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Cobain’s legacy lives on, sadly *
This summer I worked at a
newspaper in the hometown of Kurt
Cobain, the self-loathing grunge icon
who killed himself in 1994. By the
way, Kurt’s band. Nirvana, just
released a new album.
The album is a great opportunity
for a new generation of high -
schoolers looking for a role model.
Another chance to idolize Kurt, who
showed the world that it is in fact
possible to win simply by being a
loser.
People argue that Kurt didn’t want
to be that role model. Aberdeen,
Wash., the town where he was bom
and went to school (until he dropped
out), and the town 1 lived in, pro
duces mostly nameless loggers, who,
for generation after generation, chop
down trees and irritate those who
love the spotted owl. I’m sure Kurt
didn’t grow up expecting to show the
entire nation how they, too, could be
shiftless and famous (unlike the hard
working loggers) at the same time.
Described in Time and Newsweek
magazines after Cobain’s death as a
“desultory” and “depressed” town,
how could a place like Aberdeen
produce anything but a derelict
drifter like Cobain? Cobain often
cited his parents’ divorce and
growing up in Aberdeen as reasons
for his rage.
Luring my nrsi weexenu in
Aberdeen, I got the “Cobain tour.”
Usually commencing after a night out
at <jti£ of the rough-hewn logger bars,
Aberdeen natives take newcomers
around to all the Kurt landmarks: his
parents’ home, the bridge he lived
under for a short time after he
dropped out of Aberdeen High
School, a bar, now refurbished, that
had the information “Kurt Cobain
puked here” scratched into the
woodwork.
It’s a sickly fascinating guided
tour, and one that many flannel-clad,
dirty-haired youths have come from
all over the country to take;
For the record, Aberdeen is not
the dull, gray, horrible place the press
has made it out to be. There’s no
reason Kurt should have been
depressed simply because he grew
up there. The title of the new album,
“From the Muddy Banks of the
Wishkah,” refers to the river that
runs through the middle of Aberdeen.
The Wishkah is actually quite sparkly
on the hundreds of sunny, cool days
Aberdeen enjoys duringthe summer.
It seemed, while I livgd in
Aberdeen, that Cobain-mania had
died down. Carloads of drunken
teen-agers coming into town to pay
tribute to their idol had slowed to a
trickle. But with the release of the
latest album, which consists of cuts
taken from concerts before Kurt’s
death, an interest may be revived in
worshipping the icon of loserdom.
Why is it that Cobain appeals to
so many high-schoolers (and, for that
matter, college students)? Why the
longing to emulate someone who, at
the pinnacle of his existence, was so
depressed that he killed himself?
iviayoe n s oecause we Know we
can be like him. Anyone can don a
flannel, pick up a guitar, let their hair
fall over their eyes, write about how
depressedfhey are (which somehow
makes them special) and growl out
some semi-in-tune songs. It’s easy to
succeed, at losing.
I’m not saying everyone should
repress their feelings. Get the angst
out, fine. But don’t let it permeate the
culture of an entire generation. There
have always been antisocial people,
and there will always be. Cobain
cited his parents’ divorce as the
source of much of his anguish, and
it’s good he had an outlet, although
the outlet eventually did him more
harm than the original problem.
I thought the era of grungy, angry
kids was nearing a close. The last
thing we need is a resurgence of a
cultural influence that tells kids they
must express anger and frustration—
even if there’s nothing to be legiti
mately angry or frustrated about—
just to fit in with their peers. Let’s
hope this album doesn’t elicit a new
wave of teenagers angry about things
they can’t quite put their finger on
(because it’s probably not there) and
eager to aggressively show the world
how mad they are.
Come on, Kurt. Lots of parents
get divorced, and lots of kids grow
up in small towns where there’s little
for intellectual stimulation. Why
didn’t he look for other good things
about his upbringing? Couldn’t he
have looked at Mt. Rainier looming
over Highway 12, or travelled 10
miles to sit by the cold Pacific
Ocean, or hiked in one of
Washington’s drippy, mossy rain
forests and marvelled at how giant
and astonishing the world was, how
little his problems Were in compari
son?
ino, pis problems were as big as
the Billboard charts, and those were
bigger than the world around him. He
revelled in desperation and passed it
on to millions of adoring fans, and
he’s ready to do it again, posthu
mously.
If you like Nirvana, fine. But
don’t let the message of Kurt’s life
cloud your vision. In his suicide note,
Kurt said “I can’t stand the thought
of Frances (his daughter) becoming
the miserable, self-destructive death
rocker that I’ve become.” Yes, I’m
sure by committing suicide, you did «
your daughter a big favor. Now she’ll
probably be Little Miss Well
Adjusted. His way of dealing with
things was not OIL
Find a quiet hero—a hard
worker, a noble soul. They’re harder
to find. People don’t drive gape
mouthed pak their homes or open up
100,000 web sites to commemorate
them. But I guarantee if you take the
time*find one,
living your life patterned after a quiet
hero will leave you a lot happier than
followers of Kurt Cobain.
Schulte is a senior news
editorial major and a Daily
Nebraskan senior reporter.
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