http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8wNUyDaaIE
I thought this was supposed to be an In Utero
appreciation thread...
As for Kurt's 'anti-hero' stance and image, it was nothing more than that, imposed by the popular media and gobbled up by millions upon millions of un-thinking consumerist zombies. He was anti-rockstar, the very thought of becoming a rock and roll cliche terrified him and made him jittery. Contrary to popular belief, his target market was not the mindless stoner dudes or brainless junkies who seemed to enjoy his sludgy melodies so much, his fanbase included people like Thurston Moore, includes people like Chris Cunningham; his music spoke volumes and he explored themes of alienation and despair in a way that didn't end up sounding like emo. His ultimate achievement was to change the face of rock music, and to do so, unfortunately, came at the price of oblivion... The music spoke volumes and still does.
Now, people hear about Kurt all the time and they know about his legend and his image and they know everything that they have been fed by the popular media and by books like "Rock Stars Do The Dumbest Things", where individuality, creativity; even existensial angst; have become consumer cliches and people are looking for the "Next Big Thing" (what the heck? what could be next?). But, sadly, no one really pays attention to the music, to how it was crafted, how every line and beat and riff (though Nirvana pushed the boundary of the riff, they were still riff-based guitar music) were carefully and lovingly constructed. They paid attention to their music, worked hard at it, putting in the hours, the dedication, the sacrifice; and they expected to appeal to the same type of people; the ones who cared enough about the music.
Unfortunately, that was not the case, back then, and even now; though it usually only happens with teenagers who just read about Kurt and Nirvana, listened to a few songs on Youtube and declare them to be the best thing ever, in the world. That was not the point of Nirvana. They wrote deep, meaningful music, that, hey, happen to rock really hard at the same time. For all their faults and shortcomings, I miss the band and its music very much and the level of intelligence in their music that spoke directly to me, music that was cerebral and yet extremely raw. Not that far from some Sonic Youth isn't it?