Yep. He was one of way too many examples of the adage that you do not need talent in any way to be successful in music.
The closest thing to art that he did was eat a shotgun.
Aah, Kurt, the Jim Morrison of his generation…
…this is not a good thing.
Fair comparison, but I liked the Doors a lot. Jim was seemingly more talented as both a singer and poet, but still a good comparison.
So far the Doors have held up fairly well. So maybe Nirvana will follow the same slow fade.
Jim
I don’t much care for most of his music. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Heart Shaped Box” are the only songs of his I like, but I like them quite a bit. As for the rest of Nirvana’s output, meh.
I don’t see why everybody’s so bothered about him being whiny, though. Whininess, bitchiness, and general self-destructiveness are not exactly uncommon in rock, or show biz in general. Janis Joplin, anybody? David Crosby?
I was never a big fan of Nirvana either (I was about 15 when they got popular), but I have a copy of Nevermind and it’s decent. It never rocked my world or anything but some of the tunes are catchy and it makes pretty good housecleaning music. I absolutely don’t understand the Cult of Cobain. For my listening enjoyment, I actually prefer Hole if I have to choose between them, though Courtney Love is an undeniable fruitcake and a terrible mother.
I think Nirvana was holding Dave Grohl back though, because the Foo Fighters are awesome! Amazing what having talent AND a sense of humor can do for you.
My husband HATES Nirvana, and refers to Cobain as Kurt Ka-bang.
I’m not one to really have any feelings towards a musican one way or the other. Dave Grohl is pretty funny though and I can’t imagine how he put up with Cobain’s mopey bullshit.
I like grunge in small doses but I just can take a steady diet of melancholy unhappy people music.
oh well thanks for the CSI update Gary Sinise. :rolleyes:
I think if he was still alive they would have faded away already just like Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, and others of the same time period.
His idolization was mostly created by his early demise.
I could see the same thing happening if it was Eddie Vedder who had offed himself and Cobain was still around. Cobain would be making crappy music and Vedder would be considered the “missed genius voice of our generation”.
While tragic, an early demise only cements a celebritys image for eternity. Who really wanted to see a 60 year old James Dean or an 80 year old Marilyn Monroe.
I never really got into Nirvana (except their song Serve the Servants), and it always seemed to me that they were never popular until after he died.
I remember at school the day after he died all the kids who would wear Guess jeans, had** RIP Kurt** written on their shirts. That always made me kinda laugh.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the bolded bit, but he’s certainly a better singer than Kurt.
Case Sensitive put it just about how I would have said it.
Hampshire - Eddy Vedder? We should BE so lucky…talk about a twofer! 
I know - that was mean. I’m sorry, but I can’t stand EITHER of them.
eviladam, Yeah, right. :rolleyes:
While Nirvana and its music has lost some of its charm since the 90s, to call Kurt Cobain a talentless hack is just plain…puzzling, in this sometimes musician’s opinion. I still think of the so-called grunge bands, they were the best. I prefer their music to the more technically interesting Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam.
Now Kurt, as a person and lyricist, did not speak personally to me. At the time of his popularity, I was a very happy-go-lucky fellow, with musical tastes rooted in 70s classic rock like Led Zeppelin and the Who. I certainly wasn’t a punk or an indie kid. But when I first heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit…” it impelled a seismic shift in my musical tastes. And that song seemed to spawn a global, or at least national, phenomenon that truly changed the direction of popular rock music.
Peronsally, I don’t really understand the gripes against Kurt’s voice. I find his voice quite musical and soulful, carrying raw emotion and energy effectively and well. I don’t even have technical problems with it. It’s a powerful voice and I’d rather listen to him than Eddie Vedder any day (although I don’t mind Pearl Jam.)
From a pop music perpective, Kurt was a very good songwriter. He knew the essence of a hook, a melody, and three or four chords. His tunes are memorable and translate well to other genres–it truly is universal music in many ways. (Just look at all the ways Smells Like Teen Spirit has been covered: by Paul Anka [swing], by Tori Amos [ethereal arty piano pop], by The Bad Plus [frenetic modern jazz], The Moog Cookbook [tongue-in-cheek cerebral electronic quasi-kitsch], etc.)
His music doesn’t just inspire rockers–it inspires pop artists of all sorts.
It’s a pity we didn’t get a chance to hear more. He was only beginning to blossom as an artist, and although I don’t really want to get suckered into the cult of personality that surrounds an artist like Cobain (and the requisite backlash, as evidenced by much of this thread), there is not one iota of doubt in me that he was only beginning to make his best records. As great as Nevermind was, In Utero was better and his Unplugged sessions showed the world his flexibility and ability to perform without a great wall of noise behind him.
Somebody as iconic as Kurt will of course attract his detractors. All I can say is they are wrong.
Hey, say whatever you want. I think he sucks, and you ain’t gonna change my mind.
Whatever happened to rock being fun?
I know! I don’t mind angsty stuff too. What I really want is Rock for Any Mood. Sometimes I want Nick Cave, sometimes Queen, sometimes Herman’s Hermits. And plenty of stuff in between.
The Velvet Underground.
shrug Don’t take it personally, BBVL. I’m not here to change anybody’s mind.
I always respect your opinion and especially enjoy reading your posts in music-related threads. You are very knowledgable and you have excellent taste. But I always take it personally when someone says I’m wrong based on a matter of opinion or personal taste.
Well, I was being a bit confrontational. It’s just that “I think they’re wrong,” doesn’t have the zing of the simple and curt, “they’re wrong.” It’s all opinion, of course.
I’m not particularly defensive of Nirvana and Kurt, usually. They’ve never been my idols, but they’ve written some damned good music, and were certainly my liason into the world of alternative and indie rock. So for that, especially, I give them most praise. But I would definitely agree that they are somewhat over-rated.
However, when phrases like “talentless hack” or whatever inevitably come up in these threads I’ve got to wonder by what standards people are judging this. Because, at least to me, it seems pretty obvious the guy had an ear for good tunes. And hundred of millions of people across countries and languages found something in his music that resonated with them. I hardly find that talentless.
Or that is what MTV hyped it as. Always calling the latest thing the next big thing.
Grunge is a phenomenon, Rap is a phenomenon, Hip Hop is a phenomenon, Diddy Puff Puff invented the remix, Kelly Clarkson and American Idol are the next phenomenon.
Hey, if your buyin what there sellin, more power to them.
I loved him, but you have to remember what crappy music was out there at the time. (Not all music, but a lot of it was pretty bad. He sort of blew the doors off for a new generation)