Nirvana - Kurt Cobain

Very sad, but he didn't leave enough of a body of work to be considered great. If he really hated fame that much, he could have just walked away. Someone like Brian Wilson who looked so deep inside himself to make music that it broke him for thirty years is more a victim of music. Always seemed to me that Cobain was the first post-modern rock casualty - his belief that to be authentic he had to be tragic was what did for him in the end; that coupled with his belief that by making people happy with his music he was 'selling out'. Having said that, not only does Smells Like Teen Spirit still sound new and edgy, but the bootleg where Destiny's Child sing "I don't think you're ready for this jelly" over the top of it is uncannily good. I found (as I've said before), the passages in About a Boy describing an outpouring of grief about Kurt, to be very wide of the mark. I don't recall anybody I knew being at all surprised. He was the proverbial accident waiting to happen. The most affecting moment was the shot of his Converse basketball sneakers poking out from under the tarpaulin.

it was my understanding that it was Courtney Love and her intrinsically evil methods to grab as much attention and power as she could that drove him to it.

I think I've got something of Joy Division's buried somewhere in my parent's attic. Probably from around 1978-80. What were their hits at this time?

what I've said about her is based on an acclaimed documentary involving interviews with the people involved. NOT misogyny of any kind. where you "somehow get the feeling" that her sex has something to do with it is beyond me. Kurt, Courtney, the whole grunge scene can vortex down the first plughole it ever comes across as far as I'm concerned but my view of the woman in question stands and I've NEVER read the daily mail, AND I'm a strong supporter of equality and the rights of everyone regardless of gender or anything else. Don't suppose to know me or make the kind of wild, unsupported guesses about what I might be thinking as you have done here Boybrowne. I won't get into petty arguments either, especially when it comes to mixing taste with 'grunge' but each to their own. My views on women are my own, my views on this particular woman have been stated and if I want you to know any more of my views I'LL tell them YOU! get it?

I think it would be fair to say that one thing people who commit suicide have in common is that they could not bear the burden life gave them to bear. It's fairly easy to speculate and make up your own theories about Kurt's life and death but for one thing, he lived and died his own way, choosing his own path and making his own choices and mistakes as he went. "We make our own choices, we pay our own prices," is one of my favourite quotes. I think the old saying applies in Kurt's case: "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." He got his fame and wealth and all he aimed for when starting a band and what not and it just proved too much for him to bear. He got overwhelmed and swept away with it all, but at least he stuck to his own path no matter what and he walked it all the way. RIP Kurt.

i thought that this piece you have written was very interesting as I am a big fan of Kurt Cobain. I will be remembering him this coming April with great respect. Also the day of his death is the same day as my aunts and his birthday is the same day as mine! - 20TH FEBRUARY 1967, wat a great day this was!-the day the lead singer of one of the greatest grunge bands ever was born! [%sig%]

Katrina, Liana hit the nail on the head. There was a tradition of suicidal males in Kurt's family which I'm sure one of you will point out doesn't mean that he necessarily killed himself. But given that the guy vowed that that is how he would end his days from a young age aswell, I think we safely assume he pulled the trigger.

COME ON PEOPLE WE ALL NOW HE DIDNT KILL HIMSELF!!!!

Joy Division Love will tear us apart Atmosphere She's lost control again Transmission Shadowplay Isolation 24 hours

Author: mississippi (213.78.84.---) Date: 03-01-04 19:22 History will not even remember Courtney Love. he he he, very funny :))

Katrina - we know no such thing. If you know it, I am certain that the FBI will be terribly eager to talk to you.

no no Ely......... kurt cobain revered and adored his wife. the media would like you to think otherwise cos it makes for a story...of some kind. the tw@ts. 'intrisically evil' jesus christ Ely, could you explain that one, she is'nt a librarian you know....... completely moronic thing to stay. disagree with you also andrew, some people have left virtually no 'body of work' and are considered 'greats'....robert johnson....the stone roses fatboy....... i was in a pub in Aston, the walls covered in tv's...... mtv was playing as usual with no sound, the resident dj was rockin' the place as usual. and then the video's were stopped and replaced with a picture of cobain with the headline 'suicide'. it really was quite poignant, somehow. every where you looked within the pub was this picture of kurt. the pub, packed to the rafters, was not so much shocked as subdued. in awe of a true moment in our young history.

Nick Drake's another one who left little but left quality

History will not even remember Courtney Love.

Jeff Buckley too...

Live Through This is one of my favourite albums.

Talking of music, the 'enhanced with video' visualisation thing that 's on the bottom of my computer screen with the CD I'm listening to now could actually hypnotise me if I looked at it for long enough I think. The combination of this and ABCTales is very dodgy.

I had just finished reviewing two albums by this artist for my website! He was a little bit before my time ... Oddly enough, I don't remember anything about the suicide, but I remember an anniversary of his suicide sometime in the mid-90s when I was in middle school, and people were wearing Kurt Cobain t-shirts. I had no idea who he was, though.

well Boybrowne. I make my comments based on reports of the time and since on Ms. Love. She was documented as making death threats against all of his family and himself on many occasions. She has also had other people's places trashed and their families threatened by her 'bodyguards' if she didn't get her way. I also believe that many Nirvana fans won't even stomach her image (something I can easily agree with as she looks like satan's dog after kissing a blender). She has been quoted as stating that if Kurt didn't get her into the music business she would ditch him and make his life hell. Her general attitude and actions before and her hypocrisy since (supposedly hating the falseness of hollywood and the music industry in favour of her 'raw punk roots' then having every beauty treatment known to man so she can get her fat face on the big screen and on more record covers) have lead me to believe she is 'intrinsically evil' and I am not alone in this 'moronic' belief. I wouldn't have her in the house!

cobain killed himself because he was on a 300 dollar a day smack habit that he could not kick. if he didn't have the habit, the gun would not have gone into the mouth, giving him membership of the 27 club. at the sound check for unplugged the technicians strapped him into the chair and he could only whisper two words, "Higher" and "Lower". it proved enough for a concert that no one backstage thought would ever go ahead because he was such a wreck. all the rest is journalese, spiteful speculation and misplaced adolescent death wishy washiness that derives from the dubious and occasionally brilliant German Romantics (thinking of E T A Hoffman, but he didn't die young, so that theory is already scuppered). Nevermind. [%sig%]

I always thought Courtney Cox was a very funny name if said quickly.

The difference is, Jeff Buckley didn't take the short-cut and neither did Nick Drake, if memory serves me right. Buckley's death was as far as anyone knows, an accident, and Drake is not believed to have been suicidal, though he was depressed. Anybody that drugs themselves to death gets no sympathy from me, and that includes EP. Cobain is no great loss to the world of music, anymore than the other idiot, who hung himself from a doorknob whilst beating the crap out of his overflow.

I have never met Ms Love, and I'm not all together sure whether we'd gel or not. She's had such bad publicity, which I think like that other Cancerian woman, Princess Di, she milks for her own good. But Courtney is an excellent frontswoman and she was in the music biz before she met Kurt. She's done a lot of great things aside from raising the profile of women in rock, like punching obnoxious journos and chasing Kurt's ex up Sunset Blvd. waving her fist. She's also done a number of daft things, like losing it on that Virgin Atlantic and giving away her Fender guitars to dweebs who'll probably let them gather dust in the corner of their bedrooms. All in all she probably does cop a load of flack because she's a she, whether guys acknowledge it or not. Another rocker who shares her birthday, the late, great Bon Scott of AC/DC, is still hailed as a hellraiser, who enjoyed boozing, birding and brawling. But woe betide Courtney's temper... oooh, we don't like angry women, do we lads? Perhpas one thing to remember when you're casting stones at her though is this - she may have a drug problem, and as a mother she really SHOULD get over it. But she didn't blow her brains out and abandon her child. Kurt Cobain - nice guy!

look Ely. i'm not in the habit of gettin' into futile taste debates. it seems you just do not like the woman and so are getting a little carried away. i some how get the feeling the fact that she IS a woman and carrying on a little eccentrically, albeit with a few-hundred-dollar-a-day habit is getting your, and other peoples backs up. i know you are not alone in your opinion, but believe me the media have their filthy hands at work here. Basically what they are screaming, daily mail esq. is this: look, a woman. how dare she act this way! what if it were the other way around Ely? kurt had left the fag end of grunge (alive) and experimented with movies, ie. moved on. he wouldn't be the first and certainly not the last, Waits, jagger more recently jack white. the only difference is that courtney love not only adapted incredibly well, and recognised critically as such, but the films were good aswell....man on the moon....the people versus larry flint.......... like i say, i don't EVER want to get into a taste issue. in '94 Hole were bigger than Nirvana and had respect in their/her own right. once again, 'live through this' was critically acclaimed and for good reason. i can't help feeling the whole 'courtney argument' is just plain old mysogyny. men are allowed to be rascals, especially rock stars, its demanded. women rock stars? they dare'nt step out of line, especially the talented ones. history will smile on courtney love for her creative output..... enough said.

do you know if Kurt hated the Media its for an ela project. Also in the song rape me i think hes talking about the media the_fatboy wrote: > This April will mark the 10th annversary of Kurt Cobain's > passing. I remember the period well. > > I knew that Kurt was having problems with his drug problems, > and thought that overdosing on pills with alcohol would put him > out of his misery. It was whilst Nirvana were on tour in Rome, > and as a result, their tour had be rearranged, but I didn't > think it was a big surprise when the tour got scrapped. A > friend of mine even had a ticket for the Cardiff date of the UK > tour. > > I remember I was in the living room, playing Thearpy?'s > brilliant album 'Troublegum', whilst I had MTV on mute. They > had a Phil Collins day where they played his videos all day. > Can't see them doing that now, can you? Then there was a News > flash, so I turned the volume down on the Hi -Fi and put the > volume up on the TV, when it was announced that Cobain had been > found dead in his Seattle home ffrom a shot gun wound. Then > out of respect, they played 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', that > classic video shot in a school gym. Once the video was over, I > changed the CD on the Hi-Fi with 'Nevermind'. > > It was surprising how much media attention it got. It was on > the radio, on MTV with news from Seattle. On the Saturday that > his death got round the world, I was at a friend's party, and > we played 'Smells...' on guitar. > > I thought Courtney Love's reading from Kurt's suicide note was > moving. A crowd of thousends had formed, in grief, as they > heard the widow read her husband's final words. > > I knew the music papers would be with the story for weeks. > I've still got my copy of Kerrang! with a picture of Kurt and > in big red letters 'Kurt Cobain - 1967 - 1994. > > As time went by, Kurt's/Nirvana's legacy has grown. Not just > the fact that he died the way he did but his music still > touches a chord. > > I know that this subject will create some interest, and I'll > look forward to reading what others have to say. > > Above all, rest easy Kurt >

I haven't heard Hole yet, but I would agree that Courtney Love has talent. (Though, I suppose listening to Hole wouldn't help anything ... I'll never be a big fan of grunge music.) I saw her in "Man on the Moon" and I thought she was a pretty good actress.