Ten years. Wow. While I wasn’t a huge Nirvana fan (I only had “Nevermind”), I had a lot of respect for the band and the ground they broke in popular and rock music. Before Nirvana, Motley Crue and Poison were the scary metal bands. These young ratty guys came on the scene from Seattle, and all of a sudden we realized just how corny the 80’s ‘hair’ bands were.
And to my sadness, plain hair came into style. I retired my tease and stopped making my bangs reach for the sky.
I was shellshocked when I heard that Kurt killed himself. Why? Because this young man (he was 4 years younger than I am right now) had it all: talent, fame, money, legions of fans, a beautiful and talented wife (remember how pretty Courtney Love can be?), and a baby daughter. And yet the pain he felt was so intense that all of those good things couldn’t conquer it.
The boomers who say he was a whiny drug-addled musician obviously forget the whining, drug-addled musicians that they worship. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix really weren’t all ‘there,’ you know.
I don’t usually plug my own paper here on my blog, but the Courier-Post ran two terrific FRONT PAGE stories on this sad anniversary.
Front page! This is a remarkable step for the CP, because it’s a story aimed squarely at my generation without patronizing us. And damn, I appreciate stories like this much more than the “Seniors want more money for (blank)” or “Local children learn about (blank)” or “(Blank) High School Team plays their sport to win.”
And yes, I did go to the gym. No blog tomorrow morning. Early day.
