• By Siddharta little pedigree was honing its rough punky take on t is every teenager's rock fused with a melodicalling to make their ous sensibility not so apmark by rebelling, espe- parent in the music of their cially against the paren- contemporaries. tal generation. The lead singer, guitarist Imagine the shock horror and principal songwriter of of the nineties teenager this outfit was Kurt Cowho realises that their par- bain. Having grown up without a stable family life ents were the original reThe was disillusioned with bels - the rock 'n' rollers.
the norm. Ally this to a general weaHe was an intensely riness of the eighties atticreative individual who tude extolling the was moved to describe his importance of money and "alternative" viewpoint in languishing in typically American superficiality, song. This coincidental convergence of outlook ane the conguons ae noe for a totally new move- brought together the two groups opening the way ment. Meanwhile in Seattle, a for mass appreciation of three-piece group of some what had so far been an undergro und music SCene Conseq uently, by one of the strangest twists of fate, an individual who was both rejoicing in and expressing regret at his lack of comprehension of an existing system became the figurehead for others like him looking towards an alternative.
In a similar manner to British punk in the seventies, this kneejerk reaction to excess could be seen coming but the size of its eventual arrival exceeded all expectation. At last the key player in the whole gam e namely the media, had something to seize hold of. Kurt Cobain's tragi-comic existence, which would ordinarily merit little more than a few paragraphs in a specialist rock periodical now became front page news. His marriage to the outspoken Courtney Love served only to worsen the media problem.
Meanwhile 'grunge', as this new culture had been christened, had progressed from an underground scene to a catwalk sensation and subsequently to a soundtrack for the whole 'slacker' generation.
The music of Nirvana had been the catalyst for this whole process. An apathetic individual now found himself the common focus for a wide range of individuals. However, a man who hadn't as yet been able to solve his own problems could hardly be expected to deal with those of others; but he was.
As it has done many times before and will no doubt do many times again, fame as we know it deprived him of the opportunity to tackle his own problems in private.
Apparently his marriage and baby daughter failed to bring the stability he anticipated; especially with the press hovering and poised to strike at any opportunity.
So what was perhaps his last statement, a gesture of cowardice and futility carried out with uncharacteristic bravado was merely a restatement of his initial message, ie "l am an outsider" - and fame and wealth hadn't changed that.