Not wanting to derail this thread but I thought I'd better mention that nirvana as a band were great (if you like that sort of thing...) and back in the day (before grunge was called grunge [we all knew it as 'sub-pop' due to the label most of the seattle bands were signed to]) they were indeed one of the top subpop acts - but not on a par with the likes of Mudhoney, Husker Du, Pixies, Tad, dinosaur jr, Fugazi, Soundgarden and so on...(IMO)
But the thing that was frustrating (for the newly emerging music scene) was that not wanting to miss out on a fast buck, David Geffen, signed up nirvana to his mainstream label thus paving the way for the mainstream effect that occured after once Nevermind was released... which was overproduced and not at all as raw and bloody edgy as Bleach - having said that, it was a good album...
so - what then followed was a big push in the mainstream media for all things "Grunge" - to the point where national papers ran articles on "how to dress in the grunge style" - etc etc... at which point it went from being an underground scene/movement for the lsot generation and catapulted it into the mainstream effectively killing off the thing in one fell swoop
Yes, I'm elitist in this respect... but then I suppose there's a lot of "EMO's" out there now who may understand the sentiment I'm trying to express (bearing in mind I was in my late teens trying to find my way and 'being alternative' was what it was all about) so as soon as nevermind catapulted the 'grunge' scene into the limelight it was 'alternative' anymore and effectively killed its appeal... I honestly believe that this is part of the reason the tragic incident occured as there was a lot of talk of the time of nirvana (and particularly cobain) selling out... coupled with the fact he was a troubled individual
In retrospect I guess it was an inevitability. It happened to punk in the 70's - Dance music (and grunge) in the 80's/90's and now it's happening to emo in the naughties... what goes around comes around.
Regardless of all that, his death cemented him into the 'rock n roll' hall of fame - and (no direspect to Lythium <shudder> here) but really... if you want to hero worship him then go ahead... (I feel the same way about Jim Morrison) but be aware there was some better music around at the time that you should probably look into if you love Nirvana. - not only will it broaden you musical horizons... it'll mean you'll be cooler at school...
\OT
