Nirvana Forever

Not so long ago, on the open spaces of social networks, I came across this picture:

Kurt Cobain in the role of Jesus. Blackness - some will say. I apologize in advance from those whom this illustration will insult. But this is rather a matter of Cobain's influence on modern musical culture. I was a girl when the movement of nirvanomania began. A good share of oil into the fire of this movement was added to Kurt's death. Maybe this also partially explains its central position on the above illustration. But, seeing this picture, I was interested in the question: why did Kurt become a “voice of generation” ? Why did his music, and in particular the lyrics, found such a response among millions of fans? Kurt Cobain - Who was he?

In the process of preparing this article, I came across an interview in which Cobain frankly discusses his childhood , relations with parents , relations with homosexuality , about the music that he listened. For me, this conversation, recorded by the famous British journalist John Savage, gave answers to many questions. This interview was not printed in the open spaces of Runet , and it was translated by me specifically for this article.

Kurt gave interviews late in the evening on Thursday, July 22, 1993 as part of a press campaign in support of the planned release of the Nirvana in Utero (DGC) album. Their schedule at this time was very intense, was even too intense. As John Savazh recalls (Guitar World), “They were the most welcome group, they were more than a musical group, more than music, and they refused to play according to generally accepted rules. After a year of the group’s silence, the audience fell into hysteria. And the Nirvanas imposed the role of psychological lightning : it became the focus of universal fears, hopes, love and hatred. Few knew where they came from; No one knew what to expect from them. ”

Guitar World : Tell me about yourself.

Kurt Cobain : I was born in the city of Aberdin, Washington, in 1967, and lived between Aberdin and Montesano, who was twenty miles from Aberdin. I spent all my childhood in crossings from some relatives to others.

GW : Your parents divorced when you were little?

Cobain : Yes, I was seven.

GW : What are your memories of this?

Cobain : I remember I was ashamed, I don’t know why. I was ashamed of my parents. I could no longer look into the eyes of some school friends simply because I did not terribly wanted a normal, you know, a typical family . Mom, dad. I wanted security . Because of this, I had a resentment of my parents for several years.

GW : Have you made peace now?

Cobain : Well, I always maintained a relationship with my mother, because I always loved her. But we have not talked with my father for 10 years, until last year, until he was looking for me behind the scenes of the show, which we gave in Seattle. I was glad to see him because I wanted to tell him that I no longer hate him. On the other hand, I did not want to resume the relationship, because I simply had nothing to tell him. My father does not know how to show his emotions, or even just conduct a normal conversation. I did not want to maintain relations with him only because he was my blood relative . It would be quickly bored with me. When we saw each other for the last time, I told him this and made it clear that I did not want to have anything in common with him. But you know, this was a relief for both of us, because for many years he thought that I hate him.

GW : This cannot be avoided.

Cobain : Avoiding is the motto of my life . I always left work without saying a word to my employer; One fine day I just did not appear there. The same thing happened in graduation classes - I threw school two months before the end. I always ran away, so the fact that I met with my father, although he found me, was a pleasant relief.

GW : Did you even write about this? The lyrics "Serve the Servants" seems autobiographical.

Cobain : Yes. I rarely wrote so personal texts.

GW : To grow up - what was it for you?

Cobain : I was in myself. My childhood was just beautiful - before the divorce. Then - suddenly - my whole world rolled over. I was asocial . I began to realize all the worthlessness of my environment. Aberdin is such a small town. And I could not find friends that I would really like with whom I could find something in common. I was always attracted to art and music.

GW : What did you listen to at that time?

Cobain : everything that could get. My aunts gave me records of Beatles, so for a long time I listened only to Beatles . And only sometimes I had a happy chance to buy some new single.

GW : Did you like Beatles?

Cobain : Oh, yes. My mother always tried to bring a little British culture to our family. We constantly drank tea! I had no idea about my ancestors until I found out that the name Cobain was Irish . My parents never tried to dig out such things. All over America, in telephone books, I was looking for names similar to mine. I could not find a single cobane, so I began to call the coburch. I found one lady of their San Francisco, who for many years studied our family.

GW : So is your name Coburn?

Cobain : Actually, Kobein, but the cobern distorted him when they arrived. They came from the Korka district, which in itself is a very strange coincidence: when we traveled with a tour of Ireland, we played in the crust, and all day I walked around the city in some kind of amazement. Never in my life I felt so inspired. It was very strange. There was a friend with me who could confirm that I almost cried all day. Since the time of the tour that was about two years ago, I felt like a true Irish.

GW : Tell me about the school. Were people unpleasant for you?

Cobain : I was a scapegoat, but not in the sense that people constantly teased me. They did not tease and did not beat me, because by that time I was already very closed. My asociality was like abnormality . I felt so different, so obsessed that people just left me alone. I would not be surprised if I had been chosen at the graduation by Mr. Green-and-right-all-on-n-school-dancers.

GW : Now you understand how some people can move from alienation to cruelty?

Cobain : Yes, I definitely understand how the human mind can degrade to such a state. I myself got to the point that I began to fantasize about it, but I am sure that I would prefer to kill myself . Although I always loved films about revenge, in the style of Carrie [film based on the book of S. King, 1976].

GW : When did you first hear a punk rock?

Cobain : Most likely in the 84th. I try to tell this story chronologically correctly, but I can’t. My first acquaintance with the punk rock began when Creem magazine began to illuminate the American tour Sex Pistols . I read about them and imagined how great it would be to hear their music and become part of this tour. But I was only 11 years old, and I could not go with them. The idea to go even to Seattle, who was 200 miles, was unreal. My parents took me to Seattle three times in my life, as far as I remember, and these were our family trips.

After that, I was constantly looking for a punk rock, but, of course, such records were not sold in our store in Aberdine. The first records of punk rock that I was able to buy were probably Devo , Oingo Boingo , something like that. These notes leaked to Aberdin many years later, after my original interest.

Finally, in 1984, my acquaintance of Ozborn Base [soloist/guitarist Melvins] wrote me a couple of assemblies with the songs of Black Flag , Flipper , all popular punk groups of that time, and I just carried me away. I finally found my calling. From that day, I cut my hair. I sang along with all the songs because I listened to these cassettes every day. That was great. At that time, I had played the guitar for several years, and I tried to play my own punk rock, or what then seemed to me my own style. I knew that my punk rock was swift, he was different.

Punk reflected my social and political position. So many things happened at the same time. Punk expressed anger at my alienation. He helped me understand what I did not like in groups such as Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin. Although I really liked it, and I still like some melodies written in these groups, I suddenly realized that their sexism is how they wrote about their members and how they had sex, it leads me to boredom.

GW : And when did you think about sexism? Was this a consequence of Pank's passion?

Cobain : No, it was before. I was never lucky with my friends, so in the end I hung with the girls, and it seemed to me that they were treated not as equal, without respect. I hated how in Aberdine they treated women, they were not put in anything. The words "bitch" and "cunt" were used everywhere. But it took me many years to understand how much these things bothered me. I just began to understand what annoyed me so much. And in the last years of studying at school, when I discovered punk rock for myself, everything fell into place. I finally realized that not backward, understand?

GW : Did people ever consider you gay?

Cobain : Yes. Even I myself considered myself gay . Although I never experimented with this, I thought that maybe this was the answer to my problems. I had a friend of Gay, and this was the only case when I had to defend myself from people's attacks. As I already said, for so many years they were just afraid of me, but when I began to communicate with this guy -Mayer Loftin, who, everyone knew, was gay, they began to pour a bunch of shit on me, tried to beat me, etc. Then my mother forbade me to communicate with him. She hated gays.

GW : And you stopped?

Cobain : Yes. It was terrible. Finally, I found a friend with whom I could talk, who was dear to me, and then they tell me that I would not communicate with him anymore. It was at this time that all the puzzle pieces began to fold . And he played a big role in this.

It was such a common and at the same time unusual person Kurt. After such a frank conversation about my life, I want to continue the story, telling how this life leak and how it broke.

Flashback:

1989 - education of the Nirvana group.

1989 - the first album of Bleach .

1991 - the second album of Nevermind , which received the title of "platinum". It was the first single of the album "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that attracted universal attention to Nirvana.

1992, February-marriage to Courtney Love , soloist of the rock band Hole.

1992, August - the birth of daughter Francis Bin Cobain .

1993 - the release of the album in utero.

1994, April 8 - Kurt found dead in his house in Seattle. It is officially believed that he shot himself in his mouth from a shotgun.

In this series of events, it should be noted that Kurt suffered dependent on heroin and tried to be treated on this dependence.

The influence of the Nirvana group is difficult to overestimate. Nirvana played a huge role in the popularization of the grange ( grunge rock )-the stylistic direction of rock music. Their music inspired the creation of groups such as Limp Bizkit, 30 Seconds to Mars, Seether, Flyleaf and others.

Nirvana Forever ...