Kurt Cobain (20 / 2 / 67 - 05/04/1994)
The long and winding road of disappointment
Despite the stark differences between John Lennon and Kurt Cobain, both can be considered " generational spokespersons "for their respective times. However, the two musicians in a similar end match the bullets marked his departure from this world.
When in 1970, barely separated from the Beatles, Lennon said that the dream was over, on the theme God (God) of his first solo album, almost nobody believed him. What is more, many fervently hoped the meeting of the Beatles throughout the 70's, completely ignoring John, who was ahead of everyone, including the idiot Mark Chapman, the murderer. However, the departure from the scene of Lennon was gradual. After a few solo albums retreated to his matrimonial home to care for her son and "bread". His crime, in front Dakota New York, in 1980, just when he tried to return to the musical arena, stripped the stark reality of the beginning of a decade frivolous and devoid of emotions. Because the late seventies punk was sentenced to death in the very moment of its definition (no future), the symphonic rock bored with their complexity, the hippies of yesteryear had become yuppies, free love was trembling beset the specter of AIDS, psychedelic drugs have been replaced by cocaine, no one asked for and a chance for peace, now a matter of dodging bombs and somehow escape the tensions of the Cold War and nuclear threat were combined with new wave, disco, the sound of synthesizers and robotic voices The 80, dull and flat except for a few honorable exceptions, delivered a long nap and without shaking, weird hairstyles new and much superficiality.
But in the late 80's was conceived a musical movement in Seattle, Washington, who was given the name of grunge and the lethargy that seemed to wake up to these young people numb. The grunge expressed their dissatisfaction through indifference, apathy and the lyrics expressed disappointment about traditional values \u200b\u200band family, also referred to social exclusion. Musical groups acting on small clubs and recorded on independent labels. It is believed that The term grunge was first used by Mark Arm, Mudhoney singer, one of the pioneering bands, along with Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam (one of the few still around today). But the current massive explosion occurs when Nirvana grunge edit Nevermind (1991) on the label Geffen Records and his song Smells Like Teen Spirit (Smells like teen spirit), becomes the new generational anthem big boost from it MTV gives the massive dissemination of his video. It is said that the title of this theme was taken from an inscription that was a girl in the walls of the room, referring to Kurt Cobain a deodorant brand popular in those days: "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit." The international success of Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but opened the way for a whole range of different musical trends that shape the rise of so-called alternative rock that dominated almost the entire decade of the nineties. But if there is a figure representing the spirit of Kurt Cobain's grunge, who was born in Aberdeen, a town near Seattle, in 1967, where John Lennon met 27 years, as we shall see that number will be emblematic of his fast life. Kurt Cobain was a deeply unhappy young man. It came from a difficult childhood, the son of divorced parents, had gone to live with his mother, who threw him out of his house on several occasions, reaching ever spend the night under a bridge or in a car seat. Aberdeen was a cold, dark city, as defined by Kurt, "a town of loggers ignorant." Kurt became deeply interested by the energy of punk bands and was gradually entering the underground music scene in Seattle. He met Krist Novoselic in 1985 and after playing with several musicians and under different names, formed Nirvana in 1988 with drummer Chad Channing who would later be replaced by David Grohl. "Nirvana attempts to blend the energy of punk with hard rock riffs, especially in the area of \u200b\u200bsensitivity pop. Punk is musical freedom, ie, doing and playing what you want. Nirvana means freedom from pain and suffering away from the outside world, "says Cobain. The band was to portray anti-consumerist, anti-materialist, challenging and almost always ended his concerts breaking their instruments. Kurt thought the arrival of the nineties had expected at least one form of social change: "This is the first generation that has led to the musical continuity between them and their parents" and fiercely critical of the generation called "baby boom" (born after World War II): "What did the children of the baby boom was transformed into the biggest hypocrites, yuppies and conformists who has never produced a generation. " Gradually
Kurt feels like the counterculture movement becomes a trend absorbed by the system. It creates an aesthetic alternative archetypal young: shirts loggers, blond hair and ripped jeans. Pursued by heroin addiction, their marital conflict and a stomach ailment that left him and caused him deep pain everyday, saturated with Nirvana, his musical career and the meaning of success, Kurt enters a disappointing slide. He was a hypocrite in front of his audience, he felt he had abandoned his old comrades and their loyal fans. Nevermind thought disc was too commercial. His successor In Utero was another sound, far more dense and dark, trying to snub the record company who asked a "Nevermind II." But undoubtedly the most displeased that Kurt was edition of "MTV Unplugged " successful work of the one who repents for having submitted to the pretensions of the music industry. After several crisis and an attempted suicide with Rohypnol and alcohol, Kurt fires a shot in the mouth with a shotgun, shortly after leaving drug treatment, although some still argue an alleged murder scenario and question the accuracy of the "Suicide Letter", which say that Courtney Love, Cobain's wife, added a final paragraph. Kurt was 27, like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones, became part of "Club 27", with the difference that his death was not caused by overdose. Kurt
becomes the first icon slain grunge movement, the perfect embodiment of the rebellious spirit and misunderstood that leaps from obscurity to stardom and feels unable to manage this contradiction. He went on to stamp with his face thousands of shirts and posters, to create legal disputes among his former colleagues and his wife, but outside all human misery and the designs of marketing, left a visible mark, an undeniable musical legacy that will endure over time.
NOTE: Kurt Cobain quotes were taken from the diaries of Kurt Cobain, musician's private papers by his wife sold the editors of four million dollars and covering six years of his life (1988-94)
Letter Kurt Cobain Suicide
NIRVANA - IN BLOOM
GOD - JOHN LENNON
