This will piss off a lot of people, and I apologize for that in advance because great leaders like the Buddha taught us that we should not try and bring more stress and suffering to people than is already apparent in the world. But, this is something that has resignated with me as a songwriter and singer for a long time. Kurt Cobain was not a visionary. He was not a great song writer, or a great musician. He didn't have a particularly great voice either. In fact, Nirvana as a whole was mediocre at best as a band. David Grohl is ten times the lyricist and musician than Kurt Cobain could have ever hoped to amount to. Foo Fighters is a great band. Best of You takes a nice warm dump on Never Mind every time it comes on. This is a hard point for some kids who are still caught up in grung-land and are still in the habbit of wearing flannels and not washing their hair regularly, but it's time to let the myth die. Just because Kurt Cobain died tragically in a self induced drug overdose, it doesn't make him worthy of Rock God Status! If that were the case, then every fallen heroine attic riding the dragon in Ypsilanti is deserving of a statue and a star on the walk.
The real reason that I get a little twisted over the whole Kurt Cobain thing is the fact that the Rock and Goth kids have made him into a Tupac copy. When Tupac Died (2 years after Cobain) he had an epic conspiracy theory attatched. The 7 Day Theory gave hope to people who had seen Tupac rise to a position of power not ony in music but in the Urban community. Though troubled, Tupac was a beacon for social change and in the end was crossed by the people who he was in business with. (Or was breaking business ties with as later discoveries suggest.) But he had the 7 Day Theory. Years after both Tupac and Kurt died, someone came up with some dumb government / Courtney Love murder thing that was one of the dumbest stories I've ever heard. How could anyone not think Kurt Cobain committed suicide?! Every other song he sang implied that he really need a hug and that in fact he was seriously going to commit suicide. Honestly people, just except that you should have given him the hug he wanted, and maybe some cocoa, and that his death is more the fault of his fans-or more over drugs-than Courtney Love, and has no link to the government and nothing suspect about it. People just can't let Tupac be the only Tupac in town.
Next Pac's poetry book drops. Then comes Cobain's after death poetry book comes out. I mean STOP!!! Let it go. Johnny Cash is a rock G! Follow Him! Listen to I Ain't Mad at Cha and maybe you'll comprehend why people liked Tupac. Otherwise, if you're gonna compare Cobain to any rapper it should be Kanye West. They are pretty much the same. They're both Mediocre at everything they do but talk about themselves like they're epic and fighting for change, and intern people celebrate them like they're greats. Point being Kurt Cobain, and Kanye West, are both eh. Get a new idol. 2's.
14 comments:
It's what people call a coincidence, glorifying a musican's death and people jumping to the oppurtunity to the huge marketing ploy that creates dead musican's icons.
Kurt Cobain was never a Tupac, neither was Tupac Kurt Cobain.
Dave Grohl is a good song writer, and a good musician, but he is no Kurt Cobain. You're wrong and maybe you just don't get it, but no one will ever scream like kurt did again. He was an excellent musician, not technically, but sonic-ly. He changed an entire generation. He put an end to the 80's hairband bullshit rockstars. He was incredibly influenced by the early beatles. Look, Paul McCartney and John Lennon weren't great guitar players, but they were unbelievable song writers. Kurt Cobain was a songwriter, and in simple 3-5 chord songs his sound still make me shiver. I just wish he was still alive to prove what a great musician he really was when the "grunge" era had passed.
P.S - Kurt Cobain = Kanye West?
You're a fucking retard.
Not just b/c of that post but in real life too. You're a balding self obsessed less-than-mediocre gay white "rapper" that hasn't accomplished anything, but thinks he's sweet. That's all I ever read in your comments. How fucking awesome you think you are... Well you're not. Your design work sucks balls too.
Good luck with that "record-label"... haha
Thanks for the comments. I think you misused some adjectives though. Instead of retarded you probably mean 'rediculous', and less than mediocre I think you most likely were searching for something along the lines of 'most talented I know', or 'on his way to be the best', Gay...That's just wishful thinking for you, but I'm sorry to dissapoint, I like-a the ona's ninja. As far as design goes...you're right it sucks. (But you forgot why it sucks.) It sucks because you'll never be able to know what it's like to reach that level. But with all that I appreciate the well wishing for record deals / label and such. Hoping you hear the new demo soon.
The coolest kid you know-Sym ;p
I agree with the second anonymous commenter in that Kurt Cobain "put an end to the 80's hairband bullshit rockstars," a notable achievement indeed.
But Mr. Cobain wasn't a visionary before his death, and certainly not after. His ability to "scream" better than anyone past or present is hardly a musical achievement to write home about. And while I may not agree that that Foo Fighters is a great band, they have many songs that take a dump on "Nevermind."
Perhaps the issue with Mr. Cobain isn't musical ability, but rather relevancy. It's important not to confuse the two. Whether or not Nirvana was musically advanced has little to do with the fact that they were relevant, and that they were influential in changing the state of popular music at the time. Even Britney Spears was relevant in the music industry, despite the fact that she had very little musical prowess.
I think you're kind of missing the point of what it means to be a "rock God."
Rock is as much about a lifestyle and attitude as it is musical prowess. You're entirely welcome to say that Kurt was a fair to middling musician, but his life was emblematic of a sweeping change of expectations and aesthetic for a generation of Americans - Much in the same way that Tupac represented a shift in mindset for a whole other cross-section of Americans.
PS - I totally agree about Grohl.
I'm a fan of hip-hop, but I'm not a fan of Tupac. I really don't see why he's looked up to so much. What did he do that changed hip-hop?
And, while Cobain didn't single handedly change rock music, he did have a major influence.
Robert Johnson, The Beatles, Sly Stone, Black Sabbath, The Ramones all had a hand in making music what it is today. Did they invent anything? No. Where they masterful musicians? No. Where they a little self-indulged? Yes. Did they use drugs? yes.
There are better hip-hop pioneers to site than Tupac. But, I would put Nirvana up there with artists that changed the way people saw rock music.
Weezer too... And they're not extremely talented either.
On second thought, I could see how Cobain and Tupac could be viewed as similar.
Neither one of them were responsible for crafting their genre: Tupac did not invent gangster rap and Cobain did not invent Grunge.
However, Tupac and Death Row did help to popularize the genre and Nirvana was THE face of the Seattle sound.
Both died early in tragic, yet unsurprising deaths. They both died by the sword, if you will.
And, I could see how both likely gained a boost of ideology from the public from their deaths. However, I'm still not sure why Tupac has more conspiracy theories than either Cobain or Biggie.
I would like to pose a new conspiracy theory. Unlike Tupac's "symbolism" in his songs. ODB straight old told his audience that the government was out to get him and were trying to control his mind. It was in his songs, it was in his interviews. ODB was many things, he was not cryptic.
The anti-depressants ODB was prescribed in jail mixed poorly with crack cocaine and thus resulted in his death. Odd?
I like the ODB tie. I have to agree full heartedly that there has not been enough investigation into the death of Young Ol' Dirt Bastard. He is most missed of all.
Well I hate to jump in here randomly. But is everyone forgetting about Pearl Jam? Pearl Jamfar surpassed Nirvana when it comes to "bringing down the hair bands" and recreating a generation. Eddie Vedder is STILL making amazing music that is rocking people's socks off. You wanna talk about icons...explore Vedder. He just doesn't get any credit because hes still kickin. Sean freakin Penn asked him to do the score to Into the Wild...as much as I loved nirvana...I don't think that was ever going to happen. Pearl Jam was made up of musicians...nirvana had Dave Grohl...who was stuck behind the drums where he DIDN't belong. Kurt Cobain influenced an generation, yes. But was musically superior? No. That was all Eddie.
Oh, go away. Cobain was totally brilliant, you just don't get it, sadly. Foo Fighters' early stuff was good, but nowhere near Nirvana.
Seriously, kurt was a genius but has anyone ever noticed that whenever someone dies at the peak of their prowess they are made to be martyrs and people assume they would have remained THAT GOOD if they were alive too. EVERY star has their moments and so its ludicrous to assume that Kurt would've kept that tempo high. If he could then why did he kill himself?!?!?!? Clearly, he wasn't in a position to do anything as he was messed up. Sure he has musical talent, but when you're "insane in the membrane" then that's not reason enough for others to treat you as a genius.
Whereas Tupac was killed, and he didn't kill himself!!! Also he was ahead of his time by introducing the first doube disc album EVER in hip-hop, a concept which everyone said wouldn't and what happened next?The man sold 9 million albums in less than 3 years after its release in 1996. And that '9 million' figure has not been updated since 1999!!!!!!!!!! You can easily add another 5 million to that number over that past decade and that is a consevative estimate by any account considering how hip-hop has blown up since the late 90s and continues (though in rather poor shape) today. Tupac also recorded HUNDREDS of tracks beore his kiling and had the foresight to do so.
Kurt Cobain could've dealt with this problems a little better and in a similar manner. Tupac got shot, beaten up by cops and was incarcerated for another year while living in the ghettoes without a father. You would expect Tupac to stop to committ suicide. I doubt Kurt had these problems.
That being said I STILL GIVE KURT PROPS. I STILL RATE HIM AND TUPAC AS EQUALS. But this nostalgia over 'what would've happend has they been alive' needs to stop.
This is the reason why artists like The Beatles, Elvis, Tupac and Kurt Cobain are rated so highly. People always hypothesize that had theyben alive they would've maintianed that tempo. Most likely that uldn't have happened. Just look at Michael Jackson. What if he had died in 1992??? I shudder to think what people would have made him. And that being said, I say MJ probably is better than the artists I mentioned above as he didn't have (as ironic as it sounds) the 'luxury' of premature death at the peak of his powers.
I would just like to point out, Kurt Cobain had multiple drug overdoses but died from a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the head, not a drug overdose.
Kurt Cobain is to Tupac as spelling is to grammar (not that I expect you math-heads to understand that).
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