Feature// Kurt Cobain – The Voice of A Generation

Today, 20^th February 2012, marks the 45^th anniversary of the iconic Nirvana frontman – Kurt Cobain, prior to his untimely death back in April 1994. Whatever you think of Kurt Cobain, there can be no denying that Nirvana were one of the pioneering bands of the Grunge movement, and left a stain upon society, that will never be washed out.

With their angsty lyricism, harsh distorted guitars and Dave Grohl’s iconic whip cracking drum beats, they provided a path for a teenage revolution, that had been brooding since the hey day of 1970’s punk. Forming in 1987, in Aberdeen, Washington, their debut album Bleach, selling just 40,000 units in North America between the 1989 release and 1991. Thus, the band didn’t release their masterpiece – Nevermind until 1991, formed from a couple of years worth of pasted nihilistic poetry from Cobain. Recently celebrating it’s 20^th anniversary and within two months of it’s release, was selling 40,000 units in America per week.

Nevermind contained great tracks such as; Lithium, In Bloom and Come As You Are. But most notably it contained the track that catapulted their success into the stratosphere of mainstream recognition that it thoroughly deserved, receiving almost constant radio and MTV airplay: Smells Like Teen Spirit, branded as the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy In The UK of the generation and known by just about everyone under the age of 50.

Sadly, in April 1994, after a short stint in rehab, Kurt Cobain’s body was found, by his wife Courtney Love, with a self-inflicted shotgun wound to his head. The grunge legacy has carried on, with bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins and Alice In Chains, as well as a new wave of Grunge that has fallen into the Indie categorisation, from band’s such as Tribes and, to an extent, Howler.

Check out our favourite track from Nirvana, containing interplay of slow ironic verses with up-beat, distorted choruses, showcasing Kurt Cobain’s gritty vocalisation at its absolute finest…

Jonathan Hatchman