Does anyone know what happened on the 8th of April 1994? If not, I will tell you. The music industry lost a great guy to a barrel of shotgun - Kurt Cobain.
I was only young when it happened, but I remember my sister (who was a teenager at the time) almost at tears at the television. I didn't know who Kurt Cobain or Nirvana was but I certianly remembering my sister playing their music around the house.
I can't help but to add a little light heartedness to this thread and pose this question: what is he doing now?
Answer:
Back to seriousness.
What were you doing on the 8th April 1994? Do you remember watching the tele and seeing the shocking news?
For 8th April I will be wearing my Nirvana tshirt.
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God Bless Us Everyone We are a broken people living under a loaded gun
Uh, I was in my mother's uterus (pun intended). End of subject for me.
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Dreaming of Zion, Awake Sleeping Awake.
"We’ve never tried to come off as better than our fans, our fans... when they come to see us play, they’re actually a part of, you know, us playing. Sonny, the way he is on stage, he connects with them, emotional and in every kind of way you can imagine, you know, musically, and I think that they can see that it’s not, you know, a put on, it’s not something that’s fake, it’s real." - Mark Daniels of P.O.D.
Unlike most of you I was a teenager at the time he died, and yes a shirt-wearing, CD-flogging, lyrics screeching fan, and yes I remember the news rocked the music community and how so many fans held a candle light vigil outside his home that night and all around the world, and so on. I remember the hype itself, I remember the theories flying around about Courtney's involvement, I remember the press practically foaming at the mouth about whole thing - It was sad really. Yes he had a history of depression (it was the Seattle 'grunge' scene, everyone was moody and pessimistic at the time, it was "in" to be emotionally out of it), a history of drug abuse, and he also had an 'image' to live up to. He had an on-again, off-again relationship with Courtney that only really settled down (as much as it was ever going to) after Frances Bean came along. What Kurt did for music, especially in Udub (and that surrounding area) was unprecedented. Though bands like Soundgarden, Green River, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam and so on were relatively known it was Nirvana (or Kurt's death) that really focussed the spotlight on what was arguably just another music 'phase.' (Nothing enhances one's career like a little death, does it? [/sarcasm]) Teenagers had a role model of sorts, and when he died they, being we, were left lamenting on what could have been. Several chose to take their own lives too, several carved Kurt's name into their bodies as a mark of 'respect' (I remember seeing that on TV), and many of us just listened to the music with a new appreciation. Sure we've all grown up now and arguably moved on, and yes it was tragic, but when you're young and still finding your place in the world the death of an icon can be a very big thing.
Personally now looking back through adult eyes I can appreciate the music and the man for what they were because I lived it then. But for people who use Kurt's death as a mantle for their own suffering, or to benefit from, or to ridicule, I find appalling. Aside from the hype and drugs and even the music he was a troubled man yes but he was still just a man. He made a tragic mistake - and I don't think anyone else pulled the trigger except him. Suicide is arguably the only way out for someone who feels so isolated and in pain as he was (read his lyrics and you'll understand). Kurt was a victim in part of his own demons. Yes life and choice and circumstance play a part, but ultimately the choice was his. Fame thrust a spotlight on him that he couldn't deal with, for whatever reason. His death was sad for us yes, but sadder still for his daughter I think.
Hmph. What was so special about Kurt Cobain? I'm sorry that he died the way he did, but there are millions out there who die much more horrifically who're not recognised.