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| From | shawn campbell <thursdayinjune@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: Cobain + 10 |
| Date | Mon, 5 Apr 2004 18:40:20 -0700 (PDT) |
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It's so weird for me to think about the fact that it
has been a whole decade...
Just some musings...
I think, in many ways, it's hard to explain what it
was like with Nirvana without finding oneself squarely
in clicheland (perhaps similar to writing about
Beatlemania). It really DID seem like they changed
everything. It really DID seem like they marked a
turning point. I mean, I was in the midst of it - 20
years old, in college, seeing lots of shows, doing
college radio. One day, it seemed like all that was
on mainstream radio was teenpop, adult contemporary
dreck, and cheeseball metal (sound familiar?), then
the next day -- BLAM! EVERYTHING was different.
All of a sudden, people wanted music to mean something
again. All of a sudden, it was a desirable thing to
have a social conscience in your music (and in your
life). All of a sudden, your rock stars seemed a
little less like rock stars, and a little more
like...you. It was like the promise that your parents
had always whispered in your ear, that someday the
shiny, pretty, popular, athletic crowd would want to
be just like YOU. That the weird kids, the outcasts,
the rebels, even the nerds would someday show everyone
else how it was done. And after the plastic, preppie
1980s, how we needed that!
I don't only remember where I was when I heard about
Kurt's death (in bed, after having done an overnight
airshift, then pissed off about why my boss at the
radio station was calling me at 11 AM when he knew I'd
only been asleep for a few hours, then..."oh."), I
remember where I was the first time I heard "Smells
Like Teen Spirit." I had heard ABOUT the song before
I heard it, and I kept missing it (oh, the internet is
wonderful, and how did we live without it, and all,
but it really kind of destroyed that type of
anticipation, didn't it?). Then one night, I was in
the car with some friends on our way out for some
pizza. Just as my friend was turning off the
ignition, I heard the opening chords come on the
radio, and instantly I just KNEW. Because it really,
really didn't sound like anything else out there at
the time. I remember asking them, "Is this Nirvana?"
and they said indeed it was.
The funny thing is, I never ferociously loved the band
(although I thought their singles were great), and I
passed up several chances to see them. But I loved a
lot of what they were about, what they represented.
In their messed-up, Gen X way, they seemed to
represent something as close as I could get to the
things I admired about the 60s.
I don't know if it would've changed anything if Kurt
hadn't killed himself. I don't know if music would be
better today, or if everything would be just the same
as it is, with Nirvana either broken up or becoming
increasingly irrelevant, as has been the case with
Pearl Jam. But I do know that, for a few moments
there in the early 90s, it really did seem like there
was endless possibility, like the good guys were
taking over, like...(insert your own cliche here).
For whatever reason, Nirvana's music spoke to people,
and they made a difference, and they'll be remembered
with strong emotion (as proven in this post, I hope).
And in a pretty disposable age, that's saying
something.
R.I.P. Kurt Cobain. I miss you.
--Shawn
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