short period of time, they put out some timeless music. there wasn't a single bad song on any of their records. they changed the way countless people looked at music.

yes, i remember exactly where i was when i heard he died....turning right on to westbound I-696 from southbound Van Dyke Ave. on my way home from work and i had to pull over for a few minutes...i remember it was hot as fluff that day and i was already in a miserable mood, because i didn't have any AC in my '75 LeMans.

people who say that Cobain wasn't a musical genius need to get their heads examined. like i said, he helped change the face of music and helped define a generation.

[paynomind]

good god.. has it REALLY been 10 years? geesh...

some of you guys were, like 5 then, huh?

wow.

[nitroseed]

I like Nirvana and all, but I never understood what the big deal was about Kurt Cobain. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention. One accomplishment I do think he should be heralded for: putting up with Courtney Love as long as he did. Oh, and we can't forget that out of the ashes of Nirvana, the phoenix that is the Foo Fighters were born! (Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl went on to form the Foo.)

[bosox]

good god.. has it REALLY been 10 years? geesh...

some of you guys were, like 5 then, huh?

wow.

I turned 4 a week or two before his death....

Luckily for me, all my relatives listened to Nirvana and Pearl Jam and all that stuff, so I got into it and yea.

I mean, I was 4, so I actually have some faint memories of watching Nirvana on TV or listening to them. I mean, when I first started really listening to them I could remember most of these songs from when I was little. I actually remember watching something on TV, maybe it was the day they found him dead, or the one year anniversary, about his death. Other than that, most of my Nirvana memories come from around '98-present.

[Shmee]

I was... let's see... Carry the one... Subtract the 7 months... I was 5 and a half years old when Cobain died. Luckily my sister is five years older than me and was kind enough to teach me about Cobain and Nirvana.

[winters in buffalo]

Wow.. some of you guys are practically still toddlers. I was a senior in high school then.

[fiasco!]

Wow.. some of you guys are practically still toddlers. I was a senior in high school then.

i was 21.

[Waffles]

I was 9 at the time and not really that aware of Nirvana. I remember one of my friends walking around the school yard carrying his obituary and being all sullen.

I am very aware of them now and I wish I'd been able to appreciate them better back in the day.

[See Red]

When I went to the Yellowcard concert on Monday night, they played "Dumb" and "All Apologies" by Nirvana. I thought it was a pretty cool gesture.

I would consider him a genius. If not for Nirvana and some of the other Seattle bands at the time... we'd be listening to absolute crap.

[smzimbabwe]

I feel very fortunate to have been going to college in Seattle during the late 80's and early 90's and having had the chance to see the formative years of many of these bands and their subsequent rise to fame...

I was 24 at the time I heard the news. I didn't really react to it, just kind of a dull acknowledgement of the fact. But then 10 seconds later my 12 year old sister's best friend started bawling her eyes out about it and shaking and we couldn't calm her down for hours. It was like someone told her that her parents had died or something...

I don't find Cobain's lyrics to be all that great when read by themselves, but when combined with the music, it's pretty powerful...

[yh]

Wow.. some of you guys are practically still toddlers. I was a senior in high school then.

i was 21.

I had just turned 26. It was around 5 in the morning on a Saturday when I heard the news driving into work (I was preparing for my first jury trial). I didn't get home from work until after 11 the following night, so I missed most of the big press coverage of it.

[Roger Clemente]

In spite of how popular they were amongst my fifth grade classmates, to this date I've still only heard that one song of their's, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". And IMO, it's a good but not great song.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[paynomind]

Roger, I'd be surprised if you have really only heard one song. I'd imagine that you have heard more, but didn't know who it was when you heard it.

Nitro - I was with you on that, until someone explained it to me thusly - Nirvana wasn't so much a great SOUNDING band, as much as they broke new ground, went in a new direction, and brought a new sond to the world to play with and experiment with.

I was 19, I guess... Freshman at Tech. I was in my dorm room, about to go to sleep, at like 5:30am or so. (Been out the night before and was just getting in. Ahhh, the college days.) When they interrupted the song that was playing to tell us. I was in shock. Not like crying sad, but very, very surprised.

[Joshawaggie]

I was 13 at the time, and really wan't that into them so much, I knew all the songs on the radio and what not, but I still knew it was a pretty big deal whe he died... This past week I have been listening to my Nirvana CD's, good stuff, good stuff.

[OnWis97]

I was a freshman in college. As a sophomore in HS, out came "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I liked it, but it would be years after Kobain's death before I would understand it's significance. IT was the kick in the pants that rock and roll needed.

I don' t think they made the "grunge" genre possible, but they hastened its trip to prominance.

Personally, there were others I like better. I'm a Pearl Jam freak, but also prefer Soundgarden and Alice in Chains along with Stone Temple Pilots. Nirvanna was reminded me a bit too much of punk.

But Kurt and Nirvanna had that right "F*#@ Everything and Everyone" attitude to start this revolution in music. That 80s glam rock music was dead the day that song came out.

I am very appreciative of so many from that era: Nirvanna, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, STP, Alice in Chains, etc. It's just too bad so many members of these bands had to go through such rough times just to bring us the music.

[winters in buffalo]

See, I don't think Nirvana started a music revolution. It was going to happen anyway, and they were along for the ride. Any one of those other bands could have easily led the charge. I think Cobain would have preffered to continue playing in obscurity, but instead, he was dragged to the forefront.

The irony in a shy kid with a fluff the mainstream attitude becoming the most prominent figure in a rock revolution that saw his style become the mainstream... it's like he was throwing rocks at a crowd, and the harder he threw, the more they wanted to be hit.

[See Red]

Yeah, I'm with most people. Even though I always liked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and other songs... it wasn't until later on that I realized their significance. And I didn't realize how much it affected me until April 5th at the Yellowcard concert... and Yellowcard's singer said Nirvana was the only reason they ever picked up guitars and started playing.