This week marks the tenth anniversary of the apparent suicide of former Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.
He is considered by some to be the Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon of a generation looking for a voice. Generation X never really had anything to rally around. Like what Tyler Durden said in "Fight Club", "We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place."
Cobain and Nirvana spoke to a certain portion of us that didn't really have a voice. We were pissed off about something, but we just didn't know what it was.
Generation X is no longer the marketing age group that is pandered to with such veracity. We are no longer the 18- to 24-year-old kids with all the money in the world to spend, but no idea how to spend it.
Some radio stations are starting pick up on the fact that we realize that today's music totally blows. I want to be the first one to say it: Today's punk music sucks! Today's rap music sucks! Everything to do with rock n' roll is either Nirvana or Pearl Jam wannabes! The rap-rock thing is not new. The Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers started it! Can't anybody be original anymore?
We were on the World Wide Web before it was cool. We remember the days before everyone was being bombarded by 468x60 banner ads and pop-up windows. We remember when the Web was more than just a huge shopping mall.
Sorry about the little rant there, I just had to get some things off my chest.
I must admit, though, that I was never a real big Nirvana fan. I was more of a Pearl Jam fan. In fact, I still am. "Ten" spoke to me more than "Nevermind" did.
I had the opportunity to see Nirvana at the state fair in 1993, but I passed because I figured I'd be able to see them again.
One quick flashback: How many of you remember watching Krist Novoselic throw his guitar in the air at the Video Music Awards and having it land right on his head? I nearly died laughing.
After seeing their performance on MTV Unplugged, I sort of started to like them. I could feel Cobain's pain. Watching this performance, you could see that he was hurting. The stage had an extremely eerie feel to it.
While sitting at lunch my junior year of high school, the editor of our school newspaper ran up to us with the news. I couldn't believe it. How could somebody with so much give it all up?
Earlier I said "apparent suicide" because to this day I still don't think he killed himself. Like most conspiracy theorists, I'd like to say that Courtney Love killed him.
Ever since his death, she has done nothing but screw the rest of the band out of what they deserve. Cobain could have been the next Tupac with all the post-mortem material that could have been released. Love kept a tight hold on it all even though she really had nothing to do with it.
She wasn't there for him when he really needed her. She reported in March 1994 that he was suicidal. That could have been a method of covering her tracks.
I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe she did kill him or maybe she didn't. What I do know is that music hasn't been the same since his death. One day the truth will finally come out.
Ryan Eilders is a journalism senior. Reach him at ryan.eilders@asu.edu.
