I Miss the Comfort in Being Sad

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17 years ago the face and future of music was struck a blow from which it has yet to recover. Nirvana co-founder, singer and lead guitarist, Kurt Cobain was found dead in the greenhouse / room above his garage. I'm sure you know the story by now. If you don't, may I recommend venturing out from your bubble for a moment and reading up on the band, the music, the fury and the tragedy?



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 I was too little to really appreciate Nirvana and Cobain's lyrics when he was still alive, but I do remember seeing something on TV when he died, and thinking that his eyes seemed sad. I liked him immediately.
Fast forward a few years... I was in my last year of primary school and discovered music that went past the candy floss fluff and straight to my spirit. Things like Nirvana, The Offspring, Greenday... I was a pretty angry pre-teen for various reasons. The thing was, all the popular kids started listening to Nirvana, and even back then, I was the kid that deliberately wrote off anything the popular kids liked. So... I didn't really get to appreciate Nirvana then either.



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Another few years went by, and finally it was my turn. I'd given up on stubbornly avoiding anything popular. I didn't go around trying to be popular, but I paid attention. Sometimes what's popular isn't necessarily bad. Sometimes. Since then, I have these random Nirvana- attacks. I'll go for months, or even years, listening to the music, appreciating everything that was good about it, being sad that Cobain exited stage left as early as he did, but going on with life. But every now and then, a line with catch my attention, a riff will slip into my soul, and BAM, I'm gone for months again. The first song I learnt to play, in my first guitar lesson, was About A Girl (still a work in progress, I'm afraid, but we persevere!)

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And so, in my little corner of the universe, the internet and the sphere of weird that is society today, this week has been Kurt Cobain week. It's mainly about the music. Cobain believed in the music more than anything else in the world, including himself. I do too. Music can change the world, if we just stop and listen. 

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As much as he would hate the attention, there are thousands who've spent some time this week going through Nirvana albums, old articles and reading Cobain's journals and stories; I've no doubt that every single on of those people has caught themselves thinking "If only..."

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* 44 Things You Didn’t Know About Kurt Cobain How many did you know?

* Rolling Stone's 1994 Obituary Feature - Kurt Cobain's Downward Spiral

* Kurt Cobain's 5 Most Unforgettable Moments (According to the Hollywood Reporter)

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* He had a highly listenable voice that sounded like tearing flesh

* A statue of a Fender Jag-Stang guitar (the guitar Cobain himself designed) unveiled in Aberdeen, Cobain's hometown

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* Jared Leto's tribute to Kurt Cobain has been slammed by a lot of fans, but for me? It's a really good tribute. He was an icon of one generation and is an inspiration to the next, so why not?. Maybe Leto's timing wasn't great, but the video is ace.

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* I don't know where some of the images I have on my PC were originally saved from, but it's most likely to be Fuck Yeah Kurt Cobain. If the art is yours, please let me know so I can credit it. Thanks!