Kurt Cobain - Why all the fuss?

[SuperSix]

Granted, he was talented, but c'mon...

I like ALL music (well, opera sucks), and thoroughly enjoyed Nirvana, but why does he deserve the martyr status?

He was a heroine addict, who chose the gutless way out, abandoning his wife, child, and whomever may have loved him. He disgusts me, and doesn't deserve ANY positive press, or even my posting of this thread.. :disgust:

 

[Locutus of Board]

SS, this is really old.

 

[SuperSix]

<< SS, this is really old. >>




WHaddya mean? Did I miss something?

 

[Mikal]

This is so 90's.

 

[SuperSix]

<< This is so 90's. >>



Must be the &quot;Behind the Music&quot; marathon..

 

[Shmorq]

At least according to VH1's Behind the Music, Nirvana is the first well known grunge band and it signalled the end of the hair bands. 'They' give him and Nirvana credit for starting a new trend in music.

 

[Mikal]

Hey, you started the thread! VH1?

 

[Red Dawn]

<< but why does he deserve the martyr status? >>

Because he is the epitome of your generation.

 

[SuperSix]

<<

<< but why does he deserve the martyr status? >>

Because he is the epitamy of your generation. >>



My generation? Not hardly.

But thanks for playing...

 

[Mikal]

Lessee, who's the epitomy of my generation?

Keith Richards!!

On second thought.....never mind!

 

[Pacfanweb]

Red: Maybe Cobain is really the LOSER of their generation.


Mikal: Keith Richards is still alive. That ranks him far above Cobain, regardless of anything else.

I liked Nirvana ok, back in the day. But they really weren't that great. They were different at the time, and that was cool, but if he hadn't killed himself, I'd bet they wouldn't be all that popular now.

 

[Mikal]

Well, Richards is in kind of a zombie state....

 

[nomahe]

<< but if he hadn't killed himself, I'd bet they wouldn't be all that popular now. >>


If he hadn't killed himself we wouldn't have to hear about skank, his exgirlfriend either.

 

[nullshark]

Epitome.

 

[Mikal]

Opera has it's uses too! People pay good money to get that sleep!

 

[AdamDuritz99]

Kurt cobain was kewl and all, but he chose the wrong way out.
Bad Bad Bad.



peace
sean

 

[SpeedTrap]

now if only his wife would have done the same thing, it would all be a better place

 

[Pyro]

he doesn't deserve martyr status.

Although I do like nirvana (listening to it now actually) they are just a good band.

Now someone who really does deserve a martyr status: Jimi Hendrix

 

[soapdish]

Read Kurt's lyrics.


He was a poet, just like Morrison.


Funny thing, he became such a better musician *after* his addiction to heroin. Before it, he didn't have the edge.

What a waste. I still listen to his CD's in my car. He was something else.

 

[guitronics]

My 2 cents: Kurt Cobain was a genius, and like most people of that character,they have a tendency of &quot;falling over the edge&quot;.I am also aware that he wasn't ready for the superstar status...it bugged him.He was obviously a sick person, although not by choice.

We can't really sit back and judge others' by what is told in the media.Kurt was obviously a tortured soul,yet brilliant.To the best of my knowledge, very few people set out to become addicts, or alcoholics;or people with psychotic personalities.Their problems are beyond their reasoning.

Only time and luck, and the intervention of others' who've been down that road >may< be able to reach these tortured individuals in a meaningful way.Nobody starts out to become disfunctional,and/or anti-social.

Entertainers have the highest rate of addiction/alcoholism(the same thing,really;just different drug),of all occupations.Fans willingly provide drinks,drugs, and sex to their idols.

People who exibit extreme talent in any form tend to be somewhat unbalanced mentally.I'm thinking of Manic/Depressives,Schizophrenics, etc.These people are driven by a chemical imbalance,and also have a need to &quot;Self medicate&quot;.That works for a while, but once addiction sets in,they have at least two problems.Addiction, and Chemical imbalance.

Here are some of the people I am aware of who are or were extremely talented,but also are or were full-blown addicts/alcoholics:Eric Clapton,Keith Richards, Nicola Tesla(inventor of A.C. electricity),Eddie Van Halen,Johnny Winter,John Lennon,Sigmund Freud(grandfather of psychology/psychiatry),Hunter S. Thompson(writer),&quot;Alice Cooper&quot;,Pete Townsend,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Jimi Hendrix,Janis Joplin,Jim Morrison,Grace Slick,Sir Winston Churchill,Richard Burton,J.F.K.,Beethoven, Mozart,Elizabeth Taylor, Ozzy Osbourne,Betty Ford,Hugh Grant,John Phillips, MaCkenzie Phillips,Bret Michaels,Robert Downey Jr.,Melanie Griffith,Drew Barrymore,Nikki Sixx,Carl Jung,Charlie Parker,Chris Farley, John Belushi,George Jones,Keith Moon,John 'Bonzo'Bonham,Bon Scott;and Steve Clark....The list will go on forever.

 

[Robert01]

<< Funny thing, he became such a better musician *after* his addiction to heroin. Before it, he didn't have the edge >>

Are you talking about Nirvana's days in Aberdeen and Olympia in the 1980s (and during their &quot;Bleach&quot; album)? The lyrics on 'Bleach' are pretty good, maybe not as &quot;deep&quot; as the ones on the later albums, but song-writing does take time to work on. It's interesting, most of our CD collection consists of artists that have done drugs.

Regarding the comment about Nirvana's popularity if Kurt was still alive, it would be difficult to say. It may have helped, it might not have. Regardless, in many interviews in late '93 and early '94 Cobain kept saying how he and the other members of Nirvana were getting pretty sick of the same rountine, that they all wanted to start something different...either in the band itself or on other projects. Cobain probably would have done something more in the lines of REM if he stuck around. The 'Unplugged' recording is a great prediction of that.

I like Nirvana's music but Cobain is a complete idiot for killing himself. For those who say he's a &quot;martyr&quot; should also know that it goes against everything Cobain wanted to be portrayed as. Being hailed as a spokesman for a generation is not something he ever had in mind or wanted.

The reason why it may be a big deal is because Cobain pretty much left during the height of the band's success. He certainly could have done a lot more.

 

[SuperSix]

Interesting, but I don't buy it. I'm not focusing on his addiction. I'm upset that someone that takes such a gutless way out of dealing with life is looked upon as such a star. Genius? I think that's stretching it. He's extremely talented, but not a genius.

As far as your list, there's MANY more stars that aren't addicts. And on your list, the vast majority of the performers you mention are no longer addicts, and haven't killed themselves, leaving a child without a father, and making millions of America's youth think it's &quot;Cool&quot; to stick a needle in your arm, and/or cop out buy commiting suicide.

 

[somethingwitty]

first, the thread crapping part:

I was just about to post this when I saw this thread, figured I might as well ask it here.

During the VH1 behind the music, 1994, that just aired, they showed clips of a slow song cobain was singing-I'm pretty sure it was unplugged. lyrics were something like &quot;crawled along the sand...&quot; Pretty slow song, hoping someone saw the clip and remembers it.


Next, my opinion on the thread:

As I recall learning tonight, I wasn't even 10 when nirvana came out with their first album-and I wasnt even 12 when cobain died. Watching the vh1 show, I can not see why he'd be considered a martyr, but I can see him as a legend. His death was senseless, but his contributions to the music industry live on. I listen to nirvana now, and have no difficulty imagining it in a groundbreaking, grunge context. Although I wasnt old enough to recognize his significance then, I look back now and realize that many bands/songs are modeled after nirvana.

 

[FrancesBeansRevenge]

Hmmmm Kurt Cobain contributed a lot of great music to the world... he inspired MANY great bands that are around today. Sure he had some serious problems... as did many of his 'peers' such a Morrison, Hendrix, etc. It's called 'mental illness'.
So, heres someone who suffered a mental illness yet STILL made a huge impact on the world.

What has SuperSix done? Super who? What have YOU contributed? Do millions of people have your CDs? Kurt made his mark... a lot of people dont like him sure... but they know the name Kurt Cobain dont they? Do they know your name too? Or are you another nameless, faceless, average 9-5 zombie that has made no real impact on the world? I know I am

Kurt Cobain left the world and MILLIONS of people felt the impact... when YOU leave this world how many MILLIONs of people will mourn for YOU?.. or even KNOW who the hell you are?

Millions of people love Nirvana... you might not understand it but who cares what YOU think? Because no ones knows YOU and no one cares what YOU think/thought... unlike Kurt Cobain.

In fact, everyone on this board could probably drop dead and less people would care than when Kurt Cobain died.

Obviously he touched a lot of people...

 

[yasha]

He didn't take the gutless way out, just a bad one. I think his music was the real thing for it's time and he felt alot of pain in his life like alot of people do. I think that's one reason his music appealed to people. I was very sad when he died because we were almost the same age and I was going through hard times too. Another person that died the year before was River Phoenix. He was literaly my age. His death hit me even harder because I was at a very low point in my life at that age when he died.
Not everyone had a perfect childhood and life in general. Kurt was someone that expressed the kind of pain and anger that I could relate to and I felt a connection to his music because of that. I'm sure alot of other people felt and still do feel the same way. I believe this is the reason that he has the so called martyr status that you decribed.