Kurt was 27 when he passed away, nearly 13 years ago. Gotta wonder what things would look like for him if he was still around. Would he still be with Nirvana? Still be playing grunge? Still married to Court?
Eh, don't answer that last one.
Happy 40th, Kurt.
Posted at 5:12 PM
Tags: Kurt Cobain | Nirvana
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I suspect that Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance pointed in the direction Kurt may have gone.
I'll now submit and wait for the "overrated" posts to come in.
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those glasses are rad. the man rocked.
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I think Nirvana is going through a bit of what the Beatles did in the late 70's. Suddenly, it's cool to call them overrated. Whatever, you don't have that type of impact because you suck. Those other Seattle bands were fine, but without Nirvana, nobody would have noticed. They were able to incorporate pop, punk and hard rock elements like nobody before or since. THAT is why they had the appeal that they did. A lot of those other "grunge" bands were pushed on up by suits looking for the "next Nirvana" and expecting it to come from Seattle. Unfortunately, the next Nirvana is never coming. Losing Kurt was as bad, if not worse, than losing John Lennon. Kurt was in his music making prime, Lennon was hard at work on "Milk and Honey." I'm just saying, I'd be fine with Yoko sitting on "Milk and Honey" for the rest of my days if I could've heard just one more Nirvana album.
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i hope kurt has found the peace in death that he could not find in life.
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Definitely not overrated. RIP Rock Hero.
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Nirvana were planning to disband before his death according to many reports. Kurt was a major fan of R.E.M. and the Raincoats. I would like to think he would have started a solo career similar in sound to the aforementioned bands. I agree with Adam, I'd much rather have had another Nirvana/Kurt album than more John Lennon.
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Great comments Adam. My mind can't comprehend what another Nirvana album may have sounded like. The possibilities seem endless, and in a way, that's nice.
Happy 40th KC.
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Wow, 40th? That makes me feel so OLD!
RIP, Kurt.
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Kurt was progressive. I like to think he would have learned to play the cello and play with the Boston Pops Orchestra and maybe have contributed to the Arcade Fire's new album.
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I'm guessing Nirvana would've disbanded, possibly after releasing a 4th record at some point, and Kurt would've embarked on a progressively more obscure solo career making noise collage and spoken word records, with the odd pop\guitar thing to keep everyone happy. And hopefully with him still around, nobody would pay any attention to his wife...
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Kurt and Court would be the slacker generation's answer to Ike and Tina. Or Bobby and Whitney.
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he wouldn't be married to courtney love, they were getting a divorce when he died. thats why there are speculations of her involvement in his "siucide"
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This is just speculation, but I strongly agree with the people who said that Kurt would have gone in a more progressive direction. Nirvana are one of my fav bands, but there is no way I could imagine them still together and still playing the same type of music after all this time. I agree that they would have either evolved or split up.
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If Kurt Cobain hadn't died, then Dave Grohl wouldn't have formed one of the greatest Alternative Rock bands in the 90s and today. So maybe it was a blessing in disguise?
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i'd rather have lennon's bowl movements put to tape than more nirvana. what a retarded comparison.
overrated, but still okay.
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The answers are no, no, and no.
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probably shaved his head....got a grill....lose the baby's mama.....make a few soundtracks.....guest on ugly betty.....maybe do a halftime show.....be a good daddy......and rock a cardigan....
RIP MR. COBAIN
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I think he would've put out a solo record on kindercore.com
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cobain was a poser and was only seen as something bigger because of his suicide. Refer to Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live
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I think it's fair to say that Cobain and Lennon were at creative turning points when they both met their demise. Listen to Yoko Ono's "Walking On Thin Ice" (which featured John on guitar.) It's fantastic, and au courant without sounding contrived. Lennon hadn't spent 5 years just watching the baby. He was still taking in new sounds and styles.
Cobain had always been a fan of obscure and strange music. It's pretty evident, judging from the list of covers chosen for Unplugged, that he wanted to take the band in a less LOUDquiteLOUD direction. And I think the fact that Dave Grohl had a role in shaping some of the songs on In Utero points hinted at a future collaboration.
Shame when ya think about it, yeh?
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love him & miss him
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Kurt would be playing with Kevin Shields if he was still alive
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"Kurt and Court would be the slacker generation's answer to Ike and Tina".
I like that. Imagine Kurt in the back of a limo, taking off one of his Converse shoes and smaking Court! "See what you made me do baby?"
Hahaha.
-G.
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Jimm: Using the term "poser" pretty much voids your comment.
Also Lennon > Cobain but Cobain > Grohl. Not that I have anything against any of them.
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Kurt would be just as far gone as Courtney if he were alive today.
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well he was, i dunno how else you want me to put it. Sorry my use of words doesn't suit your verification for a solid argument, dick
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I'm DYING to know...in what way Cobain was a poser? Was he actually not in a band? Did he not write the songs? Did he not spend years playing shitty hole in the wall clubs before achieving his success? Were his Converse not dirty enough? What exactly was he "posing" as? By all means, elaborate Jimm.
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If Kurt was alive, i would guess that the band would have been on the same path that Chris Cornell is on now. (Soundtrack work, ignored solo album(s), supergroup, eventual obscurity. If he was alive, we wouldn't be worshiping him and promoting him to "voice of a generation". And don't bother telling me I don't know about the band; I bought Bleach in 1989 out of Sub Pop's mail order catalog.
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Oh, and I wasn't saying Cobain was necessarily a better artist than Lennon. There is really no way to know how that comparison would've played out being that Lennon released music at least somewhat steadily for the better part of two decades. The whole of Nirvana's initial output came in the span of about six years (not counting box sets and whatnot). So, in the big picture, it's an unfair comparison.
My point was, at the time they passed, Cobain seemed to have more to offer the world musically than Lennon did. There is all kinds of speculation as to what Nirvana/Cobain's legacy would have been had he not killed himself/been murdered by his wife (pick your poison), what kind of place in his repertoire would "Double Fantasy" have if Lennon had lived longer? That album was a handful of excellent singles scattered amongst a pile of sub par material. But it's not really looked at that way, is it? If Lennon had lived to make a few more albums, nobody would give a damn about "Double Fantasy." On the other hand, Cobain's final recordings, "In Utero," "...Unplugged," and "You Know You're Right," were getting progressively more interesting. That's why I think Cobain was a bigger loss, he just potentially had more great music left in him. It's highly likely that, like all of the other Beatles, by the time the 80's rolled around Lennon's best days were long behind him. But in overall legacy, John Lennon is hard to touch. He was a God.
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If Kurdt hadn't killed himself, Nirvana would have broken up, he and Courtney would have divorced. A solo album would have been recorded with help by various members of The Melvins and Mike Watt. Something involving synthesizers and Michael Stipe might have happened. It would have been released in 1996 and promptly bomb.
Then Kurdt would have overdosed about 1997 and that would be that.
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All he did was add Sabbath's sludge-pace to the Pixies signature sound with a little pop-hook and he made money off of it. It wasn't anything original really. I guess it's not that he's a poser so much as the people who worship him are, snap out of it. Sure he wrote some damn good songs and he had a cool outlook on fame and artistry. But most of his music is worshiped for all the wrong reasons and that's due to the dumb-asses who uphold his legacy as something more important than it was worth. The bulk of his career was one big drug binge, and the sloppy musicianship showed. If he didn't want all of this fame, then why did he keep making music and posturing for his fans? He had a good idea, but in my opinion he squandered it by perpetuating his "image" He's over-rated and I will ALWAYS say that Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters are better. Sure they're in it for the money as of late and the latest album was pretty bloated, and Grohl can act a bit bigger than he should, but who's to say Kurt wouldn't act the same way later in life had sobered up and not killed himself and gotten even more massive in terms of fame. Oh, and he did kill himself, shutup about that already. So maybe poser was the wrong word in the context of YOUR thought...but all Kurt did was say he hated fame, but he never stopped feeding the frenzy, and to me that's being untrue to yourself.
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Well, to bring it back around to The Beatles, there's fame and then there's Fame. I would bet even a lot of people who like The Pixies couldn't name them, let alone recognize them, but damn near anyone who was in high school when Nevermind came out would recognize Kurt. Anyway, if you're an artist, and you have the primal need to write songs (or whatever), then quitting writing would be just as untrue.
Maybe he should have just done what The Beatles did and just quit touring.
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well that's what i was kind of getting at, i mean...jumping into the drums and into the crowd etc...you hated the fame? gimme a break
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Jimm: Okay, that argument is much more valid. Sorry, the word posing just makes me think you were saying he wasn't a real musician or something, like Adam said. I wouldn't call what you said being a Poser so much as being a sell-out, which I disagree with but at least you argument can counter it. Sorry to get you all pissed.
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no worries, i didn't get pissed, nice talkin
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please, he was a miserable person. he would not have made it to forty. ever.
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If Kurt didn't die on April 5th, he would've died on April 6th. I agree with k when s/he says "he would not have made it to forty. ever." He was a troubled individual with serious drug and mental issues that were beyond the point of help.
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Beyond the point of help? Who are you to make that call??
I'm glad no one thought that about me when I was in my twenties. Maybe I wouldn't have seen my thirties either.
He was YOUNG! Christ. He likely wouldn't still be doing the same things, even people with drug problems can change eventually...
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Alot of the best musicians have issues that cause drugaddiction, it's a problem that keeps coming back in the musicbusiness (remember 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'). That is totally irrelevant to the question of what he would be doing if he was still alive. And if you don't like the music, it's no reason to deny he was a great musician. Why do you think he earned 12th place on the top100 of best guitarplayers ever? (by Rolling Stone) He was a singersongplayerwriter. If that doesn't say enough... He had a massive amount of potential but he said 'no' to the world when it asked if he's show us what he got. That's the biggest manner of saying he didn't like the fame that I know of.
Greetz,
me
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Alot of the best musicians have issues that cause drugaddiction, it's a problem that keeps coming back in the musicbusiness (remember 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'). That is totally irrelevant to the question of what he would be doing if he was still alive. And if you don't like the music, it's no reason to deny he was a great musician. Why do you think he earned 12th place on the top100 of best guitarplayers ever? (by Rolling Stone) He was a singersongplayerwriter. If that doesn't say enough... He had a massive amount of potential but he said 'no' to the world when it asked if he's show us what he got. That's the biggest manner of saying he didn't like the fame that I know of.
Greetz,
me
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he was not a hero....he was a man...RIP forever....punk is free of darkness
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Without John Lennon there would be no Nirvana. Read any Kurt/Nirvana biography and you will see what an influence the Beatles were on Kurt.
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16 in 1994. We were so lucky. I took Nirvana for granted. The older I get the more I appreciate Kurt. There still are cool bands. But another Nirvana? Never. We were part of something special. To be born in that time and place...
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R.I.P Kurt, happy 40th.
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Happy belated birthday brother. You are not forgotten.
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Lennon - Thought he was God
Cobain - His Fans Made Him A God (Post-humously)
If both of these musicians were alive today, they'd probably be trying to colaborate on some fcuked up wacked out album in the hopes of regaining their long gone stardom.
Rockstars are fireworks. Temporary sources of light that fade out only to be replaced by someone else...
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Kurt Cobain a poser? Let me see.
Before Nevermind came out, all I remember is freaking hair metal bands wearing tight leather pants showing their buttcheeks, sporting zebra textured guitars, playing really fucked up songs.
THAT is the definition of being a poser.
Nirvana changed all that and put them all out of work. Hell, Axl Rose literally disappeared.
Diving into the crowd and jumping into the drum set and trashing the stage is perform by hundreds of DIY bands all over the world every day. Would anyone please care to support the view that a DIY band does those things because "it enjoys fame"?
And if a person doing all those things "enjoys fame", what would a person "not enjoying fame" do? Set up a mic backstage so that, god forbid, noone calls him a poser? Not perform at all?
How about blowing your head up? Does that count for "not enjoying fame", or was that posing too?
Oh, yeah, I forgot, there's a book explaining people kill themselves to gain fame. Right.
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I think they would hav split up an if he was still alive he would hav either died from the drugs by now or jus disapeared he hated the publicity an maybe im wrong to say that but i think he fuckin hated it an he jus acted so relished by it lik me im only 17 an i know exactly how he felt, in his note he described the feeling very nothing was exciting not listening to music or playing it an rite now i feel the exact same way i can even admit i wana pull the trigger on myself alot of the time so i guess my message is an i think kurt mite hav said this with me FUCK YOU, LEAVE ME ALONE STOP FUCKING RAPING ME FOR ALL THE GOD DAMN ANSWERS IM NOT A FUCKING GOD
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Happy Birthday Kurt Cobain!
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Kurt Cobain was nothing more than a not so clever rip off artist of the Pixies and Killing Joke. While it can be said some great artists are clever in that they rip off other artists and put their own spin on the material, ol' Kurt couldn't even be imaginative enough to use a different set of guitar effects when recording "come as you are" which bears more than a passing resemblance to "eighties," just slowed down. Sorry, here's hoping they dig Kurt up in 10 years for a Nirvana reunion and fit him with pneumatic pistons to animate his dead corpse in a Disney's Hall of Presidents style debacle. If he was alive, we would get the same recycled pablum.
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