Thursday, April 8, 2010

Metallattorney's Officially Sanctioned Opinions on Nirvana

I was reminded on my usual blog search that today is the 16th anniversary of the date when the world realized Kurt Cobain was dead. It's not the date of his death, it's the date his body was found. So given that, it's time to speak about my opinions of the "legendary" Nirvana.

I am by no means a fan of this band, but I never disliked them either. I remember that I was in eighth grade when Kurt Cobain died. I don't remember being upset or anything about it. It frankly did not have much impact on my life. However, I have had many friends who loved the band. I never understood that.

I think that was one of the first times in my life that I realized that my musical tastes were going to make me an eventual outsider. I never owned a single album by Nirvana. I liked the songs they played on the radio and MTV, but I never liked them well enough to buy an album. I was too busy buying albums by Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, and others. Yes, I owned some non-metal albums, but they were definitely the minority.

Anyway, back to Nirvana. I liked some of their songs okay, but I never felt strongly about them. They were just another band. Then, Cobain died, and they were huge and people were calling Cobain "The John Lennon of this generation" and the whole thing felt false. If Cobain had not died, what would his legacy be? He was a moderately talented guitarist and an okay songwriter, but he was never some genius. He claimed he did not want to be a rockstar, yet kept doing music videos, photoshoots, and talking to the music press. The man was full of contradictions.

It's sad that he felt the need to kill himself. I don't respect suicide. I think there are better ways of handling problems. I respect Cobain as a musician, although at this point I really don't care for his music. I respect Nirvana as a band, even though I don't listen to them. I do not respect Cobain as a person. He killed himself and left his wife to care for their baby on her own. That course of action does not make sense to me. So no, I will not be listening to Nirvana this day in remembrance of Cobain. Sorry.

I like Nirvana 2002 much better than Nirvana. Perhaps I will listen to that album.

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