Smells Like Teen Spirit

I had a shocking thought today. I was driving into Lisbon for a meeting and had my iPod going. The song that came on was Nirvana singing "The Man Who Sold the World". I love that song, the guitar is so perfect with the mood of the song. The final guitar solo is like a cry, it almost breaks my heart (I like depressing songs, but I'll talk about that some other time). As I was listening, I did a little math in my head and realized that this spring Kurt Cobain will have been gone for 15 years. But, that wasn't the shocking thought. What shocked me was that high school seniors today were only 3 years old when he died. What?!?

Back in my day (how old do I sound now?), Nirvana was like the second coming. A little music history, if you will: Towards the late Eighty's, heavy metal was king on the radio. Hair bands. Think lots of hairspray and spandex. On men. I shudder now as I think of it. Now I'm not going to be so arrogant in my music preferences to say that I didn't listen to some of it. I loved Guns and Roses, and the occasional Whitesnake song didn't bother me too much. But, basically, it sucked.

At my high school, punk and alternative (I'm not sure if it was called that yet) music was the music of choice. The heavy metal genre was not really appreciated. And, I liked these bands just as much as the rest of my high school. The bands that we listened to on school bus trips were bands like The Pixies, 7 Seconds, The Violent Femmes, etc. We were the "weird" school. I was even told that one high school, who shall remain nameless, had a "Milnor" day during their homecoming week, where the kids dressed like the guys in our school. With mohawks and what they deemed were funny-looking clothes. As a side note: The joke is on them. How lame are they when their attempt to make fun of us makes them look even more pathetic than they already were? Wow, I guess I still dislike them as much now as I did then. Interesting.

Anyhow, around 1992, the music world was turned on its head. With the few chords of the opening guitar of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", heavy metal was left in the dust. The music was hard-edged and loud, but the angst and despair in the words were something new. The members of Nirvana dressed just like the guys in my high school, ragged jeans, t-shirts, flannel shirts, Chuck Taylor Converse All-stars. Their hair was long, but without one trace of hairspray. It made the hair bands' songs about sex and women, their spandex and hair-sprayed 'dos, everything about them look totally ridiculous. Those opening guitar chords were the death knell of hair bands. My school wasn't sorry to see them go.

As with every music genre, once the big one hits, aftershocks are soon to follow. Nirvana firmly established itself as the "band" of the alternative scene. Since they were out of Seattle, many bands from the city were suddenly given their chance; Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees. It was a good time.

Then, in the spring of 1994, the music world was shocked to learn of Kurt Cobain's suicide. I remember where I was when I heard the news. I suppose it was my generation's Kennedy or Lennon moment. I'm sure people wondered what would have made him do it, Nirvana were still the best of the best, and he had a wife and daughter. But, he was also holding a whole generation of music fans on his fragile shoulders. Not an easy task for anyone, and especially for someone like him. He had never asked to be the voice of a music generation, so he silenced his. Life can be just too hard.

So, it saddens me now that high school kids these days don't have a memory of a living Kurt Cobain, that Nirvana's music is probably considered old. I really don't know what kids are listening to these days. I've heard some of it, and I am thoroughly unimpressed. To be brutally honest, most of it is crap. Between the hip-hop and pop crap, there are a few bands and songs that are worth listening too. Not many though.

So, why did I write this? Because I'm getting older? Maybe. Because kids these days don't really know what good music is or what it could be? Possibly. I think I just wrote it because I'm still sad that Kurt Cobain is gone, that the music he could have created won't be heard, that his music still touches a nerve inside me.

15 years almost...what was and what never will be. How sad.