NIRVANA
Nirvana
Whether you liked Kurt or you didn't, the fact of the matter was that was here to serve the same purpose everyone else is
here to do. To live and to die. he wasn't here to have everyone flock by his side and to worship and follow his every move.
He was, though, the best Kurt Cobain he could've been.
"Jan"
A few years ago I heard a saying I've thought about many times since: For those who understand you, no explanation is
necessary; for those who don't, none is possible. I mention this because one day, shortly after Kurt Cobain's death, I
decided to pick up one of the many "Kurt Tribute" magazines being published. I was surprised at how thoughtful the
interview was - one of his last - especially when I got to the end. The reporter asked him something along the lines of: "What
more than anything else has being a rock star for the last few years taught you?" Kurt replied: "That no matter what do you or
say, there's nothing you can do to make people understand you."
This, more than anything else, is what has kept this case from breaking. Few people over thirty understand Nirvana, and
wonder why anyone should care about (what has been promulgated to be) the suicide of a fucked-up, junkie rock star. These
are the people who control the media. And of course, the majority of his fans are teenagers, whom our society cares about
only as a consumer demographic. It all comes down to an idea everyone is so afraid of: My Generation.
Summing up a group of millions of people with a label is probably not the most scientific approach to studying society. What
does "Baby Boomer" really mean? It's merely a term that's been accepted to refer to a group of Americans who were born
during a period when families were bringing children into the world at a rate much higher than during the war years. But
what does it say about the spirit or collective soul of this group of Americans? Or take a term like "Generation X." This label
(a creation of the media) refers to the general feeling of anomie, disconnection and serious concerns for the future a lot of
people share. The biggest problem with the concept of a distinct "generation" is that people who think that because they're
not die-hard fans of a Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder or Trent Reznor or Billy Corgan, they have to reject the notion of a
generation altogether. Personally speaking, I don't feel comfortable with the term "Generation X," anymore than I can sum
up myself with one label. I can't think of anything more frightening than a world where everyone is the same. In the end, I
feel the same as Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction: "I'll simply be Jules. No more, no less."
But I do know that there are a lot of things my parents don't and never will understand. This is called the "generation gap,"
and like it or not, it's real. To deny that general ideas and feelings exist is stupid. Being part of a generation doesn't mean
millons of people have exactly the same personality or experiences. It just means is that there are certain experiences and
feelings a very large group of people share, some more than others. Kurt Cobain was extraordinarily gifted at giving a voice
to these feelings.
Everyone deserves justice. But the lack of understanding, if not contempt, older Americans have for Cobain's music,
lifestyle and problems, most specifically his heroin addiction, have greatly impeded the battle for justice in this case,- just as
the race issue blinded a jury to the fundamental issue in the O.J. Simpson trial. The media simply needs to put Kurt's
problems aside, recognize the overwhelming evidence of foul play, and go from there. Back in February I spoke to an
assistant, probably in his 20s, at the national news desk at CBS. While he was extremely interested in the case, he admitted,
"I just have a really hard time picturing Dan Rather or Ted Koppel saying Kurt Cobain's name on national television." Well, I
thought, maybe they should start practicing.
This section will celebrate Kurt's personality, his art, and the effect he had on the lives of so many people. After reading it,
and realizing that his life was taken from him, I hope one gets a better appreciation for what an incredibly brilliant, funny,
noble, loving, gifted and unique person he was, and how difficult it is to accept that Kurt Cobain was murdered.
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