Kurt Cobain and I were both born just outside of Seattle in January of early 1967. I worked on an entry early this morning that began with, “I want to tell you to just say no to the Cobain hagiography (Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Seattle Times, Launch Yahoo, New Musical Express).”
I wrote more, but I couldn’t figure out how to end it, so instead, I’m going to just tell you to go read this article on the reunion and current tour of the Pixies.
Okay, I’ll also include this part of what I was writing earlier: “In his WaPo piece, David Segal writes, ‘Kurt Cobain would detest all the re-eulogizing prompted by the 10th anniversary of his suicide.’ No he wouldn’t. Here, Segal participates in one of the shadiest elements of tending to the rock star ethos, something no respectable music journalist should do, in my opinion. Cobain was a rock star, and part of being a rock star is to express disdain for being a rock star. It’s cool not to want to be seen as cool. It should be the music journalist’s job to call rock stars out on this duplicity. Cobain was as involved in the fashioning of his own indie image as anyone. In Heavier than Heaven, Charles Cross explains that although Cobain told interviewers that the first concert he attended was Black Flag, he had actually seen Sammy Hagar previously.”
In his suicide note, Cobain quoted Neil Young, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” I wonder if his daughter would agree. I also wonder if Cobain knew this song by Young:
